In the early 1900s, Willis T. 'Zonk' Foster, a 36-year-old male, served as a Night Policeman with the Greer Police Department in South Carolina. He was known to be the only Greer police officer to die in the line of duty. On the evening of July 2, 1904, a date that would be etched in the town's memory, Foster was on patrol. At a time when illegal liquor operations, known as 'false tigers,' were prevalent, he observed a man acting suspiciously and ducking into a wooded area near the old Wayside Inn. Believing the man was involved in bootlegging, Foster began a foot pursuit into the woods.
Tragically, as he followed the suspect, Policeman Foster was ambushed and shot twice with a handgun, dying immediately from his wounds. The night that he was killed was the very same day he had a full-length photograph taken in his new, self-funded uniform as a gift for his wife, Mattie Jane Foster. At the time of his death, he had been with the department for two years and was survived by his wife and three children.
In the aftermath of the shooting, an investigation led to three men being charged with the murder of Willis Foster. However, when the case went to trial, all three were acquitted of the crime. Despite the official verdict, a later newspaper report from May 27, 1908, concerning the death of one of the accused men, Boyce Stone, stated that Stone was the individual who had shot and killed Policeman Foster several years prior.
