Corporal Clarence J. McClary

Clarence J. McClary

Corporal Clarence McClary was shot and killed in the mountains south of Leesburg, Virginia, while searching for several men, one who had shot and wounded a federal officer the previous day as he and several other officers raided two liquor still operations.

He was a member of a posse of federal, state, and Alexandria officers searching for the men. Ten men who were involved in the liquor operation were surrounded and captured. The identity of one of the men who shot the federal officer was determined. Then, it was determined he was the same man who killed Corporal McClary.

During questioning, the suspect, age 66, said that he had escaped from a Wisconsin prison camp on August 21, 1932. He had been sentenced to 25 years on June 21, 1922, for second-degree murder after the killing of two fellow moonshiners in Langlade County, Wisconsin. He was convicted of Corporal McClary's murder and sentenced to 20 years.

Corporal McClary had served with the Alexandria Police Department for eight years. He was survived by his wife and four children.

His brother, Sergeant Charles McClary, had been shot and killed in the line of duty on June 20, 1929, while also serving with the Alexandria Police Department.