Chief of Police Pleasant Clay Oakes

Pleasant Clay Oakes

Chief Pleasant Clay Oakes was shot and killed by a man who held a grudge against him. The suspect was angry with the chief for arresting him a few days earlier for public drunkenness.


The suspect was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison. In December of 1914, he escaped from the Caledonia Prison Farm in Halifax County. He went to Sylacauga, Alabama, where under an assumed name he became very prosperous in a lumber business. In November of 1928, he was recaptured in Sylacauga after someone recognized him and reported it to the police. He was returned to North Carolina and ordered to serve the remainder of his sentence.