In the spring of 1910, a dedicated public servant named William Arnot Anderson met a violent and untimely end near the town of Oakman, Alabama. At 38 years of age, Anderson, a male veteran of the Spanish-American War, served as a Deputy Collector for the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Internal Revenue. His duties often placed him in perilous situations, confronting those who operated outside the bounds of the law.
It was in the line of this duty that he found himself on a fateful path that would lead to his death.
On Wednesday, April 13, 1910, Deputy Collector Anderson and a posseman were en route to raid an illegal distillery. Their journey took them past the home of a moonshiner who, upon seeing the approaching buggy, believed the two officers were coming to arrest him. In a pre-emptive and cowardly act, the moonshiner concealed himself and opened fire on the unsuspecting lawmen with a rifle. The ambush was swift and deadly. Deputy Collector Anderson was struck by the gunfire and killed, while his accompanying posseman was wounded.
The brazen murder of a federal officer sparked a swift response from law enforcement. The shooter, along with three other individuals, were apprehended and charged with Anderson's murder. The subsequent legal proceedings brought a measure of justice for the slain deputy collector. Two of the men involved in the crime were sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. A third man received a 10-year sentence in federal prison, and a juvenile accomplice was sentenced to 10 years at a Federal Reform School. Despite the lengthy sentences handed down, the man who fired the fatal shots was released from prison after serving only 15 years.
