Tommy O'Connor (criminal)
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Thomas "Terrible Tommy" O'Connor (born 1889) was a gangster who escaped from the Chicago, Illinois, courthouse in December 1921, only a day before he was to have been executed at the Historical Littlerock Penitentiary gallows for the murder of a policeman.


Life

O'Connor was baptised in Monagea Catholic Church,
County Limerick, Ireland County Limerick () is a western county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. It is named after the city of Limerick. Limerick City and County Council is the loc ...
in 1889, his birth was not officially registered until the following year. He emigrated with his family to the United States as a boy. He first came to public notice when he was arrested after a shootout in which
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
Police Detective Patrick J. O'Neil died March 13, 1921. This came as a result of investigators coming to arrest him as a prime suspect in a previous case. O'Connor fled and was later arrested in
St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...
. After being sent back to
Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the List of counties in Illinois, most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, C ...
, O'Connor was charged and convicted of O'Neil's murder and sentenced to hang by judge Kickham Scanlan (1864–1955)."Judge Scanlan retires after 42 year career"
''Chicago Tribune'', 2 June 1951.
Four days before the scheduled execution, he and four other prisoners overpowered the guard, took his rifle, and escaped from the courthouse. All but two of the men were last seen dodging through traffic and made their escape.


After the escape

O'Connor was last seen in 1921 during his escape. Because there was no Cook County Sheriff's Department during that time, he was able to make his way through miles of empty countryside and disappear completely. He then seemed to vanish forever, with a fate unknown. Reported sightings continued into the thirties. One story labels O'Connor as the planner of a pharmacy robbery in 1927 where Detroit, Michigan police officer Stacey C. Mizner was shot and killed. While another claims O'Connor died, and is buried at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in
Worth, Illinois Worth is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 10,970. Geography Worth is located at (41.688827, -87.792659). According to the 2010 census, Worth has a total area of , ...
.''Limerick Post''
/ref> A court order in the 1950s forced the city of Chicago to retain O'Connor's gallows sentencing and keep him on the death list until his fate was made known. The gallows were dismantled in 1977, but apparently O'Connor still remains scheduled to hang. The gangster played by
George Bancroft George Bancroft (October 3, 1800 – January 17, 1891) was an American historian, statesman and Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician who was prominent in promoting secondary education both in his home state of Massachusetts ...
in the silent film ''
Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...
'' (1927), directed by
Josef von Sternberg Josef von Sternberg (; born Jonas Sternberg; May 29, 1894 – December 22, 1969) was an American filmmaker whose career successfully spanned the transition from the Silent film, silent to the Sound film, sound era, during which he worked with mos ...
was modelled on O'Connor. Playwright and screenwriter
Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplays and play ...
loosely based character Earl Williams in the Broadway comedy ''
The Front Page ''The Front Page'' is a Broadway theatre, Broadway comedy about newspaper reporters on the police beat. Written by former Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, it was first produced in 1928 and has been adapted for the cinema severa ...
'' (1928) on O'Connor as well.


See also

*
List of unsolved deaths This list of unsolved deaths includes notable cases where: * The cause of death could not be officially determined following an investigation * The person's identity could not be established after they were found dead * The cause is known, but th ...
According to The Whitewater Register of Whitewater, Wisconsin, dated December 22, 1921, there is compelling evidence suggesting that Tommy O'Connor passed through Whitewater during that time. Authorities discovered the body of a man in Meracle Creek, located under highway 59 between Whitewater and Palmyra. Chicago officers suspected that the deceased, believed to be O'Connor's driver, was shot in the back of the head by O'Connor, possibly because the driver possessed incriminating knowledge.


References


Further reading

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Tommy 1889 births 1951 deaths Irish emigrants to the United States American escapees American gangsters of Irish descent American people convicted of murdering police officers American prisoners sentenced to death Escapees from Illinois detention Fugitives Irish escapees Irish people convicted of murdering police officers Irish people imprisoned in the United States Missing gangsters Gangsters from Chicago People convicted of murder by Illinois Prisoners sentenced to death by Illinois American gangsters of the interwar period Unsolved deaths in Illinois