Paducah Police Honor Fallen Officers

The Paducah Police Department honored their fallen officers Wednesday, as part of National Peace Officers’ Memorial Week.

The department’s Honor Guard, other officers and members of the public placed wreaths and unveiled new footstones at the graves of the four slain officers, identifying them as PPD officers who died in the line of duty.

The four officers:

Officer Cal Smith was ambushed and shot to death on Oct. 3, 1893. His killer had been arrested earlier for being drunk and disruptive, and after
being released on bond, he obtained a rifle and went looking for the arresting officer. He mistook Officer Smith for the officer who had arrested him, and shot him.

Officer James Phelps suffered a fatal heart attack while assisting at the scene of a fire on Nov. 9, 1894. He rushed into a burning building to help
search for anyone trapped inside, and collapsed and died when he exited the building.

Officer William Romain was shot and killed on August 12, 1917, after confronting a group of men who were creating a disturbance. The suspect
fled the scene, but was caught and executed in June 1919.

Officer William H. Poore died on Nov. 29, 1928, after he was injured the previous day while searching for two suspects who had stolen a suitcase.
Poore fell through a train trestle and sustained a head injury. 

At Mount Kenton Cemetery, where Officer Romain is buried, his two great-nieces, Mary Katherine Sanders and Laura Lambert, were in attendance to uncover the footstone on his grave.
 The group then travelled to Oak Grove Cemetery, where officers Smith,
Phelps and Poore are buried, for ceremonies there.

Detective Matt Scheer, a member of the Paducah Police Department Honor Guard, and Jerry Beyer of Wilbert Vault Company have been working for about a year on the footstones. The department offered its sincere thanks to Wilbert Vault for its generous assistance
with the footstone project.