More than 105 years after his death, a former Duluth police lieutenant's name is being added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Lt. Arthur Briggs died on April 28, 1908, while trying to apprehend a drunken man that the owner of a West Duluth laundry wanted removed from his business. Briggs chased the man out the rear door. Moments later, the police officer was found dead in an alley, his body lying across that of his prisoner.
Briggs was described in press accounts at the time as the most valuable and popular member of his department. He weighed close to 300 pounds. The cause of death listed on his death certificate was pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart.
Briggs was born in Ireland in 1855 and was a carpenter there until coming to this country and joining the Duluth police force in 1887.
The News Tribune reported that Briggs was known by every man, woman and child in his jurisdiction. More than 5,000 people attended his funeral at Holy Apostles Episcopal Church, 57th Avenue West and Elinor Street, making it at that time the largest funeral in Duluth history.
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Last year, then-Duluth police Lt. Scott Drewlo -- now director of the University of Minnesota Duluth Police Department -- and Officer Ron Leino researched Briggs' background and submitted the information to a St. Louis County medical examiner, who changed Briggs' cause of death from "natural" to "homicide" due to the "stress of a struggle with an intoxicated suspect."
Duluth police Chief Gordon Ramsay has been informed by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund that Briggs' name will be engraved on the memorial and formally dedicated on May 13 at the 25th annual candlelight vigil in Washington, D.C., during National Police Week.
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial located at Judiciary Square honors the more than 19,000 U.S. law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty.
