Inspector Charles E. Jones
United States Department of the Treasury - Customs Service
U.S. Government
End of Watch: Thursday, March 19, 1908

Biographical Info
Age: 42
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire (Accidental)
Date of Incident: Thursday, March 19, 1908
Incident Location: Texas
Weapon Used: Handgun
Suspect Info: Not available

On Friday, March 20, 1908, U. S. Mounted Customs Inspectors Charles R. Logan and Charles E. Jones were found dead in a lonely spot in the abandoned river bed of the Rio Grande River, a short distance from El Paso, Texas. It was a dark night and the inspectors were traversing the riverbank searching for smugglers. Logan had a bullet hole through the heart, and Jones had a bullet through the right breast. They had been sent out from the local station as border riders and their horses were tied to the same bush, about sixty feet from the place where the bodies lay. The bullet that killed Logan was fired at such close range that powder burned the shirt over his heart, and blackened a big spot around the wound. People in the vicinity heard three shots at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 19, 1908. Contemporary accounts concluded that in the dark the two inspectors mistook each other for a smuggler.

Inspector Jones was born in England and had resided in El Paso for 7 years. He was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery, El Paso, Texas, in an unmarked grave. He was survived by his wife and three children. He was a railroad man and lived in San Antonio and Houston before entering the customs service.

Related Line of Duty Deaths

Inspector Charles R. Logan United States Department of the Treasur..., US EOW: Thursday, March 19, 1908 Cause of Death: Gunfire (Accidental)