First Milwaukee cop killed on duty was buried 131 years ago — but where?
The Milwaukee Police Department hopes to respectfully mark the final resting spot of Frank Piszczek, the first officer here known to have died in the line of duty.
There's just one problem: The policeman's grave from 1884 is lost.
Piszczek lies in peace, if anonymously, at Holy Trinity Cemetery on the city's south side. That much we know from news accounts of his murder at the hand of a suspect he was trying to arrest.
"Every lead was a dead end," said the police department's media producer, Jon Riemann, who is coordinating the effort to find Piszczek. "We all know it's a relatively small area that's the original section of that cemetery. So, we all know it's there somewhere, but we just can't pinpoint where."
Records of 19th-century burials at the cemetery have been lost, supposedly in a fire many years ago, said Wayne Haase, the superintendent at Holy Trinity and also nearby St. Adalbert and Mt. Olivet Catholic cemeteries. He went through every dusty burial book he could find but did not locate the exact grave spot.
That means perhaps hundreds of other graves in that old section, blocks one through four along S. 13th St., also are not listed in any surviving cemetery records. Many of the grave markers are so weathered or damaged as to be unreadable.
Riemann walked the rows along with police department spokesman Lt. Mark Stanmeyer, but they could not spot the officer's grave. I also searched. There are graves from the 1870s and 1880s, but I did not find Piszczek's name carved in stone. A more exhaustive search is needed.
Piszczek was just 33 with eight years on the force when he died on June 22, 1884. Early on the previous day, the officer — or roundsman, as the job was termed back then — was questioning a Chicago man "on suspicion of being a crook" near the Union Depot at what is now the area of 2nd and Seeboth streets, the Milwaukee Daily Journal reported.
Piszczek arrested the man and began walking him toward the police station at 1st and Florida streets. The suspect broke free and fired two shots from a revolver at Piszczek, hitting him in the abdomen. The officer fired back, but the man got away. Police had a possible identification for the man, but despite a massive manhunt and a $500 reward offered by Wisconsin's governor, he was never brought to justice for the murder.
The Milwaukee Police Department hopes to respectfully mark the final resting spot of Frank Piszczek, the first officer here known to have died in the line of duty.
There's just one problem: The policeman's grave from 1884 is lost.
Piszczek lies in peace, if anonymously, at Holy Trinity Cemetery on the city's south side. That much we know from news accounts of his murder at the hand of a suspect he was trying to arrest.
"Every lead was a dead end," said the police department's media producer, Jon Riemann, who is coordinating the effort to find Piszczek. "We all know it's a relatively small area that's the original section of that cemetery. So, we all know it's there somewhere, but we just can't pinpoint where."
Records of 19th-century burials at the cemetery have been lost, supposedly in a fire many years ago, said Wayne Haase, the superintendent at Holy Trinity and also nearby St. Adalbert and Mt. Olivet Catholic cemeteries. He went through every dusty burial book he could find but did not locate the exact grave spot.
That means perhaps hundreds of other graves in that old section, blocks one through four along S. 13th St., also are not listed in any surviving cemetery records. Many of the grave markers are so weathered or damaged as to be unreadable.
Riemann walked the rows along with police department spokesman Lt. Mark Stanmeyer, but they could not spot the officer's grave. I also searched. There are graves from the 1870s and 1880s, but I did not find Piszczek's name carved in stone. A more exhaustive search is needed.
Piszczek was just 33 with eight years on the force when he died on June 22, 1884. Early on the previous day, the officer — or roundsman, as the job was termed back then — was questioning a Chicago man "on suspicion of being a crook" near the Union Depot at what is now the area of 2nd and Seeboth streets, the Milwaukee Daily Journal reported.
Piszczek arrested the man and began walking him toward the police station at 1st and Florida streets. The suspect broke free and fired two shots from a revolver at Piszczek, hitting him in the abdomen. The officer fired back, but the man got away. Police had a possible identification for the man, but despite a massive manhunt and a $500 reward offered by Wisconsin's governor, he was never brought to justice for the murder.
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