Deputy Sheriff Carey A. Thomas

Carey A. Thomas

Deputy Thomas was shot and killed while attempting to serve a probation warrant on a suspect in a turpentine camp. The suspect, who was seated at a table when Deputy Thomas entered the cabin, immediately began shooting, striking Deputy Thomas in the head, chest, and abdomen.

The suspect was apprehended later that day after he was shot in the arm during a gun battle with state troopers in a swamp near Homerville. One state trooper was shot and slightly wounded.

The suspect was convicted of murder and executed in the electric chair November 4, 1938.

Deputy Thomas was survived by his wife and two young children.