True Crime Chronicles: McCurtain County vehicle pursuit in 1963 resulted in the murder of a Deputy

George Ralph Nichols

On a clear October morning in 1963, George Ralph Nichols of the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office was on patrol along U.S. Highway 259 south of Smithville when he became involved in a vehicle pursuit.

The chase ended roughly five to six miles south of town near a local landmark known as The Narrows, a stretch of road where a roadside cafe and beer hall operated by the father-in-law of George Ralph Nichols stood.

Nichols, then 54 years old and living in the nearby community of Dogpatch, stepped from his vehicle holding a 30-30 caliber rifle. Within moments the deputy lay dead from a gunshot wound.

Harrison was 39 years old. He left behind his wife Arlene and three teenage children.

George Ralph Nichols was arrested later that same day, October 11, 1963. Authorities transported him first to temporary facilities in Idabel and briefly to the adjoining Choctaw County jail because the McCurtain County jail structure was considered unsound at the time.

. He was charged with murder. A preliminary hearing followed on November 15, 1963, after which he was bound over for trial in the District Court of McCurtain County. Nichols retained private counsel of his own choosing throughout the proceedings.

The investigation relied on a combination of circumstantial and direct evidence.

Witnesses placed Nichols in the immediate vicinity of The Narrows at the critical hour.

One wrecker driver reported seeing him inside the roadside building holding a rifle shortly before the shooting. A spent 30-30 cartridge casing was recovered near the scene. Four separate individuals later testified that they heard Nichols admit to shooting the deputy.

An eyewitness to the final moments described the shooter as a man of Nichols’s general build wearing khaki-style clothing. Nichols himself elected not to take the stand. His defense called six witnesses who attempted to challenge the timeline, the visibility into the building, the clothing description, and the origin of the rifle casing. The father-in-law claimed he had fired the rifle earlier that morning while hunting deer.

Trial began on June 30, 1964, before Judge Howard Phillips. On July 3 the jury returned a verdict of guilty and fixed punishment at life imprisonment. Formal sentencing followed on July 9, 1964, committing Nichols to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester.

He appealed to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, raising issues concerning the information, jury selection, sufficiency of the evidence, and the jury instructions. On June 15, 1966, the appellate court affirmed the conviction in full, finding the evidence adequate and the proceedings free of reversible error.

Years later the life sentence was reduced to thirty-three years and one day.

Nichols was eventually paroled and returned to the Smithville area.

Deputy Clyde Raymond Harrison was laid to rest in Oaklawn Cemetery in Sulphur, Murray County, Oklahoma.

His name is recorded on the Officer Down Memorial Page and the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial. The stretch of Highway 259 near The Narrows continues to carry the quiet memory f the fallen lawman.