William Poole (July 24, 1821 – March 8, 1855), also known as Bill the Butcher, was the leader of the Washington Street Gang, which later became known as the Bowery Boys gang. He was a local leader of the Know Nothing political movement in mid-19th-century New York City.
Early life
Poole was born in Sussex County, New Jersey, to parents of English descent. In 1832, his family moved to New York City to open a butcher shop in Washington Market, Manhattan. Poole became skilled in his father's trade and eventually took over the family store. In the 1840s, he worked with the Howard (Red Rover) Volunteer Fire Engine Company #34, on Hudson and Christopher Streets, and started the Washington Street Gang, which later became the Bowery Boys. During this period in New York, fires were a problem. Volunteer fire groups, such as the one Poole was in, were important for keeping fires under control. These firefighting groups were closely tied to street gangs and were seen as a public service provided by those groups. Over the years, gangs were in an ongoing rivalry over who would be the one to extinguish the fire. A common strategy the Bowery Boys used was to ensure that other fire engine companies could not put out the fires. Upon hearing the alarm sound indicating that a fire had broken out, a member of the Bowery Boys would find the nearest fire hydrant. He would then flip an empty barrel over onto the hydrant so it could not be seen or used. The Bowery Boys would sit on the barrel until their own fire engine arrived. Fights over the hydrants would break out, and often the Bowery Boys had no time to actually extinguish the fire. He fought in many fights that were considered illegal due to the brutality of bare-knuckle boxing. He was also a known skilled knife fighter, as a result of his profession as a butcher. Poole was a known gambler and a heavy drinker. He closed his family's butchery business in the 1850s and opened a drinking saloon, known as the "Bank Exchange". Poole's gang was located near to the Five Points neighborhood, where many recent Irish Catholic immigrants settled. Five Points was located in what is now Chinatown in Lower Manhattan. Waves of Irish- and German-Americans moved into the Five Points as their first stop on the way to the American dream. In response to attacks by Poole and his followers, the Irish created their own street gangs. The Dead Rabbits were an Irish-membership gang and the biggest rival of Poole's Bowery Boys. Much of the hatred between the two gangs was based on racial and religious differences. "For years the Bowery Boys and the Dead Rabbits waged a bitter feud, and a week seldom passed in which they did not come to blows, either along the Bowery, or in the Five Points section." Poole fared poorly in the general election, receiving only 199 votes and tying for last place with his ticket-mate against four other candidates.
In February 1853, Poole was appointed to represent the Sixth Ward on the New York City Board of Education.
thumb|right|180px|Bill Poole portrait from a [[tobacco company boxer profile card, circa late 1880s]]
Attack at Florence's Hotel
As a well-known gang leader and pugilist, Poole was frequently involved in fights, brawls, and other confrontations. The New York Daily Times reported the following on October 23, 1851:
Dispute with John Morrissey
Poole's arch-rival John Morrissey was an Irish immigrant and worked for the political machine at Tammany Hall. Morrissey was also a popular bare-knuckle boxer and challenged Poole to a match. Though the two men were of differing ethnic backgrounds and political parties, the initial grounds for their dispute may have arisen from an earlier bet by Poole on a boxing match at Boston Corners on October 12, 1853, in which Poole had placed his bet on Morrissey's opponent, "Yankee Sullivan". The results of the boxing match were disputed—Sullivan beat Morrisey but was then distracted into leaving the ring by Morrisey's friends and the referee announced Morrisey winner for being in the ring—and Poole was against Morrissey being paid. In 1854, a fight was arranged between Morrissey and Poole, which Poole won.
Shooting and death
Morrissey plotted revenge and on February 25, 1855, recently-fired NYPD patrolman Lewis Baker and Jim Turner, who were allegedly acting as enforcers for Morrissey, shot Poole in the leg and chest at Stanwix Hall, a bar on Broadway near Prince, at that time a center of the city's nightlife. The New York Daily Times reported on February 26, 1855, the following:
600px|center|thumb|Illustration of Bill Poole's murder in George W. Walling's "Recollections of a New York Chief of Police" (1887).
Several days after the shooting, on March 8, 1855, Poole died in his home on Christopher Street at the age of 33. Poole was survived by his wife and son, Charles Poole. The war between Poole and Morrissey had been very public, and The New York Times covered the events of Stanwix Hall almost every day for a month. One local newsman reported Poole's last words were, "Good-bye, boys; I die a true American," although the New York Evening Post, quoting an unnamed man who was at Poole's bedside when he died, reported that his last words named Morrissey as his killer. Facing an international manhunt organized by Poole's patrons in the Know Nothing Party, Baker boarded the Jewett and sailed for the Canary Islands. He was intercepted, however, on the high seas on April 17, 1855. Baker was arrested and returned to New York City to be tried for the murder of William Poole. All three trials, however, ended with a hung jury and Baker ultimately walked away a free man. Morrissey went on to open up several Irish pubs and accumulated a fortune of $1.5 million. He later served two terms as a New York state senator and two more terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Morrissey died in 1878 and lies buried in a Roman Catholic cemetery in his childhood hometown of Troy, New York.