Washington officer to be recognized more than a century after being killed in line of duty
A Washington police officer who died more than a century ago after he was assaulted while arresting a man will be recognized later this year when his name is placed on the National Law Enforcement Memorial wall in Washington D.C.
William Myers died Aug. 29, 1909, about a year after he was hit in the head with a fireplace poker while responding to a call at a home on Strawberry Alley, now known as Strawberry Avenue.
The cause of death was a brain injury.
In Myers’ obituary, published a day after his passing, it was noted, “There is little doubt that Mr. Myers’ death was due to a blow on the head which was given to him a year ago” by a woman while he was arresting her son. That woman, Emma Black, and her son, Al Black, were charged with felonious assault and battery and resisting an officer. He was sentenced to six months in the workhouse, and his mother was fined $5 and the cost of prosecution. There is no indication the two were ever charged in Myers’ death.
Rocky Geppert, a volunteer case investigator for the Law Enforcement Officer Memorial of Allegheny County, discovered Myers’ background more than three years ago while investigating the death of another Washington police officer in the line of duty. Geppert has done research that has resulted in about a half-dozen officers from Washington County who were killed on the job having their names placed on the wall.
“At the time, I only found one article on him, but later found more,” Geppert said.
The additional information, along with Myers’ death certificate, were enough to get approval recently for Myers’ name to be placed on the wall.
The line-of-duty death that Geppert had been investigating when he came across the Myers case was that of Officer Richard A. Thomas. Thomas was shot in the early morning hours of May 26, 1922, while on patrol in the area of Forrest and LeMoyne avenues. The shooter had been married to Thomas’ niece and apparently blamed the officer for the divorce. Thomas’ name was placed on the wall in May 2015.
Police Chief Robert Wilson said it is surprising the stories of the deaths of the two officers were not passed down over the years in the department.
“But I am glad both are now getting the recognition they deserve,” Wilson said.
While family members were found and able to attend when Thomas’ name was placed on the national wall, Geppert said he has not been able to locate any of Myers’ descendants. Myers’ grandson, Mont Miller, was the code enforcement officer in Canonsburg about two decades ago, but has since died.
“It would really be nice to find family so they could be there May 13 in Washington, D.C., for the candlelight vigil,” Geppert said.