George W ROGERS

January 7, 1897 - August 12, 1925

COUNTY MOURNS TRAGIC DEATH OF OFFICERS
MORTALLY WOUNDED IN THE LINE OF DUTY:
GEORGE W. ROGERS/ ULYSS M BALDWIN
Thousands Attend Officer's Funerals
Interment Made Close Together in Greenwood Cemetery
Two great mounds of flowers, nature's sweetest emblems of love and respect, mark the last resting place of Officers Baldwin and Rogers, slain while in the line of duty.
The final chapters of the lives of these officers were written Saturday and Sunday when one of the largest and also the largest gathering of people turned from the cares of life to pay their last respect to slain officers and consign their bodies to the final resting place in Greenwood cemetery just to the south of Rison. They were here from all walks of life; some came from adjoining counties, while not a single neighborhood in Cleveland
county failed to send one or more to witness the last sad rites.
Saturday afternoon Rison and surrounding country laid to rest the body of Officer Rogers. Business houses closed and over 400 sorrowing friends and relatives attended the funeral services and burial which were held at the cemetery. The Rev. Geo. F. Moody,pastor of the Bethel Baptist church delivered an impressive sermon in which he told of Rogers embracing the Christian religion and of
his sterling qualities as a husband, father and citizen. A song and a prayer and then the body was taken in charge by the Masonic order and an impressive service was conducted over his body. When flowers had been heaped high over the finished grave 20 members of the Cleveland County Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in their regalia assembled at the grave--their tribute to a deceased member of the invisible empire.
Officer Rogers, like his companion Baldwin, was in the heyday of life, being only 28 years of age. He leaves a wife, who was before her marriage Miss Effie Jaggers; four small children; a brother Hugh Rogers of Russellville; a sister, Miss Hazel Rogers, also of Russellville; a host of relatives and hundreds of friends.
The deceased was employed at the Cotton Belt railway station as an express and freight clerk and had held this position over a period of almost seven years. In this position he was energetic and accommodating. Upon going into office two years ago Sheriff Cash named him as one of his deputies and he had on numerous occasions assisted in the administration of the law and never once did Rogers
give signs of being other than a fearless and efficient officer.
Cleveland County Herald - August 20, 1925

Photo provided by Debbra Szymanski Debbraszymanski@att.net

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Record #: 556802

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