From the December 26, 1899 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“Edward Watson, 25 years old, who lived at Battery Place and Ninety-Second Street, Fort Hamilton, died in the Norwegian Hospital on Sunday night from injuries received in a peculiar manner. Thomas Leary, a private in Battery N, Fifth Artillery, who was charged with causing Watson’s death, was arrested, and when arraigned before Magistrate Nostrand, in the Coney Island court yesterday morning, on a charge of homicide, was held without bail to await the action of the coroner.

Watson and Leary, who had known each other for some time, met in the Dewey Hotel, at Fourth Avenue and One Hundred and First Street, late on Saturday night. The former was standing at the bar drinking with some friends when Leary entered and, on seeing Watson, went up to him and, with a ‘Merry Christmas. old man,’ slapped him on the back. Watson suddenly turned pale and fell on the floor. The best of feelings existed between the two men and the death of Watson was purely accidental. The doctors said that the blow had displaced the fourth vertebra.”