Location: US 301 (Dunn Rd.) SW of Main St. in Godwin
County: Cumberland
Original Date Cast: 2000
Over 8 million Allied soldiers carried the M-1 carbine, a light, semiautomatic rifle, in World War II. General Douglas MacArthur described the weapon as “one of the strongest contributing factors to our victory in the Pacific.” J. Edgar Hoover and others had similar praise for “Carbine” Williams, the weapon’s designer. His life was the subject of the 1952 MGM film, “Carbine Williams,” that starred Jimmy Stewart in the title role.
In 1921 David Marshall Williams operated illegal distilleries. Law enforcement officers raided one operation, and in the ensuing gunfight, Deputy Al Pate was shot to death. Williams denied that he fired the fatal shot but pleaded guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced by Judge John H. Kerr to thirty years. As a trusty in the blacksmith shop at Caledonia prison camp, Williams was permitted by superintendent H. T. Peoples to pursue gunsmithing with crude available equipment. His designs, particularly the short stroke piston and the floating chamber, drew the attention of Colt Firearms, whose representatives visited him in prison. Governor Angus McLean commuted his sentence and in 1929 he was freed. In 1940, working with a team at Winchester, Williams created the .30 caliber M-1 carbine, noted for its accuracy and light recoil. Williams, a colorful character with his long sideburns, Stetson hat, and cigar, became wealthy and patented over fifty inventions.
With the release of the film in 1952, Fayetteville celebrated “Carbine” Williams Day. His shop in Godwin was a regular stop for politicians and reporters. Governor Terry Sanford in 1962 appointed a committee to study the establishment of a museum dedicated to his work. In 1968 Williams was appointed an honorary deputy U.S. marshal, one among many such distinctions. In 1971 the North Carolina Museum of History acquired his shop and moved it to Raleigh as the centerpiece of a firearms exhibition. Governor Robert W. Scott at the opening said Williams had “brought fame to himself and honor to our state.” That year a legislative resolution honored him for “overcoming misfortunes which might have broken weaker men.” Williams died in Dorothea Dix Hospital in 1975. Relatives of the slain deputy, as recently as 1997, have objected publicly to honors brought to Williams.
References:
Ross E. Beard Jr., Carbine: The Story of David Marshall Williams (1977)
H. T. Peoples, “The Most Unforgettable Character I’ve Met,” Reader’s Digest (March 1951)
William S. Powell, ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, VI, 205-206—sketch by H. G. Jones
Fayetteville Observer, October 11-17, 1921 and April 20-23, 1997
(Raleigh) News and Observer, February 25, 1951
New York Times, January 9, 1975