The Hole-in-the-Wall was a popular saloon and underworld hangout in what is now the South Street Seaport, Manhattan,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

during the early- to mid-19th century. It has been described as the "most notorious" saloon in New York city during the 19th century. It was one of many

dive bar A dive bar is typically a small, unglamorous, eclectic, old-style drinking establishment with inexpensive drinks; it may feature dim lighting, shabby or dated decor, neon beer signs, packaged beer sales, cash-only service, and a local clientele ...

s and similar establishments in New York's infamous Fourth Ward, located at the corner of Water and Dover Streets. The saloon was owned by "One Armed" Charley Monell and featured notorious female criminals Kate Flannery and Gallus Mag as

bouncers A bouncer (also known as a doorman or door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, stripclubs, casinos, hotels, billiard halls, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, ...

. Both women were employed by Monell as lieutenants in his local criminal organization, which included

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, and the latter woman supposedly kept a collection of human ears which she had bitten off from unruly customers in bar brawls. She displayed these as

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on the bar in pickle jars.

Sadie the Goat Sadie FarrellO'Kane, James M. ''The Crooked Ladder: Gangsters, Ethnicity and the American Dream''. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1994. (pg. 49, 52); (fl. 1869) was an alleged semi- folklorish American criminal, gang leade ...

, the later leader of the Charlton Street Gang, was of the many victims who lost her ear in a brawl with Gallus Mag. Asbury, Herbert. ''The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the New York Underworld''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (pg. 46-48, 58, 298) Batterberry, Michael. ''On the Town in New York: The Landmark History of Eating, Drinking, and Entertainments from the American Revolution to the Food Revolution''. New York: Routledge, 1998. (pg. 105-106) The bar was widely known as "the most vicious resort in the city", with seven murders having occurred in a two-month period, and it was at the saloon in 1855 that a bar room brawl between waterfront thugs Slobbery Jim and Patsy the Barber, both members of the Daybreak Boys, resulted in Patsy's death. Slobbery Jim was forced to flee the city soon after. The ''Hole-in-the-Wall'' was finally closed down by Captain Thomas Woolsey Thorne. According to Richard McDermott, founder of the

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''New York Chronicle'', the ''Hole-in-the-Wall'' may have occupied the present-day site of one of New York's oldest surviving saloons, the Bridge Cafe.

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