Fallen Officer Tribute: Benton County constable died while in pursuit of fleeing Missouri fugitives in 1891

In the frigid dawn of January 19, 1891, a posse formed near Garfield in Benton County to confront two fugitives--Nim and Harrison Sheppard--wanted in Missouri for assault with intent to kill.

Armed with fresh Winchesters, the brothers took refuge at the McCollum residence. Among those summoned to duty was Constable Will D. Dalton, just 23 years old, known throughout Benton County for his integrity and resolve.

Dalton, alongside Missouri Sheriff A.M. Vandergrift and Deputy Ed Webb, approached the cabin with warrants in hand. The officers announced their presence and demanded entry, but were met with gunfire.

A bullet struck Dalton fatally in the forehead. Vandergrift succumbed to his wounds two days later. Their deaths marked one of the darkest moments in Arkansas frontier justice.

Despite a sweeping manhunt, Nim Sheppard, the presumed shooter, vanished into the wilds.

For over two years, he remained a ghost--until April 1893, when officers received word of his arrest in Decatur, Illinois. Marshal J.J. Barnett and George Wilson retrieved the fugitive and brought him back to face trial in Benton County.

The community expected swift and severe justice.

But after heated arguments between prosecutors Tillman and John C. Peel and defense attorneys Gunter and Vandeventer, the jury delivered a verdict that shocked many: guilty of involuntary manslaughter, with a sentence of just one year in the state penitentiary.

In July 1893, Nim Sheppard escaped from a prison stockade near Benton. Days later, his lifeless body was found in the Arkansas River, still clad in prison stripes, having drowned while fleeing justice one final time.

There was talk at the time that "possibly" Sheppard may have been "assisted" by prison personnel in both his escape and his inability to breathe underwater once he reached the river. An internal investigation "cleared" the prison guards, but the rumors persisted for years.

Constable Dalton was laid to rest in Rogers Cemetery, honored by local fraternal orders like the I.O.O.F. and Knights of Pythias. His widow, Anna Almira Sikes Johnson, mourned a husband whose name would be etched into the legacy of law enforcement sacrifice.

Alongside Missouri’s Officer Edgar Wright, who also perished during the pursuit, Dalton’s legacy lives on in solemn remembrance.

“Permit no innocent man to be punished, but let no guilty man escape.” -- Judge Isaac C. Parker