On 13 October 1896 P. J. O'Keeffe, member of the Kilkenny corporation, held a meeting at which 300 people gathered with lighted torches and two bands. Having denounced and burnt an effigy of the mayor, Major O'Leary, the gathering processed to the town hall. Asserting his right to enter as a member of the corporation, O'Keeffe with his crowd forced an entry to the town hall and ensured a resolution was passed condemning the mayor. With this done the crowd dispersed. Two days later an ordinary meeting of the corporation broke up in confusion when O'Keeffe refused to give up the borough treasurer's chair at the request of O'Leary. Following a coarse exchange, in which O'Leary insulted O'Keeffe's father and O'Keeffe twisted O'Leary's nose in recompense, the mayor left the chamber. On his return he found an empty porter barrel in his chair. The cause of these extraordinary scenes was the mayor's attempt to comply with a request of the Navy League that the Union Jack be hoisted on the anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar. The local police were deeply embarrassed by the attention these scenes attracted throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Although hardly a threat to the fabric of the state, P. J. O'Keeffe's particular brand of political ruffianism was very familiar to the police of the south eastern division of the R.I.C. He had joined the I.R.B. when he was 15 years old and had taken a prominent role in corporation politics for some years.