Railroad Detective Leslie D. Johnson

Leslie D. Johnson

Railroad Detective Leslie Johnson succumbed to a gunshot sustained two days earlier in the railroad yards at Silver Grove, Kentucky, when he interrupted at least one subject breaking into a boxcar.

A train conductor who was inspecting his train located Detective Johnson in a ditch suffering from a gunshot wound to his forehead. A large box of rice that had been removed from a railroad car was found nearby and it was evident that Detective Johnson had been dragged across two railroad tracks and placed in the ditch.

Detective Johnson was transported to a local hospital where he regained consciousness briefly, but was unable to provide any details of the shooting. He died in the hospital on March 27th, 1915.

Several subjects were arrested for trespassing in the railroad yards shortly after he was shot and provided information about a possible suspect, however, it is not known if anyone was ever arrested. Investigators at the time believed that his murder was committed by the same subjects who murdered Railroad Detective Cleveland Kemp in the same railroad yards on June 7th, 1914.

Detective Johnson was survived by his wife.