Hudson Dusters
 An unidentified man presented by The Sun in 1914 as “A typical Hudson Duster.” The newspaper did not name him. | |
| Origins | |
|---|---|
| Founder | Kid Yorke (Herbert Asbury's account) Circular Jack (Herbert Asbury's account) Goo Goo Knox (Herbert Asbury's account) |
| Founding Location | Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City |
| Territory | Greenwich Village, Manhattan Hudson River waterfront below West 13th Street (Herbert Asbury's account) |
| Headquarters | Hudson Street Bethune Street Horatio Street |
| Profile | |
| Structure | Loose street gang |
| Activities | Theft and robbery Waterfront crime Hired political violence Election intimidation |
| Politics | |
| Leader | Red Farrell “Big Jim” Redmond (president in 1914 reporting) |
| Notable Members | Circular Jack Ding Dong |
| Allies | Gopher Gang (documented cooperation in 1913) |
| Rivals | Marginals Pearl Buttons (Herbert Asbury's account) Fashion Plates (Herbert Asbury's account) |
| Activity | |
| Status | Defunct |
| Years Active | Late 1890s–mid-1910s |
| Founded Date | Late 1890s (Herbert Asbury's account) |
| Dissolved Date | Mid-1910s |
| Dissolution Cause | Police suppression Arrests and imprisonment Leadership dispersal |
The Hudson Dusters were an early twentieth-century street gang centered in Greenwich Village and the lower West Side of Manhattan. Contemporary reporting depicts a loose association involved in theft, waterfront robbery, political intimidation and gang violence rather than a permanently ordered criminal hierarchy.
Territory and organization
A lengthy 1914 investigation by The Sun followed Circular Jack through Abingdon Square and streets around Hudson, Perry, Bethune, Horatio, Bleecker and Barrow. It called the gang “unorganized and amorphous,” described meetings in Bethune and Horatio streets and said that approximately thirty-five to forty Dusters participated as attackers or reserves in one raid against the Marginals. The report identified Red Farrell as a longtime leader and said “Big Jim” Redmond was then absent under threat of imprisonment.[1] In December 1914, the Evening World called Redmond president of the Hudson Dusters while reporting his arrest and the gang's recent fighting with the Marginals, Owney Madden's followers and police.[2]
Herbert Asbury's 1928 retrospective history said Kid Yorke, Circular Jack and former Gopher Goo Goo Knox