Fredonia Police Work

My work as an Arizona highway Ptrolman was influenced by my radio contact or lack of radio contact. After a year and a half with virtually no radio contact the patrol assigned me a radio technician. I was the onl patrolman with my own technician.

Carl Hutton was sent to install a radio tower on the Kiabab Mountain and put a base station in the checking station just to the north of Fredonia on Highway 89. Carl moved to Fredonia with his young family and they lived there until he had a good system for me.

My younger brother Coy had gone to work as a radio dispatcher for the Arizona Highway Patrol shortly after I moved to Fredonia. Afer some training in the main office in Phoenix, he was sent to work in Flagstaff. He and his family remained there until 1959. It was good to hear Coy on the radio even though we always kept our calls formal and business like. Coy was an excellent dispatcher.

A person that was a big part of my work in Northern Arizona was the Coconino County deputy sheriff, Slim Latham. He was a big tall cowboy type, about 6'4". He was from a family that had come to Fredonia during the Dust Bowl catastrophe in Texas and Oklahoma in the 1930's. Slim was 60ish in age. He knew zip about police work so I acted as a deputy sheriff most of the time but he made it legal by being present. I suppose I taght him a lot in the 4 years he served with me. He lived across the street from where I lived in the Brooksby house.

I got involved in serious sheriff duty the second week I was there. A group of the local boys were having a party by the state line between Kanab and Fredonia. This 17 year old oy brought a hand gun for some crazy reason and had accidently shot himself in the head. He died instantly. The boy and his family had moved to Fredonia fairly recently. His father was working for the Whiting Brothers saw mill, the biggest local employee.

The witnesses got hold of me and Slim immediately. I knew we had to protect the scene, screen the witnesses, provide fo the body to be cared for ect... I notified Joe Brooksby , the justice of the peace, and he came to view everything. We eventually ruled that is was a tragic accident.