Pasco's Fallen Officers Are Not Forgotten

This Sunday marks 102 years since the tragic day in Pasco County’s history when we lost our first sheriff's deputy in the line of duty. Deputy Sheldon S. Nicks was gunned down in the streets of Fivay in western Pasco County while attempting to make an arrest.

Nicks and other fallen lawmen were honored and remembered during this year's at the historic Pasco County courthouse in Dade City on Friday.

In 1903, Fivay sprang to life in the woods near what is now the intersection of State Road 52 and Little Road. At its center was a sawmill by the same name.

The Fivay sawmills operated 24 hours a day manufacturing boards from the area's abundant pine and cypress, their final product used locally and shipped north to locations such as New York and Boston.

The little town was complete with its own community hospital, electric plant, and running water for its residents. Most were employed at the sawmills and, at its peak, in 1910 the one-square mile town is said to have had a population of 2,000; although 1910 census records only support about 650.

Moonshining was common and Fivay was notoriously rough.

After pay was handed out on Fridays the saloons and juke joints came alive. During a 1988 newspaper interview, one time resident Ralph A. Gower noted "Casualties were so high in spontaneous shootings that the community cemetery filled rapidly. They hauled bodies out there every Saturday night."

On Saturday evening, May 8, 1909 deputy sheriff Shelton S. Nicks and his father, Fivay town marshal Henry Robert Nicks, were on the streets of town-- likely trying to keep order.

According to the Tampa Morning Tribune, Deputy Nicks met a young black man that he knew as Henry Wilson. Knowing that his father had a warrant, Deputy Nicks informed Wilson, a.k.a Henry Williams, he was under arrest.

Those present heard Wilson curse Deputy Nicks and say he wouldn’t let any white man arrest him. Sometime during the commotion, the marshal came over to assist his son when all hell broke loose.

In a split second, Wilson drew a revolver firing two shots at Marshal Nicks. Instead of striking the marshal, he hit 23-year-old deputy Nicks in the chest. The citizens of Fivay declared it was one of the worst crimes in the vicinity in some time.

Family history says that Deputy Nicks jumped in front of his father, taking the bullet for him. The shot entered near the deputy’s heart and passed through, striking the marshal in the shoulder.

Wilson immediately fled the scene and took to the woods. Long before radio dispatch and patrol cars, neighboring counties were notified by telegraph. A posse on horseback formed and blood hounds from Brooksville were put on the trail.

The hounds had little trouble but pursuit continued into the next day leading officers towards Tampa.

Wilson’s description was telegraphed to marshal throughout the state: 5’10” tall, 150 to 160 lbs., black complexion, long sharp nose, short mustache, and scar on one check-- last seen wearing dark grey or blue trousers, black coat, and black broad brimmed Stetson hat.

On May 11, 1909-- 48-hours after the shooting-- the Tampa Morning Tribune reported that the blood hounds had lost the trail but diligent watch continued in Tampa where it was thought the suspect had fled.

Reports of men fitting Wilson’s description soon poured in. In one instance on May 13, 1909, Tampa police arrested a man they thought to be Wilson but later identified as Will Johnson, a man who didn’t know of the incident and had never been to Fivay.

By July, with Wilson still at large, the Gainesville Daily Sun reported that the state, Pasco County, and marshal Nicks of Fivay offered rewards totaling $1,025 to be paid to the captures of Henry Wilson.

Research seems to indicate that the trail for Wilson eventually grew cold. After the July 1909 article in the Gainesville Daily Sun, no other updates were reported in the newspapers and it appears that Henry Wilson had finally eluded capture.

Deputy Nicks was laid to rest at the Brooksville Cemetery in a family plot, leaving behind a wife, Ruby Eugene Clark, who later remarried.

It seemed that the story of deputy Nicks had been forgotten, until 2008 when math teacher Jeff Miller, also ’s digital archivist, found an obscured newspaper about the incident.

After further collaboration and additional research the sheriff’s office added Deputy Nicks’ name to the list of those honored annually at the Pasco Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service.

Others fallen officers honored annually are:

Constable Arthur Fleece Crenshaw, age 31 and U.S. Prohibition Agent John Van Waters, age 46- gunned down on October 4, 1922 near the Withlachoochee River in Dade City while investigating illegal moonshine stills. As their Ford pick-up truck approached the river, they were ambushed. When the bodies were finally discovered, four hours after the incident, Waters' hands still clutched the steering wheel. Waters was shot several times in the head. Crenshaw suffered 37 bullet wounds. Two days later, six men were indicted, but not all were convicted.

Sheriff’s Deputy William Henry Nix O’Berry, age 37- shot and killed on January 1, 1926 while trying to serve an arrest warrant on Charles Davis in Richloam, Hernando County. Davis was wanted for stealing a dog. During the arrest, Deputy O’Berry had managed to clasp a handcuff on one of Davis’ hands. According to the New Port Richey Press, the sheriff’s office reported that Davis had reached into the deputy’s pocket and secured his gun, afterwards shooting the officer in the chest. After fleeing the scene Davis was eventually captured in Ocala, suffering serious injuries. The Dade City Banner later reported, on April 26, 1930, while being transferred from Ocala to Brooksville, Davis was taken from the transporter by a mob of about 20 and is believed to have been lynched.

Constable John Herbert McCabe, age 24- died June 26, 1948 in a Tampa hospital after suffering serious injuries from an automobile accident. The deputy was driving down U.S. 41, on his way to Drexel to investigate a theft of several heaters in an orange grove, when his car was hit by a truck.

Florida Highway Patrol Trooper James "Brad" Crooks, age 23- shot and killed on May 19, 1998 by Hank Earl Carr, wanted for fatally shooting his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son and killing two Tampa detectives earlier that day. While in pursuit of suspect north along I-75, patrol trooper James Crooks was shot and killed at the exit ramp to State Road 54 when the suspect stopped his car. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Carr, jumping from the stolen Ford ranger truck he was driving, shot at the troopers’ car with an assault rifle. Running to the driver side window, he then shot the trooper point blank-- looking him in the eye. Carr later killed himself at a gas station in Hernando County.

Capt. Charles "Bo" Harrison- shot and killed on June 1, 2003 by Alfredie Steele Jr., who later confessed to shooting the officer. While sitting outside the Rumors nightclub in Lacoochee in his patrol car,  Harrison was shot. After later investigation, it was revealed that Harrison was not the target. The suspect later confessed that he shot the officer because he was angry at law enforcement—the anger stemming from the death of Michael Anthony Reed Jr., who was killed May 10, 2003, during a car accident while being pursued by a deputy.