Sheriff Wounded as Posse Captures Three Former Convicts
In the early hours of a cold January Sunday in 1957, an elaborate attempt to rob the Farmers & Traders Bank in downtown Campton ended in a chaotic shootout and manhunt across Wolfe County. By Tuesday afternoon, three ex-convicts were in custody — two of them wounded, one nearly frozen — after a series of violent encounters that left Sheriff George G. Little hospitalized with serious leg injuries from machine-gun fire.
The Attempted Robbery
According to investigators, the would-be robbers entered the bank through a small restroom window after removing a steel grate. Inside, 22-year-old night watchman Daniel B. Stone, a former paratrooper, was asleep on a cot when the sound of breaking glass jolted him awake. Grabbing his 9-millimeter Luger, Stone opened the door to investigate and saw light coming from the restroom. When the door moved slightly, he fired. He later said he heard a body fall and a man groan before he ran outside in search of help.
Outside, Stone fired again at a fleeing figure before rushing across the street to call Sheriff Little. Within minutes, the sheriff, accompanied by Deputy Frank Adams and local resident Ed Graham, arrived to help. Together, they surrounded the bank as Stone, still dressed in underwear and an overcoat, pointed out the area where he had seen movement. Moments later, a man bolted from an alleyway. Adams fired a shotgun blast at the suspect, who ran down Johnson Street instead of surrendering.
Streets Erupt in Gunfire
Little and Stone gave chase. As they rounded the corner, the night air exploded with automatic gunfire. A waiting car with its engine running near the home of George Hatton was spitting bullets down the street. Sheriff Little collapsed, struck in both legs just above the knees. Stone emptied his pistol toward the car before being clubbed across the forehead with a rifle butt. Dazed and bleeding, he was hit again before collapsing beside the wounded sheriff.
When the shooting stopped, the assailants fled in a waiting automobile. Little’s condition was grave, and doctors later feared one of his legs might have to be amputated. Both the sheriff and Stone were rushed to Lexington for treatment.
Posse Forms and the Manhunt Begins
Word of the gunfight spread quickly. By dawn, armed farmers, local officers, and state police were scouring the hills. A green 1952 Chrysler was found abandoned near Mary on Devils Creek Road, its tires shredded and the trunk perforated with bullet holes. Inside were safe-cracking tools, oxygen and acetylene tanks, a tarpaulin, and Oklahoma license plates. Several spent .45-caliber shell casings from a submachine gun were also recovered.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation joined the search that same day, working alongside Kentucky State Police and local law enforcement. Then, just after sunrise, Wolfe County Superintendent Taylor Booth reported that two armed men had stolen his 1949 Chevrolet on the high school grounds. Booth said one of the men was visibly injured and had forced him at gunpoint to hand over his car. Blood-soaked clothing and signs of injury were later found in a nearby school bus, suggesting one of the robbers had been hiding inside.
First Capture: Don R. Scott
By Monday morning, a tip from residents on Pine Ridge led Constable Johnny Combs and a group of armed locals to a farmhouse where a stranger had spent the night. The man, 25-year-old Don Roderick Scott of Liberty, Casey County, surrendered without resistance. He was shivering from cold and suffering from leg and head wounds. Papers found on him identified him as both Don and Paul Scott. He was taken to jail in Jackson and charged with bank burglary and related offenses.
Final Arrests in the Hills
The following day, searchers closed in on two more fugitives — John Paul Scott, Don’s brother, and Earl Franklin Morris, 35, of Ponca City, Oklahoma. The pair were discovered hiding in a fodder shock on the Harold Alexander farm near Sky Bridge, roughly seven miles from Campton. When officers kicked apart the stack of corn stalks, both men crawled out weak and frostbitten. John Scott had bullet wounds to his mouth, neck, and right arm; Morris’s feet were so frostbitten that he could barely stand.
The men were taken to the Maddox Clinic in Campton for emergency care and then transferred to Good Samaritan Hospital in Lexington. They surrendered a submachine gun, a loaded magazine, and a .38-caliber pistol. A second pistol, a .22, was found in another fodder shock nearby. Both men later admitted they had feared the local posse would kill them if they surrendered before the FBI arrived.
Weapons and Evidence
Investigators recovered the machine gun believed to have wounded Sheriff Little from a field on the farm of Mrs. Dollie Taulbee along Devils Creek Road. Authorities learned that the weapon had been stolen months earlier from a National Guard armory near Danville.
Inside the bank, officers found extensive evidence: acetylene cutting tools, a tank of oxygen, several bags and picks, and a parka containing loaded submachine-gun magazines. A bloodstained cap and flashlight smashed by a bullet were also recovered, along with sand and other materials typically used in safecracking operations.
Community Defense and Clever Thinking
Investigators later pieced together that the robbers had left two getaway cars — the Chrysler used in Campton and a 1956 Chevrolet parked about six miles away on Pine Ridge Road. Their plan was to flee the state in the second vehicle. However, mechanic Corbitt Pelfrey, aware of the ongoing robbery attempt, spotted the parked Chevrolet early Sunday morning. Suspecting it was connected, he removed the rotor from the distributor and had the vehicle towed away. When officers later opened the glove compartment, they found a bill of sale in Don Scott’s name — the first solid lead that identified the suspects.
Farmer Harold Alexander, who unknowingly hosted the fugitives on his land, told officers he noticed hay scattered from his barn to a nearby fodder shock, suggesting someone had been sleeping inside. He quietly alerted authorities, leading to the men’s capture by a 25-member posse that included FBI agents, state police, and local residents.
Criminal Backgrounds of the Accused
All three suspects were no strangers to law enforcement. FBI Agent Ray L. Faisst of Louisville released their criminal histories following the arrests:
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John Paul Scott, 30, and Donald Roderick Scott, 28, both natives of Willisburg, Kentucky, had twice been convicted of armed robbery in Texas. In 1951, they robbed the Prosper State Bank in Prosper, Texas, and later blew open a safe at Sheppard Air Force Base, escaping with $10,000 before being captured in Sherman. They served five-year sentences at Huntsville State Penitentiary before their release in 1954. Since then, both had worked as medical technicians.
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Earl Franklin Morris, 36, a native of Antlers, Oklahoma, had also been convicted twice for armed robbery, including a 1951 holdup of the Collinsville State Bank in Texas. He served ten years at Huntsville before being paroled in 1953 and had been working as a painter prior to the Campton crime.
Aftermath and Additional Confessions
While under questioning, John Paul Scott reportedly admitted that he and his brother had broken into the same bank in December 1955, stealing $2,040 in coins. Commonwealth’s Attorney Douglas Graham confirmed that Morris corroborated the confession, stating the brothers had previously told him of the earlier burglary.
A Night Campton Would Never Forget
The failed robbery left Campton shaken but resolute. The townspeople who had taken up arms alongside law enforcement were credited with cornering the fugitives before they could flee Kentucky. Sheriff Little’s recovery was long and uncertain, but his actions — and the bravery of young watchman Daniel Stone — prevented what might have been one of the boldest bank robberies in the region’s history.
As a side note. John Paul Scott would later escape from Alcatraz prison. You can read that blog here:
https://lookingbackkentuckyhistory.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-man-who-beat-alcatraz-story-of.html
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