The headlines read, “Officer Slain in Midnight Battle”.  On a Sunday night in 1912, Inyo County Constable Walter Reed accompanied Bishop City Marshal Douglass Robinson in a raid on a Chinese restaurant in the city of Bishop.  The owner of the establishment, Gee Dong, a Chinese national, was suspected of ‘demoralizing’ local Indians by supplying them with liquor and opium, running prostitutes, and extorting money from other Chinese nationals in the community.

Constable Reed and Marshal Robinson demanded entry to the locked restaurant, stating their business.  Getting no response, Robinson went around to the back door, leaving his gun with Reed.  As Reed battered in the front door, he was immediately met by the suspect.  Dong was armed with two pistols and without hesitation opened fire on Constable Reed.  Reed was struck in the abdomen and fell mortally wounded.  Marshal Robinson, hearing the shots, entered the room to find Dong still standing in a doorway holding two smoking revolvers.  Unarmed, Robinson ran across the room and was immediately shot in each leg by Dong.  Robinson dove for the pistol lying next to Constable Reed, then turned and fired, hitting Dong twice, killing him instantly.

Constable Reed was survived by his wife, three sons and a daughter.

Thomas C. Borden, the first mounted officer of the department, lost his life at the hands of a burglar on the night of March 17, 1912. Returning from church services with Mrs. Borden, Tom surprised a burglar in the act of robbing his residence, and, unarmed, bravely attempted his capture. The burglar, using Borden’s revolver which he had stolen from the house, fired two shots, both taking effect in Borden’s body. Tom passed away about two hours later, and the greatest man-hunt in the history of the City of Long Beach was on. The killer was identified but never apprehended.