Deputy U.S. Marshal George W. Dillaway

George W. Dillaway

Deputy Marshal George Dillaway succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained one week earlier when he was mistaken for an armed striker during a railroad labor dispute in Memphis, Tennessee.

Deputy Marshal Dillaway, along with another deputy marshal and a Special Policeman Victor Benner of the Illinois Central Railroad Police, were on a switch engine which was traveling south from the McLemore Yards to the Nonconnah Yards. When the engine reached Horn Lake Road it stopped so the conductor could throw a switch in the track.

Several other railroad guards were near the scene and had been drinking. They saw the three men on the switch engine, and believing they were trespassers, opened fire. Special Policeman Benner was struck in the neck and killed instantly. The two deputy marshals returned fire, wounding two of the guards before Deputy Marshal Dillaway was struck in the chest. He succumbed to his wounds seven days later.

None of the drunk guards were prosecuted for either murder.

Deputy Marshal Dillaway was survived by his wife.