thirty ladies of New York; the other was presented by sixty members of the bar. These he bequeathed to the Law institute of New York city, and they are now preserved in the library of the institute in the post-office building. In the same library are preserved the bound records of his cases and opinions—a unique collection that was made by himself, and also bequeathed in his will to the institute. These fill over 100 volumes. Others of his celebrated private cases were the Slave Jack case in 1835, the Lispenard will case in 1843, the Lemmon slave case in 1856, the Parrish will case in 1862, and the Jumel suit in 1871, involving the title to $6,000,000 in real estate. In 1848 he became a member of the “Directory of the Friends of Ireland,” a society that was organized in anticipation of a rising in Ireland, and he presided at some of the meetings in the same year. In this year he was also a candidate on the Democratic ticket for lieutenant-governor of New York, but was defeated, although he received several thousand more votes than the other candidates of his party. When the civil war was impending he was extremely anxious to avert it. During the contest and after it he felt that, in the motives and conduct of the war, a departure had been made from the original principles of the confederation of states. He sympathized throughout with the southern states, and at the conclusion of the war became senior counsel for Jefferson Davis when he was indicted for treason. He also appeared upon Mr. Davis's bond when the latter was admitted to bail. The suits against William M. Tweed, which were begun in 1871 and which eventually destroyed the ring that was then at the height of its power in New York city, were largely his work. In the original cases he was associated with William M. Evarts, James Emott, and Wheeler H. Peckham. These suits were brought in the attorney-general's office, a special branch of which was established for the purpose, and named by him the bureau of municipal correction. In 1875 the court of appeals decided that the cases should have been brought by the city. Mr. O'Conor immediately drafted the Civil remedies act, which was enacted at the next session of the legislature, and under which new suits were at once begun. Disheartened with the issue of the first cases, he published an account of them, entitled “Peculation Triumphant, being the Record of a Five Years' Campaign against Official Malversation, A. D. 1871-1875” (New York, 1875). He declined any compensation for his services in these cases. In face of his absolute refusal, he was nominated at the Louisville convention for president, in 1872, by the branch of the Democratic party that opposed the election of Horace Greeley. His electoral ticket received 21,559 votes in the succeeding November. In 1869 he was elected president of the Law institute of New York. In the electoral contest of 1876 he appeared as advocate for the claims of Samuel J. Tilden before the commission. He erected a house at Nantucket, Mass., in 1881, with a fire-proof library adjoining it, and resided there until his death. In 1854 Mr. O'Conor married Mrs. McCracken, formerly Miss Cornelia Livingston. She died on 12 May, 1874, just ten years before her husband. His portrait in oil, by Benjamin F. Reinhardt, hangs in the rooms of the Bar association of New York. On 16 April, 1867, his bust was presented to the supreme court of the state of New York, and now stands in the court-room in this city. He would not permit its public display during his lifetime. See memorial presented before the New York law institute by James C. Carter.
OCONOSTOTA, head king or archimagus of the
Cherokees. The exact dates of his birth and death
are unknown, but he had attained to the age of
manhood in 1730, and was living as late as 1809.
He was a man of herculean frame, undaunted
courage, and great physical prowess, and while yet
a very young man was one of the six delegates
that, in 1730, visited George II. at “his great
house across the water.” About 1738 he was elected
head king of his nation, and exercised almost
despotic sway over the Cherokees and their allies,
the Creeks. He sided with the English in the war
with France, but afterward, exasperated by an
attack on a party of his men by settlers, who accused
them of horse-stealing, he invested, with 10,000
allied Creeks and Cherokees, Fort Prince George and
Fort Loudon, in the heart of the Cherokee country.
At the same time he made a general attack upon
the back settlements of the Carolinas. By stratagem
he lured into his power and massacred the
commander of Fort Prince George, and he soon
reduced Fort Loudon to the alternative of surrender
or starvation. Being allowed to retain their arms
and promised safe conduct to Virginia, the garrison
of two hundred surrendered, but was treacherously
attacked at the close of the first day's march, and,
according to the generally received account, all
but Capt. John Stuart, Isaac Thomas, a scout,
and a soldier named Jack, were killed. Oconostota
then directed Stuart to work the captured
guns, with which he proposed to reduce Fort
Prince George, and, on his refusal, threatened to
burn him at the stake. Stuart's life was saved by
the vice-king, Atta-culla-culla (q. v.), who conducted
him in safety to Virginia. The English then
destroyed the Cherokee towns, and reduced the
nation to the last extremities. Peace was finally
granted them only on the intercession of
Atta-culla-culla. Oconostota was ever afterward the
faithful ally of the English. In 1770 a handful
of pioneers, under James Robertson (q. v.), crossed
the Alleghanies and settled upon the Cherokee
territory at Watauga. The Cherokees received
them kindly, and Oconostota granted them an
eight years' lease of the lands that they occupied,
but when, in March, 1775, they demanded an
absolute cession of the territory, he opposed it in an
eloquent speech in which he predicted the fate of
his nation. He was overruled in the great council
of the tribe, the cession of the Watauga lands was
made, and also of the Cherokee claim to Kentucky.
When he had signed the treaties he turned to Daniel
Boone, who had been active in the negotiations,
and said to him: “Young man, we have sold you
a fine territory, but I fear you will have some difficulty
in getting it settled.” In a little more than
a month the battles of Lexington and Concord
were fought. John Stuart, who had been appointed
British superintendent of the southern Indians,
at once conceived a gigantic scheme for crushing
the southern colonies by a combined front and rear
attack. A British land and naval force was to
descend upon the seaboard, while Oconostota, at the
head of 20,000 combined Choctaws, Chickasaws,
Creeks, and Cherokees, should attack the back
settlements. A year of time and millions of money
were expended in the preparation, and in July, 1776,
the execution of the plan was attempted. Sir
Peter Parker descended upon Charleston, but was
beaten off, and a like fate befell the scattered rear
attacks, Oconostota himself being driven back by
John Sevier with only forty men. A five years'
struggle followed, during which Sevier, with at
first only 200 men and with never more than 1,000,
inflicted defeat after defeat upon the old king and
