Deputy Sheriff Arthur Brooks Bloodworth

Arthur Brooks Bloodworth

Deputy Sheriff Arthur Bloodsworth was shot and killed while attempting to serve an arrest warrant on a subject at his home in Summerville.

He and a Summerville police officer had gone to the home after the man's wife swore out a warrant for assault against the subject. The officers encountered the man sitting out front and informed him of the warrant. They allowed him to enter his home to obtain a pair of shoes and followed him inside. As the man entered a bedroom he grabbed a double barreled shotgun and attempted to commit suicide with it.

Deputy Bloodsworth grabbed the gun and began to struggle with the subject, during which time the shotgun discharged and struck Deputy Bloodsworth in the upper leg. He died of his wounds a short time later.

The man, 35, was convicted of Deputy Bloodsworth's murder and sentenced to life in prison. On January 7, 1953, the suspect, now an inmate trustee, walked away from the Chattooga Prison Camp and returned 20 minutes later and told guards he had killed his ex-wife. He said he met his former wife near the camp; they got into an argument, and he cut her throat. He was charged with murder and confined in the Chattooga County Jail. On August 11, 1953, he was convicted of his ex-wife's murder and sentenced to another life sentence. He was paroled on July 21, 1967, and died on July 20, 1968.