James Otway Lee killed in line of duty in 1877

I am sure by now everyone knows about the wonderful project at the Wharton County Sheriff's Department for the sheriff's monument. There have only been five law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty in Wharton County. If you're from Wharton County you most likely know about the first and last, Sheriff Dickson and Justin Hurst. There are three others that are not so widely known so I will put a short biography of all five law enforcement officers that are being honored on the monument so that you will know about all of them.

James Otway Lee

1877-1914

James Otway Lee was born June 27, 1877 in Coleman County the son of James T. Lee, a farmer, and Bettie Lee, a housewife. He was the grandson of Irish immigrants. James O. Lee was married to Miss Mollie Loller in Coleman County on July 6, 1898 by Rev. A.G. Thompson. Mollie was the daughter of G.H. and M.S. Loller, both born in Kentucky, as were both sets of their parents. G.H. Loller was a farmer in Fannin County in 1880 when Mollie was 4 years old. Mollie was born in Texas in 1877.

Around 1905 James O. Lee, called Joe, along with his wife, Mollie, and small son, Verner, came to Wharton County to join his parents who had been living here since 1900, coming from Coleman City. Joe's young son, Verner, died at 8 years of age and was buried in Garden of Memories Cemetery in El Campo. In 1908 another son, Marcus, was born and in 1912 a daughter, Clara B. Lee, was born.

He was a very popular City Marshal and a man of peaceful disposition and had a reputation of being a brave and good officer. He was about 42 years old and was serving his second term as Marshal when he was ruthlessly murdered at a Mexican restaurant in El Campo when he entered to arrest a man charged with vagrancy. Approaching the place, he asked for the man he was after, and was told to enter. When he did so, he was shot from behind by the son of the man he was after.

The Mexicans, a father and son, then broke away and ran into a corn field on the edge of town. A posse surrounded them and in the exchange of gunfire, the older man was killed and the younger wounded. The latter was brought to Wharton and placed in county jail but died five days later.

Killed in the line of duty on Aug. 11, 1914, he must have lived after the shooting because he was taken to a hospital where he died, then taken to Wheeler funeral home in El Campo and then buried in Garden of Memories Cemetery - next to his little son and his mother - in Plot No. 29, which was bought by a Joe P. Lee in 1913. Information from Wheeler Funeral Home shows that he was 37 years, 1 month and 15 days old that he was married and the bill of $121 was sent to his wife. His casket was set down into a wooden box which cost $75. The embalming was $25, use of hearse was $10, opening of the grave was $5, gloves were $1 and the wagon from the hospital was $5.

He was buried next to Sarah E. Lee, who was born in 1856, who was his step-mother. He was also buried next to his brother, Joe W. Lee, who was 7 years older than him.

J.O. Lee was a "Woodmen of the World" and has a WOW headstone at Garden Of Memories Cemetery. From a "Relatively Speaking" column by Martha Jones in the Victoria Advocate, on the headstones is reads: "Originally the WOW didn't really give them away quite for free, but nearly so. The insured person actually bought a rider to his insurance policy for a few pennies per premium payment and then when he died the company would pay his survivor $100 toward the purchase of a tombstone and what other burial expenses there might be with the proviso that the name Woodmen of the World had to appear on the stone in some manner."

After J.O. Lee's death, his wife Mollie took her two children back to Coleman County. She had not re-married as of the census date in 1920.

Daryl Darnell is the coordinator for the slain officers' monument. You can contact him at the Sheriff's Department at 532-1550 if you would like to make a donation to help us honor these heroes who died in the line of duty to protect the citizens of Wharton County.

Janet Hobizal is an archivist with the Wharton County Historical Museum.