WASHINGTON, D.C. – A fallen Magoffin County sheriff deputy is slated to be formally honored at a national ceremony in May, 96 years after his death.
Tommy Campbell, who is retired from the Kentucky Department of Corrections, reached out to the SI earlier this month with the update that Magoffin County Sheriff Department Deputy Fred Cole, who tragically lost his life in the line of duty on December 22, 1930, will be commemorated at the National law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial in Washington, D.C., with a ceremony for his distinguished recognition set to take place on May 13.
Campbell also said he is in the process of making sure Deputy Cole is remembered at the state level by having his name included on the Kentucky Law Enforcement Memorial, in Richmond, KY.
Last year, Campbell started this endeavor while looking on the Officer Down Memorial Page website and searched “Magoffin” and found Fred Cole’s name.
Being no stranger to the process since his grandfather, Magoffin County Sheriff Dona Arnett, was also killed in the line of duty in 1959 and featured on both the Officer Down Memorial Page, and the state and national memorial walls, Campbell went to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial website and searched Cole’s name, coming up empty. Despite giving the ultimate sacrifice, Fred Cole has not been officially remembered for it, which is a wrong Campbell said he hopes to correct.
“It’s been 95 years since Deputy Cole paid the ultimate sacrifice and that’s 95 years too long,” Tommy Campbell told the Independent last year. “He hasn’t been recognized for his service to Magoffin County.”
A friend of Campbell found a newspaper clipping from the Paintsville newspaper detailing the event included on page 2 of this newspaper. Online family tree websites yielded some family information and the death certificate, and a family member found a photo of Cole, all piecing together to tell the story of who he was and what he did in service of Magoffin County.
From the information Campbell has gathered, Fred Cole was born on March 17, 1899, and was the son of Logan Cole and Helen Salyer Cole. He was married to Pearl Salyer and the couple had five children.
Cole was fatally wounded during an incident in the Carver Area of Magoffin County, in which Deputy Cole attempted to arrest a suspect for being drunk and disorderly. While attempting to arrest the subject, another man, who had recently been released from prison, shot Deputy Cole, with Cole succumbing to his injuries the next day at the old Paintsville Hospital, passing away on December 22, 1930.
The man who fatally shot Deputy Cole was not apprehended after the incident, but was later captured in Indiana in 1933 while reportedly trying to steal stuff out of a barn there. While it’s unclear if the killer confessed or the officers in Indiana had local ties, they were able to figure out it was him who had killed the deputy sheriff, charging him for that crime, as well.
Once his name is added to the memorial wall in D.C., he will be joining other Magoffin County fallen heroes such as, Magoffin County Sheriff Dona Arnett (killed in the line of duty in 1959), Magoffin County Deputy Sheriff Bill Miller (killed in the line of duty in 1951), Salyersville Police Officer Michael Williams (killed in the line of duty in 1976), and Magoffin County Constable W F Deskins (killed in the line of duty in 1893).
Deputy Cole also has a tie to current Magoffin County Sheriff Bill Meade, with his wife, Leigh-Ann Meade, being the great-granddaughter of Fred Cole.
