Syksey
NationalityAmerican
OccupationCriminal
Known forMember of the Bowery Boys and lieutenant to Mose the Fireboy.
Political partyKnow Nothings

Syksey (fl. 1840–1849) was the pseudonym of an American criminal and member of the Bowery Boys. He was supposedly the lieutenant and longtime companion to Mose the Fireboy during the 1840s, often the storyteller of his feats, and is credited for coining the phrase "hold 'de but", a common expression used during the mid-to late 19th century meaning to borrow a dead cigar or to "bum a smoke".[1][2][3][4] He was later portrayed in Benjamin Baker's play Mose, the Bowery B'hoy which performed at the old Olympic Theater in 1849 and later toured throughout the United States during the late 1840s and 50s.[5] His pseudonym may have been derived from Bill Sikes, the sidekick of gang leader Fagin from Oliver Twist.

References

  1. ↑ Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the New York Underworld. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (p. 30) ISBN 1-56025-275-8
  2. ↑ Editors of Life, ed. The Life Treasury of American Folklore. New York: Time-Life, 1961. (p. 153)
  3. ↑ Browning, Frank and John Gerassi. The American Way of Crime: From Salem to Watergate, a Stunning New Perspective on Crime in America. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1980. (p. 137) ISBN 0-399-11906-X
  4. ↑ Cohen, Rich. Tough Jews: Fathers, Sons, and Gangster Dreams. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998. (p. 41) ISBN 0-684-83115-5
  5. ↑ Siegel, Adrienne. The Image of the American City in Popular Literature, 1820-1870. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1981. (pg. 32) ISBN 0-8046-9271-8

Further reading

  • Blair, Walter. Tall Tale America: A Legendary History of Our Humorous Heroes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. ISBN 0-226-05596-5
  • Harlow, Alvin F. Old Bowery Days: The Chronicles of a Famous Street. New York and London: D. Appleton & Company, 1931.
  • Jagendorf, Moritz Adolph. Upstate, Downstate: Folk Stories of the Middle Atlantic States. New York: Vanguard Press, 1949.
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