Officer Down Memorial Page

Patrolman

Mathias J. Degan

Bio & Incident Details

Age: 34

Tour: 1 year, 6 months

Badge # 648

Cause: Bomb

Incident Date: 5/4/1886

Weapon: Explosives; Bomb

Suspect: Four executed

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Officer Mathias J. Degan was with other officers assigned to disperse crowds near Haymarket Square. A bomb was thrown and exploded amidst officers. Officer Degan was struck by shrapnel. Officer Degan was the first of eight officers to die in what is known as the historic Haymarket Tragedy.

Officer Degan served with the agency for 1.5 years and was assigned to the 3rd Precinct. Officer Degan was a widower who was survived by his son.

Eight men were arrested and charged with the officers murders. Seven were convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The other one was sentenced to 15 years. On November 11, 1887, four of them were executed by hanging. The day before one of the suspects killed himself in his cell with a smuggled dynamite cap which he detonated in his mouth. The other three were pardoned by Governor Altgeld in 1893.

Eight police officers were killed during the Haymarket Riot labor dispute. The officers were at the scene of a civil disorder when the rioters opened fire and threw a bomb into the crowd. Eight police officers suffered fatal wounds and 70 other people were injured by the gunfire and explosion.

The officers who were killed included Patrolman Mathias Degan, Patrolman John Barrett, Patrolman George Miller, Patrolman Timothy Flavin, Patrolman Thomas Redden, Patrolman Nels Hansen and Patrolman Michael Sheehan. Patrolman Timothy Sullivan succumbed to his wounds two years later, on June 13, 1888.

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