Railroad Detective
Harry S. Murphy
Southern Railway Police Department
Monday, April 29, 1912

Age: 28
Served: 3 years
Badge #:
Not Included
Not Included

Incident Details

Cause of Death:
Gunfire
Date/Time of Incident:
Monday, April 29, 1912

Incident to Death Duration:
Same day
Incident Location:
Southern Railway yards, Princeton
Incident County:
Gibson
Incident Township:
Patoka
Weapon Used:
.45-caliber handgun
Suspect Disposition:
No charges filed
Burial Place:
Brand Cemetery, Bonne Terre, Missouri

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   Railroad Detective Harry Murphy was shot and killed while he investigated trespassing and the setting of fires to railroad cars in the Southern Railway yards in Princeton.

   Upon hearing a suspected tramp shortly after midnight and climbing onto the caboose, a subject inside opened fire and struck Detective Murphy in the chest and leg. The subject dropped his revolver and fled the scene.

   A 20-year-old male later confessed to burning the railroad cars as well as an unrelated burglary and sentenced to two to 14 years in prison.

   Detective Murphy, from St. Louis, Missouri, was single and survived by his parents.


The responsibilities of the Southern Railway Police Department (1894–1982) are now under the jurisdiction of the Norfolk Southern Railway Police Department.
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This officer, discovered in 2017, has not been submitted for consideration as an eligible line of duty death to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund by the Norfolk Southern Railway Police Department.

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Railroad Detective Harry S. Murphy - Southern Railway Police Department - INLEM.org