Daniel C Hansen

Daniel C. Hansen was known in Cokeville, Wyoming, as the town marshal — a small-town lawman whose responsibility to neighbors and local families shaped the final chapter of his life. Contemporary newspaper reports and later memorial listings identify him as a 42‑year‑old husband and father who wore the badge during a time when remote Western towns depended on one another and on a few steady hands to keep everyday life secure. He had been appointed marshal earlier in June 1912 and carried out the tasks expected of that role: answering threats to the town, protecting local businesses, and responding when a neighbor feared for the safety of his family.

Accounts from June 1912 show Hansen taking a threat seriously when a banker in the area received a demand for money that included a violent warning. Rather than leave the matter to chance, Hansen went to inspect the chosen meeting place late at night. He was mortally wounded during that encounter and was brought back to town, where he died the following afternoon on June 21, 1912. Sources indicate he managed to give a brief description of an assailant before he died.

Public records and contemporary newspapers from the time describe the immediate aftermath — arrests, names of men suspected in the attack, and the shock felt in a close‑knit community. Those accounts show how Hansen’s death resonated: he was not a well‑known celebrity, but a local official whose steadiness mattered deeply to the people he served. Later historical summaries and memorial databases (including law‑enforcement memorial listings) have preserved his name as Cokeville’s only known line‑of‑duty death from that era.

Because the surviving public record focuses on the event and its uncertain legal resolutions, many personal details about Hansen’s life — his full birth date, early years, and daily routines — are not readily available in online sources. What endures is the picture of a husband and father who carried out the duties of his office in service to his neighbors and who paid the highest price while doing so. For Cokeville and for those who study the town’s history, Daniel C. Hansen remains a human presence from the town’s past: a person who lived among his community, answered when danger threatened, and whose name is still recorded with respect in law‑enforcement memorials and historical accounts.