Movies, photos, posters, and literature - What objects define Irish America?

Billy the Kid

For celebrated writer Pete Hamill, you have to include a photo of Billy the Kid, “an Irish American from the Five Points who took Horace Greeley's advice and  went west.” 

For New York Times columnist Dan Barry, you must include movie posters from the  many 1930s films which focused on Irish American life, such as Angles with Dirty  Faces, The Roaring Twenties and The Fighting 69th.  

And to novelist Peter Quinn, an ironworker’s gloves and Eugene O’Neill’s desk are too important to ignore. 

Two weeks ago I wrote a column noting that there is worldwide interest these  days in trying to tell the story of a culture through a handful of physical objects.  

From Ireland to the U.K. to America, books have been written, museum  exhibits established and debates held over how certain objects can define a  culture. 

So I asked the question -- what objects define Irish America?  Boy, did I get a  lot of answers. 

Aside from Billy the Kid, Hamill, whose parents came from Belfast, suggested copies of sheet music written for the Irish in America, highlighting  tunes such as "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen."  

Hamill also suggested Jimmy  Cagney movie posters, tickets stubs from a John McCormack concert, Thomas Nast’s  infamous anti-Irish cartoons and Mike Quill’s Transit Workers Union I.D. card.   

Campaign buttons from Al Smith and JFK, the covers of James T. Farrell’s Studs Lonigan books, a Pogo comic strip by Walt Kelly, a photo of gangster Owney  Madden and (of course) press credentials from great Irish American journalists  were other items Hamill (quite a journalist himself) suggested. 

Gene Kelly

Quinn, author of Banished Children of Eve and Looking for Jimmy, suggested the following -- a grand marshal's sash from the Fifth Avenue St. Patrick's Day Parade, "Wild Bill" Donovan's Congressional Medal of Honor (housed in the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue), the banner of the Irish Brigade, a bucket and scrub brush, O'Neill's desk, a nun's habit, sheet music from Harrigan and Hart, ironworker's gloves, a union pin (“or the sash my grandfather wore to lead the 1904 New York City Labor Day parade”), Gene Kelly's dancing shoes, the cap James Cagney wore in Yankee Doodle Dandy, a First Communion boy's arm band/girl's dress, a shovel or spade, Grace Kelly's riding outfit from Philadelphia Story, a fireman's helmet, Bing Crosby's bow tie, a bottle shard from the Five Points, a cop's billy club and (finally) Legs Diamond's pistol. 

It wasn’t just ink-stained wretches like Hamill and Quinn who responded. Reader Damian McShane of the Bronx, responding through Facebook, suggested a fight poster of famous boxer John L. Sullivan as well as Congressman Tip O’Neill's gavel. 

Maureen Duffy, of Salt Lake City, added, “You would of course need to find one of the signs that my great-grandfather and great-uncles saw again and again when looking for work in New York and Connecticut in the 1860's -- the signs that said Help Wanted: No Irish Need Apply. 

“And then, of course, there's the police van  which became termed (and still is) the ‘Paddywagon’ from its use in, supposedly,  picking up drunk and fighting Irishmen from the streets of New York and  depositing them in the ‘clink’ or ‘pokey’ (which are both slang phrases used by  the Irish designating gaol).” 

New York Times columnist Barry also wanted Irish American pop culture represented.  

“I would suggest something from George M. Cohan -- some sheet  music, perhaps. I know there's a statue of Cohan in the Fox Point section of  Providence, at the top of Wickenden Street. 

'Yankee Doodle Dandy' ad which starred James Cagney

“You might also consider a Warner  Brothers movie from the 1930s, one that captures that New York Irish  sensibility. There are plenty, whether gangster or military, starring Jimmy  Cagney, Pat O'Brien, and Frank McHugh. The Fighting 69th, Angels With Dirty  Faces, The Roaring Twenties.” 

Tom Murphy, who heads up the retirees chapter of the United Federation of Teachers (and also happens to be my cousin), suggested a host of more domestic  items, such as front door holy water fonts, lace curtains, St. Patrick’s Day  cards, women's tam-o-shanters and scarves, rosary beads/scapulars/crucifix, a  racing form or OTB ticket or the Irish Sweepstake receipt and prayer cards from  wakes.  

