"Little" Annie Reilly (c. 1844-unknown), also known under the aliases Kate Cooley, Connelly and Manning, was a 19th-century American thief and con artist widely regarded as "the cleverest woman in her line in America". A well-known member of New York's underworld, she was part of an elite "inner circle" of female career criminals under

Marm Mandelbaum Fredericka "Marm" Mandelbaum (March 25, 1825 – February 26, 1894)Holub, Rona"Fredericka Mandelbaum."In ''Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present'', vol. 2, edited by William J. Hausman. German Histo ...

during the 1860s and 1870s. These included some of the most notorious

thieves Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

ers and confidence women in the country such as

Lena Kleinschmidt "Black" Lena Kleinschmidt (1835 – after 1886) was a German-born New York criminal who, as a prominent jewel thief during the late 19th century, was an associate of fence Fredericka "Marm" Mandelbaum and Adam Worth. Among others in Mandelbaum's ...

Sophie Lyons Sophie Lyons (December 24, 1848 – May 8, 1924) was an American criminal and one of the country's most notorious female ''thieves, pickpockets, shoplifters, and confidence women'' during the mid-to-late 19th century. She and her husbands ...

, Kid Glove Rosey, Queen Liz, Big Mary and

Old Mother Hubbard "Old Mother Hubbard" is an English-language nursery rhyme, first given an extended printing in 1805, although the exact origin of the rhyme is disputed. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19334. After a notable nursery success, it was eventu ...

Biography

Annie Reilly was born in Ireland in about 1844. She later emigrated to the United States and settled down in New York City where Reilly found employment as a servant and child's nurse. She was said to look much younger than her age and was both charming and intelligent. She spoke at least two or three languages. Once gaining the confidence of the lady of the house, most often by making "a great fuss over the children", she would rob the house of its valuables, usually jewelry, sometimes leaving with sometimes as much as four to five thousand dollars. She rarely stayed in one place for long, waiting only one or two days before robbing her employers, and eventually became known up and down the Eastern seaboard. She became especially infamous in New York, Brooklyn and Philadelphia and was considered "the cleverest women of her line in America". Byrnes, Thomas. ''1886 Professional Criminals of America''. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1969. (pp. 204–205) It was during this time that Reilly became associated with

, then one of the biggest criminal fences in the city, and eventually became part of an elite "inner circle" of female career criminals which included

, Kid Glove Rosey, Queen Liz, Big Mary and

, These women would meet often at extravagant dinners hosted by Mandelbaum where it was said they discussed their latest criminal escapades. Asbury, Herbert. ''The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the New York Underworld''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (pp. 196–197) In early 1873, Reilly was finally apprehended in New York after robbing the East 84th Street home of Mrs. A.G. Dunn among others. Held in custody in default of $6,500 bail, she was tried in the Court of General Sessions by Judge Sutherland, convicted of grand larceny and sentenced to 4 years in New York State Prison on April 23, 1873. She was then using the name Kate Connelly. Three years after her release, she was again arrested on August 3, 1880, for stealing from the Second Avenue home of Mrs. Evangeline Schwarz. She was convicted on September 8, under the alias Kate Cooley, and sentenced by Judge Gildersleeve to three years imprisonment on Blackwell's Island. She immediately returned to her criminal activities following her release in January 1883. Reilly remained active in and around New York and, while employed at the New York Hotel, was responsible for the theft of $3,500 worth of jewelry and other valuables from guests. She soon moved on to Brooklyn where, under the name Kate Manning, she was arrested for the theft of a watch and chain from Charles A. Jennings on June 5, 1884. A stolen bronze statuette was found in her possession at the time of her arrest. She pleaded guilty in court and was sentenced to another 4 years in the Kings County Penitentiary. Her criminal career was among those featured in

Thomas F. Byrnes Thomas F. Byrnes (June 15, 1842 – May 7, 1910) was an Irish-born American police officer, who served as head of the New York City Police Department detective department from 1880 until 1895, who popularized the terms "rogues' gallery" and " t ...

' "1886 Professional Criminals of America" (1886). As of 1886, she had stolen more property in the last fifteen years than any other female thief in the United States.

Biography

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Further reading