During a blizzard on the evening of January 12, 1918, Officer Marion E. Ellis, 47, entered the Polar Ice and Fuel Company at Northwestern Avenue and 20th Street with his partner, Officer John J. Sullivan.  Officer Ellis stepped through a door leading to the basement and fell to the bottom of the stairs, fracturing his skull.  He was taken to City Hospital where he died on January 23.

Officer Ellis had been a member of the police department for nine years and was survived by a wife and 13-year old daughter.  A detail of police served as pallbearers at Officer Ellis's funeral.  He is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery.

Source:  Indianapolis Star, January 24, 1918; Marion County Health Department Certificate of Death.; Obituary, Unknown Paper, January 23, 1918; Police Report of Accident, January 12, 1918.