In the early part of the 20th century, a tragic event unfolded in the city of Bessemer, Alabama, leading to the death of a respected lawman. Thomas Benjamin 'Ben' Wallace, the Chief of Police of the Bessemer Police Department, was a 26-year veteran of the force. His long career in law enforcement came to a sudden and unexpected end on Tuesday, February 29, 1916.
The series of events that would culminate in Chief Wallace's untimely death began three days earlier, on Saturday, February 26,
1916. Two of his detectives had arrested a man and were in the process of walking him to the city jail. At the corner of 3rd Street and 19th Street, the prisoner suddenly became combative and began to struggle with the two officers. In the course of the initial arrest, one of the detectives had confiscated a. 44 caliber handgun from the suspect and, for reasons that would prove fatal, placed it in his own pocket.
As the struggle escalated, the suspect managed to reach into the detective's pocket and retrieve the very revolver that had been taken from him. He fired a shot. The bullet first tore through the knee of one of the detectives before finding its final mark in the chest of Chief Wallace, who was just arriving to lend assistance to his men. The wounded chief was rushed to Elizabeth Duncan Hospital for medical attention.
Despite the efforts of the medical staff, Chief Wallace lingered for three days before succumbing to his wound. Before he passed away, he was able to make a statement regarding the shooting. In this final declaration, he asserted that the shooting had been an accident. Based on the chief's own dying words, no charges were ever filed against the suspect who had fired the fatal shot. Chief Wallace was survived by his wife and two children and was laid to rest in Clay Memorial Cemetery in Cuba, Alabama.
