Religion: indeterminate
Name: unnamed sheriff
Classification:
supporting character
Publisher(s): 
First Appearance: Action Comics (vol. 1) #31 (Dec. 1940): "In the Grip of Morpheus"
Creators: Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Jack Burnley
Number of Appearances: 1
Occupation: police
Gender: male
An unnamed town sheriff featured prominently in the story retroactively titled "In the Grip of Morpheus," published in Action Comics #31 (Dec. 1940).
This sheriff has a rather distinctive look, representative of his status as a "country" sheriff rather than a police officer from the big city of Metropolis. The sheriff is an older gentleman, perhaps in his sixties. His full head of white hair can be seen emerging from the blue fedora he nearly always wears on his head. His slightly portly build fills his white shirt and dark vest. He wears a black bow tie. The gold star emblematic of his rank as sheriff can always be seen prominently displayed over his left breast.
This character is the sheriff of the town that adjoins Brentville, the story's main setting. Clark Kent drives Lois Lane to Brentville, a "sleepy country village" where she plans to spend her vacation. However, when they drive into the town, they find that everybody there is asleep, under some kind of strange spell. Superman later discovers that the sleepfulness is caused by a gas being released into the town by criminals.
Soon after Clark arrives in the town, before he even knows what is causing the great sleep, he calls the sheriff in the adjoining town. This sheriff thinks Clark might be some kind of crackpot, but he sends some of his officers over to Brentville to check things out.
The first officers from the adjoining town also succumb to the sleep, so the sheriff himself goes to Brentville, this time with gas masks for himself and the police officers he takes with him. Finding Lois Lane and Clark Kent in the town awake and wearing gas masks, the sheriff assumes that the two reporters are in on the scheme keeping Brentville asleep. Clark Kent hastily points out that it was he himself who originally called the sheriff about the problem. Clark manages to convince the sheriff of his innocence, and together they drive to the home that the real culprits are working out of. The real thieves convince sheriff that Clark is the perpetrator again, so the sheriff locks Clark Kent and Lois Lane up in a room while he questions some of the other people there.
By the end of the story, Superman manages to apprehend the real criminals, make their guilt plain to the sheriff, and return Brentville back to normal. The sheriff meant well, but he was often more of a hindrance than a help. Nevertheless, his last words are: "I reckon I solved that mystery in a hurry!"
Action Comics (vol. 1) #31 (Dec. 1940): "In the Grip of Morpheus"
Suggested links for further research about this character:
- https://www.comics.org/issue/1132/
- http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=60155