13 July 1876
ANOTHER POLICEMAN DEAD
The Fatal Effects of a Funeral Procession.
Patrolman Michael COLOHAN, of the Third Precinet, died suddenly last
evening. On Saturday he formed one of the 300 policemen that acted as an
escort to the remains of the late Commissioner of Police and Excise,
Hon.Daniel Briggs. Upon returning from Greenwood he complained of feeling
very much heated. The next morning he declared himself to ill too do duty,
but thought that his illness was nothing serious. As he left the
station-house in Butler street, he laughed good naturedly at the sallies of
his comrades. Upon reaching his house, No 130 Douglass st., he told his
wife that he felt a singular burning sensation about the lower limbs. He was
to have gone with her and his 2 children to a relative's to dinner, but
said that he guessed he would bathe his feet and lie down a little while
before setting out. He bade his family not wait for him. Mrs. Colohan and
the children accordingly went. Toward evening as he had not arrived, his
wife went in search of him. She found him lying on the floor just breathing
his last. A physician was summoned, but too late to be of avail. Colohan was
regarded as one of the best officers in the city. He was 27 yrs of age, of
gentlemanly demeanor,and powerful physique. He was also a Mason. His
appointment to the police dated from May 10, 1872. Counting Patrolman Briggs
this makes the fourth death in the Police Department within a week.
4 comments:
Where was this published? A fascinating account of days gone by.
There was a very good Tenement Talk a while back about this heat wave that killed over 1000 people. It's just horrific to think of the city in those conditions - no electricity, no ice, no access to fresh water, no breeze - and top it all off with wardrobes of corsets, long dresses and wool suits, not to mention working in the hot factory 12 hours a day. Can you imagine sleeping on a hot tar roof because the apartment is 120 degrees? Ugh.
It's from a local genealogy/history site I found by accident (click on "Another Policeman Dead").
Yes, the conditions people must have suffered in the past are unthinkable. A friend of mine who's a few years older than me remembers, as a child, going with her family to Coney Island to sleep on the beach when the weather was really hot. Lots of people were there doing the same thing.
I thought about going to Coney tonight, but I hear there is sewage all over the beaches from the treatment plant that burned this week. And, now we're up to 103 degrees...can it get any better?
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