Wilmington Detective E. Mack Godwin Shot, March 29, 1924

Detective Shot in Wilmington Battle

By the Associated Press

Wilmington, N.C., March 29—Detective E. Mack Godwin, of the local police force, was shot and it is feared, fatally wounded about 10 o’clock tonight during a gun battle with a negro desperado in the Brooklyn negro section of the city, who made his escape in the darkness.

Godwin was hit twice, one bullet entering the abdomen and the other striking his left hand. He was hurried to a hospital where it was said later his condition was critical.

The negro whose name has not been learned, earlier in the evening shot two negroes during a street quarrel, and Godwin led a party of officers to the scene to make the arrest. A police dragnet has been set.

From the front page of the Sunday Morning Herald, Durham, N.C., March 30, 1924