William Poole (July 24, 1821 – March 8, 1855), also known as Bill the Butcher, was the leader of the Washington Street Gang, which later became known as the Bowery Boys gang. He was a local leader of the

Know Nothing The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...

political movement in mid-19th-century

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Early life

Poole was born in

Sussex County, New Jersey Sussex County is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. Its county seat is Newton.English descent. In 1832, his family moved to New York City to open a

butcher A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...

shop in Washington Market,

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Poole trained 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. There were rivalries between the fire companies to put fires down in the neighborhood. One of the strategies that Bowery Boys used to ensure that other fire engine companies could not put out the fires was once hearing the alarm sound a Bowery Boy would find the nearest fire hydrant to the fire and flip over an empty barrel over the fire hydrant and sit on the barrel, so it could not be seen or used. The Bowery Boy would sit on the barrel until his own fire engine arrived; however, fights over the fire hydrant would break out, and sometimes the Bowery Boys had no time to actually extinguish the fire.

Personality

William Poole was a large man for the time. He weighed over two hundred pounds and was about six feet tall. He was known for his brutal boxing style: "He was well known as being a notoriously dirty fighter, not averse to biting off noses, gouging out eyeballs, or beating a man to jelly." He fought in many fights that were considered illegal due to the brutality of bare-knuckle boxing. He was also a known skilled knife fighter, as a result of his profession as a butcher. Poole was a known gambler and a heavy drinker. He closed his family's butchery business in the 1850s and opened a drinking saloon, known as the "Bank Exchange".

Street gangs

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, 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 American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

Atlantic Guards The Atlantic Guards were a 19th-century American street gang active in New York City from the 1840s to the 1860s. It was one of the original, and among the most important gangs of the early days of the Bowery, along with the Bowery Boys, America ...

True Blue Americans True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality. True may also refer to: Places * True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States * ...

, and the

Order of the Star-Spangled Guard Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

. These gangs were composed of Nativist

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant In the United States, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants or WASPs are an ethnoreligious group who are the white, upper-class, American Protestant historical elite, typically of British descent. WASPs dominated American society, culture, and polit ...

s who were opposed to enfranchisement of the growing number of

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the Briti ...

refugees from the 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." Poole's gang was located near to the Five Points neighborhood, where many recent

immigrants settled. Five Points was located in what is now

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Aust ...

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

. Waves of Irish- and

German-Americans German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

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 The Dead Rabbits was the name of an Irish American criminal street gang active in Lower Manhattan in the 1830s to 1850s. The Dead Rabbits were so named after a dead rabbit was thrown into the center of the room during a gang meeting, prompting s ...

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." 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.

Political views

William Poole detested the Democratic Party's local

political machine In the politics of representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership co ...

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

, because they accepted and included immigrants as members. Tammany Hall-affiliated

street gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collective ...

s also protected

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 nativist and militantly

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

. 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 Disfranchisement, also called disenfranchisement, or voter disqualification is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing a person exercising the right to vote. D ...

of adopted citizens, and their exclusion from

office An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific ...

, and perpetual war upon the

Catholic religion The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

." 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". The goal was to organize native-born

s to defend and preserve their religion and control of American politics from enfranchised Catholics, Jews, immigrants, and their descendants. Poole was nominated by the Whig party in April 1848 as a candidate for alderman, representing the Sixth Ward. Poole fared poorly in the general election, receiving only 199 votes and tying for last place with his ticket-mate against four other candidates. In February of 1853, Poole was appointed to represent the Sixth Ward on the New York City Board of Education. Bill Poole Tobacco Advertisement Card II

Bill Poole Tobacco Advertisement Card II

Attack at Florence's Hotel

As a well-known gang leader and

pugilist Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

, Poole was frequently involved in fights, brawls, and other confrontations. The ''

New York Daily Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported the following on October 23, 1851:

Dispute with John Morrissey

Poole's arch rival,

John Morrissey John Morrissey (February 12, 1831 – May 1, 1878), also known as Old Smoke, was an Irish American politician, bare-knuckle boxing champion, and criminal. He was born in 1831 in Ireland. His parents moved to New York State when he was a ...

, was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

immigrant and worked for the political machine at

. 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 Yankee Sullivan (born James Ambrose; – 31 May 1856), also known as Frank Murray and James Sullivan, was a bare-knuckle fighter and boxer. He claimed the American bare knuckle heavyweight champion from 1851 to 12 October 1853. When Tom ...

". The results of the boxing match were disputed—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—and Poole was against Morrissey being paid. In 1854 a fight was arranged between Morrissey and Poole, which Poole won.

Shooting and death

Morrissey plotted revenge and on February 25, 1855, recently fired

NYPD The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

patrolman Lewis Baker and Jim Turner, who were allegedly acting as enforcers for Morrissey, shot Poole in the leg and chest at Stanwix Hall, a bar on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

near Prince, at that time a center of the city's nightlife. The ''New York Daily Times'' reported on February 26, 1855 the following: Several days after the shooting, on March 8, 1855, Poole died in his home on

Christopher Street Christopher Street is a street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the continuation of 9th Street west of Sixth Avenue. It is most notable for the Stonewall Inn, which is located on Christopher St ...

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. A local newsman reported Poole's last words were, "Good-bye, boys; I die a true American." He was buried on March 11, 1855 in Brooklyn's

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several blo ...

with thousands of spectators. Lewis Baker fled New York City, with the help of Daniel Kerrigan, a twenty-four year old 1853 Democratic nominee for councilman. Kerrigan was an

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

and expressed sympathy for Baker. The ''Times'' called Kerrigan "one 'of the principle accessories to the murder of Poole and the flight of Baker." Facing an international manhunt organized by Poole's patrons in the Know Nothing Party, Baker boarded the ''Jewett'' and sailed for the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...

