The tree-trunk style WoW tombstone without a base for John M. Cain stands in Houston's peaceful Magnolia Cemetery reads as follows:
"[WoW Logo]
Willow Tree Camp No. 2084
J. M. Cain
Mar. 4 1881
Aug. 4, 1911
An associated plaque laid by the Houston 100 Club reads:
"[Logo of the 100 Club]
Honors
Houston Police Officer
JOHN M. CAIN
Mar 4 1881 - Aug 4, 1911
Killed in the Line of Duty"
For more on Officer Cain, see here: (
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"Officer Cain was shot and killed when he attempted to arrest a suspect he saw hop onto a freight train. When Officer Cain called for the suspect to stop, the man turned and fired two shots, killing Officer Cain.
The suspect was later arrested and convicted of murder. He was executed in 1916."
A more detailed story (that conflicts with ODMP) comes from the Houston Police Retired Officer's Association newsletter:
(
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"Killer of Officer John M. Cain Sentenced To Die after 5-Year Homicide Investigation
By Nelson Zoch
On Friday morning, August 4, 1911, at approximately 3:30 a.m., Officer John Morris Cain was on patrol duty as a Houston police officer. Officer Cain’s assignment, a very dangerous and lonely one, was at the North Side Railway Crossing, actually described as the crossing of the International/Great Northern and the Southern Pacific Railroads intersection as it existed in 1911 in Houston. This exact location was difficult to pinpoint in 2006, but it was believed to have been in the northeast quadrant of the city near Nance Street.
An investigation later determined that Officer Cain was very apprehensive about working this assignment alone. His partner of previous nights, Officer Myers, had been removed from this location to another assignment due to manpower considerations. Cain, while having been an officer for less than a year, was apparently very aware of his dangerous assignment and had requested another assignment or, in the alternative, not to work this area alone on the night shift.
Later, Officer Cain was reported to have been involved in a conversation with several citizens regarding their business at this location at this hour. These citizens, Richard Tolson and Rosa Mason, explained the nature of their business to the satisfaction of the officer. Just after this interchange, an unknown Negro male exited the rail car near Officer Cain and the two witnesses. He was later described as a tall, brownskinned Negro, about twenty-eight to thirty years old, wearing a dark suit of clothes, a Panama hat and being fairly well dressed. He carried two grips in his left hand, a small one and a larger one, which from appearance were tied together.
This unknown man got off a rail car and upon seeing Officer Cain, in full HPD uniform, proceeded to walk away in the opposite direction. Witnesses recall Cain, seeing this individual hurrying away, asking him, “Can’t your stop when an officer is talking?” At this point, the suspect said, “Stop, hell,” and whirled and fired one or two times with a pistol toward the unsuspecting Officer Cain. The suspect then fled on foot in the darkness.
One round from a .41-caliber pistol struck Officer Cain near the left nipple. This missive ranged downward, passing just along the heart and striking the backbone and the spinal cord as it made its treacherous way through his body.
The above described Negro couple, standing nearby, immediately reported this shooting and remained at the scene to describe what they had observed. Night Chief Heck, along with Detective Kessler, Chief of Police Voss, and six other officers responded immediately to the scene to begin their investigation. This was truly a whodunit.
The Houston Post of August 5, 1911 described Officer Cain’s condition: WAS CONSCIOUS TO THE LAST: “Up to the time of his death almost, Cain was conscious and conversed with his wife, other relatives and friends, realizing all of the time that he could not live. He gave an accurate description of the negro that did the shooting and told of the circumstances that preceded the infliction of the fatal wound, the story being corroborated by the negro man and woman. Chief Voss and other officers called at the infirmary all during the day and talked to the wounded man, and at once detailed extra men to search for the negro, determined that he shall be captured.”
Interviews with the critically wounded Officer verified what the witnesses had told investigators. Then, at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, August 4, 1911, Officer John Morris Cain passed away. He was thirty years old. Investigators had early on concluded that the suspect had left town. However, they were at a loss to determine which direction, as passenger trains were very popular in these days and ran day and night in and out of Houston.
