Richard Croker
Richard "Boss" Croker | |
---|---|
Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall | |
In office 1886–1902 | |
Preceded by | John Kelly |
Succeeded by | Lewis Nixon |
Chamberlain of the City of New York | |
In office 1889–1890 | |
New York City Fire Commissioner | |
In office 1883–1887 | |
Coroner of New York County | |
In office 1873–1876 | |
Member of the New York City Council | |
In office 1868–1870 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Ardfield, County Cork, Ireland | November 24, 1843
Died | April 29, 1922 Stillorgan, County Dublin, Ireland | (aged 78)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouses | Elizabeth Fraser
(m. 1873; died 1914)Beulah Edmonson (m. 1914) |
Children | 7 |
Profession | mobster |
Richard Welstead Croker (November 24, 1843 – April 29, 1922), known as "Boss Croker", was an
Biography
Richard Croker was born in the townland of Ballyva, in the parish of Ardfield, six miles south of Clonakilty in County Cork on November 24, 1843,[2] son of Eyre Coote Croker (1800–1881) and Frances Laura Welsted (1807–1894).[3] He was taken to the United States by his parents when he was just two years old. They boarded the Henry Clay in Cobh, County Cork and headed for the land of opportunity.[4]
There were significant differences between this family and the typical family
Richard Croker was educated in New York public schools. Croker dropped out of school at age twelve or thirteen to become an apprentice machinist in the
After the death of John Kelly, Croker became the leader of Tammany Hall and for some time almost completely controlled that organization. As head of Tammany, Croker received bribe money from the owners of brothels, saloons and illegal gambling dens. Croker was chairman of Tammany's Finance Committee but received no salary for his position. Croker also became a partner in the real estate firm Meyer and Croker with Peter F. Meyer, from which he made substantial money. The money was often derived from sales under the control of the city through city judges. Other income came by way of gifts of stock from street railway and transit companies, for example. The city police were largely still under the control of Tammany Hall, and payoffs from vice protection operations also contributed to Tammany income. Croker survived Charles Henry Parkhurst's attacks on Tammany Hall's corruption and became a wealthy man. Several committees were established in the 1890s, largely at the behest of Thomas C. Platt and other Republicans, to investigate Tammany and Croker, including the 1890 Fassett Committee, the 1894 Lexow Committee, during which Croker left the United States for his European residences for three years, and the Mazet Investigation of 1899.[7]
Croker's greatest political success was his bringing about the 1897 election of
Croker was in the newspapers in 1899 after a disagreement with
After Croker's failure to carry the city in the
Thoroughbred racing
Croker operated a stable of thoroughbred racehorses in the United States in partnership with Mike Dwyer. In January 1895, they sent a stable of horses to England under the care of trainer Hardy Campbell Jr. and jockey Willie Simms. Following a dispute, the partnership was dissolved in May but Croker continued to race in England.[11]
In 1907, his horse Orby won Britain's most prestigious race, The Derby. Orby was ridden by American jockey John Reiff, whose brother Lester had won the race in 1901. Croker was also the breeder of Orby's son Grand Parade, who won the Derby in 1919.
Death
Croker returned to Ireland in 1905 and died on April 29, 1922, at Glencairn House, his home in Stillorgan outside Dublin.[1] His funeral, celebrated by South African bishop William Miller, drew some of Dublin's most eminent citizens; the pallbearers were Arthur Griffith, the President of Dáil Éireann; Laurence O'Neill, the Lord Mayor of Dublin; Oliver St. John Gogarty; Joseph MacDonagh; A.H. Flauley, of Chicago; and J.E. Tierney.[12] Michael Collins, Chairman of the Provisional Government, was represented by Kevin O'Shiel; the Lord Lieutenant, Viscount FitzAlan, was represented by his under-secretary, James MacMahon.[12]
In 1927, J. J. Walsh claimed that, just before his death, Croker had accepted the Provisional Government's invitation to stand in Dublin County in the imminent Irish election.[13]
Family
Croker married twice; first, in 1873, to Elizabeth Fraser.[14][15] They had several children.
He married Beulah Benson Edmondson in November 1914 when he was 71 years old.
