S

Matt Samuels
Type of Officer: Sheriff
Jurisdiction: Greenwood County
County: Greenwood
Death Date: 1/19/2005
Added to Memorial: 2005
Circumstances of Death:
On the morning of January 19, 2005, Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels and two deputies were serving a search warrant at a home near Hilltop and attempting to serve an arrest warrant on a suspect believed to be in the home.
Sheriff Samuels entered the house and began looking for the suspect when he was shot and killed. Three people in the house were taken into custody at the time of the shooting, but the shooting suspect barricaded himself in the house for several hours before surrendering. Authorities found a met amphetamine lab inside the house.
Matt Samuels was 42 years old at the time of his death. He joined the Greenwood County Sheriffs Department in 1986 and was first elected Sheriff in 2000. Sheriff Samuels is survived by his wife Tammy, their son Heath and daughter Sharlee.

Clarence A. Sanger
Type of Officer: City Marshal
Jurisdiction: Moran
County: Allen
Death Date: 3/28/1942
Added to Memorial: 1987
Circumstances of Death:
While on his rounds, Marshal Sanger discovered two men attempting to break into a garage. Sanger, with pistol drawn,challenged them at the rear door. The suspects immediately fired at the marshal with a shotgun, killing him almost instantly.

Fred Schaumeyer
Type of Officer: Police Officer
Jurisdiction: Kansas City
County: Wyandotte
Death Date: 2/12/1948
Added to Memorial: 1987
Circumstances of Death:
On February 12, 1948, Officer Shaumeyer was investigating a report of a car parked on the Frisco railroad tracks. Perhaps because of the ice and snow, Shaumeyer fell from the bridge and was killed.

Charles Schram
Type of Officer: Night Marshal
Jurisdiction: El Dorado
County: Butler
Death Date: 7/13/1915
Added to Memorial: 1988
Circumstances of Death:
Night Marshal Schram climbed the stairs leading over Wiley's Smoky House the morning of June 28, 1915 to investigate a noise. He was slugged as he reached the top by an unknown assailant. He fell to the bottom of the stairs suffering further injuries. Schram died 16 days later.

Earl Scothorn
Type of Officer: Special Officer
Jurisdiction: Santa Fe Railroad
County: Johnson
Type of Crime: None
Type of Death: Train Accident
Death Date: 11/13/1927
Year Added: 2007
Circumstances of death:
Several weeks prior to his death on November 13, 1927, Santa Fe Railway Special Officer Earl Scothorn was on duty in the Santa Fe rail yards in Argentine when he received injuries believed to have been a result of being struck by a train. The January 1928 Santa Fe Employee Magazine noted that "Scothorn was injured in an accident while performing his duties, and the shock was too severe to overcome." This same magazine noted that there was a high death rate among Santa Fe Railway employees from being fatally injured while getting on and off locomotives and boxcars. Special Officer Scothorn was 32-years-old at the time of his death. Prior to working for Santa Fe, he had been a Lawrence, Kansas police officer.
 

Edward Scotten
Type of Officer: Deputy Policeman
Jurisdiction: Hunnewell
County: Sumner
Death Date: 9/2/1884
Added to Memorial: 1987
Circumstances of Death:
Deputy Ed Scotten was killed when he attempted to disarm four cowboys who were "shooting up" the town. On August 12,1884, he was shot in the neck, which resulted in paralysis. He died of his injuries on September 2, 1884.

Robert C Scudder
Type of Officer: Police Officer
Jurisdiction: Wichita
County: Sedgwick
Death Date: 11/27/1923
Added to Memorial: 1987
Circumstances of Death:
On November 24th, 1923, Office Scudder was responding to a disturbance call at a dance hall. Proceeding up the stairs, hemet Ray Foor, whom he halted and attempted to body search. The suspect pulled a gun and fired, wounding Scudder, and then
fled. Another officer followed in pursuit. Officer Scudder died three days later of his wound.

H. C. Seaman
Type of Officer: City Marshal
Jurisdiction: Baxter Springs
County: Cherokee
Death Date: 11/7/1870
Added to Memorial: 1987
Circumstances of Death:
A “fallen woman” by the name of Nellie Starr, who is listed in the Cherokee County census as operating a brothel, became involved in an argument with two Texas cattle drovers at the Wiggins House Hotel. She fired a pistol at one of the men. Marshal Seaman attempted to arrest Starr, but several more shots were fired and one of the Texans shot the marshal. Before Seaman died, he seriously wounded one of the suspects. During the shooting, the owner of the Wiggins House was wounded and the hotel caught on fire. Marshal C. M. Taylor was appointed by Mayor J. R. Boyd to succeed Seaman. On June 29, 1872, Mayor Boyd shot and killed Marshal Taylor in a dispute.

