As listed on our webpage: "On April 15th, 1922, Deputy Gordon Stuart and his partner travelled to the south end of the Valley intending to serve civil papers on a farmer and confiscate the farmer's livestock. The farmer mistakenly thought the lawmen had come to arrest him because of a complaint with the Juvenile Court by the fourteen-year-old daughter of the farmer. As the deputies entered the farmhouse, the farmer produce a shotgun and fired twice at the officers. Both shotgun blasts struck Deputy Stuart. Although gravely wounded, he pushed his partner out of the door to safety. Once outside, Deputy Stuart succumbed to his wounds. Arrested and tried for homicide, the farmer was executed at the Utah State Prison for the killing of Deputy Gordon Stuart."

Because of the information available on our website, we have had many family members of officers killed in the line of duty check it out. Some were even surprised to learn more information about their deceased loved one and some share more information, like a nephew of Gordon Stuart, who sent the above picture of Gordon and the original paper clippings for our use and archives. The clippings were in the possession of Gordon's father, when his house in Sandy burned. Gordon's father jumped out of the top window and hurt himself bad enough that he never recovered from his injuries. The paper clippings are burnt on the edges, as you might be able to tell from some of the reproductions herein. 

Excerpt from a clipping: "Back off the place, you _____,
or I'll kill you, too!" George Gardner yelled over his leveled shotgun at Deputy Sheriff Frank Matthews, just after he had killed Deputy Sheriff Gordon Stuart, according to testimony of Matthews in Judge Ephraim Hanson's court today, where Gardner is on trial for his life.

"Stuart had just fallen and his body was between Gardner and me," Matthews testified. "I looked at Gardner and he had his shotgun leveled at me when he ordered me to 'get off the place.'"

Matthews' recital of the events surrounding the fatal shooting of Stuart on the Gardner ranch, near Welby, on April 15, was followed with great interest by spectators in the courtroom and by the jury. Matthews spoke in a low voice, husky with emotion, and he declared that his first thought, after seeing Stuart crumple to the ground, was to get Joseph Irvine, whose claim and delivery writ was being served on Gardner, away from the ranch. Irvine was fatally shot by Gardner a few minutes after Stuart was murdered.

Out of another clipping: "Gordon Stuart died in the service of Salt Lake county. While on duty as a deputy sheriff, he was slain by a cowardly assassin on a farm near Welby, Utah, Saturday, April 15. As a man and an officer, he is affectionately remembered by a host of friends who are now called upon to express their sympathy in a practical way by subscribing to the fund.

Stuart, in dying, not only left a host of friends, but also a wife and a few weeks' old child. It is impossible to convey in language to the widow the deep grief prevailing among Stuart's friends at his untimely demise, but it is possible to show a man-like way what they thought of him by subscribing to the testimonial fund."
Another clipping: "The telegram feels sure that its readers mentally view with horror the passing of this sturdy young officer who had sworn to protect the public which he served and who was the victim of a coward's action.

Stuart was only 27 years old."

Another clipping indicates that H. H. Roscher, 50, was rushed to the county jail for safe keeping after being rescued from an angry crowd. He was severely beat for an alleged remark declaring Gardner justified in killing.

And in another clipping: "When Gardner took the witness stand today, a breathless hush fell over the courtroom, crowded with spectators. The hush was broken by an almost in audible sigh as Gardner declared that he told deputy sheriffs two weeks preceding the shooting that Irvins would have to be hauled away in case he visited the Gardner ranch to attach any part of the property.

Gardner followed his admission that he had made a threat  against Irvine with the declaration that he might have made the threat general and have said that "anyone" who attempted to take any property away from the ranch would have to be hauled away. Deputy sheriffs testified yesterday that Gardner said he would kill Irvine or any other person who visited the ranch for that purpose."