May 08, 2021

Kan. deputy killed on duty in 1927 gets tombstone

Posted May 08, 2021 9:00 PM
Deputy Franklin Hill photo courtesy Sedgwick County Sheriff
Deputy Franklin Hill photo courtesy Sedgwick County Sheriff

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Sedgwick County Sheriff's deputy who died in the line of duty in 1927 will have a headstone installed on his grave this weekend.

The sheriff's office will dedicate the tombstone for Deputy Benjamin Franklin Hill on Sunday at Highland Cemetery.

Hill was killed on Aug. 16, 1927, during an attempted jailbreak at the county courthouse. He is the only Black deputy in Sedgwick County who has been killed in the line of duty. Hill was taking lunch to a cell when he was confronted by three inmates, who demanded his keys. He was shot when he refused to give the inmates his keys.