On Oct. 1, 1951, Placer County Sheriff William Elam was driving to Kings Beach in North Lake Tahoe where he was to swear in two new sheriff’s deputies. But, about 3.5 miles east of Tahoe City while on Dollar Hill grade, he lost control of his car on wet pavement, skidded across the road, crashed through a guardrail and rolled down a 60-foot embankment. At some point, Sheriff Elam was thrown from the vehicle. According to the Oct. 3, 1951, Roseville Press Tribune:
“Highway patrolman Tom Sheehan reported Elam’s body was found about 30 feet away from the car in a clump of brush. The car was demolished. It was reported that Elam suffered a broken neck and died instantly.”
Elam became a City of Roseville police officer in 1931 and was elected chief of the Roseville Police Department after a special election in 1948. He was elected Placer County Sheriff in 1950 and assumed office in January 1951.
Coroner Francis West, for the third time in 10 years, assumed the role of sheriff until a successor was appointed by the Placer County Board of Supervisors. He first temporarily assumed the role of sheriff after the death of Elmer Gum on Jan. 1, 1941. The Board of Supervisors then appointed Charles Silva, who died while in office in 1945.
In 1951, after the death of Elam, the Board of Supervisors appointed Charles Ward as Placer County sheriff. Ward himself died in office three years later and West, once again, temporarily assumed the duties of sheriff.
Photo: Placer County Sheriff William “Bill” Elam, c. 1950
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