Patrick Eugene Prendergast (original) (raw)

Patrick Eugene Joseph Prendergast (6 April 1868 – 13 July 1894) was an Irish-born American newspaper distributor who assassinated Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison, Sr., fatally shooting the five-term mayor on October 28, 1893. Following two separate trials, in which the defense tried unsuccessfully to have him acquitted by reason of insanity, Prendergast was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to death for the assassination. He was executed by hanging on July 13, 1894, the only client of famed attorney Clarence Darrow to ever receive the death penalty.