Mary Cahill of Connell Street

North Olean History - Mary Cahill
(The Mean Old Lady of Connell Street)

It was said the Mary Cahill was a mean old lady that hated the kids that lived in the neighborhood of E. Connell and Walnut Street across the Erie tracks. Anyway, that is what I was always told. I never knew Mary Cahill, never even saw what she looked like, but the remnant of her home existed long after she departed from this world. The house was dilapidated, with broken windows, empty and forlorn in appearance as it stood on the corner of 201 E. Connell Street facing the Erie Railroad depot, tracks and water tower back in the 1940’s.

The Cahills were one of the early Irish families that lived in North Olean. Patrick and Ellen Cahill were born in Ireland and came to North Olean in 1852. They had the following children, Mary, the eldest, then Michael, Patrick and Thomas Cahill.

Patrick Cahill was known to have a bad habit of imbibing too much on the sauce. Officer Wiley arrested him on a Saturday evening in December 1883 on the charge with failing to support his wife. It seems that instead of working he was leading a disreputable life in that he had left it up to Mrs. Cahill to provide for the family. His son, who was nineteen at the time, also brought charges against his father for pounding him in a savage manner. Ole Pat was sent to Little Valley jail without the required documentary authority, therefore the sheriff refused to accept him and Pat was given his liberty. He left with this word of advice, “ If you are not man enough to support your family at least give your wife a show. And be sure don’t ever squint at the Poormaster. That is a State’s Prison offence.”

Pat didn’t seem to change his colors since he was arrested in June of 1896 for threatening to kill his wife and son. Since he couldn’t give bond to keep the peace he was taken to the county jail.

Ole Patrick Cahill passed away on July 24, 1907 at the age of 67, as a result of injuries he had suffered about seven years earlier. Mrs. Ellen Cahill died on April 12, 1913 at age 76. Their son Thomas E. Cahill was killed on October 31, 1913 at Elizabeth, N.J. when he fell from a scaffold. It was said that he was employed there as a window washer.

The boys in the neighbor began to tease Mary and her brother Patrick. One afternoon in May 1917, a shooting occurred near the Erie water tank just across the street from the Cahill’s home. Robert Sirdevan along with several other boys were sitting under the tank, which was a favorite loafing place, when according to the boys, Cahill rushed out of the house and begun shooting at them. One of the bullets, a .32 caliber, stuck Sirdevan in the right thigh, penetrating it and entered into the left thigh. Cahill himself called the police, but did not mention the shooting, only that the boys were throwing stones at his house. Once the police heard the whole story Cahill was placed under arrest. The young men said that they had done nothing to provoke Cahill.

It was a known fact that Cahill had frequently called the police to complain that the boys and neighbors were annoying him. The gun that he used had only recently been purchased.

Cahill pleaded guilty to the charge of assault in the second degree. His lawyer said that boys throwing stones at the house had annoyed him and his sister for several years. On the day of the shooting, Cahill said that the boys hit him with a stone and when he went out they closed in on him. It was then that he fired the gun hitting Sirdevan in the leg. When he appeared for sentencing it was suspended for one year till the June 1919 term.

Michael Cahill died on March 18, 1921 at age 55 at 201 E. Connell St. His brother Patrick was now living in New Hampshire. On a Saturday night, April 23, 1932, Mary found Patrick J. Cahill, who was residing at the family home, dead in bed. Mary was now the only member of the family living in the homestead.

Was Mary Cahill a mean lady? My husband who lived just down the block from her said NO, she was not. He remembered her when a young boy, played near her home and Mary never bothered him, but she did holler at the kids as they rollerskated pass her house. So, why all the stories? Was Mary just a victim of her family’s past?

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