The Metropolitan Police Department trained and supervised a group of sworn officers who were assigned to manage the dangerous railway and streetcar crossings. Their uniform was similar to that of MPD but they were subsidized by the railroads to staff the many crossings at which numerous people had been killed and injured. The Crossing Policeman was there to manage vehicle, horse-drawn carriages and pedestrian traffic when trains and street cars were passing through their respective intersections.
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 southeast, tomorrow afternoon at 1 o’clock. Interment will be be in Arlington.
Mr Smith, who had been stationed at Fourteen and U streets northwest 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.