Memorial to Paul W. Jones
End of Watch: March 14, 1936
Rank: Detective Sergeant, Badge No. N/A
Years of Service: 25 years
Age: 55
Location of Death: Baltimore-Washington Parkway
Circumstance:
Sergeant Jones was traveling on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway with a female passenger when his auto struck a tree. Sergeant Jones died from a broken neck.
Biography:
N/A
Articles from the Washington Post – transcribed by Dave Richardson, MPD/Ret.
THE 1936 DEATH OF DETECTIVE SERGEANT PAUL W. JONES
WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE DATED MARCH 15, 1936, PAGE 2
D.C. Detective Killed in Crash; Woman Is Hurt
Paul W. Jones Held High Rating Among Black Officers; Inquiry Opens.
Detective Sergt. Paul W. Jones, 55, rated as one of the best black detectives on the Eastern Seaboard and a member of the robbery squad of the Metropolitan Police Department, was killed instantly yesterday afternoon when his automobile crashed against a tree on the Washington-Baltimore boulevard between Riverton and College Park, at College Heights, Md.
The veteran officer was believed to have been at the wheel at the time of the accident. A woman companion, Mrs. Ethel T. McKinley, 41, of the 1500 block of First Street, NW, suffered serious injuries of the head and right leg. She was taken to Freedman’s Hospital.
No Witnesses to Crash.
There were no witnesses to the crash. Maryland State Policeman Vernon Spicer is conducting an investigation. Parts of the wreckage were hurled into the tree.
Dr. Martin Keane, of Riverdale, pronounced Jones dead of a broken neck. An inquest will be held at the home of Justice of the Peace Fred C. Lutz in Riverdale Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
Jones was known as an expert in trapping bunco men and crooked gamblers. He was feared by crooks everywhere. He was in the department 25 years.
His body was taken to an undertaking establishment in Hyattsville.
Born in Virginia.
Jones was born at Fortress Monroe, Va., where his father, John Jones, the lighthouse keeper, was the famous black Confederate hero, who participated as a seaman in all engagements of the Merrimac along the Virginia capes, including that with the Monitor. The family lived near the home of Admiral “Fighting Bob” Evans, under whose command the father came to Fortress Monroe.
Jones was educated in public schools of the District, was later sent to Hampton, and eventually to Carlisle in 1900, where he was a football and track star for three years. He left Carlisle before graduation. He was appointed to the police force here at an early age.
His brother, Wormley Jones, captain in the 92nd Division of the A.E.F., who was for many years an officer here, but who has, more recently, been attached to the Pittsburgh, Pa., detective force, arrived here last night from Newburgh, N.Y., expecting to join his brother and wife, Mrs. Amy Jones, in a birthday celebration postponed from Friday the thirteenth—his brother’s birthday.
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WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE DATED MARCH 16, 1936, PAGE 5
Burial in Arlington For Black Detective
Detective Sergt. Paul W. Jones, of the Metropolitan Police Force, killed Saturday when his automobile collided with a tree near College Park, Md., will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery Wednesday.
Jones, one of the best-known black investigators in the East, served as a captain in the World War. He was on his way to Jessup, Md., to question a prisoner in the reform school there when his car ran off the road and struck the tree.
Police said the cause of the accident has not been determined. They stated there is no evidence of a collision with another car, and that there were no skid marks on the road.
Jones was a member of the headquarters robbery squad.