John E. Sealy, a 47-year-old White/Caucasian male, had spent much of his adult life in public service by the time his career ended violently in Hurley, Wisconsin, on March 7, 1906. He had come to Hurley in 1886 and spent roughly fifteen years in various law-enforcement positions. His record included service as an undersheriff under former Sheriff Frank Logan, work as an Iron County game warden, and service as Hurley's chief of police. He later became sheriff of Iron County and subsequently served as undersheriff under Sheriff J. J. Defer. Sealy had married Nettie Trader in 1885, and the couple raised a large family in the Hurley area.
Shortly after midnight on March 7, Hurley was dealing with a series of burglaries. Several homes had reportedly been entered, and Sealy was out with a companion searching for the person responsible. During their patrol, the two noticed that a light was burning inside an office at the Wisconsin Railroad Depot. At that hour, the illuminated depot apparently seemed suspicious enough to warrant investigation, particularly while officers were actively searching for a burglar.
Unknown to Sealy, a railroad employee was still inside. The employee had been working late and, rather than returning home for the night, had decided to sleep in the railroad office. With burglaries occurring nearby, the employee apparently believed someone entering the building during the early morning hours might be the burglar. When Sealy entered the office to investigate, the railroad worker opened fire. Sealy was struck by the gunfire and killed. The type of firearm used is not identified in the available law-enforcement memorial record.
The shooting appears to have been a devastating case of mistaken identity rather than an intentional ambush directed at Sealy personally. He had gone to the depot as part of the search for a burglary suspect, while the railroad employee apparently believed that Sealy himself was an intruder. There is no indication in the available account that the employee knew he was firing at a law-enforcement officer before the shot was fired. Sealy's death was consequently recorded as a line-of-duty death caused by gunfire.
Sealy left behind his wife and six surviving children. An earlier biographical account identified the Sealy children as Florence, Earl, John, Maud, Marie, Clarence and Arthur, with Arthur having died before his father. His death therefore took away not only a veteran Iron County law-enforcement officer but also the head of a family that had been established in the Hurley community for many years.
The railroad employee who fired the fatal shot is not identified by name in the principal surviving online account of Sealy's death. The Officer Down Memorial Page lists offender information as unavailable, and the historical material located online does not provide a verified name for the shooter. No publicly available online account located for this synopsis documents an arrest, criminal charge, trial, or conviction arising from the shooting. The surviving description instead portrays Sealy's death as the tragic result of the railroad employee mistaking an investigating officer for the very burglar Sealy had gone out that night to find.
