Age: 35¾
Served: 10+ years
Before 1920 to October 11, 1930
OFFICER
Horace was born January 1, 1895 in Waverly, Pike County, Ohio. We do not know what happened to his parents, but by the time he was five years old he was living with his grandparents, James M. and Emaline Williams in Huntington Township, Ross County, just outside of Chillicothe. At fifteen, during 1910, he worked as a special delivery boy for a local meat market. Before 1917, he had served in artillery units of the Ohio and Alabama National Guards, married, moved a few doors down the street, had two sons, and was working as a Pipefitter for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad out of Chillicothe.
By 1920, he was a Detective for the railroad and had moved his family in with his widowed grandmother. By 1923, he moved to Water Street in Chillicothe and had another son. During 1930, Detective Williams and his family of five were living on Court Street in Washington Court House.
INCIDENT
On October 11, 1930, at about 3:15 a.m., Detective Williams, attempting to catch railroad car thieves in the Oakley Rail Yards near Duck Creek, was conducting surveillance from between two railroad cars on a sidetrack.
Engineer Andy Senson backed a cut of cars, intending to put them to another sidetrack, but the switch had not been thrown and they struck the cars where Detective Williams was standing. He was knocked down and his head was crushed.
He died of shock and hemorrhage following fracture of skull.
FUNERAL
Detective Williams was survived by his wife, Ella Bell (Gunter) Williams; sons, Charles Raymond Williams (15), James W. Williams (13), and Horace Williams; and grandmother. He was buried in Greenlawn Cemetery in Chillicothe, Ohio.
If you have information, artifacts, archives, or images regarding this officer or incident, please contact the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum Memorial@Police-Museum.org.
© This line of duty death was rediscovered 87 years after his death and brought to the attention of the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum on May 9, 2017 by Chris Cosgriff, Chief Executive Officer of Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP.org). It was further researched and the narrative written May 11, 2017 by Cincinnati Police Lieutenant Stephen R. Kramer (Retired), Greater Cincinnati Police Museum Director. All rights are reserved to them and the Greater Cincinnati Police Musuem.