Mose the Fireboy
November 6, 2014 7:53 PM   Subscribe

Mose the Fireboy
A history of a once-famous, now-mostly-forgotten character from Civil War-era New York. Mose the Fireboy was a Bowery B'hoy, volunteer fireman, and butcher who appeared in a series of plays starring Frank Chafrau, and ended up being one of the iconic characters of the era, as well as one of the inspirations for Bill the Butcher in "Gangs of New York."

-- Mose was based on a real man, Mose Humphreys, who biography I have tracked down, including his unexpected final act in Hawaii.

-- The play, "A Glance at New York," is also a compendium of the underworld slang of the era, which I have compiled.

Mose the Fireboy, and other Bowery B'Hoys, were an influence on Walt Whitman, which I document.
Role: author
posted by maxsparber (0 comments total)
This project was posted to MetaFilter by the man of twists and turns on November 22, 2014: Show the elephant, in the Bowery, with Mose the Fireboy

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