Disputed will
Croker left an estate estimated to $3–5 million to his second wife, Beulah, disinheriting his estranged children.[18] He had converted to Catholicism shortly before his death but this does not appear to have played a role in his disinheriting his children.[19] A note in his handwriting, dated at Glencairn, November 15, 1919 read as follows:[20]
My dear Bula [sic]: I am writing this note for you to keep and in case you should survive me I wish you would give my daughter Florence ten thousand pounds. She is the only one of my surviving children who has ever shown any graditude to me. (Signed) Richard Croker.
Croker's other surviving children, Richard, Ethel, and Howard, unsuccessfully challenged the will in a celebrated probate lawsuit in the Court of King's Bench in Ireland.[21] They claimed that their father in 1919 was of unsound mind and unduly influenced by his wife, and that the 1914 marriage was void as she was already married to one Guy R. Marone.[21] A jury rejected all these allegations.[21] The widow and children had related lawsuits in the United States.[22]
References
- ^ New York Times. April 29, 1922. Retrieved June 14, 2007., April 29, 1922. Richard Croker, former leader of Tammany Hall, died at 3:30 o'clock this afternoon at Glencairn Castle, his residence in County Dublin.
Ex-Tammany Boss, Aged 80 Suffered Exposure On Trip From America In October. Dictator Here 16 Years Gang Leader, Prize Fighter, Alderman, Coroner Before He became Tammany's Chief. Made Fortune In Politics Went Abroad To Live And Wonderby. Last Years Embittered By Fight With Children. London
- 1880 US Census shows a Richard Croker, an ex-coroner at that date, born in Ireland in 1843, living in Harrison, Westchester, New York. It does not show any other Irish-born Richard Croker. Found by searching for the relevant terms at [1], October 7, 2006.
- ^ a b "Death of Richard Croker's Mother". The New York Times. New York. 1894-08-10. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
- ^ Kramer, Rita (February 1973). "Well, what are you going to do about it?". AmericanHeritage.com. American Heritage Magazine. Archived from the original on January 1, 2008. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
- ^ a b Clarke, J.I.C. (July 14, 1907). "Richard Croker -- The Story Of His Ancestry" (PDF). The New York Times. p. SM4. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
- ^ ISBN 0-201-62463-X.
- ^ Allen pp.179 - 200
- ^ Allen p. 196
- ^ Allen p. 200
- ^ [2] 1915 U.S. Passport Application for Richard W. Croker, accessed April 2017
- ^ "Croker and Dwyer Part Company". The New York Times. 2012-06-10. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
- ^ a b "funeral of Mr. Richard Croker". The Times. London. May 6, 1922.
- ^ "Mr. Croker as a Candidate". The Irish Times. Dublin, Ireland. March 23, 1927. p. 3. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- ^ [3] 1880 U.S. Federal Census: Richard Croker. Accessed April 2017.
- ^ [4] 1890 U.S. Passport Application of Richard Croker and family. Accessed April 2017.
- ^ "Photo from the wedding". Archived from the original on December 8, 2007. Retrieved July 22, 2008.
- ^ "Princess Ketaw Kaluntuchy Now Mrs. Richard Croker," The Coffeyville Daily Journal, Coffeyville, Kansas, November 30, 1914, page 4
- ^ "Children cut off by Richard Croker" (PDF). The New York Times. May 22, 1922. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
Entire Estate, Estimated at 3 to 5 Millions, Goes to His 'Indian Bride.' Richard Croker left nothing to his four children ...
- ISBN 9781619450097. Retrieved 2016-12-12 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Undue Influence By Mrs. Croker Charged In Protest To Probating Croker's Will Filed By Children". The Palm Beach Post. West Palm Beach, Florida. 1922-07-29. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
- ^ a b c "A Life Tragedy". The Irish Times. 15 June 1923. pp. 5–6. Retrieved 21 August 2020.; "End of the Croker Case; Verdict for the Widow on all Points". The Irish Times. 16 June 1923. p. 7. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- ^ Croker v. Croker, 168 N.E. 450 (NY 1929); Croker v. Croker, 51 F.2d 11 (5th Cir. 1931)
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Croker, Richard". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 481–482. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
- OCLC 459654271.
- Zink, Harold B. (1930). City Bosses in the United States: A Study of Twenty Municipal Bosses. pp. 128–46.
External links
- Media related to Richard Croker at Wikimedia Commons
- Works by or about Richard Croker at Internet Archive