Henry Hamm, male, served as the marshal of Mulberry, Arkansas, when he was gravely wounded during a confrontation that began after a hit-and-run on the evening of August 23, 1927. A man and a woman in a truck had struck another vehicle and refused to stop. When Hamm and Deputy Marshal James Jackson intercepted them, the male suspect opened fire, killing Jackson at the scene and shooting Hamm.
Hamm succumbed to his injuries two months later, with his end of watch recorded as October 22, 1927.
Witness accounts preserved in later court records describe a spiraling series of encounters that day: after the initial collision near Mulberry, the suspect—traveling with his wife—brandished a pistol, disarmed Hamm in town, and warned him not to follow. Hamm obtained a shotgun and, alongside Jackson, pursued the truck toward the Little Mulberry bridge. There, the suspect met them head-on and a gun battle erupted, leaving both officers shot; Jackson died immediately, and Hamm was mortally wounded.
A posse captured the gunman soon after. He was identified in court proceedings as C. J. Watson, who was indicted for first-degree murder in the deaths of both officers. Tried first for the killing of Deputy Jackson after a change of venue, Watson was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to twenty-one years in the Arkansas State Penitentiary. Contemporary officer memorial records note that the man—then 35—was jailed on two counts of murder and that the woman with him was jailed as an accessory. The available legal opinions and memorial accounts do not show a separate, final disposition for a Hamm-specific count beyond Watson’s indictment on that charge.
Local and national memorial listings continue to record the sequence—shooting on August 23, 1927, and Hamm’s death from his wounds two months later—enshrining both officers among Mulberry’s fallen.
