Roll of Honor
Incident
Sheriff Boone Harris was lynched by a band of men known as bushwhackers.
Sheriff Harris, two soldiers, and a civilian were abducted and attacked by a group of 40 men known throughout the area as bushwhackers. The men hung Sheriff Harris and one of the soldiers and slashed the throats of the other two men. Their bodies were found the next day approximately one mile from the home where they were abducted.
Sheriff Harris was a Union Army veteran of the Civil War who was wounded in combat. He returned to Missouri and served as the sheriff of the Laclede County Sheriff's Office for four years.
Survivors
He was survived by his wife and two daughters.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-MO-F904831E- 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
I served 1985 to 1993. You served too, before the badge - different uniform, same idea. You go where you are sent and you do not get to pick the call.
Sheriff Harris gave the Laclede County Sheriff's Office 4 years.
Thank you for your service to the Lebanon community. Thank you for your service before it. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, brother.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Military Service
Robert Boone Harris served in the United States military before joining law enforcement. Full service record available on salute.nw.
Sheriff Robert Boone Harris is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In MO, 237 of 813 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 29.2% of this state's fallen. That is 1.8 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.
National Cause Distribution
How Accident compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Robert Boone Harris's cause is highlighted.
How Robert Boone Harris Compares
Offender Outcome
Never apprehended
When Accident Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Accident deaths across the full memorial record. Robert Boone Harris is highlighted in May.