Tommy O'Connor (criminal)

"Terrible" Tommy O'Connor (1883–after 1923) was a gangster who escaped from the Chicago courthouse in 1923, only three days before he was to have been executed for the murder of a policeman.

Life

Tommy O'Connor first came to prominence when he was arrested in Chicago after a shootout in which Police Chief Paddy O'Neil was gunned down. Charged with Paddy's murder, O'Connor was convicted at trial and sentenced to hang. Three days before the scheduled execution, he and his cellmate overpowered the guard, took his rifle, and escaped from the courthouse. The two men were last seen dodging through the traffic and made their escape. O'Connor's fate is unknown after that, but reported sightings of him continued into the thirties. Because there was no Cook County Sheriff's Department, O'Connor was able to make his way through miles of empty countryside and disappear completely.

After the escape

O'Connor was last seen in the 1930s, and then he seemed to vanish forever. A court order in the 1950s forced the city of Chicago to retain O'Connor's gallows 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 in the silent film Underworld was modelled on O'Connor.

References

• ALMANAC OF WORLD CRIME COOK COUNTY SHERIFF (website)

Further reading

• Richard Lindberg (1991). "Close Up on the Chicago Police: Tommy O'Connor Breaks Out". To Serve and Collect: Chicago Politics and Police Corruption from the Lager Beer Riot to the Summerdale Scandal. Praeger. pp. 219–226. ISBN 0275934152. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |isbn13= ignored (help)
• Laura Enright (2005). Chicago's Most Wanted. Brassey's. pp. 366–367. ISBN 1574887858. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |isbn13= ignored (help)
• Cliff Terry (2005). Chicago: A Guide to Unique Places. Globe Pequot Press. p. 40. ISBN 0762735171. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |isbn13= ignored (help)
• Mike Houlihan (2008). Hooliganism. Dog Ear Publishing. pp. 78–79. ISBN 9781598587258.
• Alzina Stone Dale (2002). Mystery Reader's Walking Guide. iUniverse. p. 143. ISBN 0595230210. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |isbn13= ignored (help)
• Richard Lindberg (1999). Return to the Scene of the Crime: A Guide to Infamous Places in Chicago. Cumberland House. pp. 82–85. ISBN 1581820135. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |isnb13= ignored (help)