Officer Thomas McCarrick

End of Watch : May 21, 1891

OFFICER THOMAS C. McCARRICK
St. Paul PD
Died May 21, 1891

Just after noon on Thursday, May 21st, Officer Thomas McCarrick, who was stationed at the Rondo Street Station, boarded a streetcar to go home for lunch. He exited the streetcar at Central Avenue and Wabasha Street and the streetcar continued on as he crossed the tracks behind it. Unfortunately, he failed to see a West St. Paul and University Avenue streetcar traveling the other direction. It passed the one he just exited and struck and ran over him, "partly grinding him to pieces." The streetcar stopped immediately and several passengers removed McCarrick from the tracks. They called for a wagon and Officer Ross and Detective Henry Gruber responded. When a Dr. Baker arrived, they loaded McCarrick into the wagon and he was transported to St. Joseph's Hospital. More doctors were called in, but there was little hope of saving him. According to the St. Paul Dispatch, "His injuries consisted of a deep wound three inches long on the right side of the head over the ear, from which his brains oozed; a gash six inches long in the center across the head, running from ear to ear, and a deep hole in the forehead over the right eye. His entire body was badly bruised and cut." He died after 8:00 p.m.

Officer McCarrick had been with the department since May, 1888, and was survived by his wife and two children.

Sourced from: The book "We Will Remember"
With permission from Lisa Lovering, Author and Board of Director
MN Law Enforcement Memorial Association
L.E.M.A. 2009

Peter Poull

Albert Jacobson