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. |
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 |
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.
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