William Poole: Difference between revisions

{{about|redirect-distinguish|Bill the ''TheButcher|Butcher Boys'' character similarly nicknamed "Billy|Billy theButcher|William Butcher"|BillyWill Butcher}}

| name = William Poole

| image = Bill Poole.jpg

| image_size = 275px

| caption = An 1888 engraving of Poole

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1821|7|24|mf=y}}

| birth_place = [[Sussex County, New Jersey|Sussex County]], [[New Jersey]], United States

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1855|3|8|1821|7|24|mf=y}}

| death_place = [[Manhattan]], [[New York (state)|New York]]<!-- NYC did not exist before 1898 -->

| death_cause = [[Murder]] by [[gunshot]]

| resting_place = [[Green-Wood Cemetery]], [[Kings County, New York]]

| nationality = American

| other_names = Bill the Butcher

| occupation = Butcher, fireman, criminal gang leader, politician

| known_for = [[Nativism (politics)|Nativism]], was a [[Bare-knuckle boxing|pugilist]] and leader of the [[Bowery Boys (gang)|Bowery Boys]], a street gang of [[Know Nothings]] and volunteer firemen; murdered by supporters of his political rival, [[John Morrissey]] of [[Tammany Hall]]

| name = Washington Street Gang

| founding location = [[Washington Market Park|Washington Market]], [[Manhattan]]<!-- NYC did not exist before 1898 -->

| founded by = William "Bill the Butcher" Poole

| years active = 1840s

| territory = Washington Market, Manhattan<!-- NYC did not exist before 1898 -->

| ethnic makeup = [[English Americans|English American]]

| membership est = ?

| rivals = =

| name = Bowery Boys

| founding location = [[Bowery]], [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]]

| founded by = William "Bill the Butcher" Poole

| years active = midMid-19th century

| territory = Bowery, Manhattan, New York City

| ethnic makeup = Non-Irish, [[European Americans|European American]]

| membership est = ?

| rivals = [[Dead Rabbits]], [[Plug Uglies]]

| filename = The Funeral of Poole from The NY Times, March 12, 1855 - read by loubet for LibriVox (2011).ogg

| title = {{center|''The Funeral of Poole from The NY Times, March 12, 1855''}}

| pos = right

| type = speech
}}

Poole was born in [[Sussex County, New Jersey]], to parents of [[English American|English descent]].<ref>[http://herbertasbury.com/billthebutcher/billp.asp] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825213036/http://herbertasbury.com/billthebutcher/billp.asp# |date=2007-08-25 }} Herbert Asbury website</ref> In 1832, his family moved to New York City to open a [[butcher]] shop in [[Washington Market Park|Washington Market]], [[Manhattan]]. Poole trainedbecame skilled in his father's trade and eventually took over the family store. In the 1840s, he worked with the Howard (Red Rover) Volunteer Fire Engine Company #34, on Hudson and Christopher Streets, and started the Washington Street Gang which later became the Bowery Boys. During this period in New York, fires were a huge problem for the city. Volunteer fire groups, such as the one Poole was in, were important for keeping fires under control. These firefighting groups were closely tied with street gangs, and were seen as a public service provided by those groups. ThereThroughout werethe rivalriesyears there was an ongoing rivalry between thegangs fireover companieswho towould putbe firesthe downone into extinguish the neighborhoodfire. OneThere ofbegan thea strategiescommon strategy that the Bowery Boys usedutilized to ensure that other fire engine companies could not put out the fires. was onceUpon hearing the alarm sound indicating that a fire had broken out, a member of the Bowery BoyBoys would find the nearest fire hydrant. toHe thewould firethen andproceed to flip over an empty barrel overupon the fire hydrant and sit on the barrel, so it could not be seen or used. The Bowery BoyBoys would sit on the barrel until his own fire engine arrived;. however, fightsFights over the fire hydranthydrants would break out, and sometimesoften the Bowery Boys had no time to actually extinguish the fire.<ref name=":1" />

