Special Agent Alexander M. McGill

Alexander M. McGill

Special Agent Alexander McGill was shot and killed near Elrod, Alabama while patrolling passenger train Number 103 between Artesia, Mississippi, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

He encountered a railroad porter selling whiskey to passengers in a baggage car. The porter shot Agent McGill and then threw his body from the train onto the railroad bridge over Sipsey River in Alabama. The suspect was arrested and taken to Birmingham, Alabama, to avoid a lynching.

The 40-year-old porter was convicted of murder and sentenced to life. In July of 1935, he was paroled for 12 months. In July of 1936, he was listed as an escapee when he failed to return to prison. In January 1937 word was received from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that he had died in a hospital there.

Special Agent McGill had served with the Mobile and Ohio Railroad Police for five years and had previously served as the police chief of the Tuscaloosa Police Department for seven years. He was survived by his wife and five children.