Memorial to Eugene C. Smith
End of Watch: January 1, 1910
Rank: Officer, Badge No. N/A
Age: 47 Years of Service: 7 years
Location of Death: 14th & U Streets, NW
Duty Assignment: N/A
Circumstance
Officer Smith was on patrol entering the US Savings Bank at 14th and U streets, NW when he slipped and fell down a flight of ice-coated stone steps leading to the basement of the bank. Officer Smith died the next day of a fractured skull.
Biography
Crossing Policeman Smith was a U.S. Navy veteran of the Civil War and had served with the Metropolitan Police Department for 20 years. He was survived by his brother. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery in Section 17, Site 17701.
Articles from the Washington Post – transcribed by Dave Richardson, MPD/Ret.
THE DEATH OF OFFICER EUGENE C. SMITH
PARTIAL WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE DATED JANUARY 2, 1910, PAGE 16
SMITH’S FALL IS FATAL
CROSSING POLICEMAN DIES OF A FRACTURED SKULL.
OTHERS HURT ON ICY WALKS.
One death and a score or more injuries have resulted from falls received by Washingtonians on ice-coated steps and sidewalks in the city since the Christmas blizzard. Half a dozen patients now in Washington hospitals as the result of falls, are in a serious condition.
Eugene C. Smith, a crossing policeman, who slipped and fell down a flight of stone steps leading to the basement of the United States Savings Bank, Fourteenth and U streets northwest, on Friday night, died at Emergency Hospital at 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon of a fractured skull. Smith weighed 280 pounds, and had been on duty at Fourteenth and U streets for several years.
TAKEN TO HOSPITAL
Smith was picked up by pedestrians and taken to Emergency Hospital. An operation was performed on him yesterday morning. He regained consciousness several times during the day, and for a while hope for his recovery was entertained. James Mitchell, a nephew, took charge of the body and will make the funeral arrangements.
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WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE DATED JANUARY 3, 1910, page 8
TRIBUTE OF MINUTEMEN
ORGANIZATION TO BE REPRESENTED AT FUNERAL OF EUGENE C. SMITH
Funeral services for Eugene C. Smith, the crossing policeman who died at Emergency Hospital Saturday afternoon of injuries received by falling down a flight of stone steps Friday night, will be held at the residence of his brother, 1112 First Street, SE, tomorrow afternoon at 1 o’clock. Interment will be in Arlington.
Mr. Smith, who had been stationed at Fourteen and U streets, NW for two years, and prior to that at important crossings in the First precinct for several years, was a member of the Minutemen, and that organization will be represented at the funeral.