Street gangs in New York were fluid in their membership and name as they merged and found new leaders. The most well-known of these was the [[Bowery Boys (gang)|Bowery Boys]], which Poole formed from his own Washington Street gang and a collection of many other street gangs. Other key gangs incorporated into the Bowery Boys were the [[American Guards]], [[Atlantic Guards]], [[True Blue Americans]], and the [[Order of the Star-Spangled Guard]]. These gangs were composed of Nativistnativist [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestant]]s who were opposed to enfranchisement of the growing number of [[Irish Catholic]] refugees from the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]]. Street gangs, like the Bowery Boys, "were bound by ethnic ties or nativist belief; the members tended to be deeply patriotic, and a common thread was the belief that the country was pretty well full, so that newcomers were not welcomed."<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld|last=Asbury|first=Herbert|publisher=Vintage Books|year=1927|location=New York|pages=29}}</ref> Poole's gang was located near to the [[Five Points, Manhattan|Five Points]] neighborhood, where many recent [[Irish Catholic]] immigrants settled. Five Points was located in what is now [[Chinatown, Manhattan|Chinatown]] in [[Lower Manhattan]]. Waves of [[Irish-Americans|Irish-]] and [[German-Americans]] moved into the Five Points as their first stop on the way to the [[American dream]]. In response to attacks by Poole and his followers, the Irish created their own street gangs. The [[Dead Rabbits]] were an Irish-membership gang and the biggest rival of Poole's Bowery Boys. Much of the hatred between the two gangs was based on racial and religious differences. "For years the Bowery Boys and the Dead Rabbits waged a bitter feud, and a week seldom passed in which they did not come to blows, either along the Bowery, in the Five Points section."<ref name=":1" /> Both gangs were primarily brawlers and street fighters, another reason why William Poole was a well-known fighter, and most of their battling was done in open spaces. Poole made many alliances with other street gangs that supported his ideology.

William Poole detested the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]'s local [[political machine]], [[Tammany Hall]], because they accepted and included immigrants as members. Tammany Hall-affiliated [[street gang]]s also protected [[Irish Catholic]]s from Poole's Bowery Boys, whom he sent to terrorize immigrants and keep them from registering to vote. Poole and the Bowery Boys were a de facto extension of the [[Know Nothings]], a [[nativism (politics)|nativist]] and militantly [[Anti-Catholicism in the United States|anti-Catholic]] [[political party]]. According to the ''New Orleans True Delta'', the purpose of the Know Nothings was "twofold – part religious, part political; and the ends aimed at the [[disenfranchisement]] of [[naturalization|adopted citizens]], and their exclusion from [[political office|office]], and perpetual war upon the [[Roman Catholicism|Catholic religion]]."<ref name=":0" /> Originally, the Know Nothings were known as the Native American Party, but changed their name in 1855. Members of the Know Nothing Party had to "be a native-born citizen, of native-born parents, and not of the Catholic religion".<ref name=":0" /> The goal was to organize native-born [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestant]]s to defend and preserve their religion and control of American politics from enfranchised Catholics, [[Jewish American|Jews]], [[immigration to the United States |immigrants,]] and their descendants.

Poole was nominated by the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig party]] in April 1848 as a candidate for [[alderman]], representing the Sixth Ward.<ref>{{Cite web|title=11 Apr 1848, Page 2 - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle at Newspapers.com|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/50331157/?terms=%22William%20Poole%22&match=1|access-date=2021-06-27|website=Newspapers.com|language=en}}</ref> Poole fared poorly in the general election, receiving only 199 votes and tying for last place with his ticket-mate against four other candidates.<ref>{{Cite web|title=13 Apr 1848, Page 2 - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle at Newspapers.com|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/50331174/?terms=%22William%20Poole%22&match=1|access-date=2021-06-27|website=Newspapers.com|language=en}}</ref>

Poole's arch rival, [[John Morrissey]], was an [[Irish people|Irish]] immigrant and worked for the political machine at [[Tammany Hall]]. Morrissey was also a popular bare-knuckle boxer and challenged Poole to a match. Though the two men were of differing ethnic backgrounds and political parties, the initial grounds for their dispute may have arisen from an earlier bet by Poole on a boxing match at [[Boston Corners]] on October 12, 1853, in which Poole had placed his bet on Morrissey's opponent, "[[Yankee Sullivan]]". The results of the boxing match were disputed&mdash;Sullivan beat Morrisey but was then distracted into leaving the ring by Morrisey's friends and the referee announced Morrisey winner for being in the ring&mdash;and Poole was against Morrissey being paid. In 1854 a fight was arranged between Morrissey and Poole, which Poole won.<ref name="The Lancaster Ledger 9 August 1854">{{cite news |title=Prize Fight in New York |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026900/1854-08-09/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1854&index=0&rows=20&words=Morrissey+Poole&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1854&proxtext=poole+morrissey&y=6&x=17&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 |access-date=28 November 2018 |work=The Lancaster Ledger |agency=Library of Congress |date=9 August 1854|page=2}}</ref>