Murphy also suggested a voting booth, a photo of JFK, a Cead Mile Failte  plaque and (finally) last year’s palms, to be burned to ashes. 

Historian and author Thomas Fleming appreciated a suggestion I made two weeks  ago -- a copy of a famous book by Cotton Mather, which mentions the execution of Irish Catholic immigrant and accused witch Goody Glover, whose religion and  ethnicity made her a target. 

“In the tradition of Goody Glover,” Fleming wrote, “I'd suggest a picture of  Lyman Beecher, father of Harriet B. Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher. He crusaded  for decades against the Catholic (mostly Irish) menace. 

“He's got a face that emanates prejudice, a sort of permanent scowl.” 

Former Irish Voice reporter Georgina Brennan, replying from Ireland, wanted to  highlight Irish music. 

"A copy of McNally's Row of Flats by Mick Maloney, which contains some of the  best Irish children’s songs long, long ago forgotten." Readers Dick and Kit Wheatley also had music on their minds, reserving a special  place for the pipes played at funerals and any songs which long for “home.” 

Author and historian Kevin Baker went back to the 19th century, saying any story  of the Irish in the U.S. could not be told without a Union army field cap from  the Civil War or a banner representing the San Patricios, who fought on the side of Mexico in the Mexican-American war. 

Baker also suggested, “A growler, with which to talk about the constant, disastrous attempts by the codfish aristocracy to ‘tame’ the Irish through  temperance. A pair of tap shoes, Dagger John Hughes’ clerical robes, the  rusty-colored old priest’s frock Francis Cardinal Spellman liked to wear when he was pretending to be a simple country prelate around The Powerhouse and, finally, the spikes of Mike “King” Kelly, the first real Irish, team-sport  superstar.” 

Matt Patterson, a dentist working on the Duffy’s Cut archaeological project in  Pennsylvania, said we should “include a piece of railroad track and an item from a canal boat or mule harness that pulled canal boats.  

“The Irish built the  Eastern railroads and canals, and the Duffy’s Cut Project historians say that  for every mile of railroad and canal in this country, there's a dead Irishman.”

Reader Michael Brennan also had Pennsylvania on his mind. He suggested “company ‘money’ paid to the Irish in the Pennsylvania coal fields, good at the company store or bar but not the train station.”

Irish Brigade Civil War banners (from the North and South), a nun with a ruler  in her hand and a film clip showing George M. Cohan, played by Cagney, in  Yankee Doodle Dandy were also important to Brennan. 

What’s clear from all of this is that the story of the Irish in America is a  rich and diverse one.  

Gathering all of these artifacts would be quite a task.  Then again, compared to surviving in the U.S., it doesn’t seem so daunting.  

(Contact “Sidewalks” at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan) 

Liberal attack on Mitt Romney is wrong - Larry O'Donnell attacks the Mormon faith

Lawrence O’Donnell

Liberals love to say that right wingers hijack religion and exploit it for political purposes. Maybe.  But liberals also made it very easy to do so.

For a group of people who – rightly – like to take credit for defending people’s rights, liberals still have a blind spot when it comes to religion in general and Christians in particular.  This is particularly troubling because the liberal Christian tradition in America is so strong.

The latest lefty to fall into this trap is Irish American MSNBC talk show host Lawrence O’Donnell.

Last month, O’Donnell, who once worked as a close aide to sainted Irish American Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan, was doing what liberal talk show hosts always do -- bashing Mitt Romney.

Nothing wrong with that.  In fact, Romney’s charge that Barack Obama is trying to “establish a religion in America known as secularism” is desperately in need of correction.

But what did O’Donnell do?  Instead of taking Romney to task for wildly exaggerating Obama’s dedication to an anti-religious agenda, O’Donnell went after the Mormon faith.

“Religiously, Mitt Romney lives in the glass house of American politics,” he said.

