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James O'Neill
Agency patch
Patrolman

James O'Neill

Cincinnati Police Department — Cincinnati, OH
Felonious
United States flag Ohio flag
End of Watch April 20, 1915
Age 49
Tour of Duty 21 yrs 3 mo
The Vigil Panel 69 ›
Gender Male
Incident Media Service The Sacrifice Memorials 1 Department 105

Incident

Patrolman James O'Neill was shot and killed while attempting to arrest four men underneath the Southern Bridge. On April 18, 1915, at 2 a.m., while searching one of four suspects in a streetcar robbery at Liston and Riverside Avenues, another one of the suspects shot him in the chest. The four suspects fled, and Patrolman O'Neill fired three shots at them, but none took effect. Alone on his beat, Patrolman O’Neill walked a block and a half to a call box at Liston and Ingalls Avenues to call for a patrol wagon. When the wagon arrived, he climbed aboard, unassisted, and was taken to General Hospital. The physicians believed that the bullet penetrated his chest and lodged in his back muscles and that he might survive. The following night, police arrested several suspects, including a man who admitted that he was one of the people with the shooter but stated that he had tried to stop the shooting. He also gave the police the shooter's name and description. By April 19, 1915, Patrolman O’Neill was in critical condition, and x-rays showed that the bullet had ranged downward and into his liver. At 4:45 a.m. on April 20, 1915, Patrolman O’Neill passed away. Also, on April 20, 1915, a warrant was taken out against the suspected shooter. The investigation showed that he hired a boat to take him across the river to Kentucky after the shooting. He told the boatman that he had a problem with a policeman in Cincinnati. On May 18, 1915, one month after the murder, the suspected shooter was captured in Mahnomen, Minnesota. While under arrest, the suspect told a prisoner that he had shot and killed a policeman in Cincinnati and that there was a $500 reward for his capture. Patrolman Roscoe Lewis, who knew the suspect on sight, was sent to Minnesota to pick him up. During the ensuing trial, the suspect testified on his own behalf and offered no defense other than an unsupported alibi that he was working as a waiter when the offense occurred; the jury found the suspect not guilty due

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Tributes

21 years. You could have gone home.
Patrolman O'Neill gave the Cincinnati Police Department 21 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Cincinnati community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Patrolman O'Neill.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Cincinnati Police Department
Type Police Department
Location Cincinnati, Hamilton County, OH
Platform Identity cincpd.hamilton.oh.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch April 20, 1915
Tour of Duty 21 yrs 3 mo
Age 49
Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious
Weapon Gun

The Sacrifice · Felonious

James is one of 15,743 officers killed feloniously in the United States, 57.1% of the 27,551 remembered there.

34,117 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

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Compare against
I

Time

In 1915, 152 officers in the United States were killed feloniously, the 26th heaviest of 213 years on record. The heaviest was 1921, with 248.

Every year on record · United States
II

Who

James was 49. Of the 14,220 killed feloniously in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 31 and 47; the middle age was 38. James had served 21.2 years; the middle length of service was 6 years.

Age at death
Where he stood among them
Age by years of service
III

When

April holds 8.4% of these deaths in the United States; December holds the most, 9.4%. Tuesdays: 13.4%.

By month
By day of the week
IV

How

Felonious deaths account for 57.1% of all 27,551 deaths in the United States, the most common cause. The weapon recorded was gun, in 22.8% of these deaths.

Every cause
Weapons recorded
V

His people

Cincinnati Police Department has 106 officers remembered here, James among them.

Across the years

Patrolman James O'Neill

Cincinnati Police Department · End of Watch April 20, 1915

Where the Name Is Cut

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial · Panel 54-W

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