SC Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame

09/15/2026

Health Officer Walter T. Longshore
Newberry Police Department
End of Watch: September 15, 1933

Walter Thompson Longshore was born in Newberry County on November 22, 1885, to Henry T. and Emma Wilson Longshore. Walter grew up on the family farm with five brothers and three sisters.

He married Ruth Stilwell and together they had a daughter, Mary Frances and four sons: Thompson, McHardy, Henry, and Ernest. Walter farmed for most of his life, and by 1930 he was working as a truck driver and part-time policeman for the City of Newberry.

In around 1931, Walter was appointed to serve as the Health Officer for the City of Newberry, in addition to his part-time policeman’s duties.

On Saturday, August 26, 1933, Officer Longshore arrested Red Gilder for disorderly conduct near Singleton’s Drug Store on Nance Street. Gilder resisted the arrest and threw Officer Longshore to the pavement where he struck his head on the curbing. Gilder escaped and Officer Longshore was taken to his home and treated for a concussion. When he did not improve, Officer Longshore was taken to the hospital where he died from a fractured skull on September 15, 1933. He was 48 years old.

Funeral services for Officer Walter T. Longshore were conducted on September 17th at Smyrna Church and he was buried in the church cemetery. He was survived by his wife, four children, his mother, two sisters and four brothers. Members of the Newberry Police Department served as pallbearers.

Newberry County Sheriff Cannon G. Blease offered a $100 reward for the arrest of Red Gilder.
Gilder was arrested on October 29th, in Macon, Georgia.

On March 20, 1934, Red Gilder was tried and found guilty of the murder of Officer Walter Longshore in Newberry County General Sessions Court, and was sentenced to Life in Prison by Judge W.H. Townsend.

Officer Walter T. Longshore was inducted into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame in 1986, never to be forgotten.

09/15/2026

NATIONAL TROOPER OF THE YEAR!

09/15/2026

15 Years Ago Today, the Last Ford Crown Victoria Rolled off the Assembly Line.

09/14/2026

Policeman Walter D. Evans
Greeleyville Police Department
End of Watch: September 14, 1945

Walter D. Evans was born on April 7, 1900, in Clarendon County to Robert M. and Emma Lela Baker Evans. He was the eldest child and grew up working on the family farm with three brothers and three sisters.

He married Miss Ester Rodgers of Kershaw in 1926. A daughter, Mary was born in 1926, and a son, Carrol Kenneth was born in 1928. Walter worked on his farm in Sumter County until around 1940 when he was working as a carpenter at the Sumter County Courthouse. In 1941, Walter was living in Sumter and working in a textile mill.

Around March of 1945, Walter joined the Greeleyville Police Department.

On Thursday, September 13, 1945, Walter Evans was working as a Night Policeman for the town of Greeleyville, when he observed Lewis Scott staggering down the road. Viewing him as a harmless drunk, Officer Evans told Scott to go home and sober up, rather than arresting him. Officer Evans cautioned Scott that if he came back into town drunk, he would be arrested. After midnight, Scott returned to town, drunk and spoiling for a fight. When Officer Evans spotted Scott near Highway 52 on the north side of town and came over to arrest him. Scott resisted and a struggle ensued. Officer Evans drew his revolver but during the fight, Scott gained control of it and shot the officer in the chest. Scott tossed the revolver down and ran off into the night. A short time later, a passing motorist found Officer Evans, dead on the side of the road. He was forty-five years old.

Early in the morning of Friday, September 14th, Williamsburg County Sheriff Pearless Lambert and Greeleyville Police Chief John W. Bradham developed information that led them to arrest Lewis Scott, at his father’s house in the Heineman Community. Scott was charged with the murder of Officer Evans and taken to the Williamsburg County Jail, where he confessed to the killing.

Funeral services for Greeleyville Policeman Walter D. Evans were conducted on Sunday at the New Zion Methodist Church, and he was buried in the church cemetery. He was survived by his wife, his son, his daughter, his mother, his three brothers, and his three sisters.

Lewis Scott was tried and convicted of the murder of Officer Evans in General Sessions Court in Williamsburg County. He was sentenced to die in the electric chair. While awaiting ex*****on on Death Row at the State Penitentiary, his case was appealed to the State Supreme Court.
On August 2, 1946, the murder conviction of Lewis Scott was overturned by the State Supreme Court, on grounds that questioned if his confession was voluntary. Scott was granted a new trial.
On September 20, 1946, after being convicted in his second murder trial, Lewis Scott was again sentenced to die in the electric chair on November 15th, by Judge M.M. Mann.

