Frank O'Conlan (23 February 1827 – 19 July 1872) was an Irish-American Civil War veteran and murderer from Lockport, Illinois.
Biography[]
Frank O'Conlan was born in County Cavan, Ireland on 23 February 1827, and he came from a destitute Irish family. He acquired a reputation as a violent drunkard in his hometown and was said to have robbed Catholic churches amid the Great Famine, saving up enough money to escape to the United States in 1850. O'Conlan settled in Chicago, Illinois, but he skipped town after murdering a nativist Protestant in a barroom fight. O'Conlan moved to Lockport, Illinois, where he worked at a tannery, and he joined the 90th Illinois Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. O'Conlan was caught attempting to desert twice, but he fought valiantly at the Battle of Missionary Ridge in November 1863. In June 1865, O'Conlan was mustered out, and he returned to his tannery. He killed his employer in a drunken dispute over back pay he supposed he was owed while he was away fighting the war, forcing him to relocate to Chicago once again. O'Conlan disappeared into the slums of Chicago until 1870, when he was persuaded to campaign for the Republican Party, which sought Irish Catholic votes and was unaware of O'Conlan's history, apart from the fact that he had served in the US Army during the war. O'Conlan was soon exposed as a murder suspect by Democratic papers, which called on Irish voters to reclaim their community's honor by voting out the Republican candidates O'Conlan had campaigned for. O'Conlan once again went into hiding, but, in July 1872, he was finally arrested after shooting a Democratic journalist at his office. He was hanged on 19 July 1872, having murdered at least three people (and allegedly up to fifteen) since his arrival in the United States.