06/10/2026
Chief Joe Cletus Wall
Chesnee Police Department
End of Watch: June 9, 1967
Joe Cletus Wall was born in Chesnee on August 10, 1899, to Albert Curtis Wall and Margaret J. Coggins Wall. He grew up in a large family. Cletus married Madge Dean Ezell and they had four sons, Joe Cletus, Jr., Leonard, Curtis and Jerry Gene, and two daughters, Maggie Ruth and Joyce Ann. Cletus was farming when he registered for the draft on September 12, 1918.
Cletus joined the Chesnee Police Department in around 1947 and served as Chief for several years, until the office of Chief was discontinued. As the senior member at the three-man department, everyone still called him, “Chief”.
On Saturday, February 19, 1966, Chief Wall saw Thomas Cook Dunn on the street and told him to go home because he had been drinking. Just after noon, Chief Wall arrested Dunn in front of a tavern between Florence and Alabama avenues, telling him, “Come on, let’s go.” Dunn replied, “Mr. Cletus, this is one time I’m not going with you.” Dunn struck Chief Wall in the head with his fist so hard that his hat flew off. The struggle continued as Dunn attempted to take the chief’s .357 magnum service revolver. Chief Wall got control of his gun and fired a warning shot into the ground. Dunn punched Chief Wall twice more in the stomach and tried again for the gun. Chief Wall fired four more shots, three striking Dunn. Two bystanders were also struck by ricocheting or stray bullets. Chief Wall called for a doctor, but Thomas Dunn died at the scene. Chief Wall was exonerated of any wrongdoing at the inquest on February 22nd.
Chief Wall had a minor heart attack not long after the shooting and planned to retire when he was eligible for police retirement benefits, to go along with his social security.
On Friday, June 9, 1967, at around 12:30 in the afternoon, Chief Wall was called to a furniture store operated by Chesnee Magistrate W.L. Watson, Jr. concerning an intoxicated man in the store. Chief Wall arrived and found Sam “Russell” Dunn (Thomas Dunn’s brother) drunk, and sitting on a chair in the store. Chief Wall had dealt with Russell Dunn in the past and told him, “Russell, I want to be good to you. I don’t want to hurt you.” Grabbing him from behind by the belt, he escorted Dunn to the waiting patrol car. At the car, Dunn resisted by grabbing the car door. Chief Wall cautioned Dunn again and finally got him into the backseat of the car. Magistrate Watson, seeing that Chief Wall was having some trouble with Dunn, told him to wait so he could ride with him. As Chief Wall was maneuvering the car in the alley, so Watson could get in, Dunn lunged across the back of the seat, grabbed Chief Wall’s revolver from its holster and shot him in the head. Chief Wall slumped across the seat as the car smashed into a wall at the end of the alley. Magistrate Watson ran to call an ambulance, and Dunn was taken into custody by Mayor Edwards and held for responding officers. Chief Wall was dead on arrival at Spartanburg General Hospital. He was 68 years old and had planned to retire on July 1st. Ironically, the Chesnee Town Council had voted on the previous Monday to install “wire barriers” between the front and rear seats in the Chesnee police car.
Dunn was taken to the Chesnee Jail. While awaiting transfer to the Spartanburg County Jail, Dunn was heard mumbling, “He killed my brother, and I killed him.”
Funeral services for Chief Joe Cletus Wall were conducted at the Arrowood Baptist Church on Sunday; June 11th and he was buried in Springhill Memorial Gardens. He was survived by his wife, two daughters, two sons, four half-sisters, and four half-brothers and ten grandchildren.
Samuel “Russell” Dunn was convicted of the murder of Chief Cletus Wall and sentenced to “Life in Prison.” He died in 1981.
Chesnee Police Chief Joe Cletus Wall was inducted into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame in 1986, never to be forgotten.
