The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-12-09
MILES O'REILLY DIES,
RAIDED MANY DIVES
Retired Police Captain, Noted
for His Honesty, Succumbs
to Pneumonia.

The younger generation that knew
him not may judge how prominent a
figure in this city was Miles O'Reilly,
retired police captain, who died yester-
day. by the fact that papier mache fig
ures of him, with movable arms and
legs, were sold by peddlers at 10 cents
apiece along Broadway in 1908.
O'Reiny was then the skipper of the
Tenderioin police station in West mir
tieth street famous disciplinarian In
the force, a door smashing. incorruptole
raider of dives ard gambling houses, the
man who closed the Haymarket, but
then. as always, friend OF all save
lawbreakers He spent thirty-nine ya rs
in the police department and 1t was So
of him that he never had an enemy in
the world that a good cop shouldn
have. He was the only police inspector
ever reduced to a captaincy at his own
request. which alone would have made
him a man of mark.
He died in his seventy-eighth year
at his home, 775 Quincy street Brook
lyn, where he had lived since his retire
| ment In 1918 with an annual pension OF
s1375 Born in Ireland in 1S43 he came
to America as a boy, attended school in
Brooklyn. learned the japanning trade
and went into the civil war as MEM
Der of tire Sixty-seventh New York Vol
unteer Regiment. raised by Henry
Ward Beecher. OReilly took to railroad
ing after the war and Joined the Police
! DEPARTMENT in 1874
By steady plugging along at whatever
Job was given him and fidelity TO duty
he moved slowly through all the grades
until he held the highest post among the
uniformed men-that of inspector. His
conception of police duty was simple
He merely familiarizcd himself with the
laws he was to enforce and the rules
! governing his own conduct and went
! forth to see that they were observed.
His first Manhattan assignment was
to the command OF the Oak street sta
ton. where he quickly established such
record for closing poorooms and pol
ICY shops that Police Commissioner
Greene on January l. 1903 put him in
charge of the Tenderloin. which at that
time had not crossed Forty-second
street.
! on one occasion he caused some OF
the best known hotels and cafes along
! Broadway to lose their all night liquor
licenses. explaining that there are too
many people hanging around this pre-
| clnct all night" After four months
| of the Tenderloin. during which he was
the most tn ked about policeman in the
city. Captain OReilly was transferred
10 the Ralph avenue station In Brook
lvn which was near his home. Later
! he spent several years at the Mercer
street station in Manhattan. and was
there when Commissioner Bingham
made him an inspector In 1908. For a
time he was borough inspector of
! Brooklyn.
In 1910 he asked the Commissioner
70 relieve him Of the inspectorship and
! ,ransrer him to a remote precinct say
inc that "he had the will but his energy
had been undermined" by the obstacles
! rlaced in the way OF good police work.
/ Gen. Bingham. praising O'Reilly highly.
sent him to the Prospect Park station
and there he stayed until his retire
ment.
O'Reilly was active in the G. A. r..
! and the cold that resulted in pneumonia
and his death developed after he at
! ,anded one OF It's meetings q week ago,
To married I'm 1865 Mrs Catherine Beg
iov They had eleven children. Of whori
two sons and n daughter survive their
father one OF the sons, Thomas r. is
, noll-emnn. Miles O'Reilly was pas,
commander Of the IT, s Grant Post, p
member OF the Society of Old Brooklyn
ties the ROYAL Arcanum. the Broadway
RoarI OF Trade and the Holy Name
society OF the Church of Our Lady Of
4 Good Counsel TIL funeral service will
he held In that church, Putnam, near
Ralph avenue PrcolSlyn, saturday
morning Burial will be in Holy Cross
Cemetery