On December 20, 1946, condemned inmates on Death Row sang hymns as Lewis Scott calmly walked from his nearby cell into the death chamber. He showed no emotion as he was strapped into the electric chair. As the hood was lowered over his face, he said, “Oh God, be with me.” At 7:05, State Electrician, Sam Cannon applied the first charge of 2,300 volts for 5 seconds, followed by 1,400 volts and finally 600 volts. Prison Physician, Dr. M. Whitfield pronounced Lewis Scott “Dead” at 7:09. His family did not claim the body, and Scott was buried in a prison-made pine board coffin in “Tickleberry”, the penitentiary cemetery.

Greeleyville Policeman Walter D. Evans was inducted into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame in 1997, never to be forgotten.

09/14/2026

Please continue to lift up the family and friends of Deputy Hendricks, the Charleston County Sheriff's Office and the Law Enforcement Community..

The Celebration of Life for Charleston County Deputy Michael Wade Hendricks, 33, of North Charleston, will be held on Wednesday, September 16 at 11:00 a.m. at Faith Church, 337 Farmington Road in Summerville. Family will receive friends one hour prior to the service.

Michael’s memory will live on in the countless lives he touched, protected, and loved. Please keep his family in your prayers during this difficult time.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Serve and Connect’s Tragedy Response Program: https://serveandconnect.org/tragedy-response-program/

09/12/2026

Officer Stephen U. Jones
Barnwell Police Department
End of Watch: September 12, 2021

Stephen Unique Jones was born in 1986, in Blackville. He graduated from Blackville-Hilda High School in 2005, and joined the United States Marine Corps.

He married Miss Janell Odom on March 1, 2014, and together they had three sons: Torrence, Preston and Paxton, and two daughters, Ava and Averie.

Following his military service, he joined the Barnwell County Sheriff’s Office. He moved to the Blackville Police Department before joining the Barnwell Police Department in July 2021.

Officer Jones contracted the Covid-19 Virus and was admitted to the Bamberg-Barnwell Emergency Medical Center where he died of complications related to the virus on September 12, 2021.

Funeral services for Officer Stephen U. Jones were conducted on Sunday, September 19, 2021, at the Blackville Community Center, and he was buried at Barnwell Memorial Cemetery. He was survived by his wife and five children. He was remembered as dedicated officer who loved his family and serving his community. He loved playing the drums and founded the Elite Thunder Community Drum-line. Officer Jones was a member of the Rufus Jones Masonic Lodge #615 in Denmark.

Officer Stephen U. Jones was inducted into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame on July 27, 2022, never to be forgotten.

09/12/2026

Sergeant Henry O. Stalvey, Jr.
Horry County Police Department
End of Watch: September 12, 1986

Henry Odell Stalvey, Jr. was born in Horry County on September 9, 1948, to Henry Odell Stalvey and Cecil Chestnut Stalvey. He grew up with three brothers and five sisters. Henry was a farmer prior to entering his law enforcement career.

Henry joined the Horry County Police Department on May 2, 1977, and graduated from the SC Criminal Justice Academy with Basic Class #109 on May 5, 1978. He was promoted to Corporal on March 7, 1984, and Sergeant on November 14, 1984. On December 19, 1984, Sgt. Stalvey received the Horry County Police Officer of the Year Award.

At around 9:30 on the night of Friday, September 12, 1986, Sergeant Stalvey was responding to a radio call on Highway 9, west of Loris. James Littles was driving on Secondary 140 when he ran the stop sign at the intersection of S.C. 9. He crossed two lanes of traffic, drove through the median, and struck Sgt. Stalvey’s patrol car. Sgt. Stalvey was thrown from the car during the impact. He was transported to the Loris Community Hospital where he died of his injuries about two hours later. Littles and a passenger in his car were both seriously injured.

Funeral services for Sgt. Stalvey were conducted on Monday, September 15th, at the Mount Leon Baptist Church, and over fifty patrol cars with lights flashing led the funeral procession to Grainger Cemetery where he was buried. He was survived by his wife, Lori; his sons, Henry O. III, Jasper, Jeremy, Mickey, and Michael; his parents; his two brothers, and his five sisters.

On September 30, 1987, James Littles of Loris, pleaded guilty to the charge of reckless homicide and was sentenced to four years by Judge William Traxler. Witnesses testified that Littles never applied his brakes as he approached the intersection, and State Trooper E.D. Gasque testified that the amount of alcohol in Littles’ bloodstream was under the legal limit, so he was not charged with DUI.

