“Patrolman Martin Maloney.” Officer Down Memorial Page.
Maloney Dies and Other Drownings and Rescues at NYC Beaches
One hundred years ago today … NYPD Patrolman Martin Maloney drowned while attempting to save a drowning woman, the incident occurring at Rockaway Beach in Queens, near Beach 94th Street. The 1921 photo below was taken a few blocks away, and shows Beach 108th through 100th Street.
“The Old Beachfront In Seaside Section, Rockaway Beach–1921.” The Wave.
Maloney, 28, lived at 500 East 159th St., Manhattan, and had been stationed at the West 135th St. precinct (“Policeman Is Drowned Trying to Save Girl,” Brooklyn Standard Union, 19 September, 1921, p. 11).
The Department publicly mourned Maloney three days later.
Daily News, 22 September 1921, p. 13. Newspapers.com.
Brooklyn Times-Union, 19 September, 1921, p.12. Newspapers.com
According to the Brooklyn Times-Union, Maloney “was overcome with cramps, but other swimmers saved the woman, May Quinn, of 888 East Fifty-eighth street.” However, the Standard Union reported that he was trying to save his relative, Alice Johnson, “a young girl.”
The Times-Union listed other drowning tragedies and rescues of the day.
– Jonathan Goldman, September 18, 1921
TAGS: beaches, swimming, death, rescue, hero, water