IN HONOR OF HIS SACRIFICE AND SERVICE:
Officer Joseph Hause
End of Watch: July 11th, 1954
In the early morning hours of July 11th, 1954, Officer Joseph Hause and Officer Lewis Smith were picked up for duty by Chief Edd Hixson and Officer Hubert Ross. Shortly after, a call was received from Mrs. Beulah Tanner, owner of the Page Hotel, that she had located her stolen shotgun on the back porch of the hotel. Mrs. Tanner had reported her shotgun stolen by Paul Henry Miller (aka Hayes) from her room at about 11:35 p.m. the night before. Miller was a roomer at the hotel since January, and was recently released from the penitentiary at McAlester, Oklahoma.
Hixson, Ross, Hause, and Smith drove to the Page Hotel located at Catalayah Avenue (Lynn Riggs Blvd) and Fourth Street, stopping at the alley at the back of the hotel. Chief Hixson and Officer Hause started up the rickety wooden stairs. As they neared the top a shotgun blast rang out striking Officer Hause in the abdomen. Chief Hixson pulled Officer Hause down the stairs to safety. Officer Ross and Officer Smith started up the stairs and a second shot rang out striking Officer Smith in the left wrist and thigh. Officer Hause and Officer Smith were removed to the Franklin Hospital, where Officer Hause died at 5:50 a.m. Officer Smith recovered from his injuries. Miller was later found dead in his room at the Page Hotel of an apparent shotgun blast to the chest.
Officer Hause left a wife, Evelyn and two small children, Stephen and Elizabeth. Officer Hause is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.
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