June 18, 1954

Albert Patterson won the Democratic nomination for attorney general on June 10 on the promise of “cleaning up” Phenix City in Russell County. The town had a long, well-known history of illegal gambling, prostitution and alcohol sales, which local governments allowed and protected. On the evening of June 18, an assailant shot and killed Patterson. Alabamians were outraged at the murder, and state government swung into action. Gov. Gordon Persons declared martial law and ordered the National Guard to take over local law enforcement duties; special prosecutors replaced the local judiciary; and the Alabama Department of Public Safety sent special agents to investigate Patterson’s murder. Within six months, their efforts completely dismantled the organized crime syndicate running Phenix City and resulted in 734 indictments, including many law officers, business owners and elected officials, and multiple convictions, including for Patterson’s murder.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Crowds mill around in the streets outside the law offices of Phenix City attorney Albert Patterson, who was gunned down there as he approached his car on June 18, 1954. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Statue of Albert L. Patterson (1896-1954), soldier, educator, attorney, state senator, attorney general-elect, on grounds of state Capitol in Montgomery. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.