Frank L. Slaymaker was a 24-year-old White/Caucasian male and Philadelphia police officer whose fatal encounter began on May 27, 1906, after a robbery was reported inside a Chinese restaurant in Philadelphia. Slaymaker, who had been with the Philadelphia Police Department for only about seven months and carried badge number 844, took custody of a man and a woman accused in the robbery and brought them to a police call box so he could summon a patrol wagon.
As Slaymaker waited with the
pair near the corner of 9th Street and Wood Street, the situation suddenly turned violent. The male suspect, identified in memorial records as 18-year-old John Maxwell, produced a revolver and shot Slaymaker in the lung. Even after being wounded, Slaymaker reportedly managed to hold onto Maxwell long enough for other officers to arrive. Maxwell fled or attempted to get away, but he was quickly apprehended.
Slaymaker did not die instantly. Although the shooting occurred on May 27, 1906, online memorial and officer-death records state that he succumbed to his wounds ten days later, on June 6, 1906. His death was recorded as a line-of-duty gunfire death connected to the robbery arrest. He was survived by his wife, father, and mother.
The case moved forward against John Maxwell, the teenage suspect accused of firing the fatal shot. Maxwell was convicted of Slaymaker’s murder and, on October 9, 1906, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The woman who had been arrested with Maxwell was part of the original robbery arrest, but the available online summaries do not provide her name or indicate that she was convicted in connection with Slaymaker’s shooting.
