Ricard O'Sullivan Burke

Ricard O'Sullivan Burke (24 January 1838 – 11 May 1922) was an Irish nationalist, Fenian activist, Union American Civil War soldier, U.S. Republican Party campaigner, and a public-works engineer. Travelling extensively, he performed various jobs. He was involved in two prison escape attempts, in Manchester, where a policeman was shot dead, and in London, where twelve passers-by were blown up.

Early life Burke was born on 24 January 1838 at Cloonareague, Kinneigh (Irish: Cluain Aimhréidh, Cinn Eich), in County Cork, Ireland. He was the youngest of twelve children born to Margaret (née O'Sullivan) and Denis Burke. The family was evicted from their farm by Lord Bandon possibly after Denis Burke supported the Chartist former member of parliament Feargus O'Connor. John Devoy wrote that Denis Burke was a civil engineer. The family moved to Dunmanway where Burke attended the National School and Model School. At age 15, he enrolled in the Cork Militia and remained there for three years. One account reports him as a militia "sergeant"

Career Accounts differ, but Burke enlisted with 15th Regiment of the New York State Volunteers (N.Y.S.V.) on the 17 June 1861, and is in the roster titled 'Fifteenth engineers' among those published in 1893 and 1905. He was never hurt: only 5 of the regiment died in action; 124 perished from disease etc. Devoy reported that he demustered in Virginia on 13 June 1865, having been granted the rank of brevet colonel. John Joseph Corydon, a witness for the prosecution in his trial in London in 1868, said he knew Burke as a sergeant in the Federal army in 1862 and that Burke became a lieutenant, then a captain. This is confirmed in army records: one document held in public records in Chicago records him as a 2nd lieutenant (also held there is his citizenship document, dated 1865); the New York State Military Museum record indicates his sequence of ranks in different companies until - on 13 June - mustering out as captain at Fort Berry, Virginia.

Arrests and escape attempts On 27 November 1867, Burke was arrested by police related to an incident involving Joseph Theobald Casey in St Pancras, London. He gave the name 'George Berry'. After some inquiries, it was established who he was. In February 1868, he was indicted at Warwick Spring Assizes with Casey and a Harry Mullady, who had been on remand for a year under the alias 'Henry Shaw'. Burke and Casey were accused - correctly in Burke's case - of organising the escape of Thomas Kelly and Timothy Deasy, as they were being transferred to Belle Vue Gaol, Manchester. One of the armed Fenian group who attacked the prison carriage, Peter Rice, fired through the lock. The police sergeant inside, Charles Brett, took the bullet in the eye and was killed. A second attempt the following day worked, but with an empty exercise yard. The huge blast destroyed an eighteen-metre section of the wall. Twelve local people were killed, up to one hundred and twenty injured and homes and shops on Corporation Row were devastated. Working-class sympathy in England for the Fenian cause was dealt a significant blow: London resident, Karl Marx, and political activist, Charles Bradlaugh, were scornful, with Marx writing that the atrocity was a gift to the British rulers against Irish emancipation. Of six people charged at the Old Bailey on 20 April 1868, only Michael Barrett was found guilty (on 27 April): he was a Fenian transported from Scotland whose name had been provided under interrogation by one of the accused and whose identity was confirmed by a young boy. On 26 May, he became the last person publicly executed in England, having eloquently protested his innocence.

Burke, Casey, and Mullady were charged with treason-felony at the Old Bailey because of the escape of Kelly and testimony from arms merchants and informers about weapons purchases and reports of their involvement at Fenian meetings. Burke was sentenced to fifteen years in prison and Mullady seven years; Casey was acquitted.

Later life In 1874, Burke returned to the U.S. and he campaigned for the Republicans, including at Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he stayed for some time in rooms. He was charged with associating with a prostitute in October 1880. The highly supportive Fort Wayne Daily Gazette described the charge as "preposterous" and engineered by Democrats. He was acquitted. He decided to settle in Fort Wayne, having met Nora Sheehy (a Democrat), a local woman and his wife-to-be. After campaigning, he returned to his job in Washington D.C. A memorial dedicated to O'Sullivan Burke and his brother Morgan, located at St Bartholomew's Church, Castletown-Kinneigh, County Cork, Ireland. The Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel, referred to Burke over a few years as someone who "styles himself Colonel" and an "alleged Colonel", usually printing the rank in inverted commas (29 September 1880, 13 October 1880, 20 October 1880 and 3 November 1880). On 14 February 1883, in addition to a few compliments, Burke's life is described as a "racket" with the rank "colonel" gained from a Fenian attack on Canada and even the title "general" taken from his alleged activities in Chile. It described his hurried escape back to Fort Wayne from creditors in Mexico, having frittered local funding on a lavish new hotel in Monterrey, where he entertained Americans and Europeans with frequent parties and enjoyed an extravagant lifestyle.

Burke continued his support for the Fenian cause, even with the schisms on both sides of the Atlantic. In January 1888, Burke's friend, Dr. Patrick Cronin, disappeared and he suspected foul play at the hands of 'the triangle', a presumptuous cabal of Clan na Gael (the successor to the Fenian Brotherhood) in Chicago made up of Alexander Sullivan supported by Michael Boland and Denis Feely. Cronin - whose faction in Clan na Gael Burke supported, and who had accused Sullivan's triangle of stealing hardship money for Fenian activists - was found murdered in a sewer in May 1889. In the public outrage, Clan na Gael was permanently damaged.

As late as 1911, he was still involved in purchasing large quantities of weaponry for distribution amongst Fenians in the U.S. In 1912, aged 74, he was recorded as an 'assistant engineer' in the rivers and harbour section of the Department of Public Works for Chicago. In September 1913, he suffered a stroke with a poor prognosis. At the same time, his son, Ricard Jr., had tuberculosis (to which he succumbed). A further stroke paralysed him and he was bedridden for five-and-a-half years.

Death He died on 11 May 1922. He is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Chicago. His friend and fellow Fenian, John Devoy, said the story of his life "reads more like a romance than a record of actual facts" and related his ability to charm his hosts. For example, various accounts refer to him reaching the rank of brevet colonel for the Union, and he used the title, even though he was demustered as a captain. It has been said he helped John Philip Holland build a submarine: Fenians provided funds but - after an internal financial dispute - stole the craft, which they were incapable of operating thereafter. He has also been described as a "burly six-footer" when his height is evident in a 1906 photograph in which he is well short of six-feet-four Robert R. McCormick.