The hanging of Patrick O'Connor happened on June 20, 1834, in

Dubuque Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

Michigan Territory The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit w ...

, to a man convicted in Iowa's first

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

trial. He was an immigrant from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

to the United States. The hanging occurred after his attempted

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

on May 19, 1834. The case and others like it showed a need for formal laws in the territory.

Murder of George O'Keaf

O'Connor was born in Ireland in 1797 and immigrated to Galena, Illinois, in 1826. Two years later, he broke his leg, requiring amputation. This helped make him a quarrelsome trouble maker. He shot a merchant, who survived. Some men considered lynching him, then decided otherwise when he promised them he would leave Galena. After leaving Galena, O'Connor traveled to Dubuque, Michigan Territory, to work in the lead mines. In 1833, he met fellow Irishman George O'Keaf. They built a cabin two miles south of Dubuque. On May 19, 1834, O'Keaf traveled to Dubuque to gather supplies and returned with one of his friends near 2pm. After O'Connor refused to unlock the door, O'Keaf broke it down with his shoulder. O'Connor was sitting in a bench on the opposite side and fatally shot him once with a

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...

. O'Keaf's friend reported this to the nearest cabin. When multiple miners asked O'Connor why he did it, he responded: "That is my business". He ordered them to bury the body. Some considered hanging O'Connor, and others wanted a trial. He was thus taken to Dubuque.

Trial

The trial was held on May 20, 1834, making it the first murder trial in Iowa. O'Connor was given the right to select the

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartiality, impartial verdict (a Question of fact, finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty o ...

and it took place outside, under an elm tree. The jury, seated on a log, listened to the

testimonies ''Testimonies'' is a 1952 novel, set in North Wales, by the English author Patrick O'Brian. It was first published in the UK under the title ''Three Bear Witness,'' and in the US as ''Testimonies''. Although the book's first English reviews w ...

of witnesses. After the arguments from the defense and prosecution, the jury found O'Connor was guilty of first degree murder. He was sentenced to be hanged on June 20, 1834. During the month after the trial, O'Connor asked for a pardon or

commutation Commute, commutation or commutative may refer to: * Commuting, the process of travelling between a place of residence and a place of work Mathematics * Commutative property, a property of a mathematical operation whose result is insensitive to th ...

of his sentence. The governor of

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

said he did not have the power to grant a

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

and President

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

said that "

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

had not extended the laws of the United States to that part of the country". At 1pm on June 20, 1834, he was hanged.

Aftermath

Because of this incident and others like it, Congress provided laws for the Iowa territory. On June 28, 1834, President Jackson approved an act which extended the "boundaries of Michigan to the

and White Earth rivers and embracing all the territory between the northern boundary of Missouri and the Forty-Ninth Parallel". This ensured the beneficiaries of the

Black Hawk Purchase The Black Hawk Purchase, also known as the Forty-Mile Strip or Scott's Purchase, extended along the West side of the Mississippi River from the north boundary of Missouri North to the Upper Iowa River in the northeast corner of Iowa. It was fif ...

would have the authority and protection of the United States.

References

{{reflist Lynching victims in the United States Murder trials History of Iowa 1834 in Michigan Territory