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An Irish immigrant, a collection agent for crime bosses, a professional boxer, and a prolific gambler, John Morrissey was—if nothing else—an unlikely candidate to become one of the most important figures in the history of Thoroughbred racing. As a young man, he worked as a political heavy in New York before going to San Francisco in search of fortune at the height of the Gold Rush. After returning to the east coast, he was hired by Tammany Hall and was soon locked in a deadly rivalry with William Poole, better known as "Bill the Butcher." As time went on, Morrissey parlayed his youthful exploits into a remarkably successful career as a businessman and politician. After establishing a gam...
In 1855, New York City was scandalized by one of the most infamous murders in its history, that of gang leader Bill "the Butcher" Poole, the feared knife-fighter who later would inspire Daniel Day-Lewis's character in Martin Scorsese's film The Gangs of New York. The acknowledged mastermind in the Butcher's undoing was John Morrissey, a two-fisted Irish immigrant who, more than any other man of the age, represented the nefarious links between organized crime, politics, sports, and high finance in America. The loose inspiration behind Leonardo DiCaprio's character in The Gangs of New York, he was an undefeated bareknuckle prize-fighter, widely recognized as the national champion, as well as a...
The New World, and especially New York, meant unparalleled opportunity for people in the 1600s with visions of expansion, colonization, and profit. Buying land from the Mohican tribe, the Dutch took control of much of the modern Empire State in the early part of this country's development. Under the patroonship of Kilian van Rensselaer, many pioneer farmers settled in the fertile land along the Hudson River. With each passing year, the number of Upstate settlers increased, and two villages emerged: Lansingburgh and Vanderheyden, soon to become Troy. Troy: A Collar City History chronicles the transformation of the city from an untamed wilderness inhabited by the early Mohican tribe into a vib...
An Irish immigrant, a collection agent for crime bosses, a professional boxer, and a prodigious gambler, John Morrissey was -- if nothing else -- an unlikely candidate to become one of the most important figures in the history of Thoroughbred racing. As a young man, he worked as a political heavy in New York before going to San Francisco in search of fortune at the height of the Gold Rush. After returning to the east coast, he was hired by Tammany Hall and was soon locked in a deadly rivalry with William Poole, better known as "Bill the Butcher." As time went on, Morrissey parlayed his youthful exploits into a remarkably successful career as a businessman and politician. After establishing a...
Chronicling the incomparable life of boxing and Saratoga Race Course legend John Morrissey. John "Old Smoke" Morrissey was one of the most dynamic characters of his time. He went from a career as an undefeated bare-knuckle boxer, founded the Saratoga Race Course and eventually won elections to Congress and the New York State Senate. A poor, uneducated Irish immigrant, Morrissey became a leader in the Dead Rabbits street gang. He won fame as a fighter and fortune as the operator of a string of successful gambling houses. Morrissey then took Saratoga Springs by storm, improbably resurrecting thoroughbred racing during the Civil War and opening his famous Club House, which was the most glamorous casino the country had ever seen. Author and National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame director of communications Brien Bouyea takes you on this fascinating journey and shows just how Morrissey did it all.
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Newfoundland songs are diverse in origin. Vast numbers of them come from the British Isles, especially from England and Ireland; many are composed in Newfoundland, usually on English or Irish models; a lesser number of American, Canadian, and French songs are current. The ballads to be found in the Child collection are probably the oldest now sung. Then there are many seventeenth- and eighteenth-century broadside ballads, particularly English, and many nineteenth-century compositions. Such are the backgrounds from which the compilers of this volume have drawn their unusually interesting and delightful collection of ballad texts and ballad music. Expeditions to the island in 1920 and 1929 furnished the tunes; and a genuine interest in folk-literature assured the care and accuracy of the work.