City Marshal Henry C. Cox

Henry C. Cox

City Marshal Henry Cox was shot and killed while responding to a disturbance approximately one mile below the city limits.

Marshal Cox had been summoned to the area as the result of a railroad laborer had been acting disorderly and severely cut the foreman of a work crew. When Marshal Cox arrived at the scene the man shot him before he could draw his own weapon.

On February 20, 1902, the suspect was apprehended at Hope. A month later he was convicted of Marshal Cox's murder and sentenced to hang. On July 27, 1902, the Arkansas Supreme Court ordered a new trial with a change of venue. A month later he was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 21 years. On May, 27, 1904, he escaped from a prison work crew, working on the Iron Mountain Railroad near Gurdon. On August 10, 1908, he was captured in Texarkana. He was denied a parole on February 27, 1911. He was pardoned on January 1, 1913.

Marshal Cox was a Confederate Army veteran of the Civil War. When killed, he was working his first day as the new town marshal. He was survived by his wife, children, and siblings.