CAPTAIN EASON DEAD; HAD A GALLANT RECORD.
One of the Veterans of the Police Force Expires in the Memorial Hospital.
HE FOUGHT WITH THE 14th
After the War He Became a Policeman. Bravery and Integrity His Strong Characteristics.
Captain John W. Eason of the Flushing Avenue Precinct died at 9:45 o'clock this morning at the Memorial Hospital, Classon and St. Marks Avenues, where he was taken on Thursday last, suffering from a complication of diseases, liver and kidney predominating. Captain Eason seemed to be in his usual health up to last summer and was first taken ill on the day of the unveiling of the monument to the late General E. B. Fowler in Fort Greene. He was one of the committee of arrangements and it is thought that the excitement incidental to the occasion brought on heart trouble.
In the opinion of his lifelong friend, Captain Sylvester D. Baldwin of the Classon Avenue Station, that was the beginning of his illness. About two months ago jaundice set in, but the Captain, with all of the pluck for which he was noted, kept at his post and even went to the Myrtle Avenue Court to personally appear in cases in which he was interested. His color at that time was strongly indicative of the disease from which he was suffering. Subsequently he was prostrated by liver and kidney troubles and these were succeeded in turn by dropsy. Three weeks ago he was obliged to remain at his home, 255 Steuben Street, and then took to his bed. By advise of his physician he was taken on Thursday last to the Memorial Hospital, where he submitted to an operation. His family was at his bedside when he passed away. His brother, Sergeant Charles Eason of the Classon Avenue Station, who has been constantly in attendance on the Captain, whenever his duties would permit, is confined to his home from illness.
Eason was one of the veteran captains of the force and had the respect of a number of people, for he was esteemed as an honest man and a good policeman and citizen. His last service to the city was at local police headquarters on the night of April 11. Every night one of the captains is assigned to duty at headquarters to act as inspector in charge until the business hours of the next day commence. Eason was ailing very much then and a reporter, an old friend, advised him to go home.
"What's the use?" asked Eason. "The doctor has told me I should remain at home, but there is no ease for me there. I'd be worrying about what was going on in the precinct. And I think it better, anyway, for a man to stay at work just as long as he can. When I get real sick, when I cannot leave my bed, it will be time for me to give up work. Not until then."
To-day there will be a meeting of the higher officers of the force to take suitable steps to memorialize the dead Captain's many excellent qualities as a policeman and as a citizen and to make suitable arrangements for the funeral.
Captain Eason has been a prominent public figure in Brooklyn for many years. Not so long ago he was spoken of for the nomination for Sheriff, but he did not secure that honor when the convention was held. He was a native of this country, being born in New York on Washington's Birthday, 1843. He moved to the then City of Brooklyn with his parents when he was a small child. He received his schooling here and at the time of the outbreak of the war was preparing to go into business.
He enlisted in April 18, 1861, as a private in the Fourteenth Regiment, known later as "The Fighting Fourteenth," and as "The Red-legged Devils." His regiment went to the front and Eason was conspicuous because of his bravery and his ability as a soldier. Within two months he was promoted to the color guard of the regiment and shortly afterward was promoted to a sergeant because of bravery. During the war he was wounded three times, once [at] the battle of Bull Run, again at Antietam and last at Gettysburg.
He was mustered out of the Army on June 6, 1864, and three months after that joined the Metropolitan Police Force. He found an agreeable vocation in the police service and for nearly forty years he had been a faithful servant of the public. Eason was a sergeant in 1870, his promotion to that grade following soon after he had been made acting sergeant. Most of his police service was in the First Precinct, which covered the Heights territory as the Forty-ninth does today, and it had been a constant but unfulfilled ambition of his to be in control of that territory as captain. When he joined the force he was assigned to the old Forty-first, which later became the First Precinct, and which is now the Forty-ninth.
Eason had a long and creditable record as an officer in the Heights district and many of the oldest residents of that portion of Brooklyn were counted his friends. They appreciated him for his unswerving adherence to the dictates of his own conscience and to his sense of duty, and they knew him to be a brave man when bravery was of value to their safety.
One of the distinguishing acts of police work which was placed to his credit on the books of the department was the arrest of a desperate burglar who broke into the residence of S. S. Hondslow, a wealthy resident of Monroe Place early on one morning many years ago. Mr. Hondslow was a real estate ????? and burglars believed that he had money and valuables in the house. They broke in one morning and one of them assaulted Mr. Hondslow with an axe, inflicting serious injuries. Eason was on post in the neighborhood at the time and saw the man escaping from the home. He gave chase with the bulldog persistence which was one of his characteristics and the pursuit continued over many back fences. But Eason stuck to his duty and did not give up the pursuit until he had landed the man a prisoner. In the chase the burglar fell from a fence and fractured his skull. He was still living when he was found, but he died shortly afterward. During the chase the man had turned on his pursuer and there had been a struggle, but Eason was in no way responsible for the man's injuries.
Eason was a sergeant at the time of the Brooklyn Theater fire and he rendered heroic service then. Indeed, he was always at his post when there was strenuous work in hand. After his promotion to a captaincy he was sent to the old Second Precinct on York Street and moved with the precinct when it took up its present headquarters on Fulton Street. He made many friends among the merchants and business people on lower Fulton street and when he was transferred from there he received substantial evidence of the esteem in which they held him. For a time he was in charge of the bridge squad, but the greater portion of his service as a commanding officer was done in the Flushing Avenue Precinct, the district of which he was in charge at the time of his death. A few months ago he was stricken with neuralgia of the heart and for a time his life was despaired of, but he rallied and when he was able to get out, he seemed to be as strong as ever.
Eason's prominent characteristic was his sterling honesty and his unswerving fidelity to duty. He found time, within the manifold cares of his office, to continue friendships of earlier years, and he also found time to exercise his skill as an artist in black and white. Many of the pictures adorn the walls of his home and those of his friends and at one time he made designs for the cards of one of the most prominent photographers in Brooklyn.
Captain Eason was raised to that rank in 1888 by Colonel Partridge, but for some time before receiving that tribute to his excellence as a policeman he had been acting captain of the old Second Precinct. He was a member of the Mutual Aid Society of the police force, the Officers' Endowment Association, the Police Endowment Association, Rankin Post No. 10, G.A.R., the Fourteenth War Veterans Association and the Commonwealth Lodge No. 409, F. and A.M. He leaves a widow and several relatives, one of whom is a brother, Sergeant Charles Eason, of the Classon Avenue Station.
Captain Sylvester D. Baldwin of the Classon Avenue Station, in speaking of Captain Eason, said: "I have known him for thirty-five years. He was my sergeant and captain. He was a good man to his own men, and an excellent police officer, all the way through."
Sergeant P. J. Tracy has been acting captain of the Flushing Avenue Station since Captain Eason's illness, and a special meeting will be held some time to-day to take suitable action regarding the captain's death. Arrangements for the funeral had not been completed at noon to-day.
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