Daniel McMullen, an officer with the Pittsburgh Police Department, died on December 18, 1869, never having recovered from injuries suffered on July 27, 1867, more than two years earlier.
The coroner ruled that the cause of death was the injuries sustained when McMullen was severely beaten by Teddy McCarthy after intervening in a bar fight on Penn Avenue.
McCarthy was convicted of assault and battery on October 31, 1868, and sentenced to seven years in prison. Officer McMullen was able to testify against McCarthy. McCarthy was pardoned in 1870 after thousands of citizens, including a number of very prominent Pittsburghers, interceded on his behalf, citing the circumstantial evidence on which he was convicted and “very serious doubts concerning his guilt.”
