Mike’s Mug Shot

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Michael Broderick

As I study my 1897 mug shot of Mike Broderick, I have so many unanswered questions about his life. After extensive research, I still don’t know where the photo of him was taken. Since I’ve located a Michael Broderick who was born in Warren, Ohio, on October 22, 1872, and apparently lived in or near Pittsburgh from about 1878 until his death in 1944, at age 71, my educated guess is there’s a good chance he was the person arrested in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area on April 27, 1897.

What does it mean that Broderick’s crime was listed as a suspicious person? He might have been a known offender to the local police, a suspect in a particular crime, or just looked like he was up to no good.

I’ve searched newspapers across the country for information about Broderick’s arrest which led to his mug shot being taken, but I’ve found nothing. I’ve also searched for the name of the arresting officer (or officers), with the same result.

Even though I haven’t found any newspaper accounts of Broderick’s arrest in 1897, I have discovered a newspaper report of a Michael Broderick’s arrest₁ six years earlier when he was 18. It was for a robbery committed in Pittsburgh during May 1891.₂ I believe the offense was connected to a home burglary when Broderick and two other suspects stole a ring, watch, and overcoat.₃ At the time of the crime, Broderick reportedly lived on the “Southside.”

On October 19, 1891, after Broderick was caught and found guilty, he was sentenced to the Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory at Huntingdon, PA, for burglary. His maximum sentence was ten years, but he was paroled thirteen months later.₄

After Broderick’s release, he continued his young life of crime. On September 16, 1893, he was found guilty of entering a building with intent to commit a burglary and was sentenced to the Western Penitentiary for 18 months.₅

The “Western Pen” or “The Wall” was located five miles west of downtown Pittsburgh on the banks of the Ohio River. Built in 1826, it was one of the commonwealth’s first prisons. Renovated and expanded in 1892 with 1,280 cells spread between five tiers in two wings, Broderick would have done his time in the “first prison in the world to feature gang locks, electric lights, running water, steam heat, and a toilet in each cell.”₆

On August 31, 1895, Broderick was arrested yet again, found guilty, and sentenced. His conviction for larceny earned him nine months in the Allegheny County Workhouse,₇ formally known as the “Allegheny County Workhouse and Inebriate Asylum.” Opened in 1869, the prison, located northeast of Pittsburgh, mostly housed inmates convicted of minor offenses. The inmates maintained a farm of 1100 acres, which contained apple orchards, and a variety of crops and farm animals. The work details included rustic work with brick, stone, and painting.₈

With the limited data I’ve found, due to his repeat offenses, Broderick was in and out of jail and prison beginning at age eighteen, serving at least a portion of each year from 1891-1897. If he was convicted of the crime that caused his mug shot to be taken in 1897, I wonder how much additional time he would have spent behind walls. Being arrested as a suspicious person doesn’t sound like much of a crime, but if the charge of suspicion was connected to a reported felony crime, a repeat offender could have received a substantial sentence.

If “Mug Shot” Mike Broderick is the same Michael Broderick, 27, in the 1900 US Census, living in Crafton, Allegheny, PA, then he was back on the street, a free man. He was still single, and living with his mother, four siblings, a boarder, and a servant. It appears he was working alongside three of his brothers in a glass works, not iron works.

In the 1910, ’20, ’30, and ’40 US Census, a Michael Broderick, born in Warren, Ohio, in 1872, and living in Allegheny County, is listed as working as a painter in the building trade. It’s my hunch that he’s the same Broderick in my mug shot and could have learned his trade in prison. In each of the federal census years from 1910-1940, Michael and Laura Broderick are recorded as married, with no children.

In my research, I’ve followed Mike Broderick through the US Census, city directories, prison records, WWI draft card registration, Social Security registration, death certificate, Find-A-Grave, Ancestry’s member trees, Family Search, and newspaper articles. I’ve learned that the surname of Broderick wasn’t unusual for Irish-Catholic immigrants. Over many years, my research subject has been identified as M. Broderick, Michael Broderick, Michael F. Broderick, and Michael Fletcher Broderick. I believe the various names used are very likely referring to the same person.

If I’m correct, and have the same Michael Broderick through the decades, his parents were John and Anna. John (1843-1924) immigrated with his parents from Ireland to New York City in 1847 when he was four years old. Anna Horne’s (1845-1943) parents immigrated from Ireland. She was born in Vermont, but it’s unclear where she was raised. After John mustered out as a private with the 192nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment in the Civil War, he and Anna married around 1868. They raised at least eight children.

I’ve only dsicovered one additional connection between John and Annie Horne Broderick to Dayton, Ohio,  other than the 1872 birth of their son Michael. For many years, John lived in the National Home for Disabled Soldiers, Dayton, Ohio, and is buried in the Dayton National Cemetery.

It would be interesting to me, for comparison purposes, to find a descendant who had old photos of Michael Broderick to share. For a second, I considered attempting to make contact, but rejected the idea.

During my family genealogical research, I get excited when I discover a family member’s photo, but if I made inquiries to other people about their ancestors, they might become suspicious or offended, especially if I suggest their relative could have been on the other side of the law.

Even though I’m curious, not judgmental, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was told, “It’s none of your business. Go research your own ancestors!”

*

Until next time, happy writing!

Footnotes

1. Arrest on August 28, 1891. Pittsburgh Dispatch (Pittsburgh, PA), August 29, 1891, p2
2. The Pittsburgh Dispatch (Pittsburgh, PA), August 29, 1891, p2
3. The Pittsburgh Post (Pittsburgh, PA), June 13, 1891, p3
4. November 17, 1892. The Division of Archives & Manuscripts, Pennylvania Historical & Museum Commission
5. The Division of Archives & Manuscripts, Pennylvania Historical & Museum Commission
6. Wikipedia & “Western State Penitentiary: A Brief History” by Doug MacGregor, Old Western Pennsylvania, April 28, 2016
7. The Division of Archives & Manuscripts, Pennylvania Historical & Museum Commission
8. Wikipedia

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