Edward F. Ryan

Constable

Watertown

End of Watch: 1/27/1933

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After a series of nighttime burglaries at local businesses, Constable Ryan was assigned to a stake out at an oil company. The next morning, he was found dead due to asphyxiation from oil burner fumes in the building.

On the night of January 26, and the early morning hours of January 27, 1933 Constable Edward F. Ryan, 41, working as a law enforcement officer of the Town of Watertown, Connecticut, was assigned to a stake out at the Justus Oil Company located at the intersection of Hillside Avenue and Main Street in Oakville.

A series of nighttime burglaries had been occurring at local businesses in the Oakville section of Watertown in recent weeks. This activity prompted the assignment of Constable Ryan to the Justus Oil Company. Ryan had been with Constable Victor Fogelstrom earlier in the evening prior to the stake out inside the Justus Oil Company in Oakville.

Fogelstrom returned to the Justus Oil Company at approximately 0500 hours on the morning of January 27, 1933 and found Constable Edward F. Ryan on the floor of the main office dead. His death was caused by asphyxiation from oil burner fumes in the building.

Constable Ryan was born in Watertown and had lived all his life there. He left his wife Augusta Schlang Ryan and three young children Dorothy, Edward, and Genevieve.

Constable Ryan’s widow was awarded $3788.00 by the compensation court as result of their ruling concerning Constable Ryan’s death in the line of duty.