Sheriff Talbott, Deputy Sheriff John McDonald and Deputy Constable James Stapleton were shot and killed while transporting three auto theft suspects they had arrested to jail.

On May 4, 1919, the men left Lexington bound for Marshall, Missouri, to transport three suspects that had been apprehended there after stealing a physician's car in Lexington. They left Marshall with Sheriff Talbott driving, Deputy Constable Stapleton in the front and Deputy McDonald in the back seat with the three unshackled prisoners. When they failed to show up in Lexington by the next day a search was conducted and the lawmen were discovered in a field by the Prairie Church near Mayview, Missouri on Tuesday, May 6 at 8:30 am. Constable Stapleton, the sole survivor, was found wandering aimlessly in a field after sustaining gunshot wounds to the head and shoulders and having been badly beaten. Constable Stapleton was taken to the Lexington hospital where he was conscious but unable to speak as a result of a head wound. He died five days later. Deputy Sheriff Talbott, who had been driving the car, was shot three times in the back. Deputy McDonald was shot in the back of the head after an apparent struggle in the back seat of the car. The sheriff's car was later found abandoned near Blue Springs, the rear seat covered with blood and a pair of handcuffs was discovered in the vehicle.

Suspect James Bradley, aka Roy Clark and Roy Brown, was tried in Warrensburg in July 1920 for the murder of Sheriff Talbott, Deputy John McDonald and Deputy Constable James C. Stapleton was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was granted a new trial and acquitted on September 14, 1922. Bradley was arrested in 1923 as one of a band of suspects in two Buckner bank robberies, the Bank of Buckner and the Farmers Bank at Buckner. Bradley and a co-conspirator in the bank robberies were sentenced to 30 years for the robberies.

Sheriff Talbot was elected sheriff in 1916. He was survived by his wife, Minnie, and five children. His wife was elected to serve as sheriff in his place. Interred: Machpelah Cemetery, Lexington, MO.

Deputy McDonald was interred in Old Catholic Cemetery, Lexington, MO.

Deputy Stapleton was previously appointed Lexington night watchman in the summer of 1918, to succeed an officer who had been called into the army. Articles showed Deputy Stapleton also working for Lexington township as a deputy constable in 1916. Deputy Constable Stapleton previously ran for constable of Lexington Township in 1906, losing by a slim margin.

Deputy Stapleton was born in Virginia and was survived by his wife, Sarah, and four children, Ethel May, Myrtle, Bessie and John Walton. The funeral was held Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock from the Presbyterian church. Interred: Machpelah Cemetery, Lexington, MO.

Article by Brent Marchant