A local law enforcement officer’s historic death will be honored in Washington D.C. in May
In October of 2011 the Dubois County Sheriff Department received a letter from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund advising they had been notified of a possible historical law enforcement death in 1886.
Sheriff Donnie Lampert began to research the historic occurrence and determined the officer was Constable Thomas Cummins of Jefferson Township (Birdseye) in Dubois County.
The Dubois County Sheriff Department, Dubois County Records Keeping, Pike County Clerkâs Office, Birdseye Town Marshal, and the family of Constable Cummins searched records to determine what had happened.
They discovered that Constable Cummins went to a saloon in Birdseye to arrest Alfred Kaylor. During the attempted arrest, Cummins was shot in the upper torso by Kaylor. Cummins succumbed to his wounds and died. Local citizens went after Kaylor to lynch him but were unable to catch him. After a warrant was issue though, Kaylor turned himself in.
The jury trial was held in Pike County and Kaylor was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years in the State Prison.
The findings were returned to the Memorial and on Feb.7, Sheriff Lampert received a letter from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial that Constable Thomas Cummins had been approved for inclusion in the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C.
His name will be formally dedicated on May 13, 2012 a the 25th Annual Candlelight Vigil during National Police Week.
My grandfather, Albert Root, wrote about this in his memoirs in 1983 in which he states, "Another tragic incident occurred in town while my father John Root was there, one man by the name of Cummings, held to be a quarrelsome indivudal when drunk, was on the warpath this particular day, his target for mischief making was a stranger in the town by the name of Kahler, who happened to be a detective in the employ of the U S Government. Cummings dogged his tracks for all most the entire day, abusing and maligning him until the mans patience was exhausted, late in the afternoon, Cummings came up behind him and threw his arms around him with the intention of pinioning his arms. whatever his intent, the ruse did not work, the detective had enough arm use to draw his gun and kill Cummins. he was not held accountable for the act." I don't know if this is the same Cummins or not, some spelled the name Cummings and some spelled it Cummins, but I remember my grandfather and Uncle Craig Nelson telling about this. My Grandfather died about 1991 and was 99 years old.