Officers following up on the event located clothing and firearms believed to belong to the bandits under a platform near Oddfellows Hall on Post Office Place. A stakeout of the area led to the capture of the suspect. A second man was arrested at 159 Pacific Avenue. Both men were subsequently identified by Officer Watson and Sergeant Pierce. It was determined that the thugs were engaged in burglary when confronted by the officers. Henry Hett and Arthur Hayes confessed their involvement in teh incident. Hett admitted being responsible for the shooting of Sergeant Pierce and the beating of Officer Watson. The two had earlier committed a robbery in Pueblo, Colorado where the gun used to shoot Sergeant Pierce had been stolen. Sergeant Pierce was never able to leave his hospital bed and succumbed to his wound on March 26, 1923. Nephi Pierce was born in Sweden and immigrated with his family at 2 years of age. He married in 1898 and had homesteaded in Emery County about the turn of the century. Pierce came to Salt Lake City where he took employment as a Motorman and Conductor for the Electric Railway Company. He was appointed to the Police Force on March 12, 1906 and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in 1916. On February 20, 1925, Henry C. Hett sat in a chair in the prison yard at the Penitentiary in Sugarhouse and was executed by firing squad for the killing of Sergeant Pierce.
|
Sergeant Nephi P. Pierce