Special Deputy Sheriff Charles H. Watson

Charles H. Watson

Special Deputy Sheriff Charlie Watson was shot and killed, and Special Deputy Sheriff Allen Dean was fatally wounded, in a gun battle with two moonshiners at the Culberson Bridge on the Nottely River.

A third deputy was seriously wounded, and Deputy Dean died two days later.

The suspects, thought to have been shot and seriously wounded, escaped. The men were apprehended in Texas six months later. Both were convicted of second-degree murder. One suspect was sentenced to seven years and the other to six years.

Deputy Watson was a United States Army WWI veteran. He was survived by his wife and four daughters.