Valley Girl Views: Officer Maloney, Slain In the Line Of Duty, Williamsport 1907

End of Watch Wednesday, March 13, 1907
JOHN PATRICK MALONEY

Age 33, Williamsport Pa

Officer John Maloney was shot and killed as he attempted to question two suspicious men sitting alongside the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad tracks. One of the men was wanted in a recent burglary.

James G. Link, in his 1945 fishing memoir, Paulina Preferred, tells the story of the burglary :

I unlocked the front door. The store room was dark except for the flickering light from the old fashioned oil Lantern I carried. Its feeble rays set grotesque, frightening shadows dancing fitfully on walls in ceilings.

I had walked only a few steps from the door, when of a sudden, a sinister figure - an apparition, it seemed- rose from behind the counter. It was like a scene from a horror movie, but I knew it was real.

Scarcely breathing, throat parched, heart pounding, chills running up and down my back, I froze in my tracks. Momentarily I was petrified.

The Linck Block, Including The Link Hardware Store

[Destroyed in a 1927 Fire]

Noiselessly the intruder, a fearsome, evil looking fellow, advanced into the small area of light cast by the Lantern. He held two revolvers on me at point -blank range. I was well “covered”.

Then a sinister, threatening, half unreal voice broke the sepulchral violence, as the prowler ordered:

“Put up your hands.”

My muscles were paralyzed, but my mind was active. In a flash I sensed that he proposed using one of his revolvers as a bludgeon. With my hands in the air he could crack down with the bud of his gun and bash in my skull. It would be less dangerous, for him, at least, than shooting. No noise to attract attention. With me “out like a light,” he could proceed with his purpose, unmolested.

I recoiled a step or two period my thought was to stall so my nerves collected a bit so I might figure out a way out of the dangerous situation that stared me in the face.

The intruder followed me; Edged closer.

“Quick,” he snarled.

“Up with ‘em, or I'll shoot.”

I was really in a tough spot and I knew it. But I was mad now, too, as well as scared.

Acting on an impulse of the moment, and it may have been a foolhardy one, I swung the Lantern high, brought it down crashing on the fellow's head.

The light blacked out as the Lantern smashed. I lunged forward and grappled with the interloper who evidently had been taken completely by surprise by my unexpected, belligerent reaction to his demand. The struggle in the dark was vicious but brief.

Luckily I was able to wrench one of the revolvers from his grip I used it as a club and blood was spilled. Soon the would be robber broke away, leaving his coat in my grasp. Then, his eyes habituated to the pitch darkness, as mine were not he was able to reach a nearby window through which he had entered, and scuttle out into the night the way he had come. A trail of blood was lost one block from the store. However, his coat, and his hat found on the floor, were closed for the police who readily identified my assailant as an old offender…...

Hendrick was a killer, as was proved the next day when, using the stolen revolver, he fatally shot a policeman who tried to arrest him on suspicion for the job at my store. As the officer fell, mortally wounded, he had time to fire his own revolver once. However the bullet hit Hendrick and inflicted A wound from the effects of which he died soon after he had been convicted and sent to the penitentiary for killing the policeman.

The rest of the chapter revolves around a fishing trip Linck took the following afternoon, to a fishing cabin along the Loyalsock owned by Gus Beckerly, “perhaps thirty miles from Williamsport.” He mentions the “Lewis Narrows”, the road conditions, and the excellent fishing. Those at the cabin on this trip included: Mert, “Shorty”, Ed, “Doc”, “Red”, Sam, “Dad” and “Chalky”. They were fishing in the Lewis pool, the Dam pool, the Mud Pot, The ford, and Big Bear Creek Pool

Linck published his book, Paulina Preferred, when he was 73 years old, in 1945, 38 years after the 1907 robbery. It seems odd that he would have confused the name of the shooter - he had testified in the trial. Nelson's prison records show he also went by the alias of John Smith, perhaps he also used an alias including Hendrick - I simply cannot explain the discrepancy.

In case you suspect I have confused this story with another, this 1957 article in the Williamsport Gazette talks about Linck's book, and it's mention of and connection to the Officer Maloney shooting. It also mentions another [admittedly distant] connection, to the death of a fireman in Williamsport. James Linck had gone west, so when his father died, he wanted the Linck building sold, to settle the estate. It was sold, so although it still bore the family name in 1927 when the block was destroyed by fire and a fireman was killed in the blaze, it was no longer owned by the Linck family.

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The Shooting Of Officer Maloney

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As Officer Maloney approached the two, the burglary suspect jumped up and suddenly fired at Officer Maloney, striking him three times. Officer Maloney was killed instantly.

Nelson had accidentally shot himself in the leg during the incident. He was apprehended the following day.

Wednesday evening, Thomas Reed went to his family home for the first time since 1903. There he confessed to his father that he had been with Nelson, and that Nelson had shot Officer Maloney, whom Nelson and Reed both knew.

In September of 1903 Reed and Nelson had both been sent to the Eastern State Penitentiary for robbery. Nelson had been released in September of 1906, "since which time, according to Reed's statement, he had been following his old business [burglary] in Williamsport, Jersey Shore, and Lock Haven"

"Reed's term expired at Cherry Hill on Monday. When he was liberated, though he was to have gone to Jersey City, where his brother awaited him, he met Nelson, and, after spending Tuesday In Philadelphia, they went to Williamsport Wednesday and went to the railroad section near Lycoming Creek, where Nelson had some dynamite hidden under some ties.

While sitting on the ties Maloney, who, Nelson said, had been looking for him for recent burglaries, suddenly walked in on them, dressed in citizen's clothes.

According to Reed's story, Maloney grappled with Nelson, the men fought desperately, and then there were a succession of shots and Maloney fell, while Nelson ran away.

It was several hours after this that Reed crept to his father's house in Williamsport, aroused the family, bade then "Howdy" after his long absence, then told of the shooting and ran away. He still is at large. "

Nelson was found hiding in Coleman's lumber yard, half a mile east of Williamsport.

He was captured a few hours later.

"When arrested Nelson had several pounds of dynamite and a handful of fuses in his pockets. He is said to have admitted the shooting. When the car on which Nelson was brought into the city reached Pine and Fourth streets, near the City Hall, a crowd of '500 men, women and school children gathered, and shouts of "Lynch him!" were made by both men and women. "

George Nelson, convicted of Officer Maloney's murder, was sent to the Eastern State Prison, where he died six years later as a result of the accidental gunshot wound.

December 1907

Nelson was apparently sentenced to just 19 years in prison, for second degree murder. He was scheduled to be released in January of 1926. He died in prison, December 23rd 1913.

Officer John Patrick Maloney was born July 18 1874, the son of Irish Immigrants, William & Hannah Maloney. Officer Maloney became a police officer in Williamsport in 1902. He was in his 5th year of service when he was killed. He's buried in the Mt Carmel section of the Williamsport Cemetery.

Typically death certificates list the residence of the deceased, but Maloney's appears to list his place of death. "Near Mossers Tannery on the P&R.R. track"