Annie Walsh

Battle Annie
Born Annie Walsh
Nationality Irish American
Occupation Criminal
Known for Hell's Kitchen personality known as the "Queen of Hell's Kitchen" and leader of the female contingent of the Gopher Gang during the 1870s.
Religion Catholic

Annie Walsh (fl. 1870-1880), known under the pseudonym Battle Annie, was an American criminal[1][2] and member of the Gopher Gang. A well-known criminal figure described in the press as "The Queen of Hell's Kitchen" and "the most feared brick hurler of her time",[3] she was the founder and longtime leader of the gang's female auxiliary, the Lady Gophers, headquartered at Mallet Murphy's Battle Row saloon where they were officially known as the Ladies Battle Row and Auxillery [sic?] Club. She was able to assemble a force from 50[4] up to several hundred women who, armed with clubs, were used as reserve members in gang fights against rival gangs and police.[5] Walsh and her group were also hired out by businesses and labor unions throughout a number of violent labor disputes during the 1870s.[6] She appears as a minor character in the 2003 historical novel A Passionate Girl by Thomas J. Fleming.

References

  1. ↑ Callow, Alexander B. The Tweed Ring: Corruption in New York politics, 1866 to 1871. New York: Oxford University Press, 1969. (pg. 58-59)
  2. ↑ O'Kane, James M. The Crooked Ladder: Gangsters, Ethnicity and the American Dream. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1994. (p. 52) ISBN 0-7658-0994-X
  3. ↑ Kisseloff, Jeff. You Must Remember This: An Oral History of Manhattan from the 1890s to World War II. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. (pp. 549-550) ISBN 0-8018-6306-6
  4. ↑ Sifakis, Carl. The Dictionary of Historic Nicknames: A Treasury of More Than 7,500 Famous and Infamous Nicknames from World History. New York: Facts on File Publications, 1984. (p. 411) ISBN 0-87196-561-5
  5. ↑ Savage, Jon. Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture. New York: Viking, 2007. (p. 39) ISBN 978-0-670-03837-4
  6. ↑ Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the New York Underworld. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (p. 236) ISBN 1-56025-275-8


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