Page 89 - All About History - Issue 19-14

THE AL-LIFE GANGS OF EW YORK

Gang members encountering a
wealthy person in the Five Points DEAD RABBITS
– the Bowery Boys were not too
badly off themselves, though
WHY WERE THEY CALLED THAT? According to
Irish slang, “dead” meant “extremely” and
“rabbit” means “fearful.”

MEMBERS: Irish immigrants
MAIN ENEMY: The Bowery Boys.
GANG BRUTALITY: Having split from the Roach
Guards – and said to distinguish themselves
with a red instead of blue stripe on their
pantaloons – the Dead Rabbits were the most
feared of all of the gangs, constantly fighting,
pick-pocketing and robbing others.
DID YOU KNOW? The Dead Rabbits were
active in politics, supporting Mayor Fernando
Wood and his immigrant-populated
Municipal Police. One of their members was
an infamous female fighter called Hell Cat
Maggie who filed her teeth into points and
wore long, claw-like brass fingernails.
POVERTY WORTH
DOMINANT YEARS: 1850s
WRITING ABOUT
“ Even by the standards of the city’s CharlesDickenswashorrified

worst slum, the riots of 4 July were on bythelivingconditionsofthe
Five Points slum
a different scale” Writer and social critic Charles Dickens was well
versed in the misery of England’s Victorian slums.
Dead Rabbits began to be pushed back, their attack one gang or another, a loosening of ties with a They formed the backdrop to his many novels from
The Adventures Of Oliver Twist to Great Expectations,
turningtodesperatedefence. corrupt politician would spell disaster. Only by each a commentary on the life he saw around him.
ThebattlemovedtothenearbyBranchHotel fighting could they continue to enjoy the spoils In 1842, Dickens visited the US and Canada with his
where residents formed a barricade to keep the such political arrangements brought, and for the wife, spending a month in New York to give a series of
lectures. Dickens’ thoughts on his travels were detailed
oncomingmobatbay.TheBoweryBoysand Irishgangstherewasachancethatwiththeloss in his American Notes For General Circulation. He did
AtlanticGuardsmanagedtodrivetheDeadRabbits of their tame politician would come persecution. not hold back when it came to the Five Points around
away,buttheirretreatwasnotpermanentand The Irish were reliant on the strong ties they had which he was given a tour.
The famous novelist talked of “ruined houses,
thefightingcontinued.Themenwouldtrade withtheDemocraticParty.Aspartofareciprocal open to the street, whence, through wide gaps in the
blows while women would find ammunition arrangement, for instance, Mayor Wood would walls, other ruins loom upon the eye, as though the
such as rocks that the men could launch at their ensure the Irish immigrants had a plentiful supply world of vice and misery had nothing else to show.”
enemy. The newly created Metropolitan Police was offoodandcoalaswellashelpwithrentandjobs. He described “hideous tenements which take their
renderedpowerlessinthefaceoftheonslaught; Without Wood and the Democrats, Irish name from robbery and murder: all that is loathsome,
drooping and decayed here”, and noted, “poverty,
many of those who served with the rival Municipal integration into society would have been much wretchedness and vice… reeking everywhere with dirt
PolicesidedwiththeIrishgangsandjoinedinthe hardertoachieve,sotheDeadRabbitsgang and filth.” Dickens questioned, “What place is this, to
attacks on the Metropolitan Police. was only too willing to use muscle to help their which the squalid street conducts us?”
The streets descended into chaos as gang politicians achieve their goals. An open door to
memberslootedbuildingsandrobbedanyonethey other gangs that often fought alongside the Bowery would be called in to quell the violence. Many gang
came across using brick-bats, iron bars and knives. Boys would have been a sign of weakness. The members were fuelled by ‘bad liquor’ that had been
Thecity’sinhabitantsbarricadedthemselves stakesweretoohighandpoliticiansunderstood drunk throughout the day, so it didn’t take long for
into their cramped living quarters in a desperate more than anyone the power gangs could provide hundreds to assemble once more to throw cobbles
attempttostaysafe.Ifthemerementionofthe tothem;atelectiontimesfightingandintimidation and missiles high into the air.
AstorPlaceRiotof1849stillsentachilldownthe wasfrequentlyusedto‘persuade’voterstosupport At around 7pm on the Sunday, Isalah Rynders,
spineofaNewYorker–thefirstuprisinginwhich aparticularcandidate.Violencewasacommon the political boss of the Sixth Ward, tried to broker
thestatemilitiawerecalledout–thenitlookedlike occurrenceintheFivePoints,butevenbythe a truce. Both sides jeered his attempts to calm
therewouldbeanewhorrorstoryforthecity,as standardsofthecity’sworstslum,theriotsof4 them and pelted him with rocks, forcing a hasty
theviolenceshowednosignsofabating. July were on a different scale. retreat. Fighting continued for another hour before
Morrissey’sDeadRabbitsgangandothercrews The New-York Daily Tribune dubbed the violence a cease-fire was finally declared, but the actions of
fromtheFivePointsregroupedandreignitedthe ‘civil war in the bloody sixth’ district as they spilled those final moments showed that Rynders’ position
battle again. There was still much to fight for: into the next day. One flashpoint involved another was untenable. Morrissey eventually became
MorrisseyfearedlosinggroundtotheBowery Irishgang,theKerryonians,whointerferedina head of the Sixth Ward and, in 1866, following the
Boys because it would have strengthened the fracas during which 12 men were shot and 40 bloodshed of the American Civil War of 1861 to
pro-Yankee,anti-IrishNativeAmericanPartywith injured. The Metropolitan Police ran into more 1865, ran for Congress and served two terms. He
whichtheysympathised.Forthoseaffiliatedto troubleandtherewereevenrumoursthemilitia put Irish interests at the top of his agenda.

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