Ex-ballplayer turned D.C. policeman Dan Sheahan and the police shooting of Addison Coleman
August 16, 1885
On Sunday afternoon, Officer Daniel J. Sheahan was assigned to plain clothes duty, tasked with finding gamblers and rough elements in a part of Washington, D.C. around First and N streets known as “Fredericksburg,” but known colloquially as “The Bloody Field.” The area was predominantly black and considered one of the roughest in the city, Sheahan was a rookie cop, having joined the force the previous November after his professional baseball career stalled out the previous year in the ill-fated Union Association.
At approximately 3:30 in the afternoon, Sheahan came across Addison Coleman, a 30 year old black man approximately six feet tall and 200 pounds. Coleman was reportedly intoxicated and talking loudly on the corner of First and N streets, when Officer Sheahan approached and instructed the man to go home. Coleman refused since Sheahan was not in uniform and an altercation soon took place between the two men. After a violent struggle between the two men, Officer Sheahan shot Coleman, who would die a short time later at Providence Hospital.
In examining this police shooting that happened 132 years ago, one can see distinctly that the current dynamics surrounding police shootings and black protest movements such as Black Lives Matter have been around for generations. But before we get into the aftermath of the shooting and since this is presumably a baseball blog, let’s look at Sheahan’s backstory.
Ballplayer and troublemaker
Sheahan was born in 1859 to Irish born parents and would make a name for himself as an amateur baseball player in his late teens and early twenties, with local clubs such as the Eagles and Astoria. This would culminate with his arrival in the major leagues in 1884. He would appear as a third baseman and outfielder with three separate clubs, Washington Nationals, the Wilmington Quicksteps and the Baltimore Monumentals in the newly formed Union Association. Strangely, Sheahan would use the alias of John Ryan during this 1884 season, which some have speculated is related to assorted legal troubles in the previous years.
Sheahan appears to have had numerous run-ins with the law in Washington prior to joining the police force. On July 26, 1878, the Washington Evening Star printed a lengthy account of Sheahan’s arrest for “attempted outrage” (old-timey terminology for rape). Sheahan accosted a woman named Johanna Widman at 9 o’clock on the evening of July 25, 1878. He made what was deemed an indecent proposal, threatened to “serve her in the manner of Eva Wilson,” a woman who was the victim of an unsolved rape earlier that year, and attempted to throw her to the ground and kicked her leg, at which point she screamed “Police!” The police came to the scene and shortly after Sheahan was arrested. Sheahan was described as a well-known ball player, so this was definitely our man.
Conflicting accounts came about in the trial that occurred later that week, with it becoming apparent that Widman had prior contact with Sheahan and had seen him two days prior to the attack. Based on the evidence presented at trial, the judge threw out the more serious charge and Sheahan pled guilty to a lesser charge of assault, for which he paid a $5 fine.
Sheahan’s name appears repeatedly in the D.C. newspapers for various charges in the years before and after the attack, although given the commonality of the name, it is not certain that it is the ballplayer. Regardless, the assault conviction in 1878 suggests that Sheahan was not a reputable character and a questionable choice to join the police.
Conflicting Accounts of the Shooting
Immediately after the shooting of Coleman, a coroner’s inquest was held and the witness testimonies revealed starkly differing accounts, drawn sharply along racial lines. The accounts told by white witnesses paint Sheahan’s actions as self-defense against a resistant Coleman and an angry mob of black bystanders.
James Howard, a young white man, indicated that he inserted himself into the altercation at Officer Sheahan’s request. Sheahan in the midst of his struggle called for Howard to grab his black-jack, but instead grabbed his “nippers” aka handcuffs and placed them on Coleman. Coleman, who by accounts was quite strong, was able to break free and continued to wrestle with Sheahan. Coleman grabbed the officer’s pistol before Howard wrestled it away from him. At this point the crowd turned on Howard and tried to wrestle the pistol away. According to Howard, the crowd began attacking officer Sheahan who was still grappling on the ground with Coleman. Coleman and Sheahan soon regained their footing, at which point Howard gave the officer the pistol. The officer pleaded for Coleman to come with him the police station, but as the two men continued to struggle, Sheahan shot Coleman.
According to Howard’s account, Sheahan acted calmly and tried to handle the situation non-violently, but Coleman resisted arrest and the presence of the angry black crowd exacerbated the situation. By Howard’s account, his intervention saved the officer’s life. Another white witness, John W. Browner, indicated that Coleman was defiant and threatened Sheahan stating “he would take ten years [in prison] before he would let [Sheahan] take him to the station house.
The black witnesses offered a completely contrary account that portrayed Officer Sheahan as the aggressor. James Lucas, who was arrested in the altercation, was a nephew of Coleman. Lucas offered the following account:
Another black witness, Henry Jackson, who also was arrested at the scene corroborated Lucas’ account, adding that Sheahan refused Lucas’ help and boasted “I don’t ask anybody to take him; I can take him. I am a man.”
