The Two Harrises of the Rock Springs Police Department

The Two Harrises of the Rock Springs Police Department

Two members of the Harris family in Rock Springs have worked with the city's police department, separated by nearly a century. Left, Tiffany Harris of the RSPD holds a memorial plaque commemorating her great-great-grandfather Thomas Harris. Right: Thomas Harris, who served as a town marshal in Rock Springs, was killed after an armed robbery of the Fountain Saloon in 1915. Photos courtesy of the RSPD and Sweetwater County Historical Museum.

Note: The following article was written by Dick Blust Jr., a staff member of the Sweetwater County Historical Museum and was recently featured on Wyohistory.org.

The direct descendant of a Rock Springs town marshal killed in the line of duty more than a century ago is herself with the Rock Springs Police Department.​

​On the night of March 13-14, 1915, a man subsequently identified as 26-year-old Refugio Angel robbed the Fountain Saloon on South Front Street, now South Main Street. According to published accounts of the time, the bartender at the Fountain stepped outside the bar for a bucket of coal when he was accosted by Angel, armed with a handgun. Inside the saloon, Angel removed $40 from the till and ordered the bartender to draw him a beer. ​

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​While Angel was occupied with his beer, the bartender managed to slip away and spread the alarm; Harris arrived soon after.​

​By the time Harris reached the scene, Angel had gone up the stairs at the Fountain and hidden himself in one of the back rooms on the second floor. Harris followed, and standing in the hallway, shone his flashlight into the dark room. Angel opened fire and shot him in the left wrist, chest, and heel.  ​

​Three other town officers named Lewis, Snyder and Allred arrived at the scene and devised an arrest strategy. While Lewis covered the stairway in the Fountain Saloon building, Allred and Snyder found ladders and climbed to the roof of the Grand Restaurant, located next door. On the roof, they spotted Angel, “revolver in his hand,” watching the window of the back room where he’d shot Harris. Allred shot Angel, who crawled back into the room through the window, then called out to surrender.​

South Front Street, now South Main Street, as it appeared in 1915, with the Fountain Saloon and Grand Restaurant identified. Sweetwater County Historical Museum photo.

​Angel survived, but Harris died six days later, on March 20, at the Wyoming General Hospital in Rock Springs. Word of Harris’s death spread quickly and that night a large mob forced its way into the town jail, which is now the site of the Rock Springs Historical Museum on Broadway, intent on lynching Harris’s killer.​

Angel, however, was not there. When he heard of Harris’s death, Sweetwater County Sheriff Matt McCourt anticipated trouble and quickly moved him to the safety of the county jail in Green River. ​

​Angel was charged with First Degree Murder in Harris’s death, pleaded not guilty, and went to trial in District Court in Green River in September. Fred W. Johnson of the Sweetwater County Attorney’s Office prosecuted, while Angel’s lawyers are identified in court records as “Taliaferro and Muir.” ​

​Court records located by county museum researchers also identify Angel’s jurors: R. Chamney, George Stoll, Jr., G. H. Widdop, Everet Price, Thomas Kiernan, Halvey Hermanson, Thomas Edwards, Charles Hammond, Soren Kolsen, Bob Benz, Henry Bramwell and Robert Gillum. ​

Angel was found guilty of Harris’s murder on Sept. 24 and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins, where he was assigned inmate number 2256. Prison records describe him as 5′ 6⅞” in height, weight 154 pounds with black hair and slate blue eyes, born in Mexico July 4, 1888. His occupation was listed as “Miner-Rancher.”​

Refugio Angel, Inmate Number 2256, shortly after his arrival at the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins in September 1915. Wyoming State Archives photo.

​Angel’s record at the prison was apparently good, as in 1930 his life sentence was commuted to 14-33 years. He was paroled and deported to Mexico that same year, having served 15 years.​

​In December of 2016, just over a century after his death, Thomas Harris’s great-great-granddaughter, Tiffany Harris, joined the Rock Springs Police Department, where she serves as a police officer in the patrol division. In May 2018 she received a special RSPD Lifesaving Award, the citation for which reads as follows:   ​

​“On June 26, 2018, Officer Harris responded to a medical call for a female having an insulin reaction. Officer Harris was the first to arrive and found the female unresponsive. Officer Harris immediately began CPR and continued until the ambulance crew arrived and successfully used a defibrillator. Officer Harris’s willingness to act and her decisive action allowed for quick medical attention resulting in the preservation of life.​”

​“Officer Harris’s determination, devotion to duty, and decisive action has reflected credit upon herself, the Rock Springs Police Department and the City of Rock Springs.”​

Officer Harris is still serving with the Rock Springs Police Department and has since been promoted to detective.

In May 2018, Thomas Harris was honored for his service and sacrifice by the Rock Springs Police Department in a special “Retiring of the Colors” ceremony during National Police Week, when Chief Dwane Pacheco presented Officer Tiffany Harris and the Harris family with a special flag. ​

Dick Blust, Jr., served in Wyoming law enforcement for 30 years and now works at the Sweetwater County Museum in Green River.