“I May As Well Give Up”: The Final Hours of James Ferguson

In October 1953, James Ferguson kidnapped his estranged wife, sparking a 50-mile police chase that ended tragically.

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Born in Westover in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, James Clark Ferguson (1908-1953) was the son of James Jonas Ferguson (1878-1941), a saw mill worker, and Sarah Solley Ferguson (1881-1958). He married his first cousin Alice M. Ferguson (1919-?) in 1938, but their marriage was plagued by his reported excessive drinking and alleged “extreme cruelty”. A truck driver by trade, James and Alice moved to Ohio after 1950, where he worked for a time as a mechanic’s helper in Navarre and she in a local Dover restaurant. The couple separated by February 1953, and Alice sought a divorce and a restraining order after James reportedly accosted her at her workplace.

On the morning of October 14, 1953, the estranged couple met at the Public Square in New Philadelphia to visit an attorney’s office to finalize their divorce plans. Instead of entering the building, James brandished a recently purchased .22 caliber revolver and forced Alice into his vehicle, threatening to shoot her on the spot if she refused to go for a ride. As they drove north on Broadway, Alice spotted New Philadelphia Police Captain Robert Clark (1911-1976) in a cruiser and managed to signal her distress. Clark quickly realized what was happening and began a pursuit that eventually spanned two counties and nearly sixty miles.

Ferguson fled at high speeds, narrowly escaping being wrecked twice by the police cruiser before racing toward Seven Mile Drive. Over ten cruisers from various jurisdictions, including Dover, Minerva, and the State Patrol, joined the effort to try and stop Ferguson. The pursuit wound up Route 8, all the way to North Industry, and then Sandyville before turning back toward Dover. Throughout the ordeal, Alice reported that her husband threatened her life several times, though the constant presence of the police behind them prevented him from stopping to carry out his threats.

The frantic chase reached its climax at 9:20 a.m. near the Dover corporation line, where local police had established a roadblock with a cruiser parked across the highway. James, seeing the barrier ahead and Captain Clark’s cruiser in his rearview mirror, reportedly told Alice, “There’s no use… I may as well give up”. While the car was still moving between 40 and 50 miles per hour, he raised the revolver to his right temple and pulled the trigger. As the vehicle slowed and careened toward the roadblock, Patrolman Charles W. Marks (1921-1996) leaped into the moving car and steered it into a steel guard rail to bring it to a stop.

James was rushed by ambulance toward Union Hospital but was pronounced dead at 9:30 a.m., just minutes after the self-inflicted shooting. Alice Ferguson, though deeply shaken and treated for shock, was physically unharmed in the crash and later credited Captain Clark with saving her life. The County Coroner officially ruled the death a suicide resulting from a gunshot wound to the head. The County Safety Director later publicly commended the various law enforcement agencies for their prompt and coordinated actions that prevented the potential murder of Alice Ferguson.

James Clark Ferguson was survived by his widow, his mother, and five siblings residing in Ohio and Pennsylvania. His body was returned to his birthplace in Westover, Pennsylvania, for funeral services and he was buried at the Baptist Cemetery in Westover on October 18, 1953. Shortly after the tragedy, Alice and her parents published a “Card of Thanks” in the local newspaper, expressing their gratitude to the officers who had intervened during the violent final chapter of James’s life.

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© Noel B. Poirier, 2026.