Constable Samuel Herrington was stabbed to death as he attempted to execute a search warrant at a residence in Irondale.

On October 3, 1871, Constable Herrington responded to execute a search warrant at the William and John McCarron residences in Irondale in an effort to locate stolen property. The suspects who were working in a nearby coal mine attacked Constable Herrington near the residence. Constable Herrington was beaten and stabbed during the attack and died from his injuries the following day.

Constable Herrington made statements before he died in which he reported that he had been attacked while traveling between the two McCarron residences being searched under the warrant. Constable Herrington stated that during the attack by the suspects, William McCarron struck him with a stone and stabbed him with a bowie knife. William McCarron died in a St Louis jail of smallpox in April 1873. James and Patrick McCarron were convicted in separate trials but released after their convictions were overturned by the Missouri Supreme Court based on an improper change of venue, of the suppression of dying declaration statements made by Constable Herrington, of improper instruction to the jury and other trial errors. Further prosecution of the suspects was abandoned in October 1874.

Constable Herrington was survived by his wife, Janette, and three children. Interred: Drennan Graveyard, Cedar Hill, MO, Family cemetery in rural Cedar Hill, Jefferson County, Missouri on now a Hellenic American Progressive League property. His footstone was relocated to the Herrington Cemetery in Pevely, Jefferson Co, MO.