Officer Down Memorial: Benton County constable died in 1924 while returning home from a gambling house raid
- Dennis McCaslin
- Jun 23, 2025
- 2 min read
In the early hours of a Sunday night just over a century ago, tragedy struck the Rogers Police Department when Constable Ed Allen, 46, lost his life in a freak roadside accident that stunned the community and left a family without a husband and father.
Constable Allen, a dedicated officer and father of five, was returning from a failed raid on a suspected gambling house with two fellow officers when their vehicle encountered a runaway horse and buggy on Monte Ne Road.
In a desperate attempt to avoid a collision, Allen’s driver swerved off the road—but fate had other plans. The buggy’s wooden shaft splintered on impact, piercing the vehicle and striking Allen in the chest. He succumbed to internal injuries shortly after.
The incident, reported in local papers at the time, was described as “a most unfortunate and sorrowful loss to the city of Rogers,” with headlines mourning the constable’s “sacrifice in the line of duty.”
His death came during a turbulent era of Prohibition enforcement, when rural lawmen often faced unpredictable dangers—from bootleggers to, as in this case, the chaos of the open road.
Allen’s funeral drew a large crowd, with fellow officers, townspeople, and civic leaders lining the streets in solemn tribute. His widow, Ora May Hummel Allen, and their five children were said to be “surrounded by the prayers of a grieving town.”
Ora herself would pass just two years later in 1926, leaving the children orphaned in a community still grappling with the echoes of their father’s loss.
Constable Edward T. Allen was laid to rest in Rogers Cemetery, nesled in the heart of Benton County. His gravestone stands in quiet dignity beneath the oaks, a sentinel to a bygone era of duty and sacrifice.
Of his children, Albert E. Allen, the eldest, carried the family name forward in Benton County until his own untimely death in 1942 at the age of 35—yet another thread of hardship woven into the family's legacy.
