Albert Duckett most likely knew the day was coming, the day he would be arrested for the murder of Bert Goodall. He must have known it was only a matter of time before the police found him, but the date of the arrest must have left his shaken. Duckett was arrested on Aug. 22, 1929, exactly five years to the day of the murder. Duckett may have been surprised by the place of his arrest, as he was in the Detroit House of Correction at the time.

The story began on the morning of Aug. 22, 1924, when Dr. H. D. Barss, a local physician, was aroused at 4:30 a.m. by a phone call. The caller, who was never identified, directed the doctor to the home where Bert Goodall lived alone. There Dr. Barss found Goodall lying on the front doorstep. Goodall had been shot in the abdomen. There was no one else about the premises when police arrived.

Goodall had been shot at a blind pig on Jefferson Avenue then moved to his home. In a dying statement to then Ypsilanti Police Chief John F. Connors, Goodall named Duckett as his killer. He died at the University Hospital early that afternoon. His statement was confirmed by two women, who were charged with disorderly conduct and fined. Two men were also found by police to be involved in the affair, but were released.

“Nearly all of those who became connected in one way or another with the case were found to have police records here. Goodall, at the time he was killed, was free on a bond, awaiting trial on a liquor charge in Circuit Court,” reported The Ypsilanti Daily Press of Aug. 22, 1929.

“Although a warrant for Duckett’s arrest was issued at once and a police net spread which covered Detroit’s underworld ‘dives’ and those in other cities throughout the state, the accused man had vanished and little recent thought has been given to the case until word was received from Detroit police Wednesday concerning Duckett’s apprehension in that city,” continued the account.

Duckett, going by the name of Elmer Brown, had been arrested by Constable Fred Miller in Belleville on a charge of drunkenness and sentenced to 30 days in the Detroit House of Corrections. His real name was discovered by Detroit Police Detective Stanley Pydyx. “Faced by Pydyx at the house of correction farm, Duckett is said to have made a complete confession. He also confessed to Sgt. Ernest Kalvitter (of the Ypsilanti City Police) who questioned him Thursday,” reported The Ypsilanti Daily Press on Aug. 23, 1929. Duckett was returned to Washtenaw County on Saturday, Sept. 7, 1929, and placed in the county jail after completing the 30-day sentence in the Detroit House of Corrections. “He has repeated to officers on several occasions recently that he did the shooting, but it is expected that he will base his defense against a first degree murder charge on self defense in the act of shooting Goodall,” noted The Ypsilanti Daily Press of Sept. 9, 1929.

On Oct. 7, 1929. Duckett pleaded guilty to a charge of carrying concealed weapons. He was sentenced to one to three years at the State Prison at Jackson.

“According to Prosecutor Carl H. Stuhrberg, the manslaughter charge is still pending but will be dismissed for lack of evidence and because of the fact that two eyewitnesses to the fatal shooting of Goodall have since that time died. Others who are said to have been in the place at the time Goodall was killed are at present living in Ypsilanti, but authorities are of the opinion that their testimony would be of little value in obtaining a conviction,” reported The Ypsilanti Daily Press of Oct. 8, 1929.

“Under his own statement,” continued the account, “Duckett has appeared to have strong grounds for a plea of self-defense in his act of shooting Goodall, according to the prosecutor, while there could be no denial of the lesser charge of carrying concealed weapons to which he pleaded guilty Monday.”

James Mann writes monthly columns on Ypsilanti history for AnnArbor.com.