Each Christmas season, the Okmulgee County Sheriff ’s Office pauses to remember three men whose lives were taken in the line of duty while serving their communities. This year, Deputy Stephen Lee continued a solemn tradition by placing wreaths and rendering salutes at the headstones of the county’s fallen deputies – an act of remembrance meant to ensure their sacrifices are never forgotten.
The tradition is simple, but its meaning runs deep. By visiting each grave, deputies honor not only the service of these men, but the ultimate price they paid in the name of public safety. The names of Sheriff William Edgar Robinson, Deputy John Lung and Deputy Burton Lee Brewer remain permanently etched into the history of Okmulgee County law enforcement.
Sheriff William Edgar Robinson was killed in 1907 while responding alongside Assistant Chief Henry Klaber and Special Officer Felix Chapman of the Okmulgee Police Department to a complaint at a man’s shack regarding the day’s fishing catch. Assistant Chief Klaber was the first officer to arrive and was shot and killed. Special Officer Chapman, who had been deputized by Klaber, picked up Klaber’s weapon and fired at the suspect before being fatally shot himself, along with his brother who was accompanying the officers. Sheriff Robinson was later shot and killed when he arrived at the scene. More than 500 shots were fired during the exchange, leaving two additional officers and three civilians wounded. The suspect was eventually killed when a neighboring house was set on fire, which spread to his home, resulting in his death. Sheriff Robinson had served with the agency for one year and was survived by his wife and two children.
Deputy John Lung lost his life in 1923 after being shot and killed while on duty. The suspect wanted in connection with Deputy Lung’s murder later killed two law enforcement officers in Little Rock, Arkansas – Detective Sergeant George Moore and Detective Sergeant Luther Hay – during an attempted arrest. The three suspects were convicted of Detective Hay’s murder and sentenced to death in September 1923. In February 1924, they kidnapped the warden of the Arkansas State Prison, stole his car, and escaped. Five days later, two of the suspects were shot and killed and the third wounded during a gun battle with a posse near Redfield, Ark. That suspect was later executed in the electric chair on April 18, 1924.
Deputy Burton Lee Brewer was killed in 1974 while attempting to arrest a man who had just killed Dewar Police Marshal Thomas Adkins and Henryetta Police Department Auxiliary Officer Walter Hembree. The suspect was later shot and wounded by the chief of the Morris Police Department. The 20-year-old suspect was convicted of two counts of capital murder and initially sentenced to death, a sentence later overturned and reduced to life in prison. As of Oct. 22, 2022, he remained incarcerated. Deputy Brewer had previously retired from the Okmulgee Fire Department after 21 years of service, later working as a private detective in Tulsa before joining the Okmulgee County Sheriff ’s Department, where he had served for one year. He was survived by his wife, son and two daughters.
This year’s wreath-laying serves as both a remembrance and a promise. Sheriff Robinson was killed in 1907, Deputy Lung in 1923 and Deputy Brewer in 1974 – different eras, different circumstances, but the same unwavering commitment to duty.
“Rest in peace, gentlemen,” the Sheriff ’s Office shared in tribute. “We will take it from here.”
Though decades have passed, their service endures in the traditions carried forward by today’s deputies and in the gratitude of a community that remembers its fallen – now and always.
