Gallus Mag (real name unknown) was a six-foot-plus tall, female

bouncer A bouncer (also known as a doorman or door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, stripclubs, casinos, hotels, billiard halls, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, or m ...

at a 19th-century

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

called The Hole in the Wall. She figures prominently in New York City

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

. The name "Gallus" originated from the men's

suspenders Suspenders (American English, Canadian English), or braces (British English, Australian English) are fabric or leather straps worn over the shoulders to hold up skirts or trousers. The straps may be elasticated, either entirely or only at attach ...

she was fond of wearing and "Mag" or "Meg" was likely her forename. The Hole in the Wall bar was at 279

Water Street Water Street may refer to: *Water Street, Hong Kong ** Water Street (constituency) around Water Street, Hong Kong * Water Street, Milwaukee *Water Street, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated village * Water Street (Augusta, Maine) *Water Street (St. Jo ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, more recently the site of the historic

Bridge Cafe Bridge Cafe was a historic restaurant and bar located at 279 Water Street in the South Street Seaport area of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The site was originally home to "a grocery and wine and porter bottler", opened in 1794, and has ...

Bar bouncer

Herbert Asbury Herbert Asbury (September 1, 1891 – February 24, 1963) was an American journalist and writer best known for his books detailing crime during the 19th and early-20th centuries, such as ''Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago U ...

's book '' The Gangs of New York'' thus described her: : "It was her custom, after she'd felled an obstreperous customer with her club, to clutch his ear between her teeth and so drag him to the door, amid the frenzied cheers of the onlookers. If her victim protested she bit his ear off, and having cast the fellow into the street she carefully deposited the detached member in a jar of alcohol behind the bar…. She was one of the most feared denizens on the waterfront and the police of the period shudderingly described her as the most savage female they'd ever encountered."

In popular culture

*Gallus Mag's was the name of a bar near

Corlears Hook The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an i ...

in the mid- to late 19th century. *In the 2002

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

film '' Gangs of New York'', the character Hell-Cat Maggie, a female street gangster and fierce fighter, played by

Cara Seymour Cara Seymour (born 6 January 1964) is a British actress from Essex, England. She has appeared in films such as ''You've Got Mail'', '' American Psycho'', ''Adaptation'', ''Dancer in the Dark'', ''Gangs of New York'', ''Hotel Rwanda'', '' The S ...

, is a composite of Gallus Mag, the real-life Hell-Cat Maggie, and the apparently fictional

Sadie the Goat Sadie FarrellO'Kane, James M. ''The Crooked Ladder: Gangsters, Ethnicity and the American Dream''. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1994. (pg. 49, 52); ( fl. 1869) was an alleged semi- folklorish American criminal, gang lead ...

. *Gallus Mag was portrayed by Ronda Rousey in the "Scoundrels" episode of the

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

series ''

Drunk History ''Drunk History'' is an American educational comedy television series produced by Comedy Central, based on the Funny or Die web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner in 2007. They and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the show's exec ...

''. *Gallus Mag is mentioned in a footnote in T. J. English's ''Paddy Whacked'' novel.

References

Gang members of New York City New York (state) folklore People from Five Points, Manhattan Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown {{Women's-History-stub