Wayne L. Selle
Type of Officer: US Corrections Officer
Jurisdiction: Leavenworth Penitentiary
County: Leavenworth
Death Date: 7/31/1973
Added to Memorial: 2006
Circumstances of Death:
Corrections Officer Wayne L. Selle was stabbed to death on July 31, 1973 during an inmate disturbance that started in “A” cellblock at the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth. He was at the scene of a disturbance in one of the cell houses when inmate William R. Hurst, with a covered face began chasing him with a homemade knife. Hooded inmates then took four hostages and demanded an audience with Warden Loren Daggett and representatives of the press. The hostages were released after the warden agreed to meet with a committee of the inmates. Oficer Selle’s body was found later in the day in front of the cell house. Inmate Hurst committed suicide while awaiting trial. Officer Selle was 40 years old at the time of his death. He was survived by his wife Wilma, a daughter and two sons.

William Semans
Type of Officer: Police Officer
Jurisdiction: Ellsworth
County: Ellsworth
Death Date: 8/2/1869
Added to Memorial: 1987
Circumstances of Death:
Ellsworth city policeman William “Apache Bill” Semans was attempting to stop a row at the dance hall and was killed during the attempt. No other information has been located.

Albert T. Shenneman
Type of Officer: Sheriff
Jurisdiction: Cowley County
County: Cowley
Death Date: 1/25/1883
Added to Memorial: 1987
Circumstances of Death:
Sheriff Shenneman had received notice that Charles Cobb, who had killed Valley Falls Marshal Daniel Weiser, was traveling in his direction. Cobb, working at a ranch near Udall Station (now Udall) aroused suspicion of the owner when he kept loaded weapons close at hand. The rancher notified Shenneman. Using an assumed name, the sheriff went into the ranch house,observed Cobb, decided he was the wanted person and attempted to arrest him. Cobb, however, shot and killed Shenneman but was captured by the owner and ranch hands and taken to Winfield. When a large crowd gathered, Cobb was moved to Wichita for safekeeping. He was returned, however, to Winfield for a court hearing. A large mob again gathered, took him from the jail, and lynched him from the Kansas City, Lawrence and Southern Kansas railroad trestle. While in jail, Cobb explained that books on Jesse James and other "desperados" had influenced his spree of crime.

John Sherman
Type of Officer: Railroad Police Officer
Jurisdiction: Topeka
County: Shawnee
Death Date: 8/31/1927
Added to Memorial: 1997
Circumstances of Death:
Union Pacific Special Agent John Sherman was shot in the back August 17, 1927 by a youth after he had taken two youths from a train in the Topeka yards. He almost finished searching one man for weapons when the second pulled a gun and shot him. The two assailants escaped. Sherman would linger until August 31st when he died. The following year Vincent Williamson and Herman Lemp were implicated in the slaying. Williamson was already in jail at Hutchinson for the derailment of three trains. A fireman was killed in one of the derailments. Williamson admitted the shooting to Lemp while in jail. The cell had been bugged. As a result he pled guilty and was sentenced to the state penitentiary.

Clarence L. Shields
Type of Officer: Police Officer
Jurisdiction: Topeka
County: Shawnee
Death Date: 4/11/1955
Added to Memorial: 1987
Circumstances of Death:
Officer "Boots" Shields, who was either responding to a tip or was continuing an investigation into a burglary ring, made a patrol stop at the Moose Lodge Club in North Topeka. He surprised burglars on the roof of the lodge and was mortally wounded by them. Shields managed to return their fire, wounding one of the suspects. The investigation into Shields' killing and arrest of suspects led to the disbanding of a large burglary ring.

George Shindle
Type of Officer: Special Agent
Jurisdiction: Union Pacific Railroad
County: Logan
Type of Crime: Peddling Liquor
Type of Death: Knife Wound
Death Date: 7/3/1916
Year Added: 2007
Circumstances of death:
On June 21, 1916 Union Pacific Railroad Special Agent George Shindle was stabbed by a railroad worker in the Union Pacific Railroad yards in Oakley, Kansas while investigating reports of someone peddling liquor on railroad property. Special Agent Shindle was treated for his wounds by a physician in Oakley. The suspect pled guilty to assault and battery on June 22. Special Agent Shindle was subsequently transferred to a hospital in Denver where he died on July 3, 1916. Following his death, the suspect was charged and convicted of second degree manslaughter. Agent Shindle had been an employee of Union Pacific for 12 years and was survived by his wife and two sons.
 

