Deputy Constable Walter H. Gant

Walter H. Gant

Deputy Constable Walter Gant succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained the previous day when he was preventing illegal voting at a local polling place at 13th Street and Hays Avenue in Homestead Borough at 3:30 pm, during a highly contested Burgess race in the Borough. Deputy Constable Gant had been deputized the previous day by the local constable in the ward because of the election.

A group of three men entered the polling place to cast their votes, but the election board turned them away because they were unable to prove their residency. Deputy Constable Gant removed the three men once a disturbance had started. The three men returned in the afternoon and were stopped by Deputy Constable Gant and an election officer. During the argument, one of the men struck Deputy Constable Gant and was about to hit the election officer when a second subject produced a handgun and shot Deputy Constable Gant in the abdomen. All three subjects fled the scene in an automobile. Deputy Constable Gant was rushed to Homestead Hospital, where he succumbed to his gunshot wound just after midnight.

Two of the three subjects were arrested the next day by detectives, and a third subject was arrested in Stubenville, Ohio, and extradited to Pittsburgh. On February 20, 1921, one of the three subjects was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 6-12 years in prison. The two other suspects were found not guilty of accessory to murder.

Deputy Constable Gant served with the Pennsylvania State Constable - Allegheny County for two days. He was survived by his wife.

He is buried at Homestead Cemetery in Homestead, Pennsylvania.