Logan County Sheriff Department

Logan County SO

Love County

Love County Sheriff Department

Served November 1908 to January 1912

Marshall County Sheriff Department

Marshall County

05 28 1912 Marshall County News Democrat (2).jpg

Mayes County

Mayes County Sheriff Department

Jess Baugess Mayes County Republican Dec

Mayes County Republican Dec 21, 1922

McClain County Sheriff Department

McClain County

McCurtain

McCurtain County Sheriff Department

McIntosh County

McIntosh County Sheriff Department

Murray County

Murray County Sheriff Department

Sheriff Leonard Monger 1952-1958

Muskogee County Sheriff Depatment

Muskogee County

Noble County Sheriff Depatment

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Oklahoma County

Oklahoma County Sheriff Department

Photo of Deputy Pete Anderson circa1890.

Attorney and Justice of the Peace Jack Cecil Wheeler announced the opening of his law office and Justice Court at 125 North Pennsylvania in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on January 26, 1935. Wheeler also announced Joseph Wood as his Constable.

Joseph Wilie Wood was born in September 1886 in Texas. Wood moved to Oklahoma City in 1920 and made his living managing rental properties in Oklahoma City before becoming a Constable.

On Sunday July 14, 1935, Constable Joseph Wilie Wood stood in the doorway of the Fairgrounds Night Club, joking with a newspaper reporter. Wood was in a good mood, as he was scheduled to leave the next day for a two-month vacation in California. Wood said to the reporter, “Say, how about giving me a write-up in your paper”. The reporter replied, “Sure. I’ll give you a write-up, I’ll put you on the front page”. Constable Wood and fellow Constable Ray Montgomery laughed as the reporter left. A few hours later, the reporter’s telephone rang. The voice on the other end said, “This is Ray. I want to give you a story”. The reporter asked, “What is it”? Constable Montgomery responded, “Mr. Wood was killed this morning”.

On the night of Saturday July 13, 1935, several constables and deputy constables were hanging around the Fairgrounds Night Club, operated by former Oklahoma City Police Detective Robert Hurt. They were looking for easy arrests for public intoxication and disturbing the peace. Constable earned a $5 fee for each arrest they made. Those arrested appeared in the Justice of the Peace Court of Jack Wheeler, who the constables worked for.

The area around the night club was notorious for criminal activity. A petition to revoke the night club’s beer license had been filed the year prior and Robert Hurt had been charged with running a speakeasy after a raid that netted twenty-two people for drunkenness and loitering.

Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office booking records showed that in the early morning hours of Sunday July 14, 1935, Constable Joseph Wood booked an arrest into the county jail. A short time later, Constable Wood was assisting Constables Jesse A. Gibson, Ray Montgomery, Jay Conrey, Mike Bortay, Special Constables Earl Burnsworth and Harold Collier after an altercation between Arthur E. Huff and Jerry Donovan erupted at the Fairgrounds Night Club. During the altercation, Donovan struck Huff, knocking him to the ground. Unbeknownst to the constables, Arthur Huff was an escaped inmate from the Missouri Reformatory at Algoa, Missouri. At the time of his escape on May 20, 1934, Huff was serving a three-year sentence for burglary.

According to newspaper reports, Arthur Huff was knocked unconscious by Jerry Donovan following a fight in the club. Constable Jesse Gibson and Special Constable Harold Collier, who were in the club, picked Huff up off the floor with intentions of arresting him. As they did, a .32 caliber pistol fell from Huff’s pocket. Constable Gibson escorted Huff to his car in preparation of taking him to the county jail. When Gibson reached the car, May Lewis ran to the aide of Huff and asked Gibson if she could take him home instead of being jailed. Lewis was a family friend of Huff. Gibson refused due to Huff being in possession of a gun.

Constable Gibson’s account of the incident was given. As May Lewis was talking to Huff, Huff reached under her arm and grabbed Constable Gibson’s gun and a scuffle between Huff and Gibson ensued. Gibson later said that he heard Huff say, “stick em up or I will kill you” after Gibson was disarmed by Huff. Constable Gibson grabbed Huff’s arm and threw him to the ground. Special Constable Earl Burnsworth and Constable Ray Montgomery pinned Huff to the ground and attempted to wrestle the gun from his hand.

