Frank C. Skidmore, 32, male, was a patrol officer with the New Castle Police Department in New Castle, Pennsylvania, when his short time in uniform ended violently on August 17, 1904. He had only been with the department for about six weeks, still near the beginning of his police career, when he and another officer went to make what began as a seemingly ordinary arrest. The matter involved a suspect accused of stealing chickens, but the call turned deadly near Paper Mill Road and Cascade Street.
Skidmore and his fellow officer arrived at the suspect’s house and informed the man that he was being placed under arrest. Instead of submitting, the suspect opened fire. Skidmore was struck and killed, while the officer with him was seriously wounded. What had started as a minor theft investigation suddenly became the first line-of-duty death in the history of the New Castle Police Department.
The suspect was not immediately taken into custody. Online sources state that he was apprehended nearly nine months after the shooting, meaning the case remained unresolved for a significant period while Skidmore’s family, department, and community waited for an arrest. The sources available online do not clearly identify the suspect by name, but they do describe the legal outcome: he was convicted of manslaughter rather than murder.
The conviction did not keep the suspect imprisoned for life. He was released in 1911, roughly seven years after Skidmore’s death, and later received a full pardon in 1914. That pardon closed the legal aftermath in a way that sharply contrasts with the permanence of the loss suffered by Skidmore’s family and the New Castle Police Department. Skidmore was survived by his wife and child, leaving behind a family after only weeks of service in the role that led him to the suspect’s door.
