Francis O'Neill

• Name — Francis O'Neill • Office1 — General Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department • 1blankname1 — Mayor • 1namedata1 — Carter Harrison IV Edward F. Dunne • Term Start1 — 1901 04 30 • Term End1 — 1905 07 24 • Predecessor1 — Joseph Kipley (permanent) John E. Ptacek (interim) • Successor1 — Herman F. Schuettler (acting) John M. Collins (permanent) • Born — 28 August 1848 • Died — 26 January 1936 • Birthplace — Tralibane, County Cork, Ireland • Place of death — Chicago, Illinois, United States

O'Neill was born in Tralibane (also Trawlebane), near Bantry, County Cork. At an early age he heard the music of local musicians, among them Peter Hagarty, Cormac Murphy and Timothy Dowling. At the age of 16, he became a cabin boy on an English merchant vessel and remained a seaman until 1869. On a voyage to New York, he met Anna Rogers, a young emigrant whom he later married in Bloomington, Illinois. The O'Neills moved to Chicago, and in 1873 O'Neill became a Chicago policeman. He rose through the ranks quickly, eventually succeeding Joseph Kipley as the Chief of Police from 1901 to 1905. He had the rare distinction, in a time when political "pull" counted for more than competence, of being re-appointed three times to the position by two different mayors. He was a fluter, fiddler, and piper and was part of the vibrant Irish community in Chicago at the time. During his time as chief, O'Neill recruited many traditional Irish musicians into the police force, including Patrick O'Mahony, James O'Neill, Bernard Delaney, John McFadden and James Early. He also collected tunes from some of the major performers of the time including Patsy Touhey, who regularly sent O'Neill wax cylinders and visited him in Chicago. He also collected tunes from a wide variety of printed sources. O'Neill retired from the police force in 1905. After that, he devoted much of his energy to publishing the music he had collected. His musical works include: • O'Neill's Music of Ireland (1903), containing 1,850 pieces of music • The Dance Music of Ireland (1907), sometimes called, "O'Neill's 1001," because of the number of tunes included • 400 tunes arranged for piano and violin (1915) • Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1922), 365 pieces • Irish Folk Music: A Fascinating Hobby (1910). Appendix A contains O'Farrells Treatise and Instructions on the Irish Pipes, published 1797-1800; appendix B is Hints to Amateur Pipers by Patrick J. Touhy. • Irish Minstrels and Musicians (1913), biographies of musicians, including Thomas Garoghan and those from whom he collected tunes in Chicago.