Patrick Eugene Prendergast

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Patrick Eugene Joseph Prendergast (1868 – July 13, 1894) was the assassin of Chicago's Mayor, Carter Harrison, Sr..

Prendergast was a newspaper distributor in Chicago. In addition, he lobbied for improvements in Chicago's railroad grade crossings, which he saw as a danger to the public. In 1893, he supported Harrison's re-election campaign. Prendergast was under the delusion that if Harrison won the election he would receive an appointment as Corporation Counsel. When the appointment didn't come, Prendergast visited Harrison at his home on October 28, 1893 and shot the mayor four times. Harrison did not know who Prendergast was.

In his first trial, Prendergast's attorney tried to have him found insane, but failed. Clarence Darrow later won a hearing on Prendergast's sanity, but it also failed. Prendergast was hanged on July 13, 1894.

[edit] Prendergast in popular culture

On occasion, Prendergast has been represented in film or fiction. In the 1991 made-for-TV movie Darrow, he was portrayed by Paul Klementowicz. Prendergast's story is also one of the sub-plots in Erik Larson's book, The Devil in the White City, which argues through example that Prendergast was insane.