Remembering a Long Ago Middleburg Officer Down By Leonard Shapiro
W
hen he was doing his due diligence as he prepared to interview for the job of Middleburg’s police chief in 2012, A.J. Panebianco came across a story about the first, and only, Middleburg policeman ever to lose his life in the line of duty back in 1899. Town Sergeant Henry Milton Seaton was only 28 when, on Dec. 2, 1899, he succumbed to a stab wound sustained a week earlier. On the 121st anniversary of his death this past Dec. 2, Middleburg’s American Legion Post 295 honored him with a moving ceremony and the placing of a commemorative plaque name on the Noble Building on Madison Street in the village. According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, which chronicles the stories of many of the 24,000 police officers killed in the line of duty in the U.S. since 1776, Sgt. Seaton was mortally wounded by a man he had earlier arrested for being drunk and disorderly.
Photo © Vicky Moon
Middleburg Police Chief A.J. Panebianco.
“On the advice of a town council member, the prisoner was released and told to go home for the night,” according to the Officer Down web site. “However, after leaving the jail, the male and his brother located Town Sergeant Seaton at Adam’s Store, at the intersection of Madison Street and Washington Street. The brother then stabbed the officer in the abdomen with a double-edged dirk.
The plaque on the Noble House building honoring Sgt. Seaton, the only Middleburg police officer ever killed in the line of duty.
“The two brothers fled Middleburg later in the night. The brother who acted as the accomplice was arrested in Washington, D.C., on January 6th, 1900. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison, but was pardoned by the governor after serving a short sentence. The brother who stabbed Town Sergeant Seaton was arrested in Ohio in June of 1908.”
Michael McCoy, a retired firefighter who lives in Purcellville and is Seaton’s distant relative, contacted Panebianco several years ago about honoring him. Legion Commander John Moliere also knew about Seaton and suggested the Middleburg Post, now celebrating the 75th year of its founding, would be interested in organizing such an event. And so, this past Dec. 2, Moliere, Chief Panebianco and Middleburg Mayor Bridge Littleton all delivered remarks at a ceremony witnessed by about 25 people, including several current Middleburg police officers and members of Sgt. Seaton’s family still living in the area. Michael McCoy, who suffered serious injuries as a Fairfax firefighter years ago, was physically unable to attend but said, “it was just very nice of them to do this. I thought it was a great thing.”
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So did Chief Panebianco, who has a rubbing displayed on his office desk of Sgt. Seaton’s name taken off the National Law Enforcement Memorial wall in Washington, D.C. “It was truly heart-touching,” Chief Panebianco said of the Dec. 2 ceremony. “I’ve been to a number of police funerals in my 32 years, and this was very special. The American Legion solidified the fact that Sgt. Seaton will not be forgotten. It was a great act of kindness by them, and so moving.”
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Country ZEST & Style | Winter 2021
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