Isaac Shreve Dies, Veteran Policeman
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The Day’s Deaths
Fatally Stricken With Apoplexy in Responding to ‘False Alarm’
Nearly forty years a policeman, Isaac M. Shreve died last night “with his boots on.” He was fatally stricken while on duty. He was 6[?] years old.
The veteran bluecoat was stricken with apoplexy as he was about to step into the Third District auto patrol after a false-alarm call to Thirty-sixth and Federal streets, a short distance from his home.
With Policeman George Clark, driver of the machine, Shreve answered the call. When the officers arrived with the “wagon” they were informed that their services were not needed because the complainant had decided not to make a charge.
Shreve started to walk back to the machine when he suddenly toppled over unconscious. He was placed in the police auto and taken to Cooper Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Coroner Charles T. Murray issued a death certificate.
Shreve is survived by his wife, Jennie, and a son, Joseph, who is a policeman attached to the Third District. He lived at 17 South Thirty-sixth street.
Previous to being appointed a policeman Shreve served three years in the fire department. He was appointed a policeman by Mayor Pratt in 1886. In a political shakeup in 1886 he resigned from the force but was reappointed by the late Cooper B. Hatch in the “Committee of One Hundred” campaign days.
Although small in size, Shreve had a reputation for having “nerve.” He patrolled “beats” in South Camden for many years, but for the last eighteen years he was on duty in East Camden.
Twelve years ago he engaged in a pistol battle with a robber and was shot in the abdomen. For weeks he hovered between life and death but finally recovered.
Many years ago Shreve drove the old horse-drawn “ding-ding” in the First District. Previous to being assigned to the Third District auto patrol he served for several years as acting house sergeant at the East Camden station house.