Joel Clarkson (died May 1921) was a Bureau of Prohibition agent who was partners with Stan Sawicki and Nelson Van Alden. He was killed in a distillery bombing in May 1921.
Biography[]
Joel Clarkson was born in Montana, and he joined the Bureau of Prohibition to become a federal agent at the time of Prohibition. Clarkson was sent to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he was sent to serve under Nelson Van Alden as a partner of agent Stan Sawicki. Clarkson and Sawicki both helped Van Alden in working to fight against bootlegging in the region, shutting down distilleries and speakeasies. However, Clarkson tailed Van Alden to a distillery on one occasion in 1921, curious about Van Alden's peculiar attitude. He found out that Van Alden met with Mickey Doyle, and Clarkson and Sawicki decided to secretly visit the speakeasy to make a few arrests and arrest Van Alden once the task was completed. They found the distillery abandoned, and it suddenly exploded after a bomb placed by Enoch Thompson's henchman Owen Sleater was detonated. Clarkson was severely burned, and he died a few days later of his burn wounds, but not before repeatedly telling Van Alden that he knew what Van Alden had done.