Gene Jackson, Special Patrolman

Drumright Police Department

Jackson, a black man, was hired in mid-November, 1916, to police the black area of Drumright. A few weeks later the morning of Wednesday, November 29, Officer Jackson arrested a man named Bus Deckard for selling whiskey. Deckard had been arrested earlier that same morning for vagrancy by another officer and had posted bail. After posting bail the second time Deckard armed himself with a 30-30 Winchester rifle. About noon  that same day Deckard and Officer Jackson met again. It was theorized that Jackson may have fired the first shot as he was shot once below one eye and killed instantly. Jackson’s gun had been fired three times and the 30-30 rifle had only been fired once.

 

Ernest H. Keller, Chief

Drumright Police Department

About 10:00 P.M. on Thursday, August 10, 1916, Chief Keller, 35, and Deputy Jim Rippey were investigating the robbery of two employees of the Prairie Oil and Gas Company, near the slaughterhouse. The two officers started walking down the Santa Fe Railroad tracks. After going only about fifty feet the officers encountered two men walking toward them. Chief Keller called out to the men to stop when one of them drew a pistol, shooting Chief Keller fatally. Deputy Rippey emptied his gun at the men as they ran away. After Deputy Rippey determined that the Chief was dead he went after the two men with a rifle he borrowed from a nearby house. Deputy Rippey caught one man after wounding him. The second man was arrested at his home near the scene. It soon came to light that the whole affair was a tragic mistake. The wounded man, J. W. Miller, and the other man, R. C. Aubrey were employed by the same company as the robbery victims who had told them of their robbery. When the two officers approached them on the tracks in the dark and Chief Keller called out for them to stop, they assumed they were the robbers and opened fire on them. J. W. Miller survived his wounds.

Ulysses Sterling Lenox, Officer

Drumright Police Department

On the afternoon of Wednesday, July 2, 1924, a group of Drumright officers got in a car and drove off in an attempt to intercept three men who had just robbed the State Bank of Avery, seven miles south of Cushing. About 2:15 P.M. a mile and a half out side of Drumright the officer’s and the robber’s cars passed each other. As they passed, the robbers opened fire on the officers, wounding Drumright Chief of Police Jack Avy and Officer Lenox, and escaped. Officer Lenox died 10 minutes after arriving at the hospital. He left behind a wife and two children. Irvin "Blackie" Thompson was later arrested and charged with Lenox's murder. Thompson plead guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.