Town Marshal Lon Fernandez

Lon Fernandez

Town Marshal Lon Fernandez was shot and killed after being disarmed while confronting several men who were drunk and shooting their guns at a local livery stable on East Main Street.

When Marshal Fernandez initially confronted the group, one of the men was able to disarm him and made him walk up and down the stables with his arms up before telling him to leave. Marshal Fernandez obtained another pistol and returned to the stable to arrest the man and retrieve his pistol. A shootout ensued when he returned, in which the man shot him 10 times.

The man fled but was later arrested. In 1899, he was acquitted.

Marshal Fernandez had served with the Rogersville Police Department for at least seven years. He was survived by his four sisters.