O’Donnell then added, “Mormonism was created by a guy in upstate New York in 1830 when he got caught having sex with the maid and explained to his wife that God told him to do it. Forty-eight wives later, Joseph Smith’s lifestyle was completely sanctified in the religion he invented to go with it, which Mitt Romney says he believes.”

First of all, as O’Donnell later admitted in an apology, this is inaccurate.  Most scholars believe Smith had his religious awakening prior to the scandal involving the maid.

But that is far from the most important point here.  Irish Catholics, in particular, should be quite wary of pointing out the peculiarities in a given religion as proof that a candidate is somehow unfit for office.

After all, O’Donnell used to work with Moynihan, who was not only a senator but a first-rate scholar of the kind of bigotry Irish Catholics faced as they climbed the social ladder in America.  More than that, Moynihan worked for the first Catholic president!

Lord knows, back in 1960 many people said things like this, “John F. Kennedy believes in a religion led by a guy who wears a funny hat, who never gets married, and claims to be infallible.  They also decided that it’s OK to eat meat on Thursdays and Saturdays, but not Fridays.  They also put ashes on their foreheads once a year.”

Every religion is open to criticism such as this. Which is why O’Donnell should not have attacked Romney the Mormon.

Instead, he should have attacked Romney the Republican.  Or Romney, the exploiter of religious fear, which is what the Republican candidate was doing by implying that Obama -- who many

Republicans still believe is a Muslim -- holds anti-religious views.

Yes, it is true that O’Donnell ultimately apologized, but it really never should have come to that.  There have been countless times where people on the left side of the political spectrum, who show respect and stand up for the rights of Jews and Muslims and atheists, nevertheless bungle the matter when it comes to Christians of varying stripes.

The reasons are obvious.  Liberals tend to view conservative Catholics and Protestants as part of the power structure.

And, since they are in favor of taking on the power structure, liberals generally believe they are acting
bravely when they tackle issues cherished by religious conservatives.

But there are some problems here.  First of all, in the case of Romney, he is, by every definition, a member of a religious minority.

To slam aspects of his faith, but then give others a free pass -- like, say, all those Democrats who call themselves Catholic but support abortion and the death penalty -- is unfair.

More importantly, liberals and their inability to debate religion well have created a truly bizarre scenario -- Christians who feel persecuted in the United States!

Yes, we have this state of affairs partly because right wingers are so savvy at exploiting this.

But they’d have nothing to exploit if O’Donnell and his colleagues didn’t consistently make such blunders.

If attacking Romney the Mormon is the Democratic plan for success in November, it’s going to be a long campaign.

(Contact “Sidewalks” at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan.)

What objects define Irish America - defining a culture through a handful of physical items

President John F Kennedy

It is all the rage to attempt to define an entire culture through a handful of physical objects. 

Late last year, the American edition of the British book A History of the World in 100 Objects was published, following a hugely successful exhibition at the British Museum.

Similarly, acclaimed commentator Fintan O’Toole has been telling the history of Ireland in 100 objects, in conjunction with the National Museum of Ireland. 

O’Toole has cited a wide range of objects going back centuries, from a Mesolithic fish trap (5000 B.C.) to coins from the 1200s and 1400s.

All of this begs the question -- if we were going to try and tell the story of the Irish in America, what kind of objects could we look at?

This would be a vast undertaking which would require much more space than this single column.  It would also require the collective brainpower of most, if not all, of the 40 million Americans who claim Irish heritage. 

Please make your own suggestions.  (See contact information below)  Here are some of my own:

1) A copy of Cotton Mather’s 1689 book Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions. It seems downright treasonous to use such a fiercely Protestant book to tell the story of a heavily Catholic people, but that, of course, is the point. 

Mather’s book gives an account of the persecution of one Goodwife “Goody” Glover, an immigrant and devout Catholic who spoke the Irish language.  This did not help her when she was targeted as a witch, when four of her children fell ill.  She spoke Irish on the witness stand and was eventually hanged. 

Mather’s account is a harbinger of all of the trouble the Irish would face in New World in the coming centuries.

2) Along the same lines, I would also include George Templeton Strong’s diaries from the middle 19th Century. 

