Vernon County Sheriff Dawes was elected in 1916 and lived with his wife and four children in the first Vernon County Jail & Sheriff’s House, which still stands at the corner of N. Main and Hunter Streets in Nevada, MO.
On the night of July 17, 1919, Sheriff Dawes was called to the Mead Grain Company elevator near the railroad tracks to investigate the possible theft of grain. During the stakeout, he and several other law enforcement officers observed a young man named Lee McCormick drive up in a vehicle with the apparent intent to steal some feed sacks left outside.
While searching McCormick at the Mead Grain offices, Sheriff Dawes was fatally shot when the suspect pulled out a revolver and fired point blank into the sheriff’s heart. Fleeing into the night, the murderer was pursued by Nevada police officers Marshall and Catherwood and taken into custody after a brief shootout on the streets of Nevada. Bleeding profusely from multiple gunshot wounds, McCormick expired early the next morning while in custody at the Vernon County Jail.
By all accounts, Sheriff Dawes was well liked and the county court (commission) dealt generously with his widow, appointing her to take his place temporarily as sheriff. Sephronia Dawes only served a few weeks as sheriff before moving out of the sheriff’s house with her family, but her legacy lives on as the first and only female sheriff in Vernon County history, and possibly the first in Missouri. - Courtesy of the Bushwacker Museum
By all accounts, Sheriff Dawes was well liked and the county court (commission) dealt generously with his widow, appointing her to take his place temporarily as sheriff. Sephronia Dawes only served a few weeks as sheriff before moving out of the sheriff’s house with her family, but her legacy lives on as the first and only female sheriff in Vernon County history, and possibly the first in Missouri. - Courtesy of the Bushwacker Museum
