MEDFORD, Ore. — There are a lot of interesting people buried in the heart of Medford near Siskiyou Boulevard.
That’s home to the historical I.O.O.F. Eastwood Cemetery, one of the oldest in the area.
Many of the people there led incredible lives and left their mark on the Rogue Valley long before any of us were born.
Many of you may spend weekends hiking and biking up at Prescott Park – but do you know who the park is named after? His name was George Prescott, and he was one of the first Medford law enforcement officers murdered in the line of duty.
Constable George J. Prescott was born on October 4th, 1870 in Rockford, Illinois. He came to Medford in 1920 with his family and began serving the City of Medford as a peace officer.
“He started as a traffic policeman and rose up through the ranks,” said Jeff LaLande, volunteer at the Southern Oregon Historical Society.
He says Constable Prescott was 63-years-old and looking towards retirement at the time of his death.
His murder came during the Great Depression and a time of great political unrest in Jackson County.
LaLande says violence and threats of violence were prominent, especially in Medford, “During this uprising, which is sometimes called the Jackson County Rebellion or the Good Government Congress episode, 2 newspaper men, Lewellyn Banks and Earl Fehl, started this movement against the local establishment, it was kind of a populist insurrection.”
Lewellyn Banks, a wealthy orchardist, as well as the editor of the Medford Daily News, worked closely with Earl Fehl – an illegally elected Jackson County judge who shared similar radical political views to Banks and the paper.
“This movement became politically powerful here in Jackson County and really challenged the way things were, it was a true uprising,” said LaLande.
He says ballots were stolen from the Jackson County Courthouse ahead of a recount that had elected members of the Good Government Congress to public office.
“Oregon State Police and other law enforcement began an investigation immediately and they were able to put things together and found some suspects that talked.”
The investigation revealed that Banks and Fehl were behind the ballots theft and Constable Prescott was directed to serve an arrest warrant for Banks.
Prescott went to serve the warrant to Banks at his home on West Main Street around 10 a.m.
He was accompanied by Oregon State Police Sergeant, James O’Brien.
“He [Banks] was inside the house with his wife and he was preparing to escape arrest up in the hills west of Jacksonville,” LaLande said.
Banks’ wife, Edith, opened the front door and told Constable Prescott that Lewellyn wasn’t there and began to shut the front door.
Prescott stuck his foot in the door jamb and attempted to show Mrs. Banks the warrant…
“…And at that moment, Lewellyn Banks came up to the door with his 30 ought 6 Newton hunting rifle and he shot Prescott dead and he died immediately. He fell dead on the porch.”
Banks was arrested and found guilty of murder.
He spent the rest of his life in the Oregon State Penitentiary.
His accomplice, Fehl, served 4 years.
“His shooting, his murder, basically ended the Good Government Congress, because many of the members were shocked at what their leader Lewellyn Banks had done,” LaLande said.
He says Constable Prescott had a well-attended funeral at the Presbyterian Church across from Alba Park.
Today, Prescott still has a plaque in his honor established at Alba Park, along with a meeting room named after him at the current Medford Police Department.
The year after his death, the Civilian Conservation Core, a part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal, were working on Roxy Ann Peak. They decided to name the area after Prescott – not only in his honor, but because he was an advocate for parks in the area, as well.
In 1934, the coverage of Constable Prescott and the Good Government Congress in the Medford Mail Tribune earned the newspaper a Pulitzer Prize.
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