As Huff was on the ground, Constable Joseph Wood rushed to the constables’ aid crying, “my God Ray, don’t let them kill anybody”. As Wood approached, a shot was fired and the words, “my God, I’m shot” was heard as Constable Wood fell to the ground. Constable Wood had been shot in the abdomen by Huff.

May Lewis returned to the club after the shot was fired. She and her companion, C. H. Larkins, were later arrested and held overnight at the county jail for questioning.

Constable Joseph Wood was rushed to the hospital and died of his injuries on July 14, 1935 at 10:00 am. Oklahoma County District Attorney Lewis R. Morris filed the charge of Murder against Arthur Huff the next day and sought the death penalty for the killing.

Following the shooting of Constable Wood, Oklahoma County Sheriff Stanley Rogers expressed sharp criticism of the number of constables regularly convening on the night club seeking fees in the Justice of the Peace Court of Jack Wheeler on arrests for drunkenness and misconduct.

Sheriff Rogers staffed the Oklahoma County Jail every Saturday night to “cull out” the persons arrested by constables who should not have been arrested. Sheriff Rogers also felt that most of the constables were inexperienced and made unnecessary arrests.

An article in the Oklahoma News also criticized the constables and Justice of the Peace Jack Wheeler’s court. According to the article, records showed Wheeler may have personally gained financially by the practices of the constables. The article also pointed out that constables are officers of the Justice Court. They are not guards, flunkies, or beer garden bouncers for the club.

Just before daylight on September 18, 1935, while awaiting trial for the murder of Constable Joseph Wood, Arthur Huff and four other men escaped from the Oklahoma County Jail. While another prisoner was being booked into jail, a fight between the prisoner and deputies ensued. During the commotion, the would-be escapees broke a hole through the ceiling of the jail, made their way to the roof, and used a rope made of sheets to lower themselves to the street. All five evaded capture.

A brawl in a Dayton, Ohio hotel on March 10, 1936, led to the arrest of Arthur Huff. Huff had been living and working in Dayton since December 1935, after escaping from the Oklahoma County Jail, under the name of Don Vare. A Bertillon (fingerprint) expert confirmed Huff’s true identity. Huff admitted his escape and waived extradition to Oklahoma. On March 14, Sheriff Stanley Rogers returned Huff to Oklahoma.

Arthur Huff went on trial April 06, 1936 in front of Judge Ben Arnold’s District Court in Oklahoma City. On April 08, 1936, the jury returned a returned a guilty verdict of First-Degree Manslaughter. Huff was later sentenced to 25 years in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester for the crime.

Services for Joseph Wilie Wood were held at Hahn Funeral Home, Tuesday, July 16, 1935. He was laid to rest at Rose Hill Cemetery in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Served as a Deputy from 1931 through 1940

Sheriff Stanley Rogers appointed Earl Philetus Gordon deputy for the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office on June 2, 1931. In September of 1932, Gordon was an operator for the Oklahoma County-City police radio station, KGPH. The station went on air in July 1931 as a joint city-county project that provided broadcasting to police, sheriff and fire departments 24 hours a day. Deputy Gordon would spend the remainder of his career as the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office radio system subject matter expert.

On November 1, 1932, Gordon was promoted to the position of Supervisor for the radio system. Gordon succeeded his predecessor, George Prell who resigned as the station engineer. After his promotion, Earl Gordon continued to perform duties as a deputy sheriff at night. At that time, Gordon’s salary was reported to be $157.50 a month.

During the day, Earl Gordon operated and supervised the police radio system from the Oklahoma County Courthouse tower and broadcasted calls that came into the sheriff’s office. The radio system was a direct link to twenty-five Sheriff’s Office cars, thirty local police department scout cars, fourteen fire department cars and fourteen fire stations.

