Robert Myers had only been married for a couple weeks when he was shot and killed while serving with the Pennsylvania State Police in 1913.

Myers, who was working for Troop D in Butler, was in Sharon helping during a flood that year when he confronted another trooper who was intoxicated on duty.

Disgraced, the drunken trooper put his own pistol to his head, prompting Myers to tackle him with hopes of preventing a rash decision.

The men tussled over the gun and a single shot was fired, striking Myers in the stomach and killing him.

“I'm not bitter — that's how life goes sometimes,” said Myers, portrayed by John Carlson at the annual Echoes from Our Past historic cemetery walk on Saturday.

The third annual historical walk was again a joint effort among the Butler County Historical Society, the Butler Little Theatre, and the North Side Cemetery Association.

Crowds of people visited the North Side Cemetery in Butler for the tours offered through the weekend.

Eight people buried in the cemetery were featured during the historically accurate event.

Myers wasn't a Butler native, but he was assigned here in 1912 when he joined the state police.

The police unit was new to the state — formed in 1905 to help end corruption with local police departments, Carlson as Myers said.

The gun that killed Myers was his own. It never left his holster but it fired during the skirmish with the drunken trooper.

“(The trooper) was never convicted,” Carlson said as Myers. “Nor would I have wanted him to be. I knew he was sorry.”

Thom Bennett portrayed John Vensel Ritts, a Butler banker whose family made numerous contributions to the community.

Ritts was born in 1851 on a farm in Clarion County, where he spent his youth studying and working.

“When I was not in school, I was on my father's farm,” Bennett said as Ritts. “My father did not believe in an idle hand or an idle mind.”

The lessons of hard work eventually sprung into Ritts founding the Butler County Trust Company, which later consolidated with Farmers National Bank.

He gifted the Butler Athletic Field and a swimming pool on Zeigler Avenue to the city. His son, Elias, later helped bring a state hospital to Butler Township, which later became the current VA Butler Healthcare center.

While he experienced much success, times were still difficult during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“We all suffer sad times,” Bennett said as Ritts. “My son's daughter, Ruth, died at 12 from the dreaded disease polio. It didn't matter where you were from or how much money you had, the disease treated everyone the same.”

Dorothy Schwab Sherwin, portrayed by Sharon Chernick, knew all about medical concerns in the early 1900s.

Sherwin served as a nurse for the U.S. Army at Camp Upton in Long Island after graduating from Butler High School.

Sherwin became a nurse during World War I.

“Every day the Butler Eagle reported the names of the men in the city who reported for duty.” Chernick said as Sherwin. “And the people of Butler rallied around the cause.”

But when she made it to the camp in Long Island in 1918, another terror proved to be just as deadly as the war.

“The 1918 flu pandemic struck,” Chernick said as Sherwin. “All 37,000 residents at the camp were quarantined.”

More than 6,000 people at the camp suffered from influenza that year.

“It proved to be more deadly than the war,” Chernick as Sherwin said. “Our morgue was designed to hold four bodies. At times it was stacked to 100.”

Sherwin returned to Butler in 1919 where she lived the rest of her life.

R. Glenn Thompson, born in 1899, spent his entire life in Butler County.

He and his brothers tried their hands at a few occupations before going to school to become morticians.

Thompson got into the field after initially starting a car company that transported families to funeral homes.

“Back then the funeral business was exploding,” said Steve Fogle as Thompson.

While Thompson had a successful funeral home in Butler, he started to wonder about the future of the business.

He had a loving wife who was vital to the managing of the business and three daughters — but no son.

“It sounds strange now, but at the time it was unheard of for women to operate a business,” Fogle said as Thompson.

But soon a man by the name of Richard Miller began courting Thompson's daughter, Gloria.

Miller struck an interest in the business and became a partner with Thompson in 1972, three years before his death.

“God blessed me with good timing,” Fogle said as Thompson.

Other performances included: Casey Bowser as William Grant Douthett, Katie Moore as Anna Salak and Dean Weiland as Peter Cummings.