Security Matters Blogspot

Somerset Police Department, KY EOW: Monday, January 16, 1928 On January 15, 1928, Silas West, the police chief of Somerset, and another officer, Massengale, stopped a vehicle driven by Perry Chumbley near the Southern Railroad depot. The officers believed Chumbley was drunk but did not find any weapons on him. One of Chumbley's sober companions was allowed to drive him home instead of being taken to jail for drunk driving. Soon after leaving the scene, Chumbley became upset a

End of Watch: November 15, 1926 Marshal Charlie Wright was appointed to office after Hiram Gregory was shot and killed six months prior. (See Hometown Heroes: Marshal Hiram Gregory ) According to historical records and news articles, on November 15, 1926, Marshal Charlie Wright was shot while attempting to arrest Ike Guffey, a known bootlegger and criminal in Burnside, Kentucky. At the time of the shooting, Marshal Wright was on patrol when he encountered Guffey, who was want

End of Watch: April 23, 1926 Burnside City Marshal Hiram Gregory was 49 or 50 years old when he was gunned down in 1926 while attempting to arrest a Burnside barber named Ed Gibson for public drunk. Marshal’s Gregory’s death certificate says the cause of death was “Gun shot wounds to head and body – homicide”. The August 23, 2002, edition of the Commonwealth Journal said that two shots entered Gregory’s left arm, just below the arm pit and another in the left side below his

End of Watch: October 1, 1913 On August 18, 1913, an alleged moonshiner shot and killed a Burnside Councilman, John Fitzgerald, and wounded the town Marshall, John Coomer, in a pistol duel. The shooter, Josh Tarter, had been to Somerset with a friend earlier that day and appeared to be drunk when he stepped off the train in Burnside. Marshal Coomer arrested Tarter and was about to take him to jail when the prisoner drew his pistol and shot Coomer in the neck, causing a severe

End of watch: April 13, 2002 Today, our community looks back twenty years and mourns one of the greatest losses in recent memory. Those who knew him, those who worked with him, and those whom he earnestly served were jarred by his murder. Pulaski County, surrounding counties, & states, pulled together to honor the beloved Sheriff who was taken too soon. This week's Hometown Hero will always hold a special place in our memory. Rest in peace Sheriff Sam Catron - Unit 111. Speci

End of watch: 1911 "Constable William Heath and Justice of the Peace Andrew Beatty were shot and killed while waiting to serve warrants for liquor violations on two suspects at the county courthouse. Two men were arrested and convicted of two counts of murder. One was executed in the electric chair on November 22, 1912. The other was sentenced to life; he was paroled on November 24, 1926. Constable Heath had been appointed to the position of District 6 constable only five mon

End of watch: 1903 Camp Meetings in Mt. Victory By 1903 the Mt. Victory Camp Meeting had taken place annually for several years and was considered a tradition. It was a popular meeting with hundreds of people in attendance from Pulaski and surrounding counties each year. A man named J.B. Sanders owned around 1,000 acres in Mt. Victory, where he constructed a building on the Nunnelly Springs tract of land large enough to hold more than 1,500 people. Mt. Victory is around 12 mi

End of watch: 1891 The first on our list of fallen Hometown Heroes is Sheriff John McHargue. We don’t know if he was the first officer in Pulaski to fall in the line of duty, but he is the oldest case we could find. John H. McHargue was born in 1835 and grew up in Laurel County with his parents and four sisters. When he was 20 years old, he and Nancy J. Williams were married in Laurel County. According to records, Nancy was originally from Pulaski County, and the couple would