The untimely death of Officer Cain cast gloom over the entire police department. During his connection with the department, he had done duty in almost every section of the city and was well liked by all who knew him. He was considered an efficient officer, fearless and always on the job, prompt and courteous in his dealings.
. . .
Officer Cain was a member of the Woodmen of the World, Willow Tree Camp Number 64 and this organization took charge of the funeral. The service was held at 4 p.m. Sunday, August 6, 1911, from the officer’s home at 1404 Cook Street. All of the officers of the Police Department attended in a body and assembled at the Police Station at 3 p.m. They were met at the home by the Woodmen Lodge members, who also attended as a body. The funeral cortege was one of the longest in the city in many months and the floral offerings were many. The procession to the cemetery was strikingly impressive, with the mounted police officers and other members of the department being led by Chief of Police John A. “Duff” Voss and Reverend Ammons. Burial followed at Magnolia Cemetery, located at what is now West Dallas and Montrose/Studemont.
. . .
Since the tragic death of Officer Cain and during the funeral and mourning process, the investigation into this capital murder continued. It was in the days that followed Officer Cain’s funeral that the thought regarding this whodunit murder slowly sank in: Could it be actually possible that this terrible crime would never be solved? The murdered officer gave a reasonably good description but would not be available in court. The Negro couple who observed part of this crime, therefore, would become crucial witnesses if anyone could be placed before them. Even in 1911, the authorities became aware of how critical other items of physical
evidence would be.
Days upon days piled up. Leads came in and were checked out with the same negative results. Frustrations mounted, but Chief Voss and the local sheriff, as well as the entire forces from both departments, were convinced that sooner or later this murderer would be captured.
In the first three weeks, there were four newspaper accounts of arrests/detainments recorded in various parts of Texas – including Conroe, Montgomery and Rogers – of suspects believed to be the killer. All were checked out thoroughly and proven to be unworthy of prosecution. In most or all of these incidents, investigators from Houston had to arrange railroad travel schedules in order to further investigate these leads.
The days, months, and even years passed.
. . .
In the great State of Texas, there existed an individual by the name of Houston Sharp, a Negro male. He came from a family of four children, the father of which was a minister. His two sisters and one brother chose the upward path and became teachers and leaders. Houston, on the other hand, went another direction. He attended Prairie View Normal, but was expelled for committing campus burglaries. He definitely chose the downward path.
Later, he was described in court as a professional bad man, a small chocolate colored Negro with a mustache and a look of cunning as well as a cynical smile to all who dared to look at him. Houston Sharp’s criminal record was
reported as follows:
• In 1910, when Constable T.A. Haddox of Grimes County attempted to place Sharp under arrest, Sharp grabbed a rifle and drew down on the constable and disarmed him, threatening him with death if he attempted to follow him.
Shortly after this incident, Grimes County Sheriff Tom Lacey and Montgomery County Sheriff Ellis attempted to arrest him from a train, but Sharp escaped in a volley of gunfire.
• Sharp was finally captured in a post office in the eastern Montgomery County town of Fostoria. Officers shot Sharp five times with a .32 pistol, once with a .45, and a citizen assisted the lawmen by shooting Sharp in the back. Somehow, this “cat with nine lives” survived. He was convicted and sent to Huntsville. However, due to his injuries, he was moved to the hospital farm and escaped five months later.
• Grimes County Sheriff Lacey attempted to arrest Sharp, but Sharp overpowered the Sheriff and took his pistol. During the fight, Sheriff Lacey nearly cut off the “pistol hand” of Sharp. Sharp, who claimed to have suffered a total of sixteen gunshot wounds during his criminal career, was found later to be missing all of his fingers on one hand from the encounter with Sheriff Lacey.
• Sharp was convicted in 1913 of eight cases of burglary, resulting in sixteen years in the penitentiary. He escaped amid a storm of bullets from the prison guards. Houston Sharp, already of much renown throughout Texas for his many acts of misdeeds, was in the Texas Prison System in Huntsville on a burglary conviction of fifty-eight years.