Though a rabid bigot, Strong’s account of the New York City Draft Riots and other key events during the heaviest periods of Irish immigration are invaluable.

3) Buttons, a pipe, a beer bottle, a bone tooth brush, pottery and more have been excavated by archaeologists digging at the site of the former Seneca Village in Central Park.  Located at 85th Street and Central Park West, Seneca Village was destroyed to make way for the famed park. 

Before that it was home to Irish immigrants as well as many African Americans.  The simple objects, and the diversity of the inhabitants, show that different people in New York City were not always at each other’s throats. 

The destruction of their homes also shows that life was never easy for an immigrant, even after you believed you’d found a new place to live.

4) A collector of political memorabilia recently spent $106 for a 7-inch ribbon from 1928 which reads: “Tammany Hall: Smith and Walker.”

In terms of saying a lot in just a few words, this artifact is priceless.  Tammany Hall, for all its corruption, nurtured Irish American political power for nearly a century. 

Al Smith, that rare creature, a loyal Tammany Man untainted by corruption, ran for president in 1928.  He faced a wave of bigotry led by the resurgent Ku Klux Klan. 

And Jimmy Walker?  Well, the playboy mayor of New York proved every stereotype about Tammany politicians true.  At least he also showed that not all Catholics were disturbed by adultery.

5) Irish-born sculptor Augusts Saint Gaudens statue of Abraham Lincoln in Chicago’s Lincoln Park.  This shows not only a great (and very American) cultural contribution by a prominent Irish artist, but also would lead to discussion about the very complex relationship the Irish had with perhaps the greatest U.S. president.

6) A membership list from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).  Since there is no ignoring the Catholic element of the Irish story in America, there is also no way to ignore the revelations of the last 15 years or so.

7) JFK’s top hat.  There is such a glut of Kennedy stuff, ranging from the tragic to the sentimental.  The hat he wore on inauguration day in 1961 (housed at the JFK Library in Boston) strikes me as perfectly playful, and, no, not particularly Irish.  Which means the poet Robert Frost was right to tell the president he should be “more Irish than Harvard.”

What objects do you believe represent Irish America?  Write your suggestions to  tomdeignan@earthlink.net.

State rights and wrongs on immigration- know-nothing laws and shrivelling economies

John Kavanagh

On June 24, 1875, the steamship Ethiopia sailed into New York harbor, after a long journey from Glasgow, Scotland.  Little is known about the ship’s passengers, other than the fact that many were looking to start new lives in New York or other states, or perhaps even Canada. 

Suffice to say, the odds that there were Irish passengers on board the Ethiopia are very high.

After all, the Irish had been coming in great numbers to thriving ports for many reasons, one of them being that cities from New York to Boston to New Orleans had established systems for accepting (and sometimes rejecting) immigrants. 

And while they had to deal with problems created by immigration – from crime to rabid nativist movements – they also reaped the benefits and became thriving, first-class cities.

The ship masters of the Ethiopia well knew that once they docked in New York, they were required, by local laws, to report the name, birthplace, last residence and occupation of every emigrant on board the ship.  They also had to pay a fee for each emigrant, or issue a bond, which could hold the ship masters financially responsible for the emigrants down the road.

The ship masters were fed up with this system.  So they took the mayor of New York City to court.

Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided that the hodge-podge of local statutes which made up American immigration law were unconstitutional. 

Following the decision in Henderson vs. the Mayor of the City of New York, states would no longer oversee immigration law.  Instead, the federal government was now in charge.

Now, we may be turning back the clock.  Hostility towards the federal government is fierce.  Immigration may be another issue that falls under a renewed “states' rights” movement.
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To those states – and anti-immigrant activists – hoping to relieve the federal government of its duties related to immigration, I would say this -- be careful what you wish for.

This week, the Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments about Arizona’s infamous immigration laws, which, among other things, empower local police officers to inquire about a person’s immigration status and detain those suspected of being undocumented.

The Obama administration has criticized the laws.  A supporter of the Arizona laws is an Irish American, a Queens-born, former Port Authority cop turned Arizona lawmaker named John Kavanagh.

