Marginals

Last updated April 22, 2019

The Marginals, also called the "Paddy Irish" gang, was a New York street gang during the early 1900s which, under stevedore Thomas F. "Tanner" Smith, succeeded the longtime Hudson Dusters from their territory of New York's Lower West Side.

The Hudson Dusters was a New York City street gang during the early twentieth century. Formed in the late 1890s by "Circular Jack", "Kid Yorke", and "Goo Goo Knox", the gang began operating from an apartment house on Hudson Street. Knox, a former member of the Gopher Gang, had fled after a failed attempt to gain leadership of the gang from then leader, Marty Brennan. However the two gangs later became allies during the gang wars against Gay Nineties gangs, the Potashes and Boodle Gangs, soon controlling most of Manhattan's West Side as far as 13th Street and eastern Broadway, bordering Paul Kelly's Five Points Gang to the north. While the gang dominated the West Side, it constantly battled smaller rival gangs including the Fashion Plates, the Pearl Buttons, and the Marginals for control of the Hudson River docks throughout the 1900s. Eventually, it drove the rival gangs out through sheer force of numbers, with over 200 members, not including the Gophers, who numbered several hundred more, controlling the waterfront by 1910.

Based between Tenth and Ninth, the gang emerged around the turn of the century involved in extortion and labor slugging.

Tenth Avenue, known as Amsterdam Avenue between 59th Street and 193rd Street, is a north-south thoroughfare on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It carries uptown (northbound) traffic as far as West 110th Street, after which it continues as a two-way street.

Ninth Avenue (Manhattan) avenue in Manhattan

Ninth Avenue, known as Columbus Avenue between West 59th and 110th Streets, is a southbound thoroughfare on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Traffic runs downtown (southbound) along the full stretch from Chelsea to the Upper West Side, except for the initial 3 blocks where traffic runs northbound carrying traffic from Greenwich Street.

During police crackdown's on the cities street gangs during the early 1910s, eight members of the Tanner Smiths were apprehended along with members of the Gas House and Car Barn Gangs in September 1910. Five members would receive prison sentences with the other three fined $10.

The Gas House Gang was a New York City street gang during the late nineteenth century.

On the night of June 18, 1914, Smith was arrested by police who, investigating reports of four gunshots, was witnessed pursuing a member of the Hudson Dusters with a revolver in his hand. Although the two arresting patrolman were confronted by members of the gang, they were able to take him into custody and charged with felonious assault.

After driving out the rival Hudson Dusters and the Pearl Buttons, the Marginals enjoyed a brief reign ruling over the Lower East Side until the death of Tanner, who was killed by George "Chicky" Lewis (although other newspaper accounts credit Rubber Shaw) at the Marginal Club on Eighth Avenue on July 26, 1919. His murder was one of several gangland slayings as Rubber Shaw of the Hudson Dusters was gunned down in Hoboken on July 24 and Johnny Spanish who was ambushed while entering a Second Avenue restaurant on July 29.

Eighth Avenue is a major north-south avenue on the west side of Manhattan in New York City, carrying northbound traffic below 59th Street. While the avenue has different names at different points in Manhattan, it is actually one continuous stretch of road.

Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005, having grown by 11,428 (+29.6%) from 38,577 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 5,180 (+15.5%) from the 33,397 in the 1990 Census. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the tri-state region.

Johnny Spanish was an American gangster who was a rival of former partner "Kid Dropper" Nathan Kaplan during a garment workers' strike which later become known as the Second Labor Sluggers War in 1919. He became involved in labor racketeering, holdups of saloons and other businesses, and murder before organizing his own gang.

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References

"Crusade Against Gangs, Twenty-Five Hoodlums Arrested With a Week Severely Dealt With". The New York Times. September 12, 1910. p. 4.
"Gangster Fights Police, Tanner Smith Is Arrested After Shooting In A Gang Feud". The New York Times. June 19, 1914. p. 5.

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