• It was in prison while serving this term that he told of killing a Houston police officer. He told several fellow Negro inmates from Burleson County that he had killed Officer Cain. This was reported by these inmates, even though, just as is the case today, they likely had their own well being in mind.
Throughout his career, one law officer in particular, Harris County Detective T. Binford, proved to be the nemesis of Sharp. Detective Binford, who had suspected Sharp at one point during the five years after Officer Cain’s death, eventually began tracking Sharp’s movements before and after the murder.
He determined that there was a gap right around the week of August 3, 1911. When confronted with the suspicion of him being the murderer of Officer Cain, Sharp confessed. However, he later withdrew his confession, saying that he was threatened with a “broken neck” if he did not sign the statement. In the summer of 1916, nearly five years after the murder of Officer John M. Cain, Houston Sharp was charged with murder.
The Houston Post of September 7, 1916 said that Sharp’s trial began and the confession, after a difficult fight, was introduced into evidence. During the proceeding, Houston Sharp took the stand and denied his confession, stating that it was coerced under the duress of having his neck broken. He said that he was at home for the birth of a child on the night the officer was killed. When it was proven that the birth actually occurred two weeks prior, he stated that he must have been mistaken.
In recapping this crime, his confession, which was considered by the court, he indicated that upon his being confronted by Officer Cain, he turned and fired one round from his .41-caliber pistol. He felt like he had hit the officer and fled from the scene on foot, arriving later that night at a woman’s residence in the
Second Ward. Police located this woman, who testified at the trial that Houston Sharp had arrived at her boardinghouse the night of the murder and had shown her a pistol.
She said the barrel was hot and smelled as if it had been recently fired. She hid it for him that night, with Sharp leaving with it again the next morning. The Post, on September 8, said that Sharp’s fate was in the hands of the jury, which was locked up for the night. One day later, the paper said that there was good news for Sharp – that he will not be required to serve the remainder of his fifty-eight-year sentence. The bad news was that he will face a death sentence for the 1911 murder of Houston Police Officer John Morris Cain. The verdict was that Houston Sharp was to be sentenced to death by hanging.
In 2004, Officer Cain’s gravesite was located at Magnolia Cemetery, tastefully marked with the standard Woodmen of the World marker. This marker makes the usual note of date of birth and date of death, but nothing as to how this young thirty-year-old man died. To correct that, a 100 Club KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY marker has been placed there to further honor his memory.
What really happened to the infamous Houston Sharp? He was found guilty and sentenced to die at the end of a rope in Harris County. Prior to 1923, counties in the State of Texas were given the responsibility of their own executions. This changed in 1923, when the State took over this necessary duty. However, no record could
be found that indicated Houston Sharp was in fact hung. It would have seemed that in 1916, with the extensive record of Houston Sharp and his proclivity to violence, that he would have been hung in a timely manner to rid society of any further actions on his part.
Convict records were thoroughly searched at the State of Texas Library in Austin. From there, this story becomes even stranger.
Records show that a 40 year old Houston Sharp, Negro Male 40, born in 1875, was convicted of Burglary, Horse Theft, and Theft over $50.00 and received in the prison system in December, 1916. He had twenty-one cases and received two years on each which sentences were to run cumulative, a total of 42 years. This was three months after he was given the death penalty for the Murder of Officer Cain. On a sentence that by TDC records was not to expire until December of 1957, Houston Sharp was pardoned in July, 1925, thirty-two years early.
While this entire scenario seems unbelievable, the following article was located in the Galveston Daily News of July 18, 1925:
“Houston Sharpe, of Burleson and Grimes counties, served twelve and one-half years of a forty-two aggregate sentence on twenty-one charges of burglary and theft over $50.00., recommended by pardon board and by R.M. Wood, chairman of the committee on teachers of Sam Houston State Teachers College, Huntsville”. It appears that
the murder of Officer John Morris Cain fell by the wayside. One can only guess what really occurred here, knowing that his parents and siblings were notable in education circles at Prairie View A & M College. As of this writing, no information has been located regarding a date of death for Houston Sharp."