The Policeman who Arrested a President

 Going from a waiter to a DC policeman and, eventually, to the Mounted Squad of the Metropolitan Police was quite a transition for Robert Tapscott. Robert joined the police force the year after marrying Mary A. West. Was there a connection? Indeed there was.

William, Evening Star, Washington, DC, 27 Sep 1908.

Mary West was one of seven children of William Henry and Catherine A. (Bowie) West. In Sep 1842 William had been born a slave in Maryland, and during the Civil War had served in the Union Army. By 1894, when Robert married West's daughter, Mary, William Henry West had been a DC police officer for almost 23 years. William had joined the Metropolitan police force on 23 Aug 1871, and spent most of his career in the Mounted Squad. At the very least, William provided Robert an example of a policeman's life. And William may have talked his son-in-law into making the career move and then helped him along.

Not only was William Henry West, Robert Tapscott’s father-in-law, a cop, he was a famous cop. He was, and still is, the only policeman in history to arrest a sitting American President. And he was a man of color, not the first to be on the DC police force, but close to it.

William was the opposite of what his son-in-law, Robert Tapscott, would be. Robert was congenial and socially active. In today’s world he would be a member of the office drinking-fountain clique, discussing sports, or in Robert’s case, horse shows and drill events. William, on the other hand, was aggressive and pushy, attributes that got him into conflicts now and then. It was not that William was a bad cop. In fact he may have been a more effective policeman than Robert. But William did not get along well with his colleagues or with the community, as did Robert.

Evening Star, DC, 1918

Just a year after he joined the DC police force, William arrested President Ulysses S. Grant for driving his horse-drawn carriage at high speeds through DC streets. The story is well-known so there is no reason for us to repeat it here. (See, e.g., Arrest of a President.) And it was detailed in the 27 Sep 1908 edition of the DC Evening Star, many years after the occurrence.

As we noted William had a knack for not getting along with others. A 9 Nov 1899 Washington DC newspaper article stated

Officer West has been under charges a number of times, and accusations made against him a few weeks ago when he was thrown from his horse and injured have not been settled. . . . A number of times the officer has been warned and reprimanded, while on other occasions he was acquitted when tried on charges.

The article went on to report that William was being “dismounted” (removed from his Mounted Squad duties). In an action that would not improve family relations, William's vacated police position was to be filled by his son-in-law, who was described in the article:

[Tapscott] has been doing duty in Lieut. Kenney’s command, and because of his good record his name has been mentioned several times in connection with promotions.

William Henry West retired from the DC Police Force in 1901. His wife, Catherine, died just four years later. William passed away in the DC 6 Sep 1915. His son-in-law, Robert, would work another decade as a Washington, DC mounted officer.