William P. Mulvihill
Agency: Kansas City Police Department, MO
William Mulvihill was born on September 18, 1874 in Kansas City, Missouri. Before he was appointed a member of the police force, Officer Mulvihill was employed in the city surveyor's office.
On March 22, 1905, while working in plainclothes in order to catch a thief who was preying on drunks, Officer Mulvihill was involved in an altercation with a suspect who had just attempted to rob Mulvihill's partner, Officer George Bryant Jr., a probationary police officer who was also in plainclothes. During the altercation, Officer Bryant's revolver fell from his pocket and discharged mortally wounding Officer Mulvihill. The suspect, an actor playing in a local theatre, was found hiding in an alley a short time later and was charged with robbery only to be found not guilty during his subsequent trial.
Officer Mulvihill was survived by his parents, Michael and Ellen Mulvihill; and siblings, Celia Mulvihill Balch, William P. Mulvihill, and Isabel Mulvihill. Mulvihill was the ninth name engraved on the original Kansas City Police Memorial.
Reflections:
References: