Marshal Robert Forsyth was killed on January 11, 1794, in Augusta, Georgia, while serving civil court papers. At about forty years old, Forsyth had been a Continental Army captain, one of the original thirteen U.S. Marshals appointed by President George Washington, a justice of the peace, and a trustee of Richmond Academy.

Forsyth arrived at a home with two deputies to serve papers to a man named Beverly Allen. Allen retreated to an upstairs room and, when Forsyth knocked on the closed door, fired a pistol through it; the bullet struck Forsyth in the head and killed him instantly. Allen was arrested for the murder but escaped custody twice and fled Georgia, later believed to have lived under an assumed name in Logan County, Kentucky, where he practiced medicine and died in 1817. Forsyth was survived by his wife and two sons, including John Forsyth, who became Governor of Georgia and U.S. Secretary of State.

Does anyone have additional details about the arrest, the escapes, or Allen’s later life in Kentucky?