Deputy Constable Andrew Russell was shot and killed attempting to effect an arrest on horse thieves.

On September 13, 1874, Deputy Russell accompanied by Texas Constable, Thomas Ragsdale, Special Officer Charlie Means and a citizen, went to a farmhouse to arrest two of the Lakey brothers wanted for horse stealing in Texas. The party surveilled the house and the barn overnight. Deputy Russell and Constable Ragsdale approached the house at daylight, walking up to the door and challenging the Lakey brothers. The brothers grabbed their guns from the wall and ran out a back door pursued by the officers. As Deputy Russell and Constable Ragsdale pursued the fleeing suspects, the suspects father opened fire from the residence wounding Deputy Russell in the back. The sheriff responded to the house and Deputy Russell was taken to the sheriff's office in Ava, Missouri where he died the same day. A physician treating the eldest Lakey declared him to have sustained a non-survivable wound to the thigh.

Deputy Russell, served with the Campbell Township Constable's Office for approximately three years and previously served with the Springfield Police Department from 1868 to 1869 and Marshal of North Springfield in 1870. He was born in Illinois, was survived by his wife of eleven years, Sarah Ann, and his children, Cornelius, Edwin, Mattie and Charley.