Deputy Keeper Frank Butcher

Frank Butcher

Deputy Keeper Frank Butcher was shot and killed by an inmate who was attempting to escape from the Trenton State Prison (now known as New Jersey State Prison). The inmate attacked an officer with a blackjack, knocking him unconscious and stealing his gun. When Deputy Butcher and other officers approached the suspect, shots were exchanged, and Deputy Butcher was killed.

The suspect fled into a cell, where he killed himself before he could be apprehended.

The suspect had been serving a life sentence for the murder of Patrolman Bernard Murray, of the Hoboken Police Department, on October 2, 1918.

Deputy Butcher had served with the agency for nearly five years and was a veteran of the WWI. He was survived by his wife and three children, the youngest born just months after Deputy Butcher's death.