Deputy Sheriff Thomas Alexander Jones

Thomas Alexander Jones

Deputy Sheriff Thomas Jones succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained the previous day during an escape attempt by a suspect who was in jail for the murder of two police officers, Officer George Carmichael and Chief George Bedford of the Cisco Police Department, in 1927.

The suspect had been sentenced to death for the previous murders but his conviction was returned to the county court from an appeals court for a sanity hearing. While in jail he had been faking paralysis. Deputy Jones and another deputy had left his cell door open as they completed serving meals. The suspect took the opportunity to run out of his cell, grab a gun from the jailer's office, and then shot Deputy Jones.

A group of 200 townspeople came to the jail, overpowered the other guard, and lynched the suspect.

Deputy Jones was a former police officer who was volunteering at the jail. He was survived by his wife and is buried at Eastland City Cemtery in Eastland, Texas.