Sheriff James Goodwin suffered a fatal heart attack while attempting to apprehend two inmates, being held on auto theft charges from Florida, as they were escaping from the Spencer County Jail.

   As he heard the commotion, Sheriff Goodwin ran down the stairs when he saw the inmates as they were escaping and collapsed. He was taken to Owensboro Daviess County Hospital in Kentucky where he died.

   The Rockport police chief captured the 20-year-old male along the west bank of the Ohio River. A short time later, deputies captured the 17-year-old male who was hiding in a shed on the north side of town.

   Sheriff Goodwin, a Democrat from Rockport, had been appointed sheriff to serve the remaining 21 months of the term of Sheriff Robert Scales who resigned while in office in March 1969 before being elected to serve a four-year term himself.

   He was survived by his wife, son, four daughters, four grandchildren, three brothers and three sisters.