On Tuesday, January 9, 2024, at 2:00pm, the Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office will hold a brief ceremony to unveil a monument at the Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office. Everyone who can is welcome to attend. Many of the citizens of Pontotoc County are unaware of those who have given their lives in service to their fellow citizens while protecting and serving our community. In our county, there have been two officers from the Ada Police Department, one from the Allen Police Department, one from the Roff Police Department, and six from the Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office.

E.M. “Zeke” Putnam – Allen City Marshal Zeke Putnam was shot and killed while standing inside of a store. Someone standing outside of the store fired a shotgun through a window, striking Marshal Putnam in the neck. Two suspects were apprehended in connection with Marshal Putnam’s murder. While the two were in jail a lynch mob broke into the jail to lynch them. Ironically, the mob lynched four other prisoners but not the two arrested for Marshal Putnam’s murder. One of the four that was lynched was in jail for the murder of Officer Ben Collins, of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, on August 1, 1906. Marshal Putnan’s killer was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. His sentence was later commuted to life. In 1923 his sentence was commuted to 22 years. The other suspect was tried and acquitted. Marshal Putnam was survived by his wife and five children.

Deputy Francis “Frank” Marion Hatcher - On July 22, 1909, Deputy Sheriff Francis Hatcher was assigned to keep peace at a picnic south of Ada on Jack Fork Creek. A subject pulled a knife on Deputy Hatcher and as Deputy Hatcher was drawing his gun, Hatcher was shot by another subject. Deputy Sheriff Hatcher was carried to a nearby house, a doctor was summoned. but Hatcher died around 6:00 am the next morning. Deputy Hatcher was 27 years old.

Sheriff Lemuel “Lem” English Mitchell - Mitchell had served as a Deputy US Marshal in Oklahoma Territory and as City Marshal of Ada prior to being elected to two terms as Sheriff of Pontotoc County. Just before noon on Tuesday, February 10, 1914, Sheriff Mitchell was returning to Ada by train from taking some prisoners to the state prison in McAlester. At Tupelo his connecting train was already starting to move when Mitchell arrived at the station and he attempted to board it but slipped and was thrown beneath the car, crushing his left leg. A local doctor tried to save his life by amputating his leg, but he died about 6:00 pm. Sheriff Mitchell was 62 years old, survived by his wife and daughter.

Deputy Peter Gus Nebhut

- About 9:30 am on Thursday, March 10, 1921, several officers from Ada and Pontotoc County surrounded the Byrd Hotel in Ada in an attempt to arrest a moonshiner. The suspect ran to the back door of the hotel where he was met by Deputy Gus Nebhut. The two men struggled and the deputy was shot. Nebhut fired three shots at suspect as he fled. Nebhut, having been shot twice, then collapsed. The suspect was arrested soon after that with bullet wounds. Deputy Gus Nebhut died the next morning, March 11, 1921. Deputy Nebhut was 42 years old, survived by his wife and four children.

Deputy John Howard Fowler

- On the afternoon of Wednesday, November 18, 1931, Deputy Fowler became involved in a pursuit with a suspect driving a stolen car from Fitzhugh to Ada. Near the Springbrook bottoms, the suspect pulled into a driveway. As Deputy Fowler approached the stopped vehicle, he was shot in the intestines and breaking his left arm in two places. Deputy Fowler returned one shot and died the next evening, November 19, 1931. Deputy Fowler was 45 years old, survived by his wife and eight children.

Deputy George Alvis Jones

- On Friday, January 29, 1937, Pontotoc County Deputies Alvis Jones. Charley Shockley, and Deputy U.S. Marshal Allen Stanfield stopped a car near Hayes School, then east of Ada, searching for the suspect in an armed robbery that occurred in McAlester. As Deputy Stanfield was searching the car, the driver opened fire on the officers with a pistol, shooting through his pocket. Deputy Stanfield was wounded and Deputy Sheriff Jones, 38, was hit in the left side, the bullet fatally puncturing his aorta. The suspect then drove off with officers firing at him. He was arrested the next morning near his bullet-riddled car one mile south of Stringtown. Wounded in the left hand and the tip of his nose had been shot off by the officer’s bullets the day before. He was a runaway from St. Louis and said he just “wanted some excitement”. Deputy Jones was 37 years old, had been a deputy four years, and was survived by his wife Juanita.

Detention Officer Kenneth Fowler

- Detention Officer Kenneth Fowler sustained injuries on January 31, 2023, when he slipped on ice and fell in the parking lot of the Pontotoc County Justice Center during an ice storm. He was transported to a hospital in Oklahoma City suffering from head injuries and hypothermia. He remained in a medically induced coma until succumbing to his injuries on February 19, 2023. Detention Officer Fowler was 52 years old, survived by his wife, daughter, mother, brother, sister, and two grandchildren.

For several years the Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office has been working towards a monument, to serve as a lasting tribute to those who lost their lives in the line of duty. On Tuesday, it will be unveiled and dedicated as such. The sacrifices of these men and their contributions to our community should never be forgotten. It’s not how these men died that made them heroes, it’s how they lived and served. We would like to express our gratitude to Ada Custom Memorials and the Anderson Family, who made this possible.

The traditional Vinson Christmas was held this past Saturday and totaled 120 guests at the home of matriarch June Vinson. Family members numbered 89 of those present and had come from Tennessee, Mississippi and Texas, as well as Oklahoma.

Young people from the Southern Oaks United Pentecostal Church in Oklahoma City and the New Life United Pentecostal in Edmond stopped by on their way home from a youth rally to add to the number of guests.

The weather was perfect and the younger generation played outside and, of course, it wouldn’t have been complete without one child in the mud. As Mrs. Vinson said, “Little boys and mud puddles just go together.”