1808-1883
John McKeon was born in Albany, New York, in 1808, the son of Captain James McKeon who gained distinction for his service in the War of 1812. After graduating from Columbia College in 1825 and studying law under John L. Mason, McKeon began practicing law in New York City. He was active in politics at an early age and was elected to the New York State Assembly as a Democrat in 1832, and to nonconsecutive terms in Congress in 1835 and 1841.
In 1846, McKeon was appointed District Attorney of New York County, and when that office became elective the following year, he became the first elected District Attorney of New York County. According to the History of the Bench and Bar of New York, McKeon “was noted for his able and merciless prosecution of guilty offenders, and distinguished himself in many sensational cases. One of the most remarkable of these was the case of the notorious Madame Restell, who had for many years maintained a fashionable abortion establishment on Fifth avenue.”[1]
In 1854, McKeon became United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York by appointment of President Franklin Pierce, completing the unexpired term of Charles O’Conor. Joined by Assistant United States Attorney Frederick Smyth, with whom he would practice law until 1878, McKeon prosecuted several cases of international importance, including against William Walker, an American mercenary who led unauthorized military expeditions against Mexico (and later briefly installed himself as President of Nicaragua); Sir John Crampton, British Minister to the U.S., and three British Consuls for illegally recruiting soldiers on American soil for the Crimean war in violation of the 1794 Neutrality Act; and seizure of the “Nightingale,” a slave trading ship “having in irons in her hold 960 slaves.”[2]
Described as “[n]aturally pugnacious,” McKeon’s “aggressive zeal” and “unrelenting vigor” as a prosecutor was evident in the 1855 seizure of the “Northern Light,” a ship transporting hundreds of “filibusters,” or private military adventurers, to Nicaragua.
Mr. McKeon was barely saved from being toppled into the North River by the angry sailor who had the gang-plank in charge. Capt. Faunce . . . seized the District Attorney, saved him at least a wetting, and retaliated upon the sailor by tossing him head over heels into the water. This was one of the occasions when Mr. McKeon had insisted upon serving his own processes, so fearful was he that treachery on the part of subordinates would enable the vessel to slip out of his fingers.
During his years in private practice, McKeon defended Edward “Ned” Stokes, who was prosecuted for murdering Wall Street titan James Fisk, his rival for the affections of showgirl Josie Mansfield. He also defended Peter B. Sweeny, New York City Commissioner of Parks, who was charged with stealing millions of dollars in public funds as one of the central figures in the Tweed Ring.
McKeon, a Democrat, was an opponent of Tammany Hall for much of his career, but in 1881, at the age of 73, he accepted its nomination to run for District Attorney, more than three decades after leaving that office. McKeon achieved some early success in the “suppression of lottery shops and illegal voting,” but his prosecutorial comeback was largely a disappointment due to his advanced age and declining health. Indeed, he died in 1883, before the completion of his term.
[1] History of the Bench and Bar of New York Vol. 1, New York History Co., 1897, at 410.
[2] “John M’Keon’s Work Done,” New York Times, Nov. 23, 1883.