Deputy Sheriff Arthur Emil Osborn

Arthur Emil Osborn

Deputy Sheriff Arthur Osborn was shot and killed along U.S. Highway 30 two miles west of Pine Bluffs while attempting to arrest a man wanted for cashing stolen bonds at a bank in Cheyenne.

Deputy Osborn waved the suspect's car down, and as he approached, the man picked up a gun from the seat and shot him.

The man was one of the brothers of the leader of the Barker-Kipnis Gang and the son of the infamous Ma Barker. On August 27th, 1927, he shot and killed Patrolman Joseph Marshall of the Wichita Police Department, Kansas.

Deputy Osborn had served with the Laramie County Sheriff's Office for over one year. Survivors include his wife and four children.

He is buried in Pine Bluffs Cemetery, Pine Bluffs, Laramie County, Wyoming.

The Barker-Karpis Gang committed violent crimes throughout the American Midwest in the late 1920s and mid-1930s. Members and associates of the gang were responsible for the murders of at least ten law enforcement officers.

Please click here to view all the law enforcement officers killed by the Barker-Karpis Gang.