Posseman Frank C. Gartman

Frank C. Gartman

Posseman Frank Gartman was shot and killed while trying to apprehend a group of prisoners who escaped the Cummins Prison Farm in Arkansas.

A posse was formed when the escapees kidnapped three area high school students. Just before midnight, Posseman Gartman and another posse member approached a vehicle that was on the side of the road with a flat tire in Columbia east of the Ouachita River. As they moved towards the car, a shootout began. The hostages shouted to stop shooting since the escapees had guns pointed at their backs. However, the convicts fired at them, and Posseman Gartman was hit and died immediately. The convicts fled on foot into the pecan orchard using their hostages as a shield.

The next day, they found one of the convicts in a gulley a quarter mile away. Before he could fire, he was shot and killed by posse members. He was the escapee who had shot and killed Trustee Guard Claude Martin. Four convicts hid throughout the pecan orchard and the swamp area. They negotiated the release of their hostages when they became hungry and thirsty. The four men were convicted of murder and hanged. Another convict was found by law enforcement and was shot and killed when he would not surrender.

Posseman Gartman was a World War I veteran. He was survived by his wife, son, daughter, father, two brothers, and three sisters.