Philadelphia Police Department
Pennsylvania
End of Watch: Thursday, December 22, 1910
Biographical Info
Age: 26
Tour of Duty: 2 years
Badge Number: 842
Unit of assignment: 8th District (10th & Buttonwood Sts.)
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Fire
Date of Incident: Thursday, December 22, 1910
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Officer Morris Gellis, 26, was killed, along with 13 firefighters, December 22, 1910, when the burning five-story Fiedlander Leather Remnants Co., 1114-20 N. Bodine St., North Philadelphia, collapsed on them. Gellis was trying to rescue trapped firefighters and was carrying a body of a fireman when a wall fell and he was crushed. He had been on the force two years. He died in Roosevelt Hospital.
Sources:
1. The Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc. http://www.odmp.org/officer/5363-policeman-morris-gelles
2. Death Certificate
3. Philadelphia Police
4. Annual Report of the Director of the Department of Public Safety; for year ending 1910; published 1911, City of Philadelphia, pg. 11.
5. Find A Grave volunteer Tim G. (birth date)
6. Philadelphia Inquirer, December 23, 1910
7. Philadelphia Press, Saturday, December 24, 1910, page 3 (officer photo). Courtesy Donna DiGiacomo.
Philadelphia Police Department
Pennsylvania
End of Watch: Thursday, December 22, 1910
Biographical Info
Age: 26
Tour of Duty: 2 years
Badge Number: 842
Unit of assignment: 8th District (10th & Buttonwood Sts.)
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Fire
Date of Incident: Thursday, December 22, 1910
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Officer Morris Gellis, 26, was killed, along with 13 firefighters, December 22, 1910, when the burning five-story Fiedlander Leather Remnants Co., 1114-20 N. Bodine St., North Philadelphia, collapsed on them. Gellis was trying to rescue trapped firefighters and was carrying a body of a fireman when a wall fell and he was crushed. He had been on the force two years. He died in Roosevelt Hospital.
Sources:
1. The Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc. http://www.odmp.org/officer/5363-policeman-morris-gelles
2. Death Certificate
3. Philadelphia Police
4. Annual Report of the Director of the Department of Public Safety; for year ending 1910; published 1911, City of Philadelphia, pg. 11.
5. Find A Grave volunteer Tim G. (birth date)
6. Philadelphia Inquirer, December 23, 1910
7. Philadelphia Press, Saturday, December 24, 1910, page 3 (officer photo). Courtesy Donna DiGiacomo.
Inscription
In Memory of Our Beloved Son / Lost His Life At The Bodine St. Fire. Gone But Not Forgotten.