SALYERSVILLE – A local man is working to have a fallen Magoffin County Sheriff deputy honored on the national memorial in Washington, D.C.
Tommy Campbell, who is retired from the Kentucky Department of Corrections and works as court security for the Magoffin County Sheriff Department, told the SI he was 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. “He hasn’t been recognized for his service to Magoffin County.”
So, for now, Campbell is digging up the required information to have Deputy Cole added to the national memorial wall, which once added, he will automatically be eligible to be included on the Kentucky memorial wall for officers killed in the line of duty.
“I have to fill out an application to submit, showing a description of the extent of his service and sacrifice, a pic of him, newspaper clippings and the death certificate,” Campbell said, which he has compiled nearly all of those already.
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.
Campbell said the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial takes submissions starting on December 31, so he plans to have the application in to have Deputy Fred Cole officially honored next spring. Once his name is added to the memorial wall, 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.
Roark,family
March 9, 2025 at 7:26 pm
My great uncle Jess Roark was the subject who ended deputy sheriff Bill Miller’s watch as he busted through the door to arrest Jess for suspicion of murdering his sisters boyfriend at the kitchen table Christmas Eve in the cow creek community of Magoffin County. The weapon was not confiscated and my great grandfather carried it in the front pocket of his overhauls until his death. The chrome was completely gone on one side from the sweat and dampness from him farming in the hot sun and rain every day. Jess was my great grandfather’s baby boy but the situations on those horrible days was out of my paw paws control. R.I.P to all may god forgive 🙏