Thread by @L_Historienne

First up: Sadie the Goat Farrell. So let me preface this with saying that there's significant doubt as to whether or not Sadie Farrell ever actually existed. So consider the following information folklore, not fact. 1/?

What we do "know" about her life is that she was supposedly born and raised in the slums of the Fourth Ward near the East River. This no doubt led to her hanging out with some nefarious characters, particularly street hustlers and thieves. 2/?

She began making a name for herself as a thief in her own right, usually working w/ a man who could assist her w/ taking down the mark. According to legend, Sadie would make the first move, taking a running start before ramming the top of her head into the victim’s stomach. 3/?

While the man was stunned, Sadie's partner would use a slingshot to propel a rock to the side of the victim’s head or hit them in the head w/ a bat before robbing the man of everything, even his shirt, pants & shoes. Sadie typically chose drunken men stumbling out of the pub. 4/?

Sadie the Goat #SwashbucklinStoryTime

One day Sadie was enjoying some drinks herself at the Hole-in-the-Wall bar on Dover Street, just two blocks from the East River. But apparently she had one too many. 5/?

She caught the attention of the bar's bouncer, a 6 foot tall jacked woman named Gallus Mag. Mag had a habit of biting off the ear of her victims before tossing them out of the pub into the streets. 6/?

Mag proudly displayed the ears she'd collected in jars filled with alcohol behind the bar. The jars were called “Gallus Mag’s Trophy Case.” 7/?

Sadie was allegedly Irish and Mag was from England, which is what some say led to them exchanging slurs before Mag started hitting Sadie on the head a few times with a bat. 8/?

Sadie, albeit half the size of Mag, put up a good fight. But Mag wrapped her enormous arms around Sadie and with one good bit detached Sadie's ear from her head. After tossing Sadie into the street, Mag placed the ear in a jug labeled “Sadie the Goat’s Ear.” 9/?

Sadie was humiliated and disgraced. So she left the East Side and traveled to the West Side docks, to other side of Manhattan. Sadie was alone, trying to find a mark when she came across the Charlton Street Gang. 10/?

The gang was trying, unsuccessfully, to board a small sloop anchored in the middle of the Hudson River. Apparently they were so inept that the crew they were trying to overpower simply kept beating them back. 11/?

Sadie decided that if she were to take charge, she could organize the gang and help them seize a ship. She figured with her brain and their brawn, they'd make a dynamic team. 12/?

So the team came together and were able to hijack a sloop. They immediately hoisted the Jolly Roger and began to sail up and down the North and Harlem Rivers, up to Poughkeepsie. Along the way they would raid the local villages. 13/?

They didn't discriminate, robbing poor farmers and rich landowners. They knew that traditional commercial vessels were too well armed for their tiny crew, so they concentrated on raiding smaller merchant ships instead. 14/?

For a short time, Sadie and her crew were quite successful, stashing their goods up and down the rivers until they could trade the goods in for cold, hard cash. 15/?

They typically fenced their loot through Marm Mandelbaum, who used her store on Clinton Street as a front. But Sadie's success would quickly come crashing down on her. 16/?

After Sadie and her men murdered several people, a vigilante force of local residents banded together. Many members of the Charlton Street Gang were killed in several ambushes. Sadie realized she needed to abandon her pirating ways. 17/?

Sadie ultimately returned to her old stomping grounds where she was heralded as the Queen of the Waterfront. With her newfound confidence, Sadie returned to the Hole-in-the-Wall bar & made amends w/ Mag. Mag graciously returned Sadie's ear to her, which she wore in a locket. 18/?

We don't know what happened to Sadie after she quit her pirating ways. But I like to imagine she returned to her thieving ways, head butting drunken men for the fun of it. 19/19