Minor Cudihee  End of Watch: July 30, 1892

On the evening of July 30, 1892, off-duty Tacoma Police Officers Minor Cudihee and John Kenna were walking on McKinley Hill when they encountered Delmont Borders and David Seales lying on the sidewalk at the northeast corner of 35^th and East H Streets.  Although unarmed, Officer Cudihee identified himself as a Police Officer and asked the intoxicated men what they were doing.  They responded with curses, and Officer Cudihee ordered them to leave.  They then assaulted the two Officers.  Seales stabbed Officer Cudihee under the right arm, and slashed Officer Kenna across the back of his overcoat, while Borders attacked Kenna with a large rock.

The assailants fled on foot while Kenna helped Officer Cudihee to a nearby house, leaving the dying Officer in the care of the resident while he went for help.  At 9:35 PM, the patrol wagon, which was also serving as the city ambulance, was dispatched from the police headquarters, but Officer Cudihee had died by the time it arrived.  Both suspects were captured shortly after midnight and taken to the city jail.  When a lynch mob formed outside the jail, Police Chief Lincoln Davis spirited the accused men to the county jail.  In a shocking ending to this case, Seales claimed self-defense and was acquitted at his trial.

Officer Minor Cudihee was, at twenty-two years old, the youngest member of the Department and had been a Tacoma Police Officer for two years.  Officer Cudihee was survived by his parents, three brothers, and four sisters.  His brother, Edward, was a Seattle Police Detective, and later served two terms as King County Sheriff.

Gone But Not Forgotten