WALTER B. HARRIS: This period photograph shows Princeton Borough Police Officer Walter B. Harris proudly wearing his uniform. A memorial to Mr. Harris, who was shot and killed in 1946, will be dedicated in his memory on Sunday, January 25, at 1 p.m. at the Princeton Municipal Hall Plaza, 400 Witherspoon Street. It will join one other memorial, that honoring Princeton Township Police Officer Billie D. Ellis, who died in 1955. (Image Courtesy of the Princeton Police Department)

The Princeton Police Department will hold a dedication ceremony for a memorial honoring Walter B. Harris on Sunday, January 25, at 1 p.m. The event is scheduled to take place on the plaza in front of Witherspoon Hall, the Princeton municipal building at 400 Witherspoon Street.

The ceremony will commemorate the installation of a new memorial for the Princeton Borough police officer who was shot and killed in the early hours of the morning of February 2, 1946.

Mr. Harris was off duty at the time and just 31 years old. With his wife, Florence, he had two young daughters, Monetta, 6, and Florence, 3. He had served with the Princeton Borough Police between 1943 and 1946 and before that with the Princeton Auxiliary Police. He was the Department’s second African American patrolman.

Just after midnight, as he was leaving a social club near his John Street home to get ready for his shift, Mr. Harris heard the sound of gunfire. According to newspaper accounts at the time, he ran to the club and intervened in an altercation there. After being hit on the head with the butt of a gun and subsequently shot in the abdomen, he died at Princeton Hospital some 30 minutes later. Three men were subsequently pursued, captured, and charged in the crime.

The three men were from the Bronx and had been visiting relatives in Princeton when, reportedly, one of them made unwelcome advances to a woman in the club. Tried in Mercer County court, Norman L. Cross, 19, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison; his brother Milton Cross, 20, was convicted of manslaughter and got eight to ten years; the third man was acquitted.

Mr. Harris is buried in the Princeton Cemetery of Nassau Presbyterian Church.

His memorial will be the second to be placed on the plaza at Witherspoon Hall, where a commemorative plaque is dedicated to Princeton Township Police Officer Billie D. Ellis. Mr. Ellis gave his life rescuing three young boys during a storm on Lake Carnegie on August 19, 1955.

More than 100 people, including many who remember Mr. Harris personally, friends and family members, are expected to attend the dedication ceremony.

At the most recent meeting of mayor and Council, Monday, January 12, Mayor Liz Lempert read a proclamation of the monument. “I want to thank the police department for doing the work to research Officer Harris to make sure we are remembering and honoring him properly,” she said. This time last year, when the municipality declared February 2 “Officer Walter Harris Day,” the slain officer’s daughters and other family members were in attendance.

Sergeant Geoff Maurer and Officer Chris King were instrumental in gaining recognition for Mr. Harris. Mr. Maurer began researching the late officer after consolidation of the Borough and Township police departments. Knowing of the monument to fallen Township policeman Billie Ellis, who died in the line of duty in 1955, Mr. Maurer, thought that the Borough officer deserved similar recognition for his actions.