Annotated Bibliography Dickens, Charles. “American Notes for General Circulation …” Gutenberg Project. Accessed November 7, 2016. http://www.gutenberg.org/zipcat2.php/675/675-h/675-h.htm. This is a book written by Charles Dickens in the mid-19th century which details his experiences and observations on his trip to America. He wrote about Five Points extensively, and I will use …
Category: Gangs of New York (19th Century)
The Tombs
Out of all the rioting, the police were noted to “having made only two prisoners whom they carried to the Tombs.” The Tombs is the nickname for City Prison, and was named after its architecture which is based off an Egyptian mausoleum. It lies on top of what was Collect Pond, and extended …
“No More Rioting”
The end of the Fourth of July riots came as a relief not only for the people who were afraid to leave their homes, but also for Mayor Wood. The last day of the riots was described in a front page spread by the New York Times: “At 7 o’clock a party came down from the …
Morrisey and Poole
John Morrissey and William “Bill the Butcher” Poole were the heads of their respective gangs, the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys. Morrissey, an Irishman, was affiliated with Tammany Hall while Poole was an enforcer for the Know-Nothing party, a nativist organization that was against the influx of Catholic immigrants. Their rivalry came to a …
“Bayard is a hard street to travel”
The Fourth of July Riots made such an impact on the city, bands such as the Saugerties band from Hoboken, wrote a song detailing the fight, referencing the “Bloody Sixth Ward.” The extent to which gang life was part of the culture of New York City is evident in the fact that their exploits made …
Bowery Boys and Dead Rabbits
On the night of July 4th, 1857 tensions between the Bowery Boys and Dead Rabbits culminated in a bang, starting a two day long riot that would captive the city. The New York Times described the scene: “a crowd of young vagabonds from Cow Bay and the neighborhood proceeded to the Bowery, at Nos. 40 …
Five Points – Paradise Square
“All that is loathsome, dropping and decayed is here” is the description Charles Dickens wrote in 1842 about Five Points. As you walk in the Civil Center of New York City today, you are surrounded by giant Classical structures, whose pillars and steps lead into court rooms of New York City. Further north is Columbus …