Stories
Early Characters
A night with the Whyo’s
The Whyo's gang were described by journalists as one of the worst to have ever infested the city of New York. Founded in the late 1800's, they ruled the old Five Points neighborhood, the 4th & 6th wards with a reign of terror from 1860 to 1890, their call Why-ooo,...
The Hudson Dusters
The Hudson Dusters were a street gang that were founded in the late 1890s by “Circular Jack”, “Kid Yorke”, and Francis “Goo Goo" Knox, the gang began operating from an apartment house on Hudson Street. Goo Goo Knox, a former and noted member of the Gopher Gang who...
The Water Street Revival
Water Street was originally located on the waterfront in the 4th Ward on the Lower East Side which is now the Financial District today. “For at least twenty-five years, Water Street was probably the scene of more violent crime than any other street on the continent.”...
Corcoran’s Roost
Corcorans Roost was a neighborhood the East Side of Manhattan, today its known as Tudor City. Named after James "Paddy" Corcoran a plaque hangs on the spot where Corcorans Roost stood. James Corcoran was was born in Ireland in 1819 in...
The Bloody Maxwell District Chicago
For about a hundred years, the Maxwell Street District or better known as Bloody Maxwell on the Near West Side of Chicago, was the toughest neighborhood in town from the 1850s through the 1950s. Named after Dr. Philip Maxwell, who had served in the military, was the...
Theodore Allen – The Allen
Theodore Allen, or known as The Allen, was an American gambler, political organizer, saloon keeper and head of a criminal family in New York City during the mid-to late 19th century. Born in Syracuse in New York to well to do & deeply religious parents in 1823, he...
The Horseshoe Section – Jersey City, New Jersey
The “Horse-Shoe” section in Jersey City’s old Second Ward was an area of tenements and railroad yards and a bar on almost every corner. It was called the Horseshoe because its curved shape. Immigrants and sons of immigrants who were...
The Vandeleur Evictions
One of the most famous evictions took place in July, 1888, on the Vandeleur Estate near Kilrush, Co. Clare. Photographs from the evictions are held at the National Library of Ireland and the Clare County Library. The photos were not taken by locals but by tourists...
The Tweed Ring
The Tweed Ring was a small group of people lead by William Marcy "Boss" Tweed who briefly ruled the Gilded Age of New York, through Tammany Hall until the 1870's. The Tweed Ring controlled New York City using fraud, bribery, and kickbacks to pocket massive amounts of...