James Golden, a 38-year-old male of Caucasian ethnicity, was a Patrolman with the Dunmore Borough Police Department in Pennsylvania. On August 14, 1900, while attempting to arrest two men who were fighting outside a saloon near the intersection of Chestnut Street and Willow Street, Patrolman Golden was shot in the torso by one of the men. The man's brother retrieved a .32 caliber revolver from a nearby barber shop and handed it to him.
Patrolman Golden succumbed to his injuries the following day at Lackawanna Hospital.
The suspect fled to his native Italy, where he was recognized as a suspect in a murder that occurred 13 years prior. He then fled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he was arrested in November 1905. However, the Lackawanna County commissioners denied the funds needed to extradite him from Argentina, and he was eventually released from custody. He was never extradited or tried for Patrolman Golden's murder.
Patrolman Golden had served with the Dunmore Borough Police Department for only four months and was survived by his wife and four children. His death was a tragic event that highlighted the dangers faced by law enforcement officers even in the early 20th century.
