OFFICER DOWN: A SON RECALLS HIS FATHER'S DEATH

Lynn P. Hutson leaned back Sunday and remembered the day his father was shot and killed.

"It was a beautiful, sunny day," Hutson said of the October morning 75 years ago, "it was about 9:30 or 10 a.m."

The 11-year old was across the street from his house, scrubbing the mayor's porch for a fee of 75 cents, just as he had every Saturday before, when he heard his mother "screaming and crying."

He looked up and saw a big, black car in front of his house.

Shortly after, he learned that Cape Girardeau Police Chief Nathaniel Jefferson Hutson was dead at the age of 49, shot five times by a 22-year-old burglar and car thief named Willie Willeford, who also was killed.

An editorial in the Southeast Missourian newspaper described Chief Hutson as, "The best police officer that has ever served the people of Cape Girardeau."

Lynn Hutson, now 83, described the days of prohibition when his father served first as a beat officer, then police chief, followed by four years as county sheriff, then as police chief again.

"Those were the days of Elliot Ness," Hutson said.

Like Ness, his father was well-known for confiscating whisky and home brew. He kept bootleggers in check in Cape Girardeau, a popular pit stop on the "hooch route" between Memphis and St. Louis.

Lynn Hutson described his father as the victim of bad timing; of an arrest gone terribly wrong.

Chief Hutson was hunting Willeford, who had escaped from the county sheriff on his way to the state prison via train.

According to Lynn Hutson, Willeford was from a good family. His father worked for the railroad, but young Willie "had gone bad."

"There were more than 100 small stores in Cape Girardeau at that time," Hutson said. Willeford's M.O. was to burglarize the shops, sometimes setting them on fire.

He had been to jail for just such a crime.

This time, Willeford had been convicted of stealing the new car of "the most wealthy man in town," Hutson said.

Willeford drove to a festival in Jackson in style, but the car was quickly identified as belonging to Charles L. Harrison, of Cape.

Willeford was quickly convicted for the theft, but "Willie had been in the pen before and he wasn't going back," Hutson said.

Instead of laying low after his escape, Willeford apparently set about terrorizing the neighborhood, leaving a trail to his home.

On Oct. 6, he stopped and robbed a young couple swinging on the woman's front porch. Brandishing a gun, he stole the woman's rings and the man's billfold.

The couple called the police and when they described Willeford's low, gravely voice, Jeff Hutson knew Willeford was home.

The next morning, Hutson said his father got a tip from a bootlegger that the car thief had been spotted in a taxi.

"The guy was getting the shakedown from Willie, and he decided the only way to get him off his back was to turn him in," Hutson said.

From the taxi driver, the chief learned where Willeford had been dropped off: at his home on 409 William.

Hutson immediately went to the office of prosecuting attorney, Rush Limbaugh Sr., in order to get a search warrant.

"I talked to Rush years later and he told me, `you're dad was in my office 20 minutes before he died," Lynn Hutson said.

Of the search warrant, he said, "I don't know if they even used it, things developed so fast."

On the way to Willeford's neighborhood, officers urged caution.

Hutson said officers told his father, "now Jeff, let's be cautious over there."

But the chief, confident Willeford would surrender, waved them off, saying the suspect would "melt' when he saw the police.

Jeff Hutson didn't even bother to get a gun before going to Willeford's house.

The plan was that Hutson and Patrolman H.F. Wickham would enter the front. Patrolman Curtis Childs and another officer would secure the rear.

The rear guard had to go down an alley and climb a fence to get to the back door.

Things began to go wrong as the chief and Wickham climbed the 18 stairs to the front entry.

A young girl, coming out the door to pick up milk saw the white caps of the policemen and flew into the house screaming. The element of surprise was lost.

Lynn Hutson said the other officers told him his father became concerned about all the children on the street. He said the chief was worried that a shoot-out would ensue and a child would get hurt.

"He decided they had to get inside the house, fast." he said.

Unfortunately, the rear guard was a minute late.

"Childs was a pretty big man, and he got caught up on the fence," Hutson said.

In fact, the officers had to knock the fence down to get to the house.

But they were too late. Within minutes both the chief and Willeford were shot.

Lynn Hutson said he's studied all the court documents describing his father's death. Here's what he learned:

About 10:15 a.m., Chief Hutson knocked on the door, and when no one answered, he entered, armed only with a search warrant.

Willeford ran into another room and Hutson followed.

When Hutson reached the suspect, the first shot from an automatic pistol hit him in the neck.

When he tried to take the gun away from Willeford, he was shot four more times in the chest.

As Willeford pulled away from the injured police chief, patrolman Wickham fired twice, striking Willeford in the throat.

The other policemen arrived.

"Curt, get me to the hospital, quick," Chief Hutson said.

Childs, refusing to believe his chief was mortally wounded, said, "Jeff, you've been in a lot of hot spots before."

Hutson replied, "This is the hottest place I've ever been in."

Those were his final words.

An ambulance was called but the police chief died on the sidewalk, before he could be loaded into the ambulance.