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He was a thief, a pickpocket, a Tammany Hall politician, and eventually a murderer. However, William J. Sharkey was best known for his daring escape from death row in New York City’s Tombs Prison.

Sharkey was born in New York City in 1845 to a wealthy family residing in the Ninth Ward of Manhattan. Despite his family’s wealth, Sharkey gravitated to the dark side. He began dating pickpockets, gamblers, and scammers, and soon became a very capable pickpocket and player of some repute. One sad day, Sharkey was arrested for pickpocketing, and the municipal photographer took his picture, giving himself a definitive presence in the criminal records section of the New York City Police Department.

Sharkey soon lifted himself up the criminal ladder, dealing in stolen bonds. With the money from his efforts piling up, Sharkey formed his own band called “Sharkey’s Guards,” which was based at the corner of Wooster and Houston streets. It was there that Sharkey made his mark on the local political scene and soon became a darling of the criminals who ran Tammany Hall. Sharkey dressed in the finest clothes, with sparkling diamonds on his fingers and around his neck. Soon, Tammany Hall appointed Sharkey for the election, as an assistant to the councilor. Despite Tammany Hall having influence and strength, working to his advantage at the polls, Sharkey somehow lost the election. Disappointed by his political failure, Sharkey decided to return to his first loves: stealing and gambling.

With the money he made from various illegal endeavors, Sharkey traveled to Buffalo, New York, and started a game of beacon. However, Sharkey was so unlucky that he managed to lose $ 4000 in just five days. Tight, Sharkey returned to New York City and hooked up with his old friend Robert Dunn, real name Bob Isaacs. Dunn was an employee of the City Comptroller’s Office, but he was also a Faro merchant, at a gambling house on Fulton Street. Thinking that Dunn was a more capable lighthouse expert than he, Sharkey gave Dunn $ 600 and told him to go to Buffalo and try his luck at the lighthouse. Dunn agreed that if he was successful in Buffalo, he promised to return Sharkey the $ 600, plus half of his winnings. As luck would have it, Dunn had the same bad luck as Sharkey in Buffalo and lost his entire bet. Dunn returned to New York City and told Sharkey the bad news.

On September 1, 1872, Dunn and Sharkey attended the funeral of James Riley, a prominent member of the Michael Norton Association, a political arm of Tammany Hall. After the funeral, Sharkey and Dunn traveled separately to a salon owned by Charles Harvey, called “The Place,” located at 288 Hudson Street. By the time Sharkey arrived, Dunn had already had a few rye whiskeys at the bar. Sharkey ordered a rye himself, and after downing it in one gulp, Sharkey demanded his $ 600 back from Dunn. Dunn told Sharkey that he himself was exhausted and that he could not return the money. Sharkey immediately pulled out a single shot Derringer pistol and aimed it at Dunn’s chest.

Dunn yelled, “Don’t shoot Billy! I’ll pay you as soon as I can!”

Sharkey wouldn’t accept any of that. He yelled back, “You better pay me now!”

Before Dunn could respond, Sharkey shot Dunn point-blank with the Derringer. The bullet pierced Dunn’s heart and killed him instantly. Sharkey fled the crime scene, but was captured a few hours later, at a boarding house on Washington Street, near Perry Street.

Sharkey was tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang in Tombs Prison on August 15, 1873. However, Sharkey’s connections at Tammany Hall delayed his execution date to early December.

While Sharkey was in prison, he was visited daily by the most beautiful Maggie Jourdan, herself a very successful pickpocket. Miss Jourdan arrived early every morning and was always on her feet until visiting hours were over. Miss Jourdan was a great friend of the lady. Wesley Allen, the wife of a thief, whose brother John Allen owned an obscene ballroom on Water Street. John Allen was known as “The most evil man in New York City.”

While most of the prisoners in the Tombs lived in perpetual misery, Sharkey lived quite well on the second floor of the prison, in an area called “Murderer’s Row.” With the money Jourdan earned from stealing, and also with his jewelry, including his gold watch, Sharkey was able to decorate jail cell number 40 (which was never locked) with the finest furniture. Jordan bought Sharkey a walnut table, a Kidderminster rug, a canary in a cage, and a shelf for books and magazines, which was suspended from the ceiling with silk ropes. Jourdan also provided Sharkey with a soft mattress for his bed, a comfortable chair for lounging, curtains for his cell door, an elegant cherry velvet and silk robe, and velvet slippers.

Jourdan used to tell Sharkey during his visits that if he died, she would no longer want to live. “Willie, I could never let you suffer,” she told him through tears.

On November 19, 1873, at exactly 10 a.m., Jourdan arrived at the Franklin Street entrance to the Tombs. The guard on duty gave him the usual pass that is given to all visitors. Her lower body was remarkably bulky, but the prison guards thought she had just put on extra petticoats to protect herself from the cold November air. Jourdan immediately went to Sharkey’s cell and she spoke with him for several hours. The prison guards were so used to her being there that they paid little attention to what she was doing and what she was saying to Sharkey.

Ms. Wesley Allen arrived at the prison at 12:30 pm He stopped at Sharkey’s cell on the second floor and spoke to both Jourdan and Sharkey. Then Mrs. Allen went up to the third floor to visit a prisoner named Flood. At one o’clock in the afternoon, Jourdan left the prison, which was quite unusual, as he always remained on his feet until the end of the day.

Half an hour later, a strange-looking woman with especially broad shoulders walked down the second-level corridor, through two lower doors, and out of the prison. When this dubious lady came out of the prison, she handed her pass to the guard who was in charge of the exit. This woman wore a heavy black woolen dress, a black coat, an alpine hat, and a thick green veil that covered her entire face. Patrolmen Dolan were walking down Franklin Street, when he saw this woman nimbly jump onto a passing streetcar, despite wearing French high heels.

At 2:05 pm, Mrs. Wesley Allen tried to get out of the prison. As he passed the guard at the exit, the guard asked for his visitor’s pass. Ms. Allen fumbled nervously in the pockets of her dress for several seconds, before saying, “I put it in my pocket, but I must have lost it.”

The guard, realizing something was happening, immediately called Warden Johnson. Ms. Allen was taken into custody, while Warden Johnson ordered that all prison cells be searched immediately. During this search, they were dismayed to discover that Sharkey’s cell was empty. His fancy clothes were scattered around his cell, and just above the sink were the remains of his loose mustache, which he had obviously just shaved off.

Ms. Allen was immediately arrested, but since there was no concrete evidence to incriminate her, the police reluctantly released her. Jourdan was arrested that night at her mother’s home at 167 9th Ave. When detectives told her she was arrested, Jourdan responded, “I am the happiest little woman in the world.”

Jourdan was tried in General Sessions Court and defended by the infamous attorney Big Bill Howe. Howe was so efficient in defending Jourdan that the jury acquitted her of all charges.

It was later determined that even though the police had searched every dock in the city looking for Sharkey, Sharkey had escaped on the Frank Atwood schooner and headed for Haiti. Not liking that country too much, Sharkey boarded another ship and traveled to Cuba, where he settled.

Two years after Sharkey escaped from Tombs prison, Maggie Jourdan joined Sharkey in Cuba. However, for some unknown reason (probably because Sharkey was an incorrigible creature), Sharkey mistreated Jourdan, the same woman responsible for Sharkey avoiding the gallows in New York City. Sharkey so abused Jourdan, the captain of the ship that had brought Jourdan to Cuba, pushed her back on board and brought her back to New York City.

Soon after, Jourdan found his true love, whom he married. Presumably they lived happily ever after.

As far as can be determined, William J. Sharkey never returned to New York City.

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