, 1884-05-14
THE DEATH ROLL.
Charles O'Conor, the Great
Lawyer, Dead.
A Short Sketch Of His Bril-
liant Career.
Demise Of Cyrus Mccormick,
the Wealthy Inventor.
Charles o,Conor Dead.

NANTUCKET, May l3.-Charles y Con
or died yesterday at noon. His mind
was clear up to the last moment, when he
exclaimed, my God" and expired. The
remains leave to-day for New York.
lin the death of Charles O'Conor
there is removed from the earthly sphere
of action a man who had pre-eminent
genius as a constitutional lawyer, and
whose knowledge of general law was prob
ably unsurpassed by any man of his gen
Grafton. Mr.. O'Conor was born in
New York in 1904, of well-to-do parents.
His parents were of Irish birth
and members of the Catholic
church and throughout his long life Mr..
O'Conor remained faithful to his early
predictions. Notwithstanding the com
paratively easy circumstances of his father
Charles O'Conor never enjoyed the ad-
v~antages of a collegiate education. He
was admitted to the bar when only TWEEN
ty years of age and almost Immediately
secured recognition as a prominent lawyer
Beforehe had reached fifty years of age
he had acquired national fame on account
of his brilliant forensic abilities. For a
brief time during President Pierce's adj
ministration he acted as district attorney,
and 1864 was a member of the constitu-
tional convention. -Four years later, as a
Presidential nominee, he received some
votes throughout the country. There are
three particular vents which stand out
in bold relief in the brilliant career of Mr..
O'Conor. The first of these was the eel
ebrated Mason will case in which he made
n Of the most mastery arguments ever
listened to in a court of justice. In the
divorce suit of Edwin Forrest, the great
tragedian, in which O'Conor appeared
for Mrs. Forrest, the world wide reputa-
ton of the great actor made the world an
audience to the domestic sorrow detailed
in the court. Charles O'Conor made the
most of his opportunity there and came
out of the trial with a reputation that
was not circumscribed by the boundaries
of the country. But while these great
cases gave him a pre-eminent standing
among his fellows, his vigorous prosecu-
ton of the Tweed ring under Governor
Tilden's administration, made him a
central figure in the country.
O'Conor remained a bachelor until late in
life, when he married a widow out of the
Livingstone family. Incompatibility of
temper caused a separation soon afterward.
No children came of the marriage. For
the past half n dozen years but little has
been heard of O'Conor. His practise had
secured for him a handsome fortune and
he gradually withdrew from active life,
and in his declining years he devoted him
self to the enjoyment of cultivated literary
tastes. Once before, several years age.
0'Conor lay at the point of death at his
residence near New York City. His tri-
umphs were then fresh in the public mind,
so hat his taking off was a matter ofgreat
consequence. Every New York City pa
per detailed a special reporter to reside
near Mr.. O'Conor' S residence. For several
weeks they remained there with nothing
to do but to send a brief telegram con-
corning Mr.. O'Conor's condition daily.
At . o'clock each morning an additional
telegram was sent to convey the informa-
ton that he still lived. Each paper had
six or seven column obituary notices pre-
pared in advance and merely awaited the
word conveying the information of his
death to bring them into use. While the
public was anxiously awaiting the moment
of the demise, the patient suddenly raj
lied and soon afterward was pronounced
well by his physicians, To the reporters
the season had been one of extravagant
ease and a few of them have probably not
recovered from the effect of it to this
dav.-ED.