Marshal George Prentice Southwood

The man for whom I am named was shot and killed in the line of duty shortly before noon on September 30th, 1948. George Prentice Southwood went by Prentice Southwood his whole life. He began his law enforcement career as a Deputy Sheriff for Wayne County, Kentucky. He eventually became the City Marshall of Monticello, Kentucky and served the city for a number of years before pursuing a better opportunity for his family in a larger nearby river community and railroad hub called Burnside, Kentucky. He would move the family from Monticello to Burnside for his 1st term as the City Marshal of Burnside. During WW2, he would protect vital railway infrastructure from wartime sabotage that helped move men and material to Europe and the Pacific as a Southern Railway agent. At some point during the war, he would pursue wartime opportunities and wages in Indiana. He moved the entire family to New Castle, Indiana where he and his wife, Ollie Buster Southwood, would work at a Firestone plant creating aircraft parts for the war effort while their only son would go to war and their 3 daughters would continue their schooling. After the war, the family would move back to Monticello to the farm we know today which was bought from within the family. He would pursue farming for a small time before being called upon once again by the citizens of Burnside to serve as their City Marshal. He would move the family back to Burnside for a second time. It was during this 2nd term as the City Marshal of Burnside that he was killed in the line of duty. After his death, the family would move back to the farm in Monticello.

His killing took place during a turbulent and crucial time for Burnside. In the 40s and early 50s, Burnside was changing drastically due to the Lake Cumberland project which had been announced years earlier as a part of a comprehensive plan to develop the Cumberland River Basin. 4 new flood control reservoirs would be created by 4 new dams. One of those dams, Wolf Creek Dam, would create Lake Cumberland. The dam and lake would provide flood control, create electricity, provide year round navigation of the river below the dam, and spark a tourist mecca. However, the once thriving river community of Burnside and other effected communities would never be the same. The town had flourished due to being a center for commerce as a river and railroad community. Timber and agricultural products had provided jobs and trade. Burnside’s timber products were well known and sold internationally. The town boasted retail stores, saloons, a post office, restaurants, churches, a bank, hotels including the famous Green Gable Hotel, its own railroad that connected the river landings with the railroad mainline between Cincinnati and Chattanooga, and even had ties to the founding of the Boy Scouts Of America.

The fate of the community would change forever with the flooding of Lake Cumberland. The years of lake construction would be uneasy. Government projects meant jobs and economic growth. New bridges, roads, and railroad mainline would need to be built and rerouted. Old structures would need to be removed and demolished. Whole communities would need to be relocated. Some communities would disappear entirely. All the problems that come with that kind of change came into the rural communities of the Cumberland Valley. Government projects provided work for locals and brought in workers from all over the country. Most of the locals and new comers were good people just looking for work for their families but as always there were some bad apples from both groups. Certain locals and new comers alike would try to get in on a piece of the government action. Throughout history, large remote mobile work forces are often accompanied by gambling, alcoholism, and prostitution. The last days of Burnside and other river communities would have been interesting no doubt for local law enforcement in the Cumberland Valley. Once those government projects were completed, whole towns would be moved or disappear forever. Burnside would have the luckier fate of being moved but residents of effected river communities of both fates would be forced to relocate and find work. Towns would be razed and cemeteries reinterned before the flooding began. Even though Burnside was relocated, Burnside would never recover. Burnside had once built the surrounding communities of the region. Today, it is a far cry from the steamboat landings, ferry landings, timber mills, and river/railroad commerce of its past. We will never know the whole story behind Prentice’s killing and the why but we do know the when, where, and how.

Lake levels would force the construction of several new bridges in the area including the new US 27 bridge across the Cumberland River. Prentice was shot by a man in a black pickup truck at the construction site of the new US 27 bridge which was being built at the time to replace the old US 27 bridge. The man had been arrested previously by Prentice for public intoxication and there was no doubt a history between the men. A work stoppage was occurring at the site due to a pay dispute. There were reports of gambling at the site and Prentice was called in to investigate those reports. The killer was a local constable who was drunk at the time and onsite as well. Prentice engaged in a verbal altercation with the constable after observing alcohol in his vehicle. He ordered the constable who was the driver and his passenger out of the vehicle. The passenger was the driver's son-in-law. The son-in-law was a worker at the site. The passenger followed orders but the driver did not. During the altercation that followed, Prentice was shot twice with a .38 caliber pistol, once in the head and once in the heart, by the intoxicated man. Construction workers rushed to the scene to try to aid Prentice. The killer fled south on US 27. As he fled, he threatened the workers, bragged about the killing, and shot 3 more times putting three .38 caliber shots through the roof of his pickup. Some workers even took off after him in pursuit but lost him further south on US 27. An immense search commenced immediately for the suspect. The search took 19 hours and involved local and state police. The search consisted of 3 counties: Wayne, Pulaski, and McCreary. Bloodhounds were brought in from Lexington, KY and Lafollette, TN. 4 officers including the Sheriff of Pulaski made the arrest. He was located at his brother-in-law’s residence. He had been hiding in the woods most of the time. The constable was placed in the Pulaski County jail. A long and large trial would follow. Prentice was well known and well liked within the 3 counties that he served. On judgment day, the killer would receive a life sentence. Years later, against the family’s wishes, he would be released as a sick man to die outside of 4 walls. However, through tragedy, comes great strength.

Prentice's wife, Ollie, though widowed young, becomes the true definition of survivor. She perseveres to raise four amazing kids, never remarries, and does not sell the farm, thereby preserving the farm for future generations.

All four of Prentice’s children would be successful in life despite having lost their father at early ages. They earned college degrees, had families of their own, and went on to become prominent citizens in their respective communities.

I have heard stories of this man my whole life, stories my dad got from his dad, tales of old school rural policing, facts such as multiple bullet holes being found and patched during the first restoration of his police vehicle in the 1970s which we still have today, and the fact that government agencies including the FBI scouted him. I have always admired that a man with a 6th grade education could accomplish so much. In my mind, he has always been a legendary character steeped in myth and legend. Somewhere between the legend and myth lies the truth of a man of character and a story of triumph and tragedy.

Three memorials are adorned with his name: the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C., a memorial at Eastern Kentucky University’s School of Criminal Justice in Richmond, KY, and a memorial to officers and firefighters killed in Pulaski County located in Somerset, KY.

Three previous town marshals of Burnside were killed in the line of duty in addition to my great grandfather. All 3 of those line of duty deaths were also related to interactions with intoxicated subjects and gunfire. It is fitting that they should be remembered as well.

John Coomer EOW: 10/1/1913
Hiram Gregory EOW: 4/23/1926
Charlie Wright EOW: 11/15/1926
George Prentice Southwood EOW: 9/30/1948

I hope to keep their memories alive by getting a memorial highway sign posted on the current US 27 bridge itself (bridge was replaced again in the early 2000s) or on a nearby road on the Burnside side of the bridge someday.

"It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived."
- Vivian Eney Cross

Wade Prentice Southwood
Proud Great-Grandson

July 22, 2024