Richard B. Connolly

Richard "Slippery Dick" Connolly was born in 1810 in Dunmanway, County Cork, Ireland. He emigrated to the United States and arrived in New York City in 1826. Early in his career, Connolly worked for auctioneers John Haggerty & Sons, and subsequently for merchant Simeon Draper, who was Haggerty's son-in-law.

In 1837, Connolly married Maria S. Townsend (1816–1879). Together, they had four children. His professional trajectory included a variety of positions in financial and governmental institutions. In 1845, he was appointed as a clerk in the New York Customs House by Collector Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence. Four years later, in 1849, he became a discount clerk at the Bank of North America.

Connolly's political career was affiliated with the Tammany Hall Democratic organization. He served as Clerk of New York County from 1853 to 1858. Subsequently, he was elected to the New York State Senate representing the 7th District, serving from 1860 to 1863 during the 83rd through 86th New York State Legislatures. After his tenure in the State Senate, he returned to banking as a discount clerk at the Central National Bank.

In 1867, Connolly was elected New York City Comptroller. During this period, he became associated with the "Tweed Ring," a political organization known for corruption. His reputation during this era was such that some newspaper writers nicknamed him "Slippery Dick." Mayor A. Oakey Hall re-appointed him as City Comptroller under the "Tweed Charter," and he remained in office until his resignation on November 18, 1871.

Following his resignation, Connolly was arrested and indicted on 15 counts of misdemeanors related to his official conduct. On January 1, 1872, Judge George G. Barnard released him on bail. Instead of facing trial in the United States, Connolly went abroad and settled in France, where he died from Bright's disease in Marseille on May 30, 1880. At the time of his death, he was a fugitive from justice.

Sources documenting his life include *The New York Civil List* compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough, Stephen C. Hutchins, and Edgar Albert Werner (1867, pages 442 and 535), and *Biographical Sketches of the State Officers and Members of the Legislature of the State of New York* by William D. Murphy (1861, pages 45 and following). An article titled "Appointment of Richard B. Connolly as Controller" was published in *The New York Times* on April 28, 1870. His death was reported in *The New York Times* on June 1, 1880, under the headline "AT THREE SCORE AND TEN; RICHARD B. CONNOLLY'S DEATH AT MARSEILLES." External resources include works by or about Richard B. Connolly available at the Internet Archive.