Undersheriff Matthew B. DeVane

Matthew B. DeVane

Undersheriff Matthew DeVane was shot and killed while attempting to arrest three tramps who had just stolen a barrel of liquor.

Undersheriff DeVane located the men at the intersection of Main Street and 2nd Street. As he began to search the men one of them pulled out a gun and fatally shot him. The three men were eventually apprehended.

The subject who killed Undersheriff DeVane was convicted of his murder and sent to prison. On November 3rd, 1901, he and another prisoner overpowered a guard, took several guns, and escaped from Yuma Prison. Later in the day the man was shot and killed near Fortuna during a gunfight with a posse that caught up with him.

Undersheriff DeVane was survived by his brother.