Patrolman Doherty succumbed to injuries sustained two days earlier as a result of a massive explosion on barges carrying munitions at Black Tom Island in New York Harbor. Parts of New York City and Jersey City were heavily damaged as a result of the explosion. Police Chief Cornelius Leyden, of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Police, was also killed in the explosion. Several other workers and civilians were killed and hundreds were injured as a result of the explosion.
It is believed that the explosion was a result of German sabotage preceding WWI.
