Nightwatchman S. David Nelson was shot and killed when he interrupted a burglary in progress at a local grocery store.

On Monday evening, December 3, 1917, Officer David Nelson was escorting a female from a hotel to the Missouri Pacific Station when, as they rounded a corner, Officer Nelson observed a male break the door glass of C.S. Bailey's grocery store. The suspect turned and fired a revolver at Officer Nelson who was able to return fire, as the female ran for assistance. Officer Nelson died at the scene.

A posse was raised and searched for the suspect. The suspect was located that evening in a barn on the W. H. McCally farm at Ore, south of Pleasant Hill but he was able to shoot his way past the posse and escaped. He was tracked to the timber on the Thomas J. Collier farm, 1 1/2 miles south of Pleasant Hill, the following morning by bloodhounds brought in from Kansas City lost the trail shortly before dawn. On Friday, in the early morning hours, the suspect broke into the Strasburg post office, approximately 6 miles east of Pleasant Hill. The postmaster, who resided on the second floor, discovered the suspect who fled the building. Also that morning, the suspect burglarized a residence in Strasburg at 3:30 am. Twenty-two year-old newly married H. Marion Roush heard a noise in his home. He investigated and discovered the suspect in the dining room. The suspect fired at Roush five times, striking Rousch in the chest and in the stomach. Roush's grandmother, raised the alarm and Roush's brother, Ward Roush, armed himself with a shotgun and responded. Ward Roush searched for and located the suspect walking along a local roadway and challenged him. The suspect shot at Roush who returned fire, and fatally wounding the suspect. Harvey Marion Roush was treated by local physicians then taken to Wesley hospital in Kansas City, Missouri for surgery where he died from his wounds that included a gunshot wound to the stomach and spleen. The suspect, Oscar Phillips', body was taken to Pleasant Hill where he was also identified as the suspect in the murder of Officer Nelson.

Officer Nelson was preceded in death by his wife, Vallie, and was survived by two brothers and a sister. Interment: Union Baptist Cemetery, Pleasant Hill, MO.