Let’s forget, for a moment, whether or not Irish Americans in general should be more supportive of a sane, tolerant immigration policy, given their own history in this country.  When asked where his own people came from, Kavanagh – and many like him – proudly say two things: “from Ireland” and “legally.”

Of course, it is ludicrous to believe undocumented immigrants are some kind of 20th century invention.  Nevertheless, they are at the heart of the current battle being waged by Kavanagh and his crowd. 

The term “states’ rights” in the U.S. rightly makes people nervous.  To some, it means local hotheads and bigots can pass nasty laws and the federal government can do nothing about it. 
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However, there is a theory going around now that even pro-immigrant activists should hope these states get exactly what they want.

“Laws like Arizona’s are such bad policy that, left to their own devices, they will die a natural death — and their supporters will suffer the political consequences,” Peter J. Spiro wrote in The New York Times this week, arguing that anti-immigrant laws choke a state’s economy.

It’s no mistake that today, as well as when the steamship Ethiopia sailed into New York, states that had sane immigration policies also had vibrant economies.  Those that target immigrants, um, don’t.

So, let the Kavanaghs of Arizona have their know-nothing laws and watch their economies shrivel.

There’s only one problem with this. How many immigrants -- or U.S. citizens for that matter -- will get trapped in an immigration nightmare in the meantime?

Immigration, so intimately tied to the economy, may be the hot issue of this looming election.  The Supreme Court may well cool things off – or throw gasoline on the fire.

(Contact “Sidewalks” at facebook.com/tomdeignan or tomdeignan@earthlink.net)

Art and sound at Ground Zero - 9/11 FDNY victim’s family calls for return of Koenig sculpture

Captain William Burke

Captain William Burke was a 20-year veteran of the FDNY who died on 9/11.  Remembered by friends for his dedication and his “Irish charm,” Burke’s father was also a firefighter, a deputy chief in the Bronx.

During a service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Edward Cardinal Egan noted that Burke had "a good relationship" with his six brothers and sisters.

Ten years later, Burke’s brother is doing battle with a powerful government agency over an issue which was also important to Captain Burke -- art.

This battle comes just as the city mourns the loss of another firefighter, Lieutenant Richard Nappi, who died from heat exhaustion at a Brooklyn fire.  

This also comes as a TV special this week reintroduced us to a truly sick woman, Tania Head, who rose to prominence as a high-profile 9/11 survivor, only to have her story exposed as a sham and a fraud.

All the more reason to take seriously the legacy of those who truly sacrificed on 9/11.

It is well known, by now, that the Freedom Tower is rising fast and furious at the former Ground Zero site.  The 9/11 Memorial also opened to the public to great fanfare last year.  

But there are still artifacts of 9/11 downtown, artifacts untouched by new construction and not located behind a glass wall.

Look no further than Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan.  The vast waterfront park is a cherished green space amidst the concrete jungle, and also one of the most historically significant spots in downtown Manhattan.  

Among other things, it is the former site of the Castle Clinton immigration depot, which is where vast numbers of Famine Irish arrived in New York, a good 50 years before Annie Moore arrived from Ireland on January 1, 1892.

Not far from a remaining Castle Clinton structure, near the Bowling Green subway station in Battery 

Park, is a true work of art -- Fritz Koenig’s 25-foot Sphere, which had originally been placed in the plaza between the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center.  The structure had originally been commissioned for that site, where it was placed in the early 1970s.  

What is fascinating today about Koenig’s Sphere is that it survived the attacks with minimal damage.  

Six months after 9/11, the Sphere was placed just south of Ground Zero – along with an eternal flame – in Battery Park.

To this day, the battered bronze work of art is a major tourist attraction, and seems so vastly out of place in the park that it seems…well, absolutely a perfect fit for the park.

True, even at the time, it was believed the placement in Battery Park would be temporary.  And now, it appears as if the Port Authority is ready to move the Sphere to a site with not quite as much history as Battery Park: a hangar at JFK International Airport.

Here’s where Captain William Burke’s family comes in.  His brother Michael started a petition objecting to the move, which by now has gotten over 7,000 signatures.

