Deputy Collector Jerome E. Goodner

Jerome E. Goodner

Deputy Collector Jerome Goodner succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained several days earlier when he was shot in DeKalb County, Tennessee, after seizing an illegal still.

He and a posseman had taken custody of the still as evidence from a group of moonshiners and were returning to Alexandria with it, but stopped at a home to sleep for the night. The group of moonshiners got reinforcements and a mob of 40 people confronted Deputy Collector Goodner and the posseman and demanded that he hand over the still and equipment.

Deputy Collector Goodner refused to hand it over. The next day he and the posseman were ambushed as they set off for Alexandria. Deputy Goodner was fatally wounded in the exchange of shots.

Deputy Collector Goodner was a Union Army veteran of the Civil War. He was survived by his wife, son, and two daughters, and is buried at Eastview Cemetery in Alexandria, Texas.