As we near the end of the U.S presidential election, the campaign of both candidates reaches fever pitch and it has certainly been an explosive but, 120 years ago it took a Dundalk man to really put a bang in the closing stages of a presidential campaign.

On October 31 1896 an election rally for that years Republican candidate took place in the Massachusetts town of New Bedford.

It was just four days from polling day and the net was cast out on the old whaling town to catch votes for Republican William McKinley.

Bunting, flags and marching bands ensured a festive atmosphere in the town on that Hallowe'en evening but Dundalk born Patrick Cunningham, who had made New Bedford his home, was not pleased with the Republican rally and decided to send a rocket down its main street in honour of the candidate he was supporting, the Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

Patrick Cunningham was born in Dundalk on May 4 1844 and at the age of nine left on a ship for America with his parents. Cunningham's father passed cobbling skills to his son but at the age of 20, all prospects of becoming a cobbler were put on hold when he joined the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

During his brief stint in the Navy, Cunningham developed an interest in engineering and explosives.

In June 1865 he jumped off the USS North Caroline and deserted the Navy. The charge of desertion was later removed from his service records in 1892.

After a dozen years rambling around America he finally settled in New Bedford where he set up a shoemaking business and became friends with a fellow cobbler, Irish American Bernard Cogan. Apart from shoes, the two also shared a passion for engineering explosives and developing weapons.

In 1877 Cunningham and Cogan invented a heavy but effective whaling gun. It set Cunningham up to patent larger and more devastating weapons of destruction.

In 1892 'Wild Cunningham' as he became locally known, invented a 17 foot long torpedo and went to the Navy with his invention but his weapon was deemed mechanically inaccurate and they rejected it.

By the time of the 1896 presidential election Cunningham had become one of New Bedford's richest residents.

His shoemaking business was thriving and the weaponry that he invented in a small workshop near the docks brought him a degree of fame and fortune.

The presidential election of that year was a tensely fought one with plenty of mud slinging from both parties. As Cunningham had declared himself a Democrat, he felt annoyed when Republicans rolled into New Bedford to rally support for their candidate.

They arrived with marching bands, fireworks and all the razzamatazz that comes with a US presidential election.

Drink flowed freely in the town that night and Cunningham availed of it but, when fireworks were released he hot footed back to his workshop and decided he would release an even bigger bang!

He loaded his 'flying devil' torpedo onto a wagon and sat on top of it from where he steered in towards the towns main street. Cunningham's son managed to pull his father off the torpedo but not before he struck a match to it and it screamed down the main street. Haphazardly the 'flying devil' went striking down the street bouncing from side to side before it hit a tree and eventually landed in a butcher's shop where it exploded.

Several businesses were damaged, the main street was torn up and five houses are decimated. Amazingly, no one was killed or seriously injured. The most serious injury occurred when a gentleman's handle bar moustache was scorched off by the torpedo that flew past him!

Cunningham's candidate William Jennings Bryan lost to William McKinley in the election four days later, the Republican beat the Democrat with 51% of the vote to 46%.

McKinley was a politician and lawyer who served as the 25th President of the United States from March 4, 1897 until his assassination in September 1901, six months into his second term.

McKinley led the nation to victory in the Spanish-American War, raised protective tariffs to promote American industry, and maintained the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of inflationary proposals.

The 1896 presidential election is often seen as a realigning election, in which McKinley's view of a stronger central government building American industry through protective tariffs and a dollar based on gold prevailed.

But it was on a trip to Buffalo, New York just six months after he elected for a second term in 1901 that McKinley came face to face with his assassin, Leon Czolgosz who shot him twice in the abdomen before being captured.

Doctors rushed to treat the president, but were unable to find the second bullet and though he rallied in the couple of days after the shooting, with optimism among his doctors and officials that he would make a recovery.

However, his blood was being poisoned by gangrene and on the morning of September 13, President McKinley took a turn for the worse. His family and friends were called to his bedside and he died in the early hours of the morning.

The vice president, Theodore Roosevelt had rushed back and took the oath of office as president in Buffalo. Meanwhile, Czolgosz, put on trial for murder nine days after the president's death, was found guilty, sentenced to death on September 26, and executed by electric chair.

In the wake of the rocket incident, Cunningham was arrested and he paid a hefty fine for damages. It did not deter his thirst for torpedoes and Cunningham continued to patent such weapons for years afterwards.

He retired in the early 1900s and died on May 23rd 1921 in New Bedford, the town he almost blew up out of political frustration 25 years previously! Pauline can be contacted on Twitter @RealPMurphy.

Irish Independent