Thomas Reed

TWO VIRGINIA CITY POLICE OFFICERS MURDERED IN THE STREET

by Frank Adams

Nevada Law Enforcement Historian

In April of 1863 in a letter composed to his mother and sister, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) closes with:

“P.S. I have just heard five pistol shots down the street – as such things are in my line, I will go and see about it.

P.S. No2 – 5 A.M. – the pistol did its work well, one man – a Jackson County, Missourian, shot two of my friends, (police officer,) through the heart – both died within three minutes. Murderer’s name is John Campbell.”

In “The Works of Mark Twain – Early Tales and Sketches Volume I 1851-1864” edited by Edgar Margquess Branch and Robert H. Hirst, they also comment on the deaths of the officers.

“According to a contemporary newspaper account dated April 13, the two murdered policeman were Dennis McMahon and Thomas Reed; Campbell, who was twenty six years old, was arrested after the momentary escape…”

The report of the murders appeared in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, 14 April 1863, page 2.

Several days later, Mark Twain wrote in his short article “Horrible Affair”:

“…That town was electrified on Sunday morning with the intelligence that a noted desperado had just murdered two Virginia Policeman, and had fled in the general direction of Gold Hill…”

According to Thompson and West’s “Nevada History 1881”, Campbell was subsequently acquitted of the murders. They also reported that John E. Campbell was killed in a saloon fight in Aurora, Nevada in 1868 by H.T. Parlin. Campbell was the aggressor and was trying to shoot Parlin who in turn crushed Campbell’s skull with blow from a pistol. Parlin was acquitted.

Plaque Location & Image

Center Wall Column 1 Row F     View The Plaque