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Last updated on Monday, May 14, 2018
(BEDFORD) - Local law enforcement will hold a memorial service Wednesday afternoon honoring seven officers that gave the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.
The memorial service will begin at 2 p.m. at the Fallen Officers monument on the southeast corner of the courthouse.
Bedford Police Chief Dennis Parsley will serve as master of the ceremony. Representatives from the various departments will each have time to commemorate their fallen officers.
The public is welcome to attend.
The officers listed on the memorial include:
Indiana Conservation Officer Karl Kelley
First Sergeant Karl Kelley, 56, died from injuries suffered during a training exercise on the East Fork of the White River at the Williams Dam in Lawrence County.
On April 16, 1998, a boat containing two other conservation officers had overturned in turbulent waters and when First Sergeant Kelley and another conservation officer attempted a rescue, their boat capsized as well. First Sergeant Kelley was rescued after being submerged for 15 minutes and survived for 24 hours before succumbing to his injuries at University of Louisville Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky.
First Sergeant Kelley had served with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for 28 years. He was survived by his wife, two daughters, son, two stepsons, parents, brother, sister, four grandchildren and two stepgrandchildren.
Mitchell Police Officer George Stillman
Officer George Stillman succumbed to a gunshot wound he suffered on Sept. 1, 1965 when he responded to a domestic disturbance. He died six days later.
After his arrival, Officer Stillman was shot in the stomach with a shotgun by a suspect who had already killed his wife as well as having shot at his step-daughter and a vehicle of small children.
The suspect was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Mitchell Police Chief George Bush
Chief George Bush, 36, was killed in an automobile accident while returning from an investigation near Orleans in Orange County.
Shortly after 1 a.m. on October 14, 1935, Chief Bush was traveling northbound on State Road 37, just south of the Lawrence and Orange county line, when his vehicle left the roadway and sheared off a telephone pole. A passing motorist was able to summon local citizens to extricate Chief Bush who was pinned beneath the vehicle. Despite their efforts, which took over 45 minutes, Chief Bush died of a fractured skull and a broken neck. It was believed a blown right rear tire on his vehicle was the cause of the accident.
Chief Bush had served with the Mitchell Police Department as its chief for two years. He was survived by his wife, son, three daughters and father.
Mitchell Police Officer William Sutherlin
Policeman William Sutherlin, 61, was shot and killed March 7, 1923 while attempting to arrest a man who had shot out a street light at the intersection of Sixth and Warren streets.
The man was in a group of males who were acting disorderly at about 9:30 pm. Policeman Sutherlin and another officer responded to the gunfire and began chasing the subjects who were dispersing. When the man who had shot out the street light was being arrested, he fatally shot Policeman Sutherlin in the heart.
The 20-year-old suspect was arrested by the other officer and charged with murder.
Indiana State Police Trooper Robert Gillespie
Trooper Robert Gillespie was killed in a traffic accident while rushing to a call for assistance near Mitchell in Lawrence County.
On Friday, June 8, 1962, while traveling with his emergency lights on, Trooper Gillespie was forced to leave the road when a pickup truck slowed in front of him. Leaving the highway to avoid the truck, Trooper Gillespie swerved back on the highway to avoid another car in his path. A third car then struck his vehicle.
Trooper Gillespie, 33, had served with the Indiana State Police for nearly 12 years and was assigned to the Seymour post. He was a US Navy veteran serving in the Shore Patrol. Trooper Gillespie was survived by his wife and six children. In 1959, he was awarded the agency's Gold Star Award for Valor when, in spite of gunshot wounds, he continued to pursue a couple who had fired at him.
Oolitic Deputy Marshal Pinkney Bough
Deputy Marshal Pinkney Bough was shot and killed while attempting to arrest two subjects on September 23, 1922.
Deputy Marshal Bough had asked the subjects to move their illegally parked car from in front of the motion picture theater in Oolitic one of the men became abusive and profane. Deputy Marshal Bough told them if they did not move their car they would be arrested.
When the subjects still refused, Deputy Marshal Bough attempted to arrest them.
Bough told the men he would have to arrest them if they persisted and if they resisted he would use his club, one of the young man told the officer that he could also use his club. The officer told him he was under arrest and caught him by the front of his shirt pushing back. The young man started to resist arrest, the other young man who was a few feet in front of the two men, started walking backward and put his hand in his pocket, the officer started toward him telling him to take his hand from his pocket, which he refused to do. Bough then struck him knocking him from walk into the street and turned to see the other had a revolver clutched in both hands. As he stepped towards the young man, he fired one shot as the officer brought his billy club down on his head. Both men went down in a heap, the young man came up and fired three shots into the back of Bough as he lay on the ground. The two men did not run away from the scene, but turned and walked east along the sidewalk changing the magazines of the pistols as they walked.
42-year-old Bough was shot five times and died about 9:46 p.m. just after he had been carried into the Dunn Memorial Hospital.
A German Luger '30 caliber and a U.S. Army '45 caliber were the guns used in the affair.
A posse was organized and roads about Oolitic were guarded. The Cromwell & Jackson bloodhounds were called and took up the trail at the garage where the boys stopped for a moment and trailed up an alley to a point on the Dixie Highway near the Belt tracks.
It is believed that they got into an automobile waiting there.
The father of the two boys began negotiations for the surrender of his sons to Sheriff Will Owen and the next day the two boys surrender. The two young men, twenty-year-old lloyd Cobb and the other twenty-two-year-old John Abner, were taken to Jeffersonville to be held until their court appearance.
Bedford Deputy Marshal George Carney
Deputy Marshal George Carney was shot and killed on January 19, 1875 when he interrupted a burglary at a local drug store at approximately 9 p.m.
As he approached the store he was shot by one of the two men who were burglarizing the store. Both men escaped but were arrested in Olney, Illinois, several days later.
One of the two men exchanged shorts with the Olney marshal during the arrest.
Both men were sentenced to life in prison.
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