O'Connell Crash

Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847), called "the Liberator" of Catholic Ireland, was a stalwart debater in the British House of Commons, a fine upstanding leader of the poor and oppressed Irish. After his death the name O'Connell was one for any Roman Catholic to revere. Would not an investment banking house named Daniel O'Connell & Co. sound safe? It did until this year.

Daniel O'Connell, at No. 580 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, offered 10% on investments, 4% interest on all securities deposited as collateral. Many a U. S. Catholic priest, college and diocese did business with him. There began to seem something wrong last March, when the diocese of Buffalo received no reply to letters asking that certain bonds be sold or returned. Police investigation revealed that Banker O'Connell was missing. Discovered in California, he was indicted for grand larceny, accused of absconding with $500,000. Pleading guilty to one count, he was freed under $25,000 bail, with trial set for this week. Meanwhile last week the bankruptcy schedules filed by Daniel O'Connell Co. Inc. revealed that the Catholic clergy had lost more than $1,000,000 through their investments. The Bishop of Springfield, Mass. was listed as an unsecured creditor for $460,000, and as the maker of notes for $735,000. Denis Cardinal Dougherty, Philadelphia's archbishop, was listed for $25,000. Other creditors included the bishops of Scranton, Harrisburg, Trenton, and Actor Hal Skelly. The diocese of Buffalo, first to bring suit, breathed easier to find it would recover all its $30,000 in bonds.

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