Archives: Fallen Officers

Aquila Bertrand “A.B.” Chamness

On September 22, 1917, at approximately 1900 hours, an intoxicated hit-and-run driver struck a buggy carrying a woman and her children on the south end of Fresno.  The driver of a motor stage transporting passengers from Fresno to Selma followed the suspect and obtained his license plate number.  The stage driver then passed the suspect and drove to the home of Fowler Constable A.B.Chamness to report the incident.  Constable Chamness boarded the stage, which returned to the state highway in time to observe the suspect vehicle southbound.  The stage passed the suspect vehicle again and approximately a mile south of Fowler, Constable Chamness alighted to flag down and arrest the suspect.  The suspect vehicle failed to stop and ran over Constable Chamness, inflicting fatal injuries from which the Constable died within the hour.  Sheriff Horace Thorwaldson arrested the suspect, a Parlier farmer, later that evening.

Constable Chamness, a native of Texas, had been the Constable of Fowler since 1910.  He had previously served as a police officer in Midland, Texas, as a Texas Ranger, and as the Fowler City Marshal.

Constable Chamness was survived by his wife, Hattie, five daughters and two sons. Funeral services were held on September 27th at the Fowler Baptist Church and he was buried at Fowler Cemetery.

Aaron A. Trent

In the predawn hours of August 22, 1917, while traveling north on Baker Street to a theft in progress, Ofc. Aaron A. Trent failed to see an approaching train. As he crossed the tracks, he collided with the engine. The force of the collision threw him under the train, killing him instantly.

Ofc. Trent was appointed an officer two days following the death of Ofc. Sparks as his replacement. Ofc. Sparks was killed less than 68 days earlier on June 15, 1917.

Frank Sparks

On June 15, 1917, Motorcycle Officer Frank Sparks was involved in a head-on collision at 26th Street and Chester Avenue. He died from his injuries the following day.

Alvin C. Gillem

In a strange twist of fate, Patrolman Alvin C. Gillem was killed by an intoxicated driver he had arrested a year earlier.

On April 12, 1917, Gillem was off-duty and returning from an afternoon at the circus with his family. He had placed his wife and three children aboard a streetcar for the ride home, and was waiting at the corner of 60th and San Pablo for a streetcar to take him to work at Northern Station.

A speeding car veered out of control and struck Gillem as he stood on the curb. He was killed instantly. Patrolman Thomas Pardee who was walking in the area immediately took the driver into custody.

The driver had been arrested a year earlier by Gillem for speeding and drunk driving. He was acquitted of the offense.

Gillem was a six-year veteran of the Oakland Police Department.