Louis V. Wyckoff

King County Sheriffs Dept. — Seattle, WA

Cardiac

End of Watch January 20, 1882

Age 52

Tour of Duty 19 yrs

The Vigil Panel 7 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 17

Incident

Sheriff Wyckoff suffered a fatal heart attack after his jail was invaded by an angry mob who lynched several prisoners for a murder the previous day. The citizens held down Sheriff Wyckoff and his deputies as they took the prisoners to nearby gallows. After hanging the first two prisoners they returned to the jail to get the inmate being held for the murder of Seattle Police Officer David Sires the previous year. The men also took this suspect and hanged. Shortly afterwards Sheriff Wyckoff suffered a fatal heart attack.

Survivors

Sheriff Wyckoff had served as Sheriff for 19 years and was survived by his wife and son.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-WA-B946587B
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: April 2, 2026
Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

144 years is a long time for a name to go unread. Not today.
Sheriff Wyckoff gave the King County Sheriff's Office 19 years.
Thank you for your service to the Seattle community. Gone but never to be forgotten.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department King County Sheriffs Dept.

Location Seattle, WA

Platform Identity kingso.king.wa.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch January 20, 1882

Tour of Duty 19 yrs

Age 52

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Cardiac

Sheriff Louis V. Wyckoff is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In WA, 18 of 339 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 5.3% of this state's fallen. That is 1.3 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.

At King County Sheriffs Dept., 1 of 18 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 5.6% of this agency's fallen.

King County Sheriffs Dept.

of 18 officers

5.6% Cardiac

WA — Statewide

of 339 officers

5.3% Cardiac

Nationwide

1,306

of 32,508 officers

4% Cardiac