Haskell Sitton

Haskell Eugene "Papa" Sitton

90, of Harrison

Haskell E. Sitton

   Haskell Eugene "Papa" Sitton, 90, died Sept. 13 in Little Rock's Baptist Hospital of natural causes.

   Sitton, a retired law enforcement officer, lived in Harrison for about the last 47 years. He was born Nov. 23, 1908, in Leslie. He was a Christian and a member of Eagle Heights Baptist Church.

   Sitton served in the infantry in World War II. He was a long-time area policeman, starting his career in 1935 as deputy sheriff of Boone County. He also served as a Harrison City Policeman in the '30s and '50s; Yelleville City Marshal from 1939-1943; Clinton City Marshal from 1945-1950; and Melbourne City Marshal from 1956-1957. In 1958, he joined the Arkansas State Police weights and standards division (which later became the Arkansas Highway Police). Sitton retired as a lieutenant in December 1975.

   Sitton survived an attempt on his life due to enforcing the liquor laws in a dry county as Clinton City Marshal. According to the April 10, 1949, Arkansas Democrat, Sitton was shot with buckshot from an automatic shotgun in the arms and chest by an alleged bootlegging suspect who was arrested after hitting Sitton with a blackjack on April 9. The suspect and an accomplice drove to Sitton's house and began shooting through the bedroom windows where Sitton and his wife lay. Neither his wife nor his children were injured in the shooting. Van Buren County Sheriff Doyce Casinger, who helped arrest the assailants, told the Arkansas Gazette that Sitton was a "fearless and scrupulous officer whose stringent enforcement of all laws in Clinton had made him many enemies."

In the family - State Trooper Leroy Sitton and Highway Policeman Haskell Sitton.

   Sitton helped solve a murder case which garnered national attention in magazines including Crime Detective, Inside Detective and Fact Detective Yearbook in 1948 and 1949. These magazines were the forerunner to such police shows as Cops and Stories of the Highway Patrol, which cover stories taken from actual police work. The murder involved a media-named "Dashing Romeo" who poisoned his mail-order bride, then spent her money on other women before she was even buried. Through the detective work of Casinger and Sitton, the suspect was sentenced to life in prison. Sitton worked on many such cases during his career as a police officer.

   Sitton is survived by brothers Vern Sitton of Clinton and Jewell Dean "Jude" Sitton of Midwest City, Okla.; sister Hope Williams of Clinton; son David Leroy Sitton of North Little Rock and his wife, Becky; daughter Mittie Katherine Youngblood of Harrison and her husband, Charles; grandsons Clifton E. "George" Smith of Harrison, Chuck E. Sitton and David L. Sitton, Jr. of Little Rock, and Ronald W. Sitton of Knoxville, Tenn.; granddaughters Donna K. Gray of Greenbrier and Aronna M. Sorvillo of Maumelle; four great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

   Sitton was preceded in death by his loving wife of 57 years, Mattie A. Tomlinson Sitton; his parents Cam L. and Maude M. Hill Sitton; brothers Ancil, Paul and J.D.; sisters Lois, Faith and Fern; grandsons Darrin Smith and Donald Sitton; and granddaughter Lisa Dawn Sitton.

   Funeral services will be held Thursday in Harrison's Eagle Heights Baptist Church at 10 a.m. Holt Funeral Home will conduct burial services at Maplewood Cemetary immediately following the funeral. Memorials may be made to the Shriners Hospital for Children; Grotto Humanitarian Fund; Smith Family Missionaries to Canada, P.O. Box 37043, Jacksonville, Fla.; or Bono Baptist Church, P.O. Box 1158, Greenbrier, Ark.

   Visitation is from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.

   Pallbearers are Chuck E. Sitton, David L. Sitton, Jr., Ronald W. Sitton, Michael Gray, 1st Lt. Jan Weinberg of the Arkansas Highway Police and Cpl. Troy Mouzy of the Arkansas State Police.

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(600 words)

Sources: Arkansas Democrat, Arkansas Gazette, Crime Detective (v.8,n.4), Inside Detective (v. 26, n.2), Fact Detective Yearbook (no. 5)

This obituary appeared in the Sept. 15, 1999, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Harrison Daily Times.