100 Years Ago Today: 'Brooklyn Crank' Tries to Kill NYC Mayor Mitchel

On this day 100 years ago, NYC Corporation Counsel Frank Lyon Polk was shot and seriously injured outside City Hall by a Brooklyn man who was aiming for NYC Mayor John Mitchel.

The Police Commissioner, the Mayor and Mr. Polk were just getting into the Mayor'ss automobile when the man fired at close range. The bullet missed Mayor Mitchel "by a very close margin," the Brooklyn Eagle reported. But the Corporation Counsel, who was right beside him, was seen to stagger. He was helped into City Hall, where it was seen at once that he was badly hurt. The bullet had passed into hiss jaw and knocked out almost all his teeth.

George Neum, the Mayor's chauffeur, sprang forward as the man was about to fire a second shot and grappled with him. The chauffeur and police hustled him into City Hall for questioning. He was reported to be around 65 and called himself David Rose. He repeatedly told the Mayor, "I have nothing to ssy."

According to Wikipedia, his actual name was Michael P. Mahoney.

Mayor Mitchel said he was told that two other men set up Rose to kill him.

The Mayor, who carried a gun, said, "It is true that I had my hand on my revolver and that I was ready to fire if necessary. I would have liked to have a chance at those two men."

For more on this story, visit the new home of the old Brooklyn Eagle at Brooklyn Newsstand, a partnership with Brooklyn Public Library, at http://newsstand.bklynpubliclibrary.org/


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