Shot by rustler in 1892: Whitman Deputy will join roster of fallen officers

A Whitman County deputy who lost his life while tracking down horse rustlers 118 years ago in Stevens County will be among 11 fallen officers honored May 10 in a ceremony at the Spokane County Public Safety Building in Spokane. Nine of the other honorees lost their lives over the past year.

Deputy William B. Spencer, 40, died April 3, 1892, at Fort Spokane. He had been shot four days before in a gunfight with a suspected horse thief near Fruitland upstream from the fort on the Columbia River.

The record of Spencer’s death was discovered by genealogist Karen Curran of Clarkston. She works with...