October 2023 issue contents - Features
End of the Whyos
Irish-American gang terrorized the Lower East Side
By Thomas Hunt
Soon after Captain John McCullagh took command of police in the busy Manhattan ward historically known as “the Bloody Sixth,” he supposedly stated, “Either the Whyos or I must go from this precinct.”
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| Dan Driscoll |
The remark reportedly occurred early in 1884, but McCullagh probably said no such thing
then or ever. The words were first noted in print some years after they were allegedly spoken. A syndicated article included them late in 1891, and the New York Daily Tribune revived the statement in 1896. By then, the Whyos gang already had gone, and McCullagh still was leading the police of the precinct.
Whether McCullagh made the statement or not, he certainly made the breakup of the Whyos a priority...
Book page count: twenty five.
Magazine page count: fourteen.
Images: twelve.
Timeline.
Endnotes.
Magazine page count: fourteen.
Images: twelve.
Timeline.
Endnotes.