“Why not return it to where it was? Where it was a symbol of world peace for 30 years. Where it survived the attacks that took place and was embraced as an icon of the resiliency, the perseverance, the strength of America and peace and cooperation?” Burke told CBS Radio.

Personally, I think the Sphere should stay where it is: in Battery Park.  Part of the beauty of New York is the city’s ability to adapt and bend without breaking, its utterly improvisational nature.  

The Koenig sculpture works in Battery Park precisely because it was not designed to fit there.  Awful circumstances forced its relocation there, and its placement – and the visible damage, and its eternal flame – is an authentic reminder of that terrible day.

But if the Sphere must be moved, Burke and his supporters are absolutely right.  

Port Authority executives have argued that they might place the Sphere at a new park, Liberty Plaza, south of the former Trade Center site.  Others have suggested there’s no room in the memorial for the Sphere.

But if you’re going to move this authentic survivor of 9/11, why would you shoehorn it into as-yet unopened park?  Especially when it has found such a poignant home in Battery Park.  

Michael Burke is right.  If you are going to move the Sphere, it should go back to its old home.

(Contact Sidewalks at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan)

Faith of the future - Christian Rick Santorum may represent their best chance

Rick Santorum, yesterday or tomorrow’s man?

A headline in this past Sunday’s New York Times screamed “Divided by God.”  The article, by Op-Ed columnist Ross Douthat, argued that it is “tough to pull together as a nation” with all of the religious diversity and tension out there.

This is understandable.  Archbishop Dolan is out there butting heads with the Obama administration, while Rick Santorum continues his culture wars crusade.

To me, however, the real headline should have said something about how religious rage is, in fact, at an all-time low in the United States.

A second headline might add that while many suggest that Santorum and Dolan are stuck in the past, they may well represent the future of the Catholic Church.  Just how many people will stand with them? Well, that’s a tough question.

From Ireland to America, it is true that we have had a lot of bickering about theological matters lately.  More on them later.  For now, I invite readers to visit old St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Mott
Street in downtown Manhattan.  It’s a beautiful old church, but you don’t even need to go inside to grasp an important point.  Take a look at the sturdy brick wall surrounding the church.

It was constructed to keep violent, anti-Catholic mobs at bay.  There was a time when folks thought it would be neat to torch churches and other religious institutions.  Groups like the KKK would later make arguments that America should never allow a Catholic or a Jew or a Mormon to run for president, much less sit in the White House.

That, to me, is true religious conflict.  To some degree, I think things seem so tense these days because so many people are present at the debate.  The worst kind of lunatic fringe bigots have finally been shamed into the darkest corners of the Internet.

That being said, there is anger in the air and the Catholic Church is at the center of many of today’s thorniest debates.

Out of Dublin, there are reports that the Irish Association of Catholic Priests is "disturbed" by the news that its founder, Father Tony Flannery, is under investigation by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  Flannery supposedly got himself into trouble because of writings which suggest that the church re-think its position on female priests, birth control and celibacy.

Here in the U.S., there was New York’s own Archbishop Cardinal Dolan on Meet the Press this past Sunday, talking about both John F. Kennedy and Rick Santorum, the latter of whom famously suggested that JFK’s speech on the separation of presidential faith and policy made him want to vomit.

This is not the only public spat Dolan, who has also been battling Obama over health care and birth control, has endured in recent weeks.

Just before Easter, a New York member of Catholic Charities’ board quit over the church’s teachings on homosexuality.

In many of these debates, it is very tempting to say that the Catholic Church and its most conservative allies – such as Rick Santorum – are on the wrong side of history.  The world is changing and if the church continues to oppose homosexuality and birth control, and investigate certain members for their political beliefs, it will doom itself to extinction.

It certainly appeared as if the church had begun that process already, given in its horrendous handling of the abuse scandals of past years.

A common theme among critics is that the Catholic Church must become more Christian – as in inclusive, respectful, remorseful and humble.

Perhaps.  I suspect, however, that Dolan and others believe becoming more Christian would mean becoming less Catholic.  Church officials themselves may not want to acknowledge an important fact: that super-devout followers such as Rick Santorum may represent their best chance at viability not only in the 21st Century, but also the 22nd.