Sheahan’s own account emphasized that he felt he was in a life or death struggle and that the crowd was shouting “kill the dude” and attacking both him and Howard. Following this testimony, the jury at the coroner’s inquest indicated that the shooting was accidental, though Sheahan would have been justified in shooting Coleman.
Ironically, Sheahan had served on a coroner’s jury the previous year after a D.C. policeman named John A. Fowler was killed following an altercation with an escaped black prisoner named John Langster.
The truth of what actually happened is somewhat muddy as the white witnesses presented Sheahan as acting appropriately, particularly in light of Coleman’s strength (one account called him Hercules), intoxicated state, and the presence of a hostile crowd. The black witnesses suggest that Sheahan instigated the confrontation and pridefully resisted and antagonized the black citizens who offered to help calm the situation. What could have been handled calmly, was instead escalated into tragedy.
Coleman’s nephew presented him as a church going man who never cursed, but multiple accounts suggest that Coleman appears to have been drinking and causing a scene. Coleman also had a lengthy criminal record, including an attempted murder charge from 1873 and he served nine months in prison in 1876 for resisting arrest. Coleman’s police record conflicts somewhat with his nephew’s account and suggests that he had violent tendencies.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Sheahan came under threat of physical violence. A threatening letter was found posted on a tree in South Washington on August 20. On August 23, while visiting a friend in the area, a group of black men surrounded the house he was in and asked him to come out. Sheahan showed great calm and was able to disperse the crowd without incident.
The Black Community Organizes
Despite being acquitted by the coroner’s jury, Sheahan was suspended from the force in the aftermath of the shooting, perhaps to protect him from public scrutiny. In the weeks following the shooting, there were attempts by members of the black community to re-open the investigation. Reverend R. S. Laws, a pastor at Virginia Avenue Baptist Church, interviewed numerous witnesses the day after the shooting and presented his findings to a reporter at the National Republican.
On August 28, a meeting of black citizens was held at the Virginia Avenue Baptist Church, where a committee was appointed with the intent of going to the Police Court and having a warrant sworn out for Sheahan’s arrest. The result of the meeting was a galvanized community:
By September 5, Sheahan had returned to duty and was nearly killed while arresting Charlie Johnson, a black man who had been accused of assaulting a woman in her home. Johnson while under transport pulled a gun on Sheahan and were it not for the warning of a small boy who saw the pistol, Sheahan might have been killed. The officer was able to wrestle the pistol away and Johnson was sentenced to six months in jail.
On September 14, the committee formed by the black citizens of the area formally swore out a warrant for Officer Sheahan’s arrest. Sheahan was charged with murder and held on $2,000 bail. This would be the closest thing to a victory for the citizens of South Washington, as the charge of murder against Sheahan would thrown out by the grand jury on November 7.
Sheahan would get in more hot water following his exoneration, when on November 18, he was accused of assault and battery by Julia A. Baylis, a married woman, who accused the officer of kissing her against her will, after her husband was placed under arrest. The case was thrown out two days later when Baylis refused to prosecute.
Enter the Ghost Burglar
Just over a year later in the early hours of December 24, 1886, Sheahan was again on plain clothes duty on 10th and R street. He was given instructions to arrest all suspicious characters in the wake of a string of robberies in the area. At four o’clock in the morning, Sheahan came across a suspected prowler and after a brief interaction, the prowler shot Sheahan in the thigh, with Sheahan returning fire, but not hitting his target. Sheahan was treated at the police station and his condition remained up in the air for the following week. A manhunt was launched for the prowler, who would be caught after a shootout with police on January 10. His name was John Jackson and he had been known as the Ghost Burglar for his skill at evading detection. Jackson had just been released from prison in November 1886 after serving seven years for a series of burglaries committed in 1880.
Sheahan resigns
Sheahan recovered well enough to return to duty, although according to friends on the force, his mind was not entirely right after the shooting. In May 1888, he resigned from the police force for unknown reasons, though one could imagine him having PTSD.
Sheahan left Washington sometime after and by 1894 was an inmate in an insane asylum in Limerick, Ireland.
For many years, it was unknown what became of Sheahan. Recently, thanks to Peter Morris, pretty much the pre-eminent researcher of obscure ballplayers, Sheahan’s whereabouts were uncovered. According to Morris’ research, Sheahan was still an inmate in Limerick when died on May 3, 1897.
Sheahan’s life was tumultuous and he seems to have been unable to overcome the trauma of his time on the Washington police force. Given his criminal record prior to joining the force, it is unclear how he was able become a policeman. Addison Coleman led a troubled and violent life and may very well have instigated the events that led to his death on August 17, 1885. It seems to me that Sheahan’s inexperience was equally at fault.
