Nearly 118 years ago, the only Orange County Sheriff’s deputy to die in the line of duty lost his life. But just a few weeks ago, he was finally recognized and remembered on a national level.
In 1904, Duncan Joseph Nichols was killed while trying to serve a warrant near Hillsborough for a man accused of whipping his daughter-in-law. Nichols was shot in the arm and despite asking to be taken to see his family a final time, he died from the injury before returning home.
Alicia Stemper, the public information officer for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, said she became interested in Nichols’ history since he remains the office’s only casualty while in the line of duty. While there was a local recognition before she joined the office, she decided to learn more about the deputy and how his history was preserved.
“Some years ago, there was an effort,” Stemper told 97.9 The Hill. “They presented some surviving family members with a plaque recognizing that Deputy Nichols had died in the service of the county. But he wasn’t on the national memorial for fallen officers and he wasn’t on the ‘officer down’ web page. And I was curious about his life and his service.”
With the help of several local libraries and one of the deputy’s great-grandsons, Stemper gathered up enough information to submit an application to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C. The stone monument honors thousands of people who died while on duty. This past fall, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office learned Nichols’ name would be etched onto the memorial and read during a ceremony for Peace Officers Memorial Day.
The annual candlelight vigil was held on Friday, May 13 at the National Mall, and Stemper attended with two of Nichols’ descendants and another sheriff’s office representative. She described the ceremony as “beautiful,” with performances of bagpipes and trumpets, tolling of bells and readings of 619 new names added to the memorial this year — including Nichols’.
“It was hard to prepare emotionally for what that would be like,” Stemper said. “The context, of course, is no one living knew Deputy Nichols. It caught me off-guard how emotional it can still be for someone you never met. I was there with two of his great-grandsons [Bryan and Wiley Sykes], and with Lt. Brian Whitehurst from our office. And there was just such power of standing together in such a somber, beautiful space.”
From left to right: Wiley Sykes, Lt. Brian Whitehurst and Bryan Sykes pose ahead of the annual candlelight vigil. (Photo via Alicia Stemper.)
The annual program at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C. on May 13, 2022. (Photo via Alicia Stemper.)
The livestream of the candlelight vigil hosted by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial from May 13, 2022. The officers from North Carolina, including former Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Duncan Joseph Nichols, are read around the 1:16:43 mark of the video.
Prior to the main ceremony, Stemper said there have been several meaningful moments during her research and efforts to recognize Deputy Nichols. One came in the recent months after the memorial application was approved. A community member heard about the deputy’s story and offered to use their power washing business to clean off the Nichols family headstones in a Hurdle Mills cemetery. Stemper recounted that Bryan Sykes, the family historian who lives in Greensboro, visited town for the occasion.
“Bryan came to thank [the business owner] and to be there while they did that,” said Stemper. “And that morning, he found a photo of Deputy Nichols, his wife and three of his daughters. The fourth one wasn’t born yet, [which] helped us date the photo. So, we were even able to submit the photo to the Law Enforcement Officers memorial fund.”
When Sykes and Stemper arrived in Washington D.C., they were not expecting to see that very photo used for Nichols’ recognition in the corresponding National Law Enforcement Museum.
“We didn’t know that there was a whole display in the museum of the photos, printed on metal and under beautiful lights,” said Stemper. “But there his face was, right in the middle of this wall. And again, neither one of us ever met the man, but you see [the photo in the display] and you just choke up.”
Duncan Joseph Nichols, the only Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy to be killed in the line of duty, is honored among those added to the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial with an archival photo. (Photo via Alicia Stemper.)
And, of course, Sykes and Stemper paid a visit to the National Law Enforcement Memorial itself to find Nichols’ name among the latest added.
Bryan Sykes, the great-grandson of former Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Duncan Joseph Nichols, takes a rubbing of Nichols’ name on the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial in Washington D.C. (Photo via Alicia Stemper.)
Slain Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Duncan Joseph Nichols’ name on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C. (Photo via Alicia Stemper.)
Stemper said at the national ceremony and monument, she was struck by the service of such officers like Nichols and how they sometimes trade their own personal safety for the good of the community.
But she said the local annual recognition for fallen law enforcement officers one week later was equally as powerful. Stemper said standing in the Ralph Pendergraph Memorial Garden with Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County colleagues and hearing Deputy Nichols honored also brought powerful emotions to the surface.
“Now it’s like… these are my people, in my time, in my space,” she described. “It had a neat immediacy. It was just a really nice, respectful service.”
More history about the life of sheriff’s Deputy Duncan Joseph Nichols can be found on the Orange County Sheriff’s Office website.
Featured photo via Alicia Stemper.
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