Sergeant Henry O. Stalvey, Jr. was approved for induction into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame on March 12, 1987, never to be forgotten.

09/12/2026

Deputy John P. Martin
Greenville County Sheriff's Office
End of Watch - 9/12/1965

John Pershing Martin was born in the upper part of Greenville County on August 9th, 1920, to James R. and Era Selmon Martin. John was raised with his two brothers and attended Slater-Marietta High School. John married Doris Gooch in 1940.
John served in the US Army Air Corps during WWII, where he was stationed in Italy. He attained the rank of Corporal before being discharged.

Following his military service, John began his law enforcement career as a Special Deputy Sheriff for Greenville County. As a “Special Deputy”, his salary and duties were shared between the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, Galey Mills, where he served as a night watchman, and the Town of Marietta, where he served as a night patrolman.
John and Doris had a daughter, Patricia, born in 1942, and a son, Robert E., born in 1945. John and Doris divorced in 1949, and Doris took the children and moved to Greenville.

Deputy Martin was known in the community as, “Big John”. The 6-foot-4 inch, 275 pound Deputy was well-liked and very popular with the teen-aged youngsters around Marietta.

Shortly after midnight on Sunday, September 12, 1965, Vernon Clifton Carroll and his wife, Peggy were drinking and popping pills at the sandpit on Freeman’s Bridge Road between Pumpkintown and Marietta. Vernon convinced Peggy to go to Marietta and try to get Deputy Martin to follow her back to the sandpit so he could ambush the Deputy and steal his gun and badge. In town, Peggy found Deputy Martin but he was with Magistrate’s Constable Joe Matthews, so she returned without him. Vernon and Peggy then went back into Marietta to try again. Reporting that someone had thrown rocks that struck her Buick convertible, Peggy convinced Deputy Martin to follow her back to the sandpit. Once there, Deputy Martin shined his headlights around the area. Not seeing anything, the Deputy then got out of his car with his flashlight. Deputy Martin had not seen Vernon until he got out of Peggy’s car and pointed a .30 caliber M1 carbine at him. Drawing his revolver, Deputy Martin and Vernon exchanged gunfire. Deputy Martin’s two shots missed. The Deputy was hit with six bullets fired from the carbine and fell face-first into the sand. Forty-five-year-old, Greenville County Deputy Sheriff John P. Martin died at the scene.

Peggy followed as Vernon drove the patrol car and dumped it off of Pace’s Bridge Road. Returning to the sandpit, Vernon and Peggy struggled to put the 275-pound body in the trunk of their 1958 Buick convertible. They dumped Deputy Martin’s body about six miles away, in a wooded area on Hester’s Bridge Road in Pickens County. When they returned home, Vernon called his girlfriend, Joyce Ann Chapman to come over and help. Vernon told his wife and his girlfriend to go and dispose of the evidence. Peggy and Joyce drove up to Paris Mountain where they burned the bloody clothes they had been wearing, Deputy Martin’s shirt, hat, and wallet along with the bloody lining from the Buick’s trunk. On the way back, Joyce threw Deputy Martin’s badge, nameplate, and watch into a lake near Furman University.

When Deputy Martin wasn’t at home when his wife Eva Mae woke up, she called the Sheriff’s Office. Officers from Greenville and Pickens Counties joined the search. Deputy Martin’s brother, Bill, found the patrol car on a dirt road off of the Pumpkintown-Marietta Road. Around noon, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Nix were picking muscadines when they found the Deputy’s body in a wooded area about two and a half miles inside Pickens County.

Pickens County Sheriff P.C. Bolding, Coroner Smith, and State Law Enforcement Division Agent Gene Merck responded to the scene where the body was found.
A paraffin test was conducted on Deputy Martin’s right hand that showed that he had recently fired a gun. The autopsy report showed that six bullets had entered Deputy Martin’s body and that all six had exited his body.

Funeral services for Deputy John P. Martin were held on Tuesday, September 14th at the Marietta First Baptist Church. The procession from the church to the Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery was escorted by police cars with flashing lights. The service was attended by hundreds of law enforcement officers from across the state. Deputy Martin was buried in the Martin family plot, alongside his father. Deputy Martin was survived by his second wife, Eva, daughter, Patricia (23), son, Robert E. (20), his mother, and two brothers.

