Some names belong in history books, and others belong in the hearts of the communities they served. Deputy George Clement “Clem” Douglas belongs in both.
He was born on January 15, 1871, in Sylacauga, Alabama, and he was never a man who spent his life chasing a badge. Law enforcement came to him late in life. Long before anyone called him Deputy, he was a husband and father, a farmer and beekeeper, a baseball coach and a good neighbor.
By 1920 Clem had brought his family south to a small settlement on the southern shore of Lake Okeechobee called Bare Beach. It was a rough, isolated place where people leaned heavily on one another. Clem kept twenty-eight hives of honeybees that worked the orange groves around the settlement, and he threw himself into the life of the community. He coached baseball and served on the local advisory board, and he earned a reputation as a man you could count on when something needed doing.
That reputation is what led his neighbors to ask him to become their deputy. Clem did not go looking for the job. He took it because his community needed someone they trusted, and on July 19, 1921, at fifty years old, George Clement Douglas took the oath of office as a Palm Beach County deputy. Only five weeks later, he would give his life keeping that oath.
On Saturday, August 27, 1921, Clem was over in Moore Haven coaching the Bare Beach baseball team when word reached him of trouble at the canal locks in Lake Harbor. A laborer named Sam Wells was accused of cheating another man out of his paycheck in a card game.
Clem had no one to back him up. He borrowed a Model T pickup and an old World War I pistol a neighbor gave him, and he headed for the work camp with his seventeen-year-old son, Howard, riding beside him.
Father and son reached the camp late that afternoon. Clem walked up to the small shack where Wells was believed to be hiding, and words were exchanged. Then a rifle fired, and Clem fell.
Howard ran to his father, and a second shot hit the boy in the back and pierced his lung. Badly wounded, he pressed the corner of his shirt into the bullet hole, and that may well have saved his life. He was rushed across Lake Okeechobee by boat to Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach, and somehow he survived. His father did not.
Sam Wells vanished into the vast swamps around the lake. In spite of posses, rewards and long searches, he was never caught.
Clem’s death sent shockwaves through the young county. He had worn the badge for only a matter of weeks, but he had already shown the quality that defined his whole life, a sense of responsibility to the people around him.
He was buried at Bare Beach, the community he served and called home. In the years that followed, hurricanes, rising water and the changing shoreline of Lake Okeechobee slowly erased most of that settlement. Even the old graveyard and Clem’s resting place were lost to time.
But his name was not. Deputy George Clement “Clem” Douglas is remembered as the first Palm Beach County deputy to die in the line of duty, and more than a century later his story still matters.
When I look at his photograph or stand beside the memorial that bears his name, I don’t simply see a lawman from 1921. I see a husband and a father, a beekeeper and a baseball coach, and a neighbor who answered when his community asked him to serve. Every time I clean and care for his memorial, I feel honored to do it.
If you ever drive along the south side of Lake Okeechobee on Highway 27, I hope you’ll stop in Lake Harbor and pay your respects to this brave man. His memorial stands at the fence line beside the old canal locks, near where he fell, at GPS coordinates 26.693673, -80.806997.
While you’re there, take a little time to enjoy John Stretch Park at 47225 U.S. Highway 27. It’s a pretty little park right on the lake, with shady picnic shelters and grills, a playground and a walking path along the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail. You’ll also find a piece of Glades history on display, a giant old Nordberg diesel engine that once drove the pumps holding back the water so this farmland could exist. It’s a peaceful spot for a picnic, and a fitting place to sit for a minute and think about a man who gave everything for his neighbors.
He wore the badge for only five weeks, but his sacrifice has lasted more than one hundred years.
To Serve and Protect was his oath. To honor him is our duty.
10-42. End of Watch.
Rest in peace, Deputy George Clement “Clem” Douglas.
One more note. If you’d like to read about more of the brave officers who gave their lives in the line of duty, please take a look at my book series Tears of Blue. Book One, Tears of Blue on the Gold Coast, honors the law enforcement officers of the Palm Beach County area who made the ultimate sacrifice. You will find some amazing facts about some amazing people I am sure you will enjoy.
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