{"id":721,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:48:37","latitude":39.00686573503561049847121466882526874542236328125,"longitude":-85.62417972446706926348269917070865631103515625,"title":"The Irish Railroad Riot in Vernon","subtitle":"Vernon’s 1837 Riot","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/5e0df8ff14022f31eaec7fe5741c9f79.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":8,"creator":["Kaitlyn Leib"],"description":"Irish workers helping to construct railroads continued feuds from their homeland. Nationally, railroads, especially for steam-powered trains, increased in construction during the 1830s. For the state of Indiana as a whole, railroad construction peaked during the 1850s with most large cities having some sort of connection by 1860. The 1837 riot in Vernon occurred during the construction of Indiana’s first significant railroad that linked Madison to Indianapolis; the rail line was eventually completed in 1847.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe riot in Vernon consisted of a longstanding disagreement between the Corkonians and the Fardowns immigrants from Ireland. The Corkonians hailed from the province of Munster, especially County Cork, while the Fardowns are believed to have come from other southern counties in the province of Connaught and Leinster in Ireland. The two groups feuded on access to employment opportunities in America, protecting their region’s people’s jobs by intimidating the other region’s people. The majority of Irish immigrants working on the Madison and Indianapolis railroad identified as Fardowns, roughly 1,400 of the 1,700 workers. When more Corkonians arrived and secured jobs on the railroad and threatened the Fardowns’ majority, the Fardowns attacked the Corkonians killing one and wounding others. Two Fardowns, Martin Crotty and Michael Brennan, were tried for the murder of Corkonian Patrick Galuly. Both Crotty and Brennan were convicted and sentenced to death. The Governor of Indiana, Noah Noble, commuted their sentences and they instead served life terms. Crotty and Brennan reportedly were the first “life-time men” in Indiana. The riot in Vernon was just one example of the continuation of Irish traditions and beliefs from immigrant’s homeland to their new one.<br />","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["“The Beginnings of American Railroads and Mapping.” Library of Congress. Accessed April 27,<br />\r\n2025. https://www.loc.gov/collections/railroad-maps-1828-to-1900/articles-and-essays/history-of-railroads-and-maps/the-beginnings-of-american-railroads-and-mapping/.","Kell, Sheila. “The Irish Railroad Workers Riot.” Jennings County INGenWeb.<br />\r\nhttp://ingenweb.org/injennings/pages/histories/Irish%20Riot.html.","Perry, Jay M. “The Irish Wars: Laborer Feuds on Indiana’s Canals and Railroads in the 1830s.”<br />\r\nIndiana Magazine of History 109, no. 3 (2013): 224-256. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/view/19949/26035."],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/5e0df8ff14022f31eaec7fe5741c9f79.jpg":{"id":3434,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Railroad Workers","description":"Many of those who worked on building America’s railroad system were immigrants. Immigrants coming to the United States could face trouble finding employment with decent wages, so the established immigrant community in the States often helped new arrivals out by securing jobs for them. In the case of the Madison and Indianapolis rail line, Fardown Irish immigrants attempted to hold the majority of jobs in comparison to the Corkonians. | Utah Historical Markers","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/5e0df8ff14022f31eaec7fe5741c9f79.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/9261e7629c484729a27e013a090dd698.jpg":{"id":3435,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Indiana Railroads","description":"This map, believed to be from around 1896, shows the completed railroads throughout the state of Indiana. Irish immigrants were part of the labor force working to create this transportation system. | Library of Congress | c. 1896 | Indiana State Board of Tax Commissioners","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/9261e7629c484729a27e013a090dd698.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/ffd9da016d0a12b738d2c70935e013af.jpg":{"id":3436,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Madison Railroad","description":"The first significant railroad completed in Indiana connected Madison to Indianapolis. This picture from around 1880 shows the rail line on the west side of Madison below the old Main Street Bridge. | Jefferson County Historical Society | 1880 | Joseph R. Gorgas","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/ffd9da016d0a12b738d2c70935e013af.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/733eb443814cc40820b1676b45ea1078.jpg":{"id":3437,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Railroad Rules","description":"The Madison and Indianapolis Railroad served as transportation for a variety of things, from people to cargo to livestock. This 1852 notice contained the rules required for transporting pigs on the rail line. | Jefferson County Historical Society | 1852 | John Brough","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/733eb443814cc40820b1676b45ea1078.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/cadebd15ad01e1a05cb71fa4db48e456.jpg":{"id":3438,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Vernon Workers","description":"This photograph titled “Railroad Track Crew at North Vernon” shows the workers employed on the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad. Though the picture was taken around 1880, decades after the riot in Vernon, it still gives an idea as to what working on a railroad looked like in the nineteenth century. | 1880 | Jefferson County Historical Society","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/cadebd15ad01e1a05cb71fa4db48e456.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/c9538fd582e1093f6d04b6c03eedb886.jpg":{"id":3439,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Ireland Counties","description":"Ireland is divided up into counties with each one having pride in their people. When feuds and disagreements arose between different counties and their people, those feelings often carried onto new homes, such as immigrants in the United States. Corkonians come from the province of Munster, specifically from County Cork, the southernmost county. The name Fardowns is harder to define, though it is suggested to refer to those from the Leinster and Connaught provinces. | IrishCentral.com","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/c9538fd582e1093f6d04b6c03eedb886.jpg"}}}