A Kentucky community was shaken by a courthouse shooting in 1922

The Graves County Courthouse in Mayfield in 1942. Twenty years before a deputy fatally shot the sheriff and stood trial there. The building was damaged beyond repair in the December 2021 tornado outbreak. Photo by George Goodman (1876-1961) from the Goodman-Paxton Photographic Collection. (University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center)

The Sept. 19 Whitesburg slaying wasn’t the first time one county official was charged with killing another in a Kentucky courthouse.

Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Stines, 43, is accused of first degree murder for allegedly shooting District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, in his chambers. So far, the sheriff’s motive is unclear.

On March 6, 1922, Deputy Sam Galloway, 29, gunned down Graves County Sheriff John T. Roach, 30, in the sheriff’s office. Galloway evidently killed Roach after he heard the sheriff planned to fire him.

Stines, who immediately surrendered to authorities, pleaded not guilty and remains jailed without bond. A preliminary hearing has been set for Oct. 1.

The Whitesburg shooting has attracted state and national media coverage. Likewise, the Mayfield shooting grabbed newspaper headlines across Kentucky and the country. The latter ultimately led to a book, “A Courthouse Tragedy: Politics, Murder and Redemption in a Small Kentucky Town,” written by the late Murray attorney Sid Easley, a Graves County native. Published 10 years ago, it’s still available on Amazon.

Easley wrote that Roach and Galloway had been friends. Both wanted to run for sheriff in the August 1921, Democratic primary. Apparently, the two men struck a deal: Galloway would bow out in favor of Roach, who would appoint him a deputy, a post that often was a stepping stone to sheriff.

After he won the primary and easily defeated a Republican in the general election, Roach kept his word. But trouble brewed when Galloway found out that Roach planned to cut his pay and work hours. Worse, Galloway later learned that his days as a deputy were numbered.

Galloway confronted Roach in the sheriff’s office on circuit court day. Both became angry; Galloway shot Roach three times with a .45 caliber pistol, according to Easley’s book.

Galloway quickly handed over his weapon and submitted to arrest. Fearing mob violence against the prisoner, authorities transported him to the McCracken County jail in Paducah.

On March 7, the Graves County grand jury indicted Galloway for willful murder, which carried a maximum sentence of death or life imprisonment. The case against Galloway seemed open and shut. After all, there were multiple witnesses.

Roach’s death resulted in a historical first for Kentucky. His widow, Lois Roach, was named to succeed him. Apparently the state’s first woman sheriff, she was elected in her own right in 1923 and reelected to a second two-year term in 1925.

Galloway’s trial began on June 26. Because he and the late sheriff had many friends in Mayfield and Graves County, Circuit Judge W.H. Hester summoned a jury from adjacent Ballard County.

Galloway pleaded self-defense, claiming he fired only when he saw Roach reach in his pocket for his pistol. His testimony was disputed; the prosecution characterized the deputy as a cold-blooded murderer.

The jury deliberated for three days and failed to reach a verdict. Hester declared a mistrial and prepared to set a date for a second trial, Easley wrote.

Hester gaveled the court into session on July 26 with jurors from Carlisle County, which also adjoined Graves. The judge stopped the trial after a juror unexpectedly died on July 28. The judge scheduled a third trial, also with Carlisle countians in the jury box, for Aug. 1.

In his charge to the jury, Hester said Galloway could be found not guilty, found guilty of murder and sentenced to death or life imprisonment, or found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and imprisoned for “not less than two nor more than twenty-one years,” Easley wrote.

On Aug. 4, the panel convicted Galloway of the lesser charge and sentenced him to seven years. Hester subsequently denied a defense motion for another trial and Galloway’s lawyers gave up on a fourth trial.

After his release from Eddyville Penitentiary, Galloway moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with his second wife. His first wife died soon after he was locked up. The couple had two sons; one lived to 72, the other, born while the deputy was jailed and awaiting his first trial, died at age 5.

Galloway was 74 when his life ended in Tulsa in 1968. He is buried in a Tulsa cemetery.

Roach and his widow, who died in 1979 at 83, are buried in Mayfield’s old Maplewood Cemetery. A metal plaque recognizes her as the first woman sheriff in Kentucky. Besides his spouse, Roach was survived by their 3-year-old daughter, Ruth, who lived to age 86.

The 1880s vintage red brick courthouse, where Galloway violently ended Roach’s life and was punished for his crime, is gone, a casualty of the deadly Dec. 10, 2021, tornado that devastated much of Mayfield.

Easley ended his book by quoting the editor of the “Mayfield Weekly Messenger” who, three days after the shooting, urged the citizenry “to be calm, collected and full of the spirit that controls sadness and tears. And yet it is also the time for wise men and those who love the integrity and honor of Mayfield to counsel peace and the law.”

The author concluded, “The voice of that editor eloquently reminded the community that the spirit of redemption was always present, and that the wise among them should reach for the healing offered by its power of restoration.”

SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX