Abilene - April 24, 1949
Sheriff Elmer
F. "Bill" Davis and his deputy and brother, Milton L. Davis were shot
and killed and their bodies burned beyond recognition as they attempted
to apprehend a crazed farmer who had shot and wounded three other
persons and set fire to his house in a pre-dawn tragedy a mile southeast
of the Brown Memorial Home southeast of Abilene.
A
large granite memorial stands in the Abilene cemetery in honor of the
Davis Brothers, paid for by friends throughout the county. The
inscription reads:
"Erected in 1950 in grateful memory of
the brothers Bill and Milt Davis, Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff of
Dickinson County, Kansas, who together lost their lives in the line of
duty on Sunday, April 24, 1949. They had been summoned to quell a
pre-dawn disturbance at a farmhouse near Abilene and were shot from
ambush. Their devotion to the community in which they lived and served
is recorded in history as a challenge to all future generations. This
memorial, together with a bronze tablet at the courthouse, was the gift
of volunteer donors from all parts of Dickinson County."