Charles E. Claiborne

Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division — Huntsville, TX

Accident

End of Watch August 9, 1915

Age 22

The Vigil Panel 30 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 123

Incident

Charles Claiborne, state prison guard, and Frank Dale, convict, were struck by lightning and killed while at work in the cotton field at the state prison farm at Sugarland in Fort Bend County. Claiborne was in charge of a squad of 23 men. Evidently the bolt ran along the ground as the guard and Dale were 20 feet apart.

Claiborne was buried on the Harriman Farm in Fort Bend County.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-TX-88926FC7
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 never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Correction Officer Claiborne served with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Thank you for your service to the Huntsville community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Correction Officer Claiborne.

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

Agency

Department Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division

Location Huntsville, TX

Platform Identity tdcjcidcorr.walker.tx.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch August 9, 1915

Age 22

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Correction Officer Charles E. Claiborne 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 TX, 653 of 2,421 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 27% of this state's fallen. That is 4 percentage points below the national rate of 31%.

At Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division, 32 of 124 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 25.8% of this agency's fallen.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division

of 124 officers

25.8% Accident

TX — Statewide

653

of 2,421 officers

27% Accident

Nationwide

10,088

of 32,508 officers

31% Accident