. He was intercepted, however, on the high seas on April 17, 1855. Baker was arrested and returned to New York City to be tried for the murder of William Poole. All three trials, however, ended with a

hung jury A hung jury, also called a deadlocked jury, is a judicial jury that cannot agree upon a verdict after extended deliberation and is unable to reach the required unanimity or supermajority. Hung jury usually results in the case being tried again. T ...

and Baker ultimately walked away a free man. Morrissey went on to open up several

Irish pub An Irish pub is an establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. Irish pubs are characterised by a unique culture centred around a casual and friendly atmosphere, hearty food and drink, Irish sports, and ...

s and accumulated a fortune of $1.5 million. He later served two terms as a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

state senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of ...

and two more terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Morrissey died in 1878 and lies buried in a Roman Catholic cemetery in his childhood hometown of

Troy, New York Troy is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County, New York, Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Huds ...

Film

Daniel Day-Lewis Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English retired actor. Often described as one of the preeminent actors of his generation, he received numerous accolades throughout his career which spanned over four decades, incl ...

played a heavily fictionalized version of Bill the Butcher, renamed William Cutting, in the 2002

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

film ''

Gangs of New York ''Gangs of New York'' is a 2002 American epic historical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian and Kenneth Lonergan, based on Herbert Asbury's 1927 book '' The Gangs of New York''. The film stars Le ...

''. The chief differences between the historical Poole and the cinematic "Butcher": while Poole died before the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, the fictional character is still alive and leading his street gang in 1862, and he claims his father was killed by the British at the

Battle of Lundy's Lane The Battle of Lundy's Lane, also known as the Battle of Niagara, was a battle fought on 25 July 1814, during the War of 1812, between an invading American army and a British and Canadian army near present-day Niagara Falls, Ontario. It was one o ...

which took place seven years before he was born. The character is slain in an epic street battle at the end of the film.

References

* Charlton T. Lewis, ''Harper's Book of Facts'', New York, 1906 *

Herbert Asbury Herbert Asbury (September 1, 1891 – February 24, 1963) was an American journalist and writer best known for his books detailing crime during the 19th and early-20th centuries, such as ''Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago U ...

, ''The Gangs of New York'', New York, 1928 * Mark Caldwell, ''New York Night: The Mystique and Its History'', New York, 2005 * Seth F. Abrams and Rose Keefe, ''The Killing of Bill the Butcher: William Poole and the Battle for Old New York'', New York, 2010

Selected coverage in the ''New York Daily Times''

* ''New York Daily Times'', Volume 1, Number 0031, Thursday, October 23, 1851, page 1 "Boxing" * ''New York Daily Times'', Volume 3, Number 0646, Thursday, October 13, 1853, page 1 "hotel" * ''New York Daily Times'', Volume 3, Number 0892, July 28, 1854, page 4 "Boxing teaser" * ''New York Daily Times'', Volume 3, Number 0892, July 28, 1854, page 8 "Boxing" * ''New York Daily Times'', Volume 4, Number 1074, Monday, February 26, 1855, page 1, "Shooting" * ''New York Daily Times'', Volume 4, Number 1084, Friday, March 9, 1855, page 1, "Coroner's Inquest"

Selected coverage in the ''Brooklyn Eagle''

Newspaper article on the murder of William Poole ( Brooklyn Eagle, March 10, 1855)

* ''Brooklyn Eagle'', March 20, 1855, page 2, "The Poole murder" * ''Brooklyn Eagle'', March 20, 1855, page 3, "The death of bully Poole" * ''Brooklyn Eagle'', March 24, 1855, page 3, "Grand jury"

Selected coverage in the ''New York Times''

* ''New York Times'', March 9, 1855, page 1, "The Pugilist's Encounter" * ''New York Times'', March 10, 1855, page 1, "The Death of William Poole" * ''New York Times'', March 12, 1855, page 1, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', March 12, 1855, page 4, "The Funeral of Poole" * ''New York Times'', March 13, 1855, page 1, "The Poole Murder" * ''New York Times'', March 17, 1855, page 1, "The Poole Murder" * ''New York Times'', March 19, 1855, page 1, "The Poole Murder" * ''New York Times'', March 24, 1855, page 3, "The Kissane Trial" * ''New York Times'', April 16, 1855, page 3, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', May 16, 1855; page 1, "Baker Arrested!" * ''New York Times'', May 17, 1855; page 4, "The Poole Murder—What is to come of it?" * ''New York Times'', November 28, 1855, page 7, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', November 29, 1855, page 3, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', December 1, 1855, page 2, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', December 3, 1855, page 2, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', December 4, 1855, page 7, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', December 5, 1855, page 3, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', December 6, 1855, page 2, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', December 7, 1855, page 3, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', December 8, 1855, page 3, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', December 10, 1855, page 2, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', December 11, 1855, page 2, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', December 12, 1855, page 3, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', December 13, 1855, page 7, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy" * ''New York Times'', December 14, 1855, page 1, "The Stanwix Hall Tragedy"

External links

Bill Poole - American National BiographyWilliam Poole bibliographyNY Press: William Poole
*
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) {{DEFAULTSORT:Poole, William People from Sussex County, New Jersey Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Deaths by firearm in Manhattan American people of English descent 1821 births 1855 deaths American political bosses from New York (state) New York (state) Know Nothings 19th-century American politicians Murdered American gangsters People murdered in New York City Male murder victims Deaths from pneumonia in New York City