Officer Charles Robert Blackstock

Charles Robert Blackstock

Officer Charles Blackstock was shot and killed after responding to a call of a man with a rifle who had threatened to kill another man. As he and another officer approached the home the suspect was in on Valley Street (modern-day S Charlotte Street) near Eagle Street, the suspect opened fire with the rifle and struck Officer Blackstock in the chest and the other officer in the arm.

The suspect left the home shooting at everyone he saw. He had killed three citizens when Officer Bailey located the suspect and attempted to take cover behind a utility pole. The suspect's shot went through the pole and struck Officer Bailey in the head.

The man fled but the Governor of North Carolina mobilized the local National Guard company to assist in the search for the killer. The city organized a posse to pursue the suspect and was loaned rifles from Finkelstein's pawn shop downtown. The killer was tracked down and was shot and killed in a shootout with posse members two days later when they trapped him in a swamp outside Asheville.

It was later discovered that the suspect was Will Harris, one of North Carolina's most notorious outlaws. He had escaped from two different chain gangs and had recently escaped from the state penitentiary in Raleigh where he was serving a sentence for killing a man because he refused to share his whiskey with him.

Officer Blackstock was survived by his wife and four children.