In the late summer of 1913 in Bessemer, Alabama, a sequence of events unfolded that would end in the death of a dedicated law enforcement officer. On Sunday, September 14, Detective Samuel Ulysses Spence of the Bessemer Police Department, a 42-year-old male, responded to a disturbance call with a fellow detective at a local establishment known as Paul's Hall.
Upon their arrival, the detectives were met with violence when a subject at the scene opened fire.
Detective Spence was struck in the side by a bullet from a handgun. The projectile severed his spinal cord, resulting in the immediate paralysis of his legs. In the ensuing moments, the other detective was able to return fire, and the individual who had shot Detective Spence was killed at the scene.
Despite the immediate medical attention he surely received, the gravity of Detective Spence's injuries was too severe. He succumbed to the gunshot wound the following day, on Monday, September 15, 1913. His death was a significant loss to the community and his department. Detective Spence was survived by his wife and their four children.
