From website of Bradford County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Gordon Smith

Of the nine sheriffs who served from 1885 until 1912, five of them were murdered while on duty and another one died by a bullet fired by either himself or persons unknown Also during this time, three deputy sheriffs, a town marshal and an acting night marshal were all killed in the line of duty.

One of the amazing things was that from 1885 to 1891, three out of four sheriffs were killed after serving only one or two years of their term. It seems that this hard-luck streak, which could furnish enough material for a TV show for years, began when George Washington Epperson of Lake Butler took office Jan. 5, 1886. He was the eighth sheriff elected to office in Bradford County.

Sheriff Epperson was known as a good horseman and a good shot. He proved to be a brave and honest man, who like all sheriffs at the time, did most of the work himself. Sheriffs seldom asked a deputy to do what they thought was a dangerous job. Epperson was killed while trying to arrest a man who was considered dangerous and was holed up in Valdosta, Ga.

When word reached Bradford County of his death, his son Henry was appointed to finish out his father’s term, which he did, keeping law and order in the same way his father had done. Then in 1888, he was elected to a full term of office. A few months later; a gambler and desperado from south Florida by the name of Frank Foster killed him while he was trying to arrest him. Foster rode away and there is no information as to whether he was ever captured or not.

After the death of Henry Epperson, a city marshal by the name of D.L. (Levy) Alvarez was appointed to fill out Henry’s term. Soon after his appointment he was killed in a shootout between a posse, which he had formed, and the notorious and dreaded desperado , Harmon Murray.

The story goes that Murray, being trapped at a friend’s house by the posse ….MORE

Roland Thomas 1859-1860, Henry Epperson 1886-1888, John Lankford 1909-12, Steve Denmark 1897-1901