Officers mourn last police horse

July 3, 1921: The news brought sadness to the Lincoln Heights police station. Old Bill, “the last of the equine veterans of the Police Department,” had died at the age of 30, The Times reported.

At Lincoln Heights, Bill “served faithfully and long in patrol-wagon harness before the advent of motor-driven apparatus,” the newspaper said.

For 22 years, the horse “responded to every call that came in and not the least important feature of his record was the great number of lives he helped to save by prompt work in accident cases.”

In the two years before his death, Bill had been enjoying his retirement at the Municipal Farm, “where his most arduous duty was the occasional trip in buggy harness that he made when some official wanted to go on an errand.”