Peggy Lee (McCombs) Carroll was arrested early Monday morning, at her apartment off of Poinsett Highway. When questioned, Peggy gave a signed statement admitting that she and her husband, Vernon, had killed Deputy Martin and that Vernon and his girlfriend, Joyce Chapman, had fled to Virginia. Later that night, Vernon and Joyce were arrested following a high-speed chase with officers near Gate City, Virginia.
At around 8:30, on the night of September 15th, Deputies Henry Bates and Leland Lowery, along with SLED Agent Vance Patterson brought Vernon and Joyce back to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office.
Peggy Carroll and Vernon Carroll were charged with murder in the death of Deputy Martin. Joyce Chapman was charged with accessory after the fact of murder. They were lodged in the Greenville County Jail.

Deputy Martin’s badge, nameplate and watch were recovered from a lake on the property of the Zonolite Company, near Furman University by SLED Agent and former US Navy Frogman, Otis “Bob” Hillyer. Peggy Carroll led officers to Deputy Martin’s revolver, that she had hidden on Paris Mountain. Deputy Martin had the cylinder of his revolver engraved by Charlie Beeks, a local jeweler, who would positively identify it at the trial.

On November 24th, the case was bound over to the Grand Jury, following a preliminary hearing before Magistrate John H. Loftis.
On January 17th, 1966, with a standing-room-only crowd in the Greenville County courtroom, the trial of Vernon Clifton Carroll for the murder of Deputy John Martin, began. Vernon claimed that Deputy Martin was involved with his wife, Peggy and she had lured him to the sandpit on that night. When confronted about the affair, the Deputy fired at Vernon who fired back in self-defense. Vernon claimed that he had shot Deputy Martin in the arm, and then left in the patrol car to get medical help for the injured Deputy. While he was gone, Vernon alleged that his wife, Peggy must have shot and killed Deputy Martin.

Vernon’s wife, Peggy Carroll, and his girlfriend, Joyce Chapman had pleaded guilty when the trial started on Monday. They both testified in the trial and their accounts of the early morning of September 12th refuted Vernon’s testimony.
The jury was out for almost twelve hours, returning the verdict of guilty of murder with the recommendation of mercy, at almost 11 o’clock on Friday night. Following the week-long trial, Judge T.B. Greneker sentenced Vernon Carroll to the mandatory life sentence. During sentencing, Judge Greneker told Vernon Carroll that he had gotten off “very light”. Judge Greneker addressed Deputy Martin’s widow, “…the presiding judge has found no truth to the charge that this good officer had an affair with any woman.” Solicitor B.O. Thomason assured Judge Greneker that no promise of a reduced sentence had been made to either Mrs. Chapman or Mrs. Carroll when they pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution. Vernon Carroll’s wife, Peggy, was sentenced to seven years for her part in the murder. Vernon’s girlfriend, Mrs. Joyce Ann Chapman, whose husband had been serving in Viet Nam at the time of the murder, was sentenced to nine years. It was almost midnight when the sentencing was completed and the three defendants were led out through the rain and sleet, to the cars that would transport them to the State Penitentiary.

Greenville County Sheriff’s Deputy John P. Martin was inducted into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame in 1986, never to be forgotten.

09/12/2026

HAPPY NATIONAL POLICEWOMEN'S DAY!

09/11/2026

Officer Daniel Dantzler Sweatman Holly Hill Police Department End of Watch: September 11, 1943

Daniel Dantzler Sweatman was born in Eutawville on October 21, 1877, to Elisha Monroe Sweatman and Susannah Rachel Dantzler. He married Augusta Viola “Gussie” Martin in 1897, and together they had three sons, Talmadge O’Dell (b.1898), Morris James (b.1902), and Perry Dean (b.1903), and three daughters, Jessie Bell (b.1905), Grace Eliza (b.1910), and Winifred Dorothy (b.1916).

In addition to being a farmer, Dan Sweatman was appointed to serve as a State Constable by Governor John G. Richards in 1929. Sometime during 1943, he joined the Holly Hill Police Department where he served as a Night Policeman.

On the afternoon of September 11, 1943, Officer Sweatman was called to the filling station owned by Carroll Rickenbacker concerning a disturbance. Rickenbacker had words with 17-year-old M.T. Boggs and wanted him removed from the property. By the time Officer Sweatman arrived, Boggs had left but was hiding behind the filling station and armed with a .22 r***e. When Boggs heard Officer Sweatman say that they would arrest Boggs when they found him, Boggs raised his r***e and shot Officer Sweatman. The Officer was rushed to the hospital where he died shortly after arriving.

Funeral services were conducted on September 13th, at Bethlehem Methodist Church and he was buried at Bethlehem Cemetery.

Boggs was later tried, found guilty, and sentenced to 15 years in the State Penitentiary.

Officer Daniel Dantzler Sweatman was inducted into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame on May 8, 2024, never to be forgotten.