Constable Will L. Dalton

Will L. Dalton

Constable Will Dalton was shot and killed as he and three officers attempted to arrest two brothers, from Missouri, at a residence near Garfield, Arkansas. Both brothers, ages 20 and 25, were wanted in Lawrence County, Missouri, for beating a justice of the pease nearly to death after he had them arrested for disturbing a church service.

Officer Edgar Wright of the Pierce City Police Department, Missouri, died two days later from wounds received in the same gun battle.

One of the brothers was later shot and killed and the other brother was captured when he mistakenly jumped into a boxcar containing three posse members sent to arrest him. One gave himself up and the other received a load of buckshot in the back as he attempted to escape. The captured suspect escaped from jail on July 11th, 1891, and was captured on April 5th, 1893, in Decatur, Illinois, and returned to Arkansas. The suspect, now 24, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life. On July 11, 1893, he escaped from his guards at the sand pits in Saline County. He made his way toward Little Rock and attempted to swim across the Arkansas River. His body was found lodged in a drift just above Little Rock.

Constable Dalton was survived by his wife and two children.