George Cady

Marshal George Cady succumbed to gunshot wounds he suffered nearly two months earlier while escorting a group of rowdy and drunken lumberjacks out of town.

The marshal had told the lumberjacks, who were creating a disturbance in the late afternoon, to leave the town and followed them on foot to the nearby railroad depot. As they approached the depot, one of the men pulled a rifle and shot Marshal Cady, striking him in the chest.

Marshal Cady, who never carried a gun, was able to make his way to the Tremont House, a local hotel, where he collapsed. Marshal Cady survived nearly two months before he died of his wounds.

A posse located two of the lumberjacks, but not the man who allegedly shot Marshal Cady. They were jailed in Murphysboro to avoid a lynching from angry citizens seeking vengeance, but escaped while awaiting trial. One suspect was recaptured and served a long sentence at the Chester Penitentiary. The other suspect was never apprehended.

Marshal Cady had served in the Confederate Army and was survived by his wife and 4-year-old son, who later went on to serve as the Grand Tower marshal and a Jackson County deputy sheriff. He was known to often wear the vest his father wore which prominently displayed the bullet hole that took his father's life.

Marshal Cady had served in the Confederate Army and was survived by his wife and 4-year-old son, who later went on to serve as the Grand Tower marshal and a Jackson County deputy sheriff.