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Joe O'Neil Murder Trial

Joseph O'Neil was executed in the courtyard of the county jail in Mount Carroll for his crime of murder. Seriff George P. Sutton erected the scaffold just north of the old courthouse and the yard was enclosed in a temporary fence. Roofs of nearby buildings and houses "were black with people" determined to see the execution. When the trap was sprung one of two triggers failed to respond but th sheriff sprang it with his foot and the hanging went ahead. O'Neil came near escaping from jail. He removed a flagstone from the run outside his cell and worked each night tunneling under the floor using his bare hands and later a tin cup. The dirt was put in a pillow case and carried to his cell for hiding under the bed. The sheriff reportedly discovered dirt trickling from under the bed only one day before the prisoner would have emerged outside the wall and escaped.

This case came up from Whiteside county on a change of venue. Jos. O'Neil and his brother, Tommy, a dwarf, were indicted for the murder of a man named Rexford, in September, or October, 1872. The murder occurred at a house on an island in the Mississippi river below Fulton. The crime grew out of jealousy over a woman. A newspaper reported there was a house of prostitution on the island. On the day of the murder, the O'Neils got a boat and rowed to Clinton, Iowa, bringing Rexford back to the island on the pretext that he was needed to do some painting. Rexford had just commenced work when he was assaulted with a heavy piece of wood by Joe O'Neil who crushed the victim's skull. The circumstances of the murder were extremely brutal and caused great excitement in the vicinity.

The case was prosecuted by Volney Armour, Carroll county state's attorney, with D. McCartney, Whiteside county state's attorney in the April, 1873 term of court. The defense was conducted by E. F. Dutcher of Ogle County by appointment of the court. Proof of the murder was clear and certain. The Jury found both defendants guilty, and Judge Heaton sentenced Joe to be hanged and Tommy to 15 years in the state penitentiary. Tommy got a new trial and the second jury gave him 14 years. The public hanging on May 16, l873 carried out by Sheriff George P. Sutton on the courthouse lawn, Mt. Carroll Was the first and last public execution to take place in the county. Just before the hanging the sheriff thwarted an escape plan. O'Neil had burrowed under the jail almost to freedom.

One legend was that the Catholic priests who attended O'Neil and prepared him for death cursed the two poplar trees north of the courthouse where the hanging took place so that they failed to leaf out and later were cut down. The historian who recorded the event said a more likely story is that the trees being on the north side of the courthouse hadn't leaved out yet because of the cold, hard winter but would if they had been given a few weeks more time for the ground to thaw. O'Neil's remains were taken to Clinton, Iowa and buried there.

Source: A Goodly Heritage Carroll County

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