On Nov. 18 at 1pm a bronze plaque will be added to the granite cross in the Carson City Pioneer Cemetery detailing the story of Carson County Sheriff John L. Blackburn, the first Nevada peace officer killed in the line of duty.

This is the 148th anniversary of his death.

According to research, Blackburn is likely buried between the grave site of William Allen and the granite cross marking the previous grave site of William Ormsby.

Blackburn was stabbed to death in Carson City’s St. Nicholas Saloon while attempting to arrest William Mayfield. Mayfield was convicted of the murder and later escaped from the territorial jail.

The sheriff was laid to rest next to his friends, Ormsby and Allen whom he served with during the 1860 Paiute Indian war.

The ceremony will start with a mounted sheriff’s deputy leading a riderless horse from 2nd and Carson streets to the Carson City Pioneer Cemetery. They will follow the original 1861 funeral procession route. The site of St. Nicholas Saloon is now the front lawn of the Attorney General’s Office. Once the rider arrives at the cemetery, a short ceremony dedicating the plaque will be conducted.