Morrissey plotted revenge and on February 25, 1855, recently -fired [[NYPD]] patrolman [[Lew Baker|Lewis Baker]] and [[Jim Turner (criminal)|Jim Turner]], who were allegedly acting as enforcers for Morrissey, shot Poole in the leg and chest at Stanwix Hall, a bar on [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] near Prince, at that time a center of the city's nightlife.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Duke |first1=Thomas Samuel |chapter=THE MURDER OF PUGILIST BILL POOLE IN NEW YORK. (From Sutton's History of New York Tombs.) |pages=593–594 |title=Celebrated Criminal Cases of America |date=1910 |publisher=James H. Barry Company |location=San Francisco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pkQ37-_VMpQC |oclc=3811019 |language=en |quote=By Thomas Samuel Duke, Captain of Police, San Francisco; Published with Approval of the Honorable Board of Police Commissioners of San Francisco, 1910. (Public Domain Free Download)}} <!-- https://books.google.com/books?id=M1ocAAAAMAAJ https://www.historicalcrimedetective.com/ccca/ https://archive.org/details/celebratedcrimi00dukegoog --> </ref> The ''New York Daily Times'' reported on February 26, 1855, the following:

[[File:Murder of Bill Poole – Stanwix Hall.jpg|600px|center|thumb|Illustration of Bill Poole's murder in George W. Walling's "Recollections of a New York Chief of Police" (1887).]]

{{quote|Terrible Shooting Affray in Broadway – Bill Poole Fatally Wounded – The Morrissey and Poole Feud – Renewal of Hostilities – Several Persons Severely Wounded. Broadway, in the vicinity of Prince and Houston Streets, was the scene of an exciting shooting affair about 1 o'clock yesterday morning, which is but a repetition of a similar occurrence that transpired a few weeks ago under Wallack's Theatre between Tom Hyer, Lewis Baker, Jim Turner and several other noted pugilists...

Several days after the shooting, on March 8, 1855, Poole died in his home on [[Christopher Street]] at the age of 33. Poole was survived by his wife and son, Charles Poole. The war between Poole and Morrissey had been very public and ''The New York Times'' covered the events of Stanwix Hall almost every day for a month. AOne local newsman reported Poole's last words were, "Good-bye, boys; I die a true American.," although the [[New York Evening Post]], quoting an unnamed man who was at Poole's bedside when he died, reported that his last words named Morrissey as his killer. <ref>New York Evening Post, March 8, 1855</ref> <ref name=":0" /> He was buried on March 11, 1855, in Brooklyn's [[Green-Wood Cemetery]] with thousands of spectators.

[[Daniel Day-Lewis]] played a heavily fictionalized version of Bill the Butcher, renamed William Cutting, in the 2002 [[Martin Scorsese]] film ''[[Gangs of New York]]''. TheDay-Lewis chiefreceived differences between the historical Poole and the cinematic "Butcher": while Poole died before thean [[AmericanAcademy CivilAward War|Civilfor WarBest Actor]], thenomination fictional character is still alive and leadingfor his street gang in 1862, and he claims his father was killed by the British at the [[Battle of Lundy's Lane]] which took place seven years before he was born. The character is slain in an epic street battle at the end of the filmperformance.

*[http://richard.arthur.norton.googlepages.com/williampoole William Poole bibliography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628101111/http://richard.arthur.norton.googlepages.com/williampoole |date=2009-06-28 }}

*[httphttps://searchwww.proquest.com/docview/95880162/abstract/C3725EC935A34994PQ/ Article From New York Times] reporting February 26, 1855, on the shooting of Bill Poole at Stanwix Hall on Broadway in NYC (requires user account)