On an April morning in 1889, John McGady, wearing a spring suit with a tie and derby hat, entered the marshal’s office in Helena, Montana. “The eyes, while not shifting, were nevertheless full of a wary watchfulness that accorded ill with the general contour of the face and there was a haggardness of feature strangely out of place in one so young,” the Cumberland Daily Times reported.
McGady asked to see the marshal, but he wasn’t in. He then asked to speak with the police officer privately.
They stepped into another room, and McGady calmly told the police officer that he had murdered a man in Maryland two months earlier and was ready to give himself up.
The police officer then took McGady before the judge, where he told his story.
On Saturday night, Feb. 16, 1889, McGady was in Midland late that evening. He had been out collecting money for his church and finished up around 10:30 p.m. He decided that he would visit a saloon with some other young men. Although he was married, his wife was in Lonaconing visiting her father, so he had no one waiting for him at home. He was planning on walking down to see her after he enjoyed a drink or two.
He was in Frank Ennis’ saloon when he was told it was time to head home a bit after midnight. When he went outside, he saw Barney Creegan and a man whose last name was Cunningham, arguing loudly and starting to scuffle.
“John McGady approached the party, and in attempting, it is said, to interfere got into a quarrel and scuffle with Creegan,” the Cumberland Daily Times reported. “McGady finally drew his revolver and shot Creegan in the neck and left arm midway between the wrist and elbow.”
The bullet that struck Creegan in the arm passed through his arm without breaking any bones. The bullet that struck him in the neck did not exit.
Cunningham took Creegan into Daniel Stakem’s saloon, where Creegan fainted. They then took Creegan into Stakem’s house and doctors were called. Doctors White and Smith attended Creegan, but couldn’t do anything to help him. He died on Feb. 17 around 7 a.m.
Creegan was 21 years and unmarried. He was a large man, standing 6 feet 3 inches tall. He worked as a driver for the National Mine in Midland and had an unsavory reputation.
McGady walked to a friend’s house. When he heard that Creegan had died, “he became bewildered at the result and ran out of the house through the creek and has not been heard from since, and the impression in that neighborhood is that McGady has committed suicide,” according to the Cumberland Daily Times.
Without proof of McGady’s death, the county offered a $100 reward for his capture.
That wasn’t the case, though. He walked to Piedmont, where he caught the first train he could. He traveled to Wheeling, West Virginia. While there, he saw the reward that had been offered for him. He panicked and headed west, traveling under an assumed name. First, he went to Columbus, Ohio, and then to Park City and Odgen, both in Utah “with the idea of losing himself in the mountain wilds,” the Cumberland Daily Times reported.
“But, although the feeling of pursuit partially left him, nowhere, by night or day, could he shake off the feeling of remorse and the idea that he was unable to take his place a free man among his fellowmen, or to return to his wife. The strain proved too great, and shortly after arriving in Helena, he determined to give himself up,” the newspaper reported.
The Helena police brought in a local detective who had a picture and description of McGady. When the man was positively identified, the authorities in Allegany County were notified. Allegany County Sheriff Hohing traveled out to Montana to bring McGady back to Maryland for trial.
In the county jail, the Cumberland Daily Times reported that McGady was “the most unhappy man ever confined in Allegany County’s jail. He seems to suffer the most acute tortures of remorse and to be driven to the most absolute dejection by the realization of his crime.”
Because of various delays, McGady’s trial didn’t happen until January 1890. During his trial, his lawyers did an excellent job of telling McGady’s side of the story. For instance, McGady explained that he was carrying his pistol that evening because he was carrying the church collection and wanted to be able to defend himself if someone should have tried to rob him.
The lawyers also pointed out that Creegan was much larger than McGady, who stood only 5 feet, 5 inches tall. Creegan also had a reputation of being a troublemaker. He also fought dirty and was biting McGady’s thumb during the fight.
What may have swayed the jury the most was that the lawyers explained that McGady had drawn his pistol only after Creegan started fighting dirty to try and keep Creegan away from him. When he fired it, it was in self-defense, after Creegan threatened, “I will chew your ear off.” The “first shot was fired when he was free and unobstructed and the second when his arm was seized by Monohan and it was fired off accidentally. He said the last show was the fatal one,” according to the Cumberland Daily Times.
Because of their difference in size, the fatal bullet could not have traveled its downward path through Creegan’s neck unless McGady had been above Creegan (which everyone agreed hadn’t happened), or Creegan had been charging at McGady.
The jury found McGady not guilty.
Following his trial, McGady eventually became an electrician and moved to Cumberland to raise his family. He died in 1944 and is buried in St. Patrick’s Catholic Church Cemetery.
