Fallen Officer Tribute: Backwoods cowards shot and killed deputy sheriff to avoid serving in World War I

On May 24, 1918, deep in the wooded hills near Hatfield, Arkansas, a confrontation erupted that would leave one lawman dead, another wounded, and a community shaken by the deadly consequences of draft resistance during World War I.

Deputy Sheriff Charles J. Kirkland of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office was part of a posse dispatched to arrest a group of men who had refused to register for the draft. The Selective Service Act of 1917 had made registration mandatory for all eligible men, and resistance—though rare—was met with swift legal action.

The posse approached a remote cabin where the suspects were believed to be hiding. As they neared the structure, gunfire erupted from the windows. Deputy Kirkland was struck and killed instantly. Another officer was seriously wounded.

The posse returned fire, killing one of the men inside. The standoff ended with seven men taken into custody, all charged with the murder of Deputy Kirkland. The case would become one of the most high-profile draft resistance prosecutions in Arkansas during the war.

The legal outcomes were as severe as the crime. One man was executed in the electric chair on August 24, 1918, just three months after the incident. Another received a life sentence. The remaining four were sentenced to 16, 15, 10, and 3 years, respectively.

These swift convictions reflected the federal government’s zero-tolerance stance on draft evasion and the broader national anxiety surrounding loyalty and patriotism during wartime.