John J. Ryan was an American gambler. Early life Jack Ryan was born on August 9, 1862 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents, Michael Ryan and Helen Considine, were born in Ireland and came to the United States, probably through New York, in the 1840s. Michael was employed for most of his life in Cincinnati as a carpenter, making coffins, and as the keeper of the city morgue. He died in March 1903. Jack had three brothers: Edward, Michael, and Richard; and six sisters: Catharine, Anna, Elizabeth ("Honey"), Bessie, Mary, and Loretta. Except for Jack, whose remains were cremated, and Ed and Richard whose remains are buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, the remains of the parents and the most of the rest of their children are buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery, in Cincinnati. Ryan and his siblings grew up in Cincinnati. It appears the girls worked in factories. What the boys did is unclear but Ryan claimed to have worked as a clerk at the Reeds Hotel. Politics and business Ryan began to be mentioned in newspaper articles in St. Louis in the early 1900s, when he and "Cuddy Mack" McGilcutty, attempted to take control of the City's Fourth Ward after the city's political boss, Ed Butler, had lost power after being convicted of bribery. Thomas "Snake" Kinney, later to become the longest serving Missouri state senator, resented Ryan's effort to muscle in on the graft-connected political scene. Kinney, whose gang operated with the Egan's Rats, sent Red Houlihan to Ryan's saloon to kill him, but Ryan gunned him down. Kinney tried to kill Ryan a second time, sending a gang of thugs to attack him in the street. They came upon Ryan at Twelfth and Grand, across from the Four Courts, and began shooting. Struck in the abdomen by a slug, Ryan returned fire before falling to the pavement. Recovering from his wound, Ryan left St. Louis. Less than two years later, in the fall of 1902, Ryan reappeared in St. Louis as the operator of the John J. Ryan Turf Investment Company. Ryan became connected with George and John Considine of New York through his horse racing activities. In the early 1890s, George F. Considine had managed Jim Corbett in several of his heavyweight fights, and acted as stakeholder; he was also the owner of several hotels. The Considines were connected to Big Tim Sullivan who, as