The sun., 1919-07-27


dows in all directions and men ran
wildly about brandishing firearms
Wounded men lay on the sidewalks
and were trampled upon. The bellig-
erents were mostly young men and as
they came more closely together those
acquainted with the feuds of the dis
trict discovered that the rioters were
the Bowery Boys and the Dead Rab-
bits or Mulberry street crowd.
Now the Rabbits would make a
combined rush and force their antago-
nists up Bayard street to the Bowery
Then the fugitives, being REINFORCED,
would turn on their pursuers and COM
pei retreat to Mulberry, Elizabeth
and even to Baxter street. This lasted
for half an hour, when twenty-five
Metropolitan Police came on the scene,
and although assailed from every side
and at every step from alleys and roofs
broke into one Of the houses and cap
tured two of the gangsters on the
roof"
Streets Barricaded with Carts.
But the entrance of the police into
the battle only brought a breathing
spell. No sooner had they left with
their prisoners than the fight was re-
newed. The rival gangs heaped up
barricades of carts in the streets and
from behind these defenoes they shot
and hurled bricks and stones and
used their clubs. 1t is related that
one giant gangster of the Dead Rab-
bits walked coolly UP and down some
thirty feet in front of his barricade,
-. III. Al
ing bricks that caused many a broken
head. He was finally knocked sense
less by small boy whose brother was
fighting with the Bowery Boys. This
lad crept up on hands and knees, keep
ing out of sight of the big gangster.
and when he got close enough hurled
a big stone which struck the Goliath
of gangland on the head.
AS a result of the battle eight men
were killed and more than forty were
taken to the hospital. Two or three
days later all of the newspapers were
requested by the Dead Rabbits to state
that the members of that gang were
not thieves and that they did not par
ticipate in the riot. On the contrary
the Dead Rabbits said that they cele-
brated the Fourth in a lawful and
proper manner and that the fighting
was between the Atlantic Guards and
the Roach Guards of Mulberry street.
All OF the best available records, how
ever, declare that the Dead Rabbits
were in the battle and that they did
their share of killing and manning. In
all likelihood the battle was a general
gang fight in which members of prac-
tlcally all the gangs of the city took
part because the gangster in those
days was not as cowardly as he OF
recent years and as a rule would not
only stand up and fight but would go
70 a great deal of trouble to find fight.
II he happened to find private battle
he Immediately made it a public one.
sharkey's Escape From Tombs.
No story of the old time gangs of
New York would be complete without
mention Of William ]. Sharkey and
his escape from the Tombs. around
which considerable fiction and many
plays have been written. Sharkey was
a gangster of renown, the head OF a
crowd called the Sharkey Guards, and
a man who occupied much the same
position in gangland of his day as such
notables as Kid Twist and Monk East
man occupied in later years. His
period was in the late SOS and '70s.
and his gang had headquarters at
Wooster and Houston streets.
Sharkey kept a small gambling
house in New York for a long time,
and made a great deal of money.
Soon. however, he got the idea that
To no ha Ia, Q,,f
falo, so he went there and started a
place. But he had bad luck and came
back several thousand dollars out of
pocket. Later he sent one of his gang
licutenants, Robert. S. Dunn, also
known as Bob Isaacs, to Buffalo with
$500 to open a gambling house. Dunn
lest the money and came back TO New
York, and shortly after that Sharkey
met him at The Place, notorious dive
in 2SS HoustSal street.
"Give me back my money!" de-
manded Sharkey.
I'm broke" replied Dunn "I
haven't any money at ALL"
sharkey drew a revolver and shot
Dunn through the head. The gang
leader escaped but was captured and
sentenced to be hanged. He escaped.
however with the aid of his sweet
heart. Maggie Jourdan. This woman
came to visit him in the Tombs one
afternoon, and Sharkey walked calmly
past the keepers clad in a woman's
dress that she had brought with her.
4 reward of $500 was offered for his
arrest, but he was never found. He
was reported to have lived for a long
time in Cuba, and the last rumor that
came in about him said he had left
Cuba for Spain. That was many
years ago.
As bands of organized criminals the
gangs do not appear to have done a
great deal between the time OF
Sharkey, or a few years afterward, and
the late SOS and early '90s. Not that
there were no gangs then. There
we're about as many then as there ever
had been. but they do not seem TO
have been so active. They were used
mostly around election times, in their
usual capacity of repeaters and strong
arm men. but between elections they
devoted themselves to stealing and an
occasional murder. About that time.
too, the cleanup of Five Polnts-not
including the Bowery and Chinatown
which began with the erection of
the Five Points Mission as far back as
1852, got going IN dead earnest, and
the gangs and gangsters were driven