Flagler Sheriff honors the late Sheriff Perry Hall, who was killed in the line of duty

Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly unveiled a plaque Wednesday honoring Sheriff Perry Hall, who was the first police officer killed in the line of duty in the county nearly a century ago.

It was during Prohibition. And the murderer’s weapon was contemporary: a liquor bottle.

The search for Hall’s killer would lead to the death of another deputy within three days.

Staly unveiled the memorial at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Center, the county jail named in Hall’s honor.

Staly, noting that last week was National Correctional Officers and Staff Week, said it is a time to recognize the hard work of correctional officers.

“The men and women who work behind these walls are true, courageous, unsung and invisible heroes who serve our communities,” Staly said.

Staly then spoke about Hall to a group of police officers and some politicians who had gathered for the event. Staly told Hall’s story through the plaque next to the prison, which Staly sometimes refers to as the “Green Roof Inn.”

“For his sacrifice to the community, Sheriff Hall’s name will always be remembered,” Staly said during the ceremony.

Hall was born in Putnam County in 1885 and was elected Flagler County’s second sheriff in 1924 at age 39, Staly said.

In January 1927, Hall captured four moonshine runners and confiscated 50 cases of whiskey and three cars, Staly said. Hall also worked on smaller cases, including cattle theft.

During his time as sheriff, the department had two bloodhounds, and Hall quickly used the dogs to search for bandits who were raiding the Flagler Beach post office in August 1927.

“He didn’t know this would be his last big case as sheriff in Flagler County,” Staly said.

Hall died on August 21, 1927.

The day before his death, Hall led a raid on an illegal liquor establishment in an area called “Roy” in northwest Flagler County.

Hall was trying to arrest a man when the man hit him in the head with a whiskey bottle, Staly said.

Flagler County had no hospital, so Hall was taken to St. Augustine. But he never regained consciousness.

Five hundred people, nearly the county’s entire population at the time, attended Hall’s funeral, Staly said.

Hall’s attacker, Jim Smith, managed to escape to Georgia.

A group of more than 200 men searched the forests in three counties for the attacker, who said he would not be captured alive.

Twenty-one days after Hall’s murder, an armed group tracked down Smith to a home in Georgia. Smith tried to escape and was shot during the arrest attempt.

The search for the murderer leads to the death of the second deputy

The search for Hall’s killer led to the death of a second Flagler County attorney.

Flagler County Sheriff’s Deputy George Walter “Son” Durrance saw a man matching the killer’s description and asked him to raise his hands. But the man was a night watchman at a post office and thought Durrance was going to rob him. The man fired his shotgun at Durrance. Durrance shot the man. Both were hit, but Durrance died from his wounds.

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