J. Rollin Cooler

South Carolina State Dispensary Commission — Columbia, SC

Felonious

End of Watch March 30, 1913

Age 37

The Vigil Panel 27 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 8

Incident

Dispensary Constable Rollin Cooler was shot from ambush and fatally wounded while raiding five blind tigers on St. Helena Island in Beaufort County.

Constable Cooler and his deputy were walking towards a local gathering spot when a shotgun blast of buckshot struck him in the face. Earlier, Constable Cooler had a confrontation with a local store owner who threatened to kill him. Constable Cooler's brother, a Beaufort County Deputy Sheriff, and a posse of citizens arrested the store owner and four other men. Constable Cooler died the next day as he was being loaded on a boat to be taken to a hospital in Savannah.

The store owner and one of the other four men were convicted of first-degree murder. In the state's first double execution, both men died in the electric chair on September 4th, 1913.

Constable Cooler was survived by his wife and two children. His brother's son and grandson became law enforcement officers, and now his great-grandson is a law enforcement officer in South Carolina.

He is buried at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Bluffton, South Carolina.

Survivors

Constable Cooler was survived by his wife and two children.

In Our Keeping

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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 never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Dispensary Constable Cooler served with the South Carolina State Dispensary Commission.
Thank you for your service to the Columbia community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Dispensary Constable Cooler.

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

Agency

Department South Carolina State Dispensary Commission

Location Columbia, SC

Platform Identity scsdc.richland.sc.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch March 30, 1913

Age 37

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Cause Detail Gunfire

Weapon Shotgun

Offender Executed in 1913

Dispensary Constable J. Rollin Cooler is one of 17,623 officers killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 54.2% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In SC, 271 of 438 officers were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 61.9% of this state's fallen. That is 7.7 percentage points above the national rate of 54.2%.

At South Carolina State Dispensary Commission, 9 of 9 officers on record were killed feloniously — deliberately targeted and murdered in the line of duty — 100% of this agency's fallen.

South Carolina State Dispensary Commission

of 9 officers

100% Felonious

SC — Statewide

271

of 438 officers

61.9% Felonious

Nationwide

17,623

of 32,508 officers

54.2% Felonious