Accommodating a broader, intellectually diverse Catholic flock takes an awful lot of work.  Why not focus on a smaller, more obedient flock?

This, of course, may mean alienating a vast number of Catholics.

But, hey, haven’t they been doing that for years now?

Contact Sidewalks at facebook.com/tomdeignan or tomdeignan@earthlink.net.

Tammany Hall’s favorite Yankee “Big Bill” Devery

Yankee Stadium

If not for a colorful Irish American duo, Derek Jeter, A-Rod and the rest of the New York Yankees might be playing their home games in Baltimore this year.

Frank J. Farrell was an underworld fixture known for his gambling prowess.  “Big Bill” Devery was a controversial top cop with close ties to Tammany Hall.

Devery publicly clashed with former New York City police commissioner and future president Teddy Roosevelt, a spat described in the much-praised new book Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt’s Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York.

“Above all, New York reigned as the vice capital of the United States, dangling more opportunities for prostitution, gambling, and all-night drinking than any other city in the United States,” author Richard Zacks notes in Island of Vice. 

“A man with a letch, a thirst, or an urge to gamble could easily fill it, night or day.  Saloon owners such as Mike Callahan, tossed their keys into the East River and never locked up.”

Mike Callahan was not the only Irishman who made Teddy Roosevelt’s New York such a colorful place – not to mention a nearly impossible place to cleanse of crime. 

One reason New York was such a difficult place to police was because of, well, the police.

That’s where “Big Bill” Devery comes in.  He “grew up neck deep in New York City vice, at least an Irish version of it,” Zacks writes, noting that an uncle who was not above making a buck on the wrong side of the law employed numerous members of the Devery clan. 

Nevertheless, Devery went on to join the New York City Police Department.  (More than likely, he bribed a Tammany operative in order to obtain the job.)

This is fitting because Devery would not only go on to become (as Zacks puts it) “the Tammany police captain,” he also fended off charges that he himself was not above making a buck on the wrong side of the law.

For what it’s worth, police officers often took bribes, in part, because it was so costly to attain the job in the first place. 

Devery, who was born in 1855, began his career as a bartender in watering holes on the Bowery.  He joined the police force in the late 1870s and in just over a decade he was a captain. 

He was stationed in one of Manhattan’s most notorious districts and he took advantage of it. It was said that he partnered with a tailor and if you wanted a favor, all you had to do was purchase one of the tailor’s suits – for $1,000!

It didn’t take long before reformers targeted Devery and numerous other Tammany operatives. 

Here’s where things get complicated.  While it was clear that Devery and others were corrupt, it was also clear their enemies were not merely interested in cleansing the city of voice. 

Often, anti-Tammany forces of reform dripped with barely-concealed derision, even anti-Irish, anti-Catholic sentiments.  Nevertheless, Tammany officials did not help the matter, engaging in blatant criminal activity.

Roosevelt and Devery had their most public clash in 1896.  By this time the Lexow Commission investigating police corruption had laid out its case against Devery in particular and the NYPD as a whole.

Devery managed to avoid charges, thanks in part to his selective memory on the witness stand.  Still, by the time Roosevelt had become head of the Board of Police Commissioners, he decreed that Devery not march in an annual, closely-watched police parade.

Nevertheless, not only had Devery evaded official charges, he decided to defy Roosevelt and march in the parade.  He was, naturally, received warmly by the pro-Tammany crowd.

“The parade was a dark episode for (Roosevelt),” NYPD historians James Lardner and Thomas Reppetto have written.

When Tammany regained City Hall, Devery was named police chief, a post he held until 1902, when he lost the post under corruption charges.

Devery remained active in Tammany politics, but his legacy is most alive today up in the Bronx. 

In 1903, Devery partnered with Frank Farrell to purchase a Baltimore baseball club for $18,000.
They moved the team to New York and renamed them the Highlanders, a name they kept until they were purchased by Colonel Jacob Rupert in 1915.

They went on to become the New York Yankees. 

(Contact “Sidewalks” at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan)