the William Watson , intent on stealing valuables they had heard were on board. The three men were met by the night watchman, Charles Baxter, and they shot Baxter dead on the spot. Thinking the gunshot would attract attention, the three men jumped ship from the William Watson , empty-handed, and they rowed back to shore.
The policeman, who had spotted the three men earlier, saw the rowboat dock, and he watched as Saul and Howlett dragged Johnson, who was now totally drunk, from the boat and carry him into the Slaughter House Point. Soon after, the body of the night watchman on the William Watson was found, and a group of 20 policemen, armed to the hilt, bum-rushed the Slaughter House Point.
After a long and bloody battle, in which a score of Daybreak Boys tried to thwart the capture of their three cronies, Saul, Howlett, and Johnson were finally arrested. After a short trial, Johnson was sentenced to life imprisonment, but Saul and Howlett were smacked with the death sentence. On January 28, 1853, Saul and Howlett were hanged to death in the courtyard of the Tombs Prison. Saul was barely 20 years old and Howlett was one year younger.
After the deaths of Saul and Howlett, Slobbery Jim assumed the leadership of the Daybreak Boys. However, Jim soon had to take it on the lam, after he whacked his old pal Patsy the Barber.
In 1857, The Daybreak Boys continued their decline. The Slaughter House Point, which had been the base of their operations for a decade, closed its doors (with a little prompting from the New York City Police Department). In 1858, more than a dozen gang members were killed in shootouts with the police and with the newly created Harbor Patrol. Scores of other Daybreak Boys were arrested and sent to jail.
By 1859, the Daybreak Boys basically ceased to exist, when its remaining members took up with other gangs in the Bowery and in the other Five Points areas.
D ead Rabbits – Irish Street Gang
The Dead Rabbits Irish Street gang was as vicious as any gang in the history of New York City. In the mid 1800's, the Dead Rabbits prowled the squalid area of Lower Manhattan called the Five Points. If a member of any other gang dared to set foot in the Dead Rabbits' territory, bad things happened to them fast.
There is some dispute as to how the Dead Rabbits got their name. One version is that the word "Rabbit" sounds like Irish word “ráibéad,” meaning a "man to be feared." "Dead" was an 1800's slang word that meant "very.” So a “Dead Rabbit” was a “man to be very feared.”
Another version is that the Dead Rabbits were an offshoot of an older gang called the “Roach Guards.” Two factions within the Roach Guards constantly quarreled, and during a fistfight at an especially violent gang meeting, someone threw a dead rabbit into the room. When the fighting subsided, one group took the name “Dead Rabbits,” while the other kept the name “Roach Guards.” Predating the present street gangs, the Crips and the Bloods, by more than 125 years, to mark which gang a man belonged to, a Dead Rabbit wore a blue stripe on his pants, while a Roach Guard wore a red stripe on his pants.
Besides the Roach Guards, the Dead Rabbits' archenemy was the Bowery Boys. On July 4 1857, the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys squared off at the corner of Bayard and the Bowery. The incident started when an embattled policeman, being chased out of the Five Points by a group of Dead Rabbits, ran for safety into a Bowery Boys’ saloon. The Dead Rabbits followed the policeman into the dive, and they were beaten back by an angry group of Bowery Boys.
Taking offense at their turf being invaded, a large group of Bowery Boys marched into the Five Points area, looking for trouble. They were cut off by a battalion of the Dead Rabbits, and a two-day war started, with as many as a thousand combatants fighting with hatchets, knives, stones, and even guns. The police sent in reinforcements, but they were beaten back by both gangs,
The policeman, who had spotted the three men earlier, saw the rowboat dock, and he watched as Saul and Howlett dragged Johnson, who was now totally drunk, from the boat and carry him into the Slaughter House Point. Soon after, the body of the night watchman on the William Watson was found, and a group of 20 policemen, armed to the hilt, bum-rushed the Slaughter House Point.
After a long and bloody battle, in which a score of Daybreak Boys tried to thwart the capture of their three cronies, Saul, Howlett, and Johnson were finally arrested. After a short trial, Johnson was sentenced to life imprisonment, but Saul and Howlett were smacked with the death sentence. On January 28, 1853, Saul and Howlett were hanged to death in the courtyard of the Tombs Prison. Saul was barely 20 years old and Howlett was one year younger.
After the deaths of Saul and Howlett, Slobbery Jim assumed the leadership of the Daybreak Boys. However, Jim soon had to take it on the lam, after he whacked his old pal Patsy the Barber.
In 1857, The Daybreak Boys continued their decline. The Slaughter House Point, which had been the base of their operations for a decade, closed its doors (with a little prompting from the New York City Police Department). In 1858, more than a dozen gang members were killed in shootouts with the police and with the newly created Harbor Patrol. Scores of other Daybreak Boys were arrested and sent to jail.
By 1859, the Daybreak Boys basically ceased to exist, when its remaining members took up with other gangs in the Bowery and in the other Five Points areas.
D ead Rabbits – Irish Street Gang
The Dead Rabbits Irish Street gang was as vicious as any gang in the history of New York City. In the mid 1800's, the Dead Rabbits prowled the squalid area of Lower Manhattan called the Five Points. If a member of any other gang dared to set foot in the Dead Rabbits' territory, bad things happened to them fast.
There is some dispute as to how the Dead Rabbits got their name. One version is that the word "Rabbit" sounds like Irish word “ráibéad,” meaning a "man to be feared." "Dead" was an 1800's slang word that meant "very.” So a “Dead Rabbit” was a “man to be very feared.”
Another version is that the Dead Rabbits were an offshoot of an older gang called the “Roach Guards.” Two factions within the Roach Guards constantly quarreled, and during a fistfight at an especially violent gang meeting, someone threw a dead rabbit into the room. When the fighting subsided, one group took the name “Dead Rabbits,” while the other kept the name “Roach Guards.” Predating the present street gangs, the Crips and the Bloods, by more than 125 years, to mark which gang a man belonged to, a Dead Rabbit wore a blue stripe on his pants, while a Roach Guard wore a red stripe on his pants.
Besides the Roach Guards, the Dead Rabbits' archenemy was the Bowery Boys. On July 4 1857, the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys squared off at the corner of Bayard and the Bowery. The incident started when an embattled policeman, being chased out of the Five Points by a group of Dead Rabbits, ran for safety into a Bowery Boys’ saloon. The Dead Rabbits followed the policeman into the dive, and they were beaten back by an angry group of Bowery Boys.
Taking offense at their turf being invaded, a large group of Bowery Boys marched into the Five Points area, looking for trouble. They were cut off by a battalion of the Dead Rabbits, and a two-day war started, with as many as a thousand combatants fighting with hatchets, knives, stones, and even guns. The police sent in reinforcements, but they were beaten back by both gangs,
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