Constable Hiram Casey Ross

Hiram Casey Ross

Constable Hiram Ross was shot and killed, along with his nephew, as he attempted to serve a civil judgment on a man at his home six miles from Huntingdon.

The man's former attorney had won a judgment against him as the result of a disputed legal bill. Constable Ross was instructed to serve the judgment on the man and located him in an outbuilding on the man's property. When the man refused to come out of the building Constable Ross climbed through the window. The man fatally shot him and his nephew, who was deputized to assist, as he approached.

The subject, 50, was later arrested and charged with murder. The next night an angry mob surrounded the jail and demanded the sheriff and his deputy to release the suspect to them. When the sheriff refused they knocked a hole in the wall. Apparently the sheriff gave the suspect a gun to defend himself. As three men crawled through the hole the suspect shot the three, mortally wounding one. When he allowed the other two to crawl back through the hole, the mob retreated and dispersed. On September 24, 1891, he was convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to death. A new trial was ordered in 1893 resulting in a life sentence. On July 19, 1907, he was pardoned by Governor Malcolm R. Patterson.

Constable Ross was survived by his wife and six children.