Postal Inspector Charles Fitzgerald
United States Postal Inspection Service U.S. Government
End of Watch: Wednesday, September 23, 1908

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

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Wednesday, September 23, 1908
Incident Location: Mississippi
Weapon Used: Handgun
Suspect Info: Sentenced to life

Inspector Fitzgerald was shot and killed in Clinton, Mississippi, by a deputy post master whose post office had a shortage of funds. The post master asked Inspector Fitzgerald not to report the shortage and then shot him in the side when he refused.

The suspect was convicted of Inspector Fitzgerald's murder and sentenced to life in prison.

He was the first U.S. Postal Inspector to have been killed in the line of duty. He was investigating a shortage of funds in the Clinton, MS post office at the time. According to reports, the Post Master asked him not to report the shortage, and when Fitzgerald refused, the Post Master shot and killed him. The P.M. was tried, convicted, and sentenced to state prison for the murder, but was later pardoned by the governor. Supposedly the pardon was strickly political.