NYPD Patrolman William McAuliffe, a Cork native who was killed in the line of duty in March 1916, will be memorialized in a street co-naming in Manhattan on Saturday, September 30.
The 19th Precinct of the New York City Police Department's co-naming ceremony in honor of McAuliffe will be held at East 67th Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan this Saturday at 11 am.
On this day in 1916, 19th Precinct Patrolman William McAuliffe was shot and killed while walking his beat on the corner of 2nd Avenue and East 67th Street.
Patrolman McAuliffe will never be forgotten. Fidelis Ad Mortem pic.twitter.com/8aqFHGOCR5
— NYPD 19th Precinct (@NYPD19Pct) March 18, 2023
The street co-naming, which was proposed by NYPD Detective Anthony Nuccio last year, aims to memorialize Patrolman McAuliffe's name, life, and legacy for future generations of NYPD Police Officers and New Yorkers.
Detective Nuccio proposed the co-naming idea to the local NYC Councilmember Keith Powers, who sponsored the co-naming and presented it to the NYC Council for a vote last year 2022. The proposal, which included a co-naming for Cavan native Patrolman John Patrick Flood, was approved.
Relatives of McAuliffe will be attending Saturday's ceremony from all parts of the US, Canada, and Ireland, a spokesperson for the NYPD told IrishCentral on Thursday.
William McAuliffe was born in Knockacummer, Meelin, Co Cork on December 9, 1879, the fifth of seven children born to Timothy (Taden) McAuliffe and Hanora (nee Twomey).
McAuliffe immigrated from Ireland to New York in 1902; the 1910 US Census lists him as a resident with his aunt Katie Twomey and his brother Daniel in Manhattan.
On March 18, 1916, NYPD Patrolman William McAuliffe was shot at the corner of 2nd Avenue and East 67th Street as he walked his beat. He died of his injuries.
At the time of his death, the Irish cop had been with the New York City Police Department for six years and was assigned to the 31st Precinct, the present-day 19th Precinct.
A funeral for McAuliffe was held at St. Agnes's Church in Manhattan and was attended by NYPD's top brass and some 200 patrolmen, according to a March 1916 clip from the New York Sun.
Monsignor Henry Brann, also a native of Ireland, delivered the eulogy at McAuliffe's funeral. According to the New York Sun, he "declared that the prevalence of gangsters such as those who killed Mr. McAuliffe is the result of lenient laws permitting the entrance into this country of 'vagabonds, blackguards, and cut-throats' who should 'be dropped into the ocean before entering our harbors.'"
After McAuliffe's death, the NYPD offered a reward of $1,000 for information that would lead to the arrest and convictions of the assassins.
More than a century later, the motive for the murder of McAuliffe remains unknown. No one was ever charged with the crime, a spokesperson for the NYPD told IrishCentral on Thursday.
McAuliffe was single and aged 36 at the time of his death. He was survived by his parents Timothy and Hanora and his siblings Jeremiah, Hannah, Timothy Daniel, and Margaret. He was predeceased by his sister Ellie.
McAuliffe is buried, along with his sister Ellie, his brother Daniel, and his aunt Katie Twomey, in Calvary Cemetery in Queens.
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