Carl A. Simons
Type of Officer: Chief of Police
Jurisdiction: Leoti
County: Wichita
Death Date: 5/25/1976
Added to Memorial: 1987
Circumstances of Death:
North of Leoti, Chief Carl Simons stopped a car driven by Richard McCowan, who was in violation of parole. A general requestor McCowan's arrest had been circulated, and Simons stopped McCowan on that charge. McCowan, who had his children with him in the car, was handcuffed by Officer Simons and was taken to the officer's car, but McCowan returned to his car to check on his children. At his car, McCowan retrieved his gun (probably given to him by one of his children) and walked back to the police car. While still handcuffed, McCowan engaged in a struggle with Simons, and Simons was shot and killed. When Simons did not report in from duty, his wife went to look for him and found him. McCowan was captured in Eads, Colorado, three hours after the incident.

Jube Simpson
Type of Officer: Night Marshal
Jurisdiction: Lenora
County: Norton
Death Date: 11/21/1932
Added to Memorial: 1988
Circumstances of Death:
Although there were no witnesses to the killing it is believed that Night Marshal Simpson was overpowered at the Home Oil Station in Lenora by two men who had intended to loot various businesses in town. Two Colorado men were later charged in the killing but the case was dismissed.

Hugh H. Siverd
Type of Officer: Constable
Jurisdiction: Winfield
County: Cowley
Death Date: 10/25/1893
Added to Memorial: 1987
Circumstances of Death:
Constable Siverd arrested bootlegger Wilbur Norton on a warrant, and was taking him to jail when they were confronted by Morgan Wright, a friend of Norton's. Wright ordered Siverd to release Norton. Norton jumped to one side and Wright shot and killed the constable. A gold star in the sidewalk marks the spot of Siverd's death.

Thomas J. Smith
Type of Officer: Chief of Police
Jurisdiction: Abilene
County: Dickinson
Death Date: 11/2/1870
Added to Memorial: 1987
Circumstances of Death:
Thomas Smith, chief of police of Abilene, was well known for his effectiveness in that position. During the last week of October 1870, Smith, who was also an appointed deputy sheriff, was asked to serve a warrant for the re-arrest of a murder suspect,Andrew McConnell. Smith may have been acting in any one of his official capacities. McConnell lived in a dugout outside of town. Chief Smith and Officer James McDonald went to the location to serve the warrant. At the site, McConnell’s friend, a man named Miles who had given false testimony to originally save McConnell from prosecution,was with him. When Smith informed McConnell he had a warrant for his arrest, McConnell shot Smith through the right lung. Smith in turn wounded McConnell and they began to grapple. Miles truck Smith in the head, grabbed an axes and cut his “head nearly from his body.” Officer McDonald immediately returned to Abilene and a posse was raised. Several days later, police magistrate C. C. Kuney and James Gainsford, two of the original posse, captured McConnell and miles north of Clay Center with the assistance of Clay County Sheriff P. Rothman and two other men. The Abilene Chronicle wrote of Smith that he was “an officer who never shrank from the performance of his duty. He was a stranger to fear…..He came to this place last spring, when lawlessness was controlling the town…and soon order and quiet took the place of the wild shouts and pistol shots of ruffians who for two years had kept orderly citizens in dread for their lives…It will be a long time before his equal will be found in all the essentials required to make a model police officer…In years to come there will be those who will look back to the days when it required brave hearts and strong hands to put down barbarism in this new country and among the names of the bravest and truest [will be Tom Smith].”

William Edward Smith
Type of Officer: Special Agent
Jurisdiction: United States Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
County: Crawford
Type of Crime: Bootlegging
Type of Death: Vehicle Crash
Death Date: 12/25/1937
Year Added: 2007
Circumstances of death:
United States Treasury Department Special Agent William E. Smith suffered a head injury in a vehicle crash while he and another agent were pursuing a suspected bootlegger near Mulberry, Kansas on August 11, 1937. More than four months later, Special Agent Smith was still under a doctor’s care for injuries suffered in the crash. On December 22, 1937, Special Agent Smith suffered a stroke while on duty and died three days later. Agent Smith joined the Prohibition Unit in 1920, transferred to the US Customs Service in 1923 and returned to the Prohibition Unit in 1929. He was a 17 year veteran of the Treasury Department and a veteran of the US Army. SA Smith was survived by his wife.
 

Kenneth E Snider
Type of Officer: Deputy Sheriff
Jurisdiction: Sedgwick County
County: Sedgwick
Death Date: 4/18/1998
Added to Memorial: 1998
Circumstances of Death:
Shortly after