Bio & Incident Details
Age: 37
Tour: 3 years, 10 months
Badge # 355
Cause: Stabbed
Incident Date: 2/16/1884
Weapon: Edged weapon; Knife
Suspect: Never identified
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Officer John Nicholson was stabbed after interrupting a burglary in progress at a grocery store at 1131 Pacific Avenue.
The suspect fled with Officer Nicholson in pursuit. Officer Nicholson chased the suspect to the corner of Pacific Avenue and Mason Street where a struggle ensued and the suspect stabbed him and fled. Officer Nicholson continued the chase, and fired three shots at the suspect.
The suspect then turned on Officer Nicholson again and stabbed him in the neck and face, killing him.
In 1902 Officer Nicholson's photograph was installed at the San Francisco Police Headquarters, along with four other officers killed in the line of duty, where it was displayed until the California earthquake of 1906 when all of the portraits were lost.
Officer Nicholson was survived by his fiancee and he is buried at what used to be Calvary Cemetery, now Holy Cross Cemetery, in Colma, California.
