Ida Buckley AKA Catherine Hartnett: A 1874 Unsolved Murder

Ida Buckley was born Catherine Buckley About 1854, She was married to Timothy Hartnett, and this is pretty much all the background information I could find and it all came from newspaper articles.

She was murdered the 5th of Aug 1874 in St. Louis, MO. She came from a prominent Catholic family and fell from grace, dissipation in a Christy Ave called a Resort (a brothel). She was beautiful and head strong.

She was seen leaving the house in question in a springboard wagon with two men. Her body was found in a suburban orchard with a bullet wound to her head. The bullet went in the nose and another found under her ear, there was also a cut mark on her throat about an inch long. They found a wagon with blood in it and some small black beads from a necklace Ida was known to wear. 

The wagon was found in John McNeary's stable, her cousin. He was arrested and there were two trials and he was acquitted.

I have post links for some of the newspaper articles I found.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-globe-democrat-ida-buckley/182410005/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-globe-democrat-ida-buckley/182409947/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-ida-buckley/182409532/

 

St. Louis Globe-Democrat

St. Louis, Missouri • 

Fri, Apr 2, 1875

Page 4

After reading all the newspaper articles and seeing that her husband had been in town during this time I am wondering if he was the one who might of killed her. It was mentioned that they were standing together at the bar and both had tears as they were talking to each other. Perhaps he wanted her to go back to New York with him and she might have agreed and then changed her mind. Whatever the case he was there and it seems he wasn't even questioned. He could of easily been the second man in the wagon.

Sad story for Ida, I wonder why she became a prostitute, did the money lure her or the excitement of it all?

So some family connections I put together from the newspaper articles. John McNeary had several brothers, Frank who was in business with Thomas McNeary they had a grocery store together and then there's Jim McNeary and Willie McNeary and a sister named Catherine O'Hara her husband was Edward O'Hara they lived in Sterling, IL. Their mother was Ellen. At some point Ida lived with her Aunt in 1873.

Please comment and give me your thoughts.