However, after emigrating to England, he suffered a spinal injury while working in a stone quarry which disabled him from hard manual labour, so he was forced to rely upon music as his sole source of income.
Captain Francis O'Neill tells of him: "While sauntering along a highway one day he came to a fine-looking mansion, and, being thirsty, he went up to the hall door and rang the bell.
""A French soldier dropped out of the ranks, too ill to proceed farther, and crawled behind a stone wall to die.
""Notwithstanding a bereaved mother's cherished grief, O’Brien's thirst was assuaged with a beverage stronger than water.
Here he made the acquaintance of Captain Francis O'Neill, who in 1913 wrote "Many a pleasant hour the present writer spent listening to “Jimmy's” delightful music and memorizing his tunes, many of which were not in circulation until given publicity through our efforts."