Published: May 11, 2008 03:04 am         

'The Nine' to be remembered

GREENVILLE — Their names are forever etched in granite on a marker outside of the Hunt County Criminal Justice Center.

One day each year those same names are read aloud, and the stories behind them are retold, as law enforcement officers gather in solemn remembrance of their fallen comrades.

The nine officers from Hunt County who gave their lives in the line of duty will be honored this week, during the local observance of the National Peace Officers Memorial Day.

This year’s observance is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at the Justice Center, 2801 Stuart Street in downtown Greenville. It will mark the final time the ceremony is presided over by Hunt County Sheriff Don Anderson, who is retiring at the end of this year.

The most recent of those to have fallen was Celeste Police Department Sergeant John Maki, who on Feb. 10, 2004 was en route to assist Police Chief Clint Mott on a domestic disturbance call in Celeste when his vehicle was involved in a traffic accident which claimed Maki’s life.

Eight other officers from Hunt County have died in the line of duty in the past 122 years, including Deputy Sheriff John William Benjamin Adair on Aug. 28, 1886.

Adair also served as a jailer and had tracked six escaped prisoners on horseback, capturing three of them before one fled again. Adair handed his pistol to another man and told the individual to go after the fleeing prisoner. The remaining two inmates overpowered Adair, attacking him with a knife.

Deputy Sheriff W. R. "Will" Velvin died on Sept. 13, 1902. Velvin was believed to have been attempting to arrest Jim L. Beckham for violating local options laws. When confronted, Beckham allegedly shot Velvin once in the face, killing him instantly.

Deputy Joe Brigham died Dec. 18, 1892. Brigham and his wife were among the very first settlers in Celeste toward the end of the 19th Century. Brigham, responding to an incident at S. L. Green’s Saloon in Celeste, had been deputized by a Hunt County Constable at the scene to assist in capturing a suspect burglarizing the business. Brigham stepped into the middle of a gun battle, with the suspect shooting him in the chest. Three suspects were eventually captured, but the person believed to be the shooter was never apprehended.

Greenville Assistant Chief of Police John L. Southhall and Special Deputy Sheriff Emmett Shipp both died Oct. 6, 1912 as the pair attempted to arrest a drunken gunman known as Sant Slemmons.

Deputy Sheriff Rayburn L. Shipp died on Oct. 18, 1972, while transporting three prisoners from the Hunt County Jail to the Huntsville State Penitentiary.

Wolfe City Officer/Chief Tom Ellis (T. E.) White died on July 8, 1975. At the time Wolfe City’s only patrolman, White was killed by a sniper’s bullet as he sat in his police vehicle in downtown Wolfe City early that morning.

Quinlan Officer Billy Gene Smelley was killed on Sept. 18, 1983. Smelley had arrested a suspect on a charge of driving while intoxicated and during the book-in process, the suspect grabbed the handgun belonging to then-Assistant Quinlan Police Chief Larry Dean Boyd. The suspect shot and killed Smelley and wounded Boyd before taking his own life.

The ceremony will be conducted during National Police Week and will also feature tributes to those law enforcement officers from across Texas who have died in the line of duty during the past 12 months. The observance also includes the reading of the law enforcement code of ethics, presentations of a memorial wreath a 21-gun salute and the playing of Taps.

Family members of several of the officers typically attend each year’s observance.