Meredith A. Thomas

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Meredith A. Thomas (June 1876 - April 12, 1917) was an electrician by trade and served as extra policeman with the Charlottesville Police Department. In 1917 he was shot and killed as he confronted one of two men.

On April 12, 1917, Policeman Thomas had been detailed by Chief-of-Police Z. L. Damron to watch the warehouse following a rash of thefts from the area.[1] The killing of Mr. Thomas was the final of a series of thefts which had been going on in the wholesale section for many weeks, the warehouse of W. J. Parr & Co. having been heavy losers of provisions from this cause.[2]

According to local newspaper accounts, Officer Thomas confronted a man whom he caught stealing hams from a warehouse. A struggled ensued, during which the second suspect struck Thomas in the head with a brick from behind. The second suspect then took Policeman Thomas' revolver and shot him in the abdomen.[3] Both men were apprehended a short time later and charged with his murder. Robert Jones and Hamilton Cosby were both convicted, sentenced to death, and subsequently executed in the electric chair in the early morning of June 20, 1917 at the State penitentiary, in Richmond.[4]

In 1914, Thomas was an electrician by trade and lived at 104 Hinton Avenue, Belmont. Policeman Meredith had served with the Charlottesville Police Department for approximately one year. He was survived by his wife and three children.


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