Raleigh Detective Tom Crabtree Killed in Line of Duty, 1922

From the editorial page of the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, Richmond County, September 7, 1922

One night last week Detective Tom Crabtree of the Raleigh police force was shot down by a young white drunk, Charles Kluttz, who after shooting once, jumped from his car and shot him again, then drove a heavy Cadillac car over the body of the fallen officer. Crabtree died in the hospital Saturday, and such was the crowd that desired to attend his funeral that it had to be held in the huge city auditorium Sunday, 3,000 people attending. 

At the grave four white robed K.K.K. men placed a floral design on the grave, the three capital letters emblazoned in red flowers on a background of white roses. Scarcely had the officer died before a subscription was circulated over Raleigh with the idea of raising $5,000 as a trust fund for his needy wife and children.

The detective was in the discharge of his duty, and was shot down by a drunken bully without a chance of protecting himself. His death, however, will serve to awaken the Raleigh citizens to the necessity of a more strict law enforcement—and it is but an object lesson to the people of ALL the State to be vigilant in this respect, and wage an energetic campaign to stamp out the liquor traffic. 

Rockingham and Richmond county are doing this very thing now and our people must stick behind the officers and let the blind tiger and whiskey manufacturing element thoroughly understand that this kind of business must stop!