Deputy Sheriff Marion Stapleton

Marion Stapleton

Deputy Sheriff Marion Stapleton was shot and killed and Deputy Sheriff Stanley Helton was mortally wounded by a man wanted for the murder of a local farmer the previous day.

The suspect opened fire with a shotgun as the deputies approached. Deputy Stapleton was killed instantly. Deputy Helton, struck in his chest, succumbed to his wounds 12 days later. A third deputy was slightly wounded.

The suspect fled into the mountains but surrendered to a posse five days later. He was sentenced to death for Deputy Helton's murder and executed in the electric chair on November 3, 1933.