PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) - Family and friends of a Neshoba County deputy sheriff who was ambushed and killed in the line of duty in 1927 dedicated a monument in his memory at Burnside on Saturday in hopes that he will never be forgotten.
John Adam Myers, the former deputy, was ambushed by a moonshiner on his way into town on Oct. 7, 1927, to deliver depositions in a criminal case.
The ambush occurred near the entrance to what is now Burnside Lake Park where the monument was dedicated.
Myers’ great-grandson, Paul Hanser, formerly of Philadelphia and now of Wimberley, Texas, spearheaded the dedication, telling those in attendance that he read once that a man never dies if his name is spoken.
“He only dies when his name is forgotten,” Hanser said. “I hope today that we will be able to read and have his name spoken for the next thousand years.”
Hanser thanked County Administrator Jeff Mayo, the Neshoba County Board of Supervisors, Mike Davis of Pearl River Basin Development District and park officials for allowing the family to place the monument at the park entrance.
Myers was killed about 200 yards from where the monument was erected, he said.
“During my childhood I heard discussions and stories about the shooting and the person who shot him,” he said. “Every time I visited an aunt or an uncle they had a story. I can remember some of them and some I don’t, but there were stories about how the shooting affected their lives.”
Hanser said he spent about five years researching the shooting and learned that there was no monument dedicated to Myers.
“It took about two-and-a-half years to get to this point,” he said. “I think my work, at least for me, was extremely rewarding.”
“Deputy Myers was fearless,” Hanser said. “He was an honorable officer and he served everyone equally under the law. I think that is a lot to be said.”
Hanser did not include the name of the shooter on the monument, telling those at the dedication that he really wanted to honor John Adam Myers and not dishonor the shooter.
“He has family living in this area,” Hanser said. “I didn’t want to embarrass or humiliate them in any way.”
Sheriff Tommy Waddell greeted family and friends during the dedication and thanked them for the opportunity to recognize Deputy Myers.
“It’s a dangerous career,” Waddell said. “It’s a career you have to love and you have to want to help your community and your neighbor.”
He asked those in attendance to thank officers for their service when they see them.
“Tell them you appreciate their service,” Waddell said.
As far as he knows, Myers is the only Neshoba deputy killed in the line of duty.
Deputy Myers was killed by Virgil Dunn, a bootlegger he had sent to prison a year or so earlier through his testimony as the chief prosecuting witness.
Dunn, a trustee, escaped from Parchman about a month or so before the ambush.
The Oct. 13, 1927, edition The Neshoba Democrat reported the ambush with the headline: “Dastardly murder of officer arouses county.”
The newspaper story said citizens were “speaking of it as an outrage of law and the public seems to share the opinion of Sheriff Hays and his deputies that the murder is chargeable to moonshiners who sought revenge for Myers’ activities in trying to rid that section of the county of the bootlegger and the distiller.”
Myers was described as “a fearless officer, who had raided a score of distilleries in the past two years and apprehended many liquor law violators.
___
Information from: Neshoba Democrat, https://www.neshobademocrat.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.