On Saturday, August 12, 1933, a series of violent explosions at Allied Film Exchange’s 704 W. Grand Avenue offices damaged three other buildings and gutted the exchange. Four thousand rolls of film ignited and blew out the front windows and a second blast tore through the rear walls. Flames flung across the street and ignited a three-story building at 10 S. Lee Avenue. Damage also occurred to the Majestic Pictures Film Exchange at 706 and Columbia Pictures at 702 W. Grand. Fourteen fire trucks arrived with their crews to stifle the blaze. Less than three years later, another fire broke out in Allied’s offices due to rolls of smoldering film. Gordon was getting ready to end his shift for the day when he heard the explosions. Gordon dispatched the fire department which got the fire under control in 30 minutes. The response was credited with saving as many as ten lives.

In May 1934, the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office received new radios that permitted officers in scout cars to communicate with each other. Deputy Earl Gordon said the new equipment will allow officers to communicate with the police radio station as well. The system in operation at the time was only capable of transmitting to cars in the field. The new equipment could not be used until each unit was issued a license by the Federal Radio Commission (replaced in 1934 by the Federal Communications Commission).

On September 24, 1934, the new Federal Communication Commission gave permission to KGPH to install the new broadcasting equipment in patrol cars for testing. Deputy Gordon said that if the tests were successful, the broadcasting equipment would be placed in police department scout cars, sheriff’s office cruisers and fire department automobiles. One of the experimental radios was installed in Deputy Gordon’s automobile.

In November 1934, Sheriff Stanley Rogers announced that he would purchase an airplane equipped with a two-way radio and machine gun to pursue outlaws. Sheriff Rogers was confident that an airplane communicating with units on the ground would result in quicker capture of criminals, specifically referring to bank robbers.

On December 13, 1934, the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office received an unofficial approval from Federal Communications Commission Radio Inspector W. D. Johnson for the installation of a radio transmitter in the airplane purchased by Sheriff Stanley Rogers. Johnson wrote Deputy Earl Gordon, expressing the idea that a radio-equipped airplane was a worthwhile idea and believed the application would get due consideration. Johnson wrote that his office had never received a request of this type. After receiving this information, Sheriff Rogers instructed Deputy Gordon to immediately purchase the parts to build a transmitter for the airplane.

On February 01, 1935, Sheriff Rogers was notified that the Federal Communications Commission had granted a permit to install a two-way radio in the Oklahoma County Sheriff Office Anti-Crime plane. This was the first ever permit issued in the United States for an airplane exclusively used for crime work. Deputy Gordon would test the radio for approximately one month and if successful a permanent license was expected to be granted. The new radio system call letters would be KNGO and have a range of 200 miles in all directions. Deputy Gordon and Deputy Sheriff and Pilot Clint Johnson began testing the radio the second week of February.

While in the process of testing two-way radio systems in cars and airplanes, Sheriff Stanley Rogers decided to add one more piece of equipment to his crime fighting arsenal. The new piece of equipment turned out to be a 20-foot motorboat to be used on Lake Overholser. The new vessel was also equipped with a shortwave crime radio installed by Deputy Gordon.

On May 01, 1935, the federal government granted broadcasting privileges to the new crime-fighting airplane radio system. Deputy Gordon reported that in May, crime radio KGPH broadcasted a total of 6352 broadcasts.

In April 1936, a branch of the Association of Police Communication Officers of Americas was formed at the end of the state’s first police radio school. Deputy Earl Gordon was selected as the vice-president of the newly formed organization. During the school, members met and discussed methods for apprehension of criminals using the radio. Eight more Oklahoma cities would soon join in the use of the county-city radio system.

In July 1936, Oklahoma City began the move to acquire the city-county radio station KGPH. It was announced that Deputy Gordon would take on the responsibilities as supervisor of the radio station. The station would soon be moved from the Oklahoma County Courthouse to a city park located away from the downtown area to eliminate interference.

In November 1938, Sheriff Stanley Rogers was defeated by George Goff. At that time, the Sheriff’s Office employed 35 deputies. It was believed that Goff would only retain 9 of the 35 when he took control of the sheriff’s office in January 1939. Deputy Earl Gordon was on the list to stay.

Deputy Gordon continued to work for the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy, radio technician and dispatcher. Newspaper articles show that Gordon was employed with the Oklahoma City Fire Department as an electrician. By 1944, Gordon was operating a radio service business in Oklahoma City.

On October 14, 1968, Earl Gordon passed away in Oklahoma City. Gordon is buried at Rose Hill Burial Park in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.