The Nevada County Sheriff’s Department recently remembered its first sheriff of three in its history to die in the line of duty, with a Facebook posting. It says on November 2nd, 1856, an outlaw with a penchant for escaping jails got out, along with two other inmates. Department historian, Sergeant Andrew Liller, says in those days a lot of jails around the west were poorly-constructed and not very secure. So Sheriff W.W. Wright formed a posse with Nevada City Marshal David Johnson. But unknown to them, a second posse of citizen vigilantes had also formed and secreted itself in a remote area at Gold Ravine, near Gold Flat, believing the escapees would go to that area. Wright and Johnson also went to the same area and became suspicious when they saw horses tied to a tree…

click to listen to Sgt Liller

Liller says law enforcement was not as clearly identifiable in those days. And both Wright and Johnson received fatal wounds. The posting also notes that, just four months earlier, Wright had narrowly escaped death. That’s when a fire swept through Nevada City and it became apparent the courthouse, which housed the jail at the time, was likely to burn. So Wright released several trapped inmates…

click to listen to Sgt Liller

The Sheriff’s Department was established, along with the county, in 1851.