BEAUMONT, Texas — A special headstone dedication ceremony was held at Magnolia Cemetery in Beaumont Wednesday to honor a Jefferson County deputy who died in the line of duty.
Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff John E. Hutcheson died on June 28, 1925 after being shot with his own revolver by an inmate at the county jail.
The man was in jail for public drunkenness and was working off a $21 fine, according to a news release from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
At around 10 a.m., the prisoner threw a piece of metal at Deputy Hutcheson, which grazed his head.
The deputy reported the incident to the sheriff, who told him not to give the prisoner lunch without the assistance of the sheriff.
Hutcheson didn't take notice of the warning and instead enlisted the help of two other prisoners to help serve lunch to the prisoner.
As he entered the cell, the man hit him in the head with a pot and knocked him down. The prisoner then grabbed the deputy's .45 caliber service revolver and shot him in the chest, according to the release.
The two other prisoners attacked the prisoner and during the struggle, the suspect was shot in the head and died. They were released from prison for their heroic actions.
Deputy Hutcheson was survived by his wife and four daughters, according to records dating back almost 100 years ago. The sheriff's office wasn't presently able to find any extended family members to invite to the ceremony Wednesday.
Hutcheson was buried at Magnolia Cemetery and did have a headstone set, but there wasn't anything engraved on it.
The nonprofit organization "Operation Blue Remembrance" contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in order to give the fallen deputy a proper headstone.
President and Founder of Operation Blue Remembrance Herbert Sims says their mission is to not let any fallen law enforcement officer be forgotten.
"We go to the individual officers graves, and we leave a Texas stick flag, kind of our way of saying, you know, they're not forgotten," he said.
The organization began as an idea in 2018 and was approved as an official nonprofit in June 2020.
To date, they've visited 891 graves, marking each with a Texas stick flag, according to their website.
An additional 216 have been identified as Burial Details Unknown and about 65 have been cremated.
Sims is a retired police officer who spent 30 years in the line of duty. He knows firsthand how easily fallen officers can be forgotten.
"I guarantee you that if an officer died today, in the line of duty, you know, a month from now, only the cops are going to remember him or his family and within a year who knows," Sims said. "And then the least we can do to keep their name out there to say don't forget these people, these were real people with real families and real problems and, you know, life until it wasn't there anymore."
Sims says even if you may not like police officers, he can guarantee somewhere there's an officer that has been a "positive influence in your life."
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