In February 1939, retired Kentville police chief Rupert Davis died in hospital of injuries when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver the previous Christmas Eve.
Lore has it that he was run down by grudge-bearing, disgruntled bootleggers who ran afoul of him when he was still keeping the peace in Kentville. He died six years after his retirement, at the age of 80.
The driver of the vehicle was never found.
“They used to hire police officers because of their size — and it does sound like he was a big man — but it was their ability to fight. It sounds like he actually did things without getting to that point.”
- Kentville Police Chief Julia Cecchetto
He was laid to rest in an unmarked grave in Kentville’s Oak Grove Cemetery, something that the Kentville Police Service will change next month when it dedicates a headstone.
Chief Julia Cecchetto said former police chief Mark Mander started working on the project before he left the force. She was unaware of it until she stumbled into a ghost walk tour of the town last year led by the character Jerome the grave keeper, who mentioned Davis being buried in a pauper’s grave.
She said she has since found out from the cemetery caretaker — who was able to locate the grave using plot plans — that it wasn’t a pauper’s grave, “but it was unmarked. Whether there was no money, I don’t know. His (four) kids and wife are there too. Money was tight in the 30s, I assume.”
The project will see a headstone for Davis and his wife, Sarah, and narrative plaque telling his story.
The police department and a local business are providing the headstone, while historical societies from Kentville and Kings County are looking after the plaque.
They will be dedicated at a ceremony Sept. 27.
“It’s important to the department because he was here from the beginning,” she said. “He was here for 37 years when the town was known for being rough and tough. ... He did it by himself, in what I’ll call a very ethical way. There were no horror stories about him.”
She said that reflected well on the department, which didn’t have a second member until 1926.
The town was incorporated in 1888, with Davis becoming chief in 1894 until his retirement in 1931, when he was in his early 70s. He is the longest serving chief in the department’s history.
“He deserves to be recognized for 37 years of service to the town. I can’t speak for Mark (Mander), but I think he saw it the same way. Anyone who gave that much to the town deserves something given back,” Cecchetto said.
“What stands out to me is that at the turn of the century they used to hire police officers because of their size — and it does sound like he was a big man — but it was their ability to fight. It sounds like he actually did things without getting to that point. Maybe sometimes he did, but for me I like that he did it almost with a community policing perspective.”
She also said policing to beyond 70 years of age, with those expectations “would be impressive back at that time.”
A piece in the Kentville Advertiser in 1938 said Davis was well known for his zealousness in the enforcement of the Temperance Act and cracking down on people selling liquor, and he had a long series of raids to his credit including one that resulted in the seizure of $50,000 in liquor.
Davis’s great-grandaughter, Jessica Lynch, said she didn’t know about Davis until she got involved in genealogy a few years ago.
“I think it’s wonderful,” she said of the police department’s efforts. “The man worked for 37 years for them and he doesn’t have a gravestone or anything.”
She said she had no idea where he was laid to rest until she found out about the dedication ceremony from a post on the police department’s Facebook page looking for family members.
“I’m so excited, I’m trying to get hold of my brothers and sisters and get them to the ceremony.”
