Marshal Rome S. 'Shep' St Clair was shot and killed trying to arrest a man creating a disturbance.

On December 21, 1917, Marshal St. Clair, responding to the complaint from Red Cross workers, found the man on Decatur Street in the outskirts of Malden and commanded the man stop and walk toward him. When they got within reach of each other the man grabbed Marshal St. Clair and a struggle ensued. During the struggle the suspect gained control of the Marshal's revolver, took a step back and shot Marshal St. Clair who then fell to the ground. The suspect then calmly approached the downed lawman and shot Marshal St. Clair twice in the back of the head. As he fled, the suspect fired the remaining rounds in the revolver at his pursuers.

The suspect, L.H. Wissman of Havana, Missouri, fled to New Madrid County but numerous posseys were formed in both counties and he was apprehended and returned for prosecution. While the sheriff and his deputies held off an angry mob, someone shot Wissman through a jail window. The crowd was told that Wissman was killed to pacify them. The suspect had been thought to be a German spy but it was discovered he escaped from a mental instituation a year earlier. Wissman had been announced to be killed in the shooting to pacify that crowd but he was returned to a mental hospital where physicians announced he would recover.

Marshal St. Clair, 45, was elected City Marshal the previous April. Interred: Malden, MO.