Tacoma honors first officer to die in line of duty

Photo Courtesy of the Tacoma Police Department

ULTIMATE SACRIFICE. Tacoma Police officer Minor Cudihee was killed in the McKinley district on July 30, 1892. He was the first Tacoma officer to die in the line of duty.

For the better part of the last century, Minor Cudihee’s name was lost to history.

Cudihee was the first police officer in the city of Tacoma to be killed in the line of duty, but before 1987, he was not recognized as such.

It was in 1987 that officer Erik Timothy, a historian for the Tacoma Police Department (TPD), discovered a photo of the officer with his name and a notation that read, “killed by Seals July 30, 1892.”

Timothy looked through police department records and found no information about Cudihee or his death.

“He had been completely forgotten off the records of the police and the city,” Timothy said. “It’s really a tragedy that he was forgotten.”

Timothy’s research uncovered extensive newspaper coverage of Cudihee’s death, as well as information about his life. The officer was born in Jackson, Mich., in August 1869. In 1889, he moved to Tacoma and eventually joined the TPD. On the night of July 30, 1892, Cudihee and his partner, John Kenna, were walking through the McKinley district toward the home of a fellow officer. The officers came across two men, Delmont Borders and David Seales, lying on the sidewalk. According to newspaper accounts at the time, Cudihee and Kenna told the men to get up and move along; when they stood up, Seales lunged at Cudihee with a knife, cutting him under his right arm and severing an artery. Cudihee died shortly thereafter, just two weeks shy of his 24th birthday.

But for many who look back on Cudihee’s death, the tragedy does not end there. Seales was arrested shortly after killing Cudihee, and confessed Cudihee’s murder both orally and in writing, according to Timothy. But during the trial, the confession was thrown out, and Seales was acquitted in only 12 minutes.

“It’s a very, very sad ending to that part of the story and made me all the more determined that he (Cudihee) be honored,” Timothy said. For years, he searched for more information about Cudihee and any surviving descendents. He enlisted the help of the Jackson Police Department in finding the location of Cudihee’s grave, but without success. Then, earlier this year, a woman contacted the TPD saying she knew where the slain officer was buried.

The TPD began to organize a graveside service to commemorate Cudihee and to mark his grave with a memorial marker. Still, however, the department had not yet found living relatives to present with Cudihee’s Washington state Medal of Honor.

The week before the ceremony was planned, a local Jackson newspaper published Cudihee’s story. Less than an hour after the story was printed, a descendent of Cudihee contacted the TPD.

“Hollywood couldn’t script anything like this,” said Joe Sexton, community relations specialist for the police department.

The ceremony was held July 30 and was attended by Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell, Sergeant Dwayne Joseph and Captain Mark Langford. Joseph dressed up in an authentic uniform from Cudihee’s time and wore an exact replica of Cudihee’s badge. Ramsdell and the Jackson police chief both spoke at the ceremony, and Ramsdell presented an American flag, Cudihee’s medal of honor and an old photo to the dozen members of Cudihee’s family who turned out. The Jackson Police Department honored Cudihee with a four-person honor guard, and Joseph played “Taps” to end the ceremony.

For Timothy, the ceremony brought some closure.

“I would say that I feel gratified that we can finally complete this,” he said. “It was a loose end, to me at least, for all these years. I never anticipated we’d find family members, so to me that was really the frosting on the cake.”

Still, he has one final goal in honoring Cudihee and his sacrifice.

“To me, the final act that I would like to see accomplished here is for the city of Tacoma, the city council, the mayor, to pass a resolution to honor this man here,” Timothy said. “We’ve come full circle and we’ve given this man the honor that he deserved. It’s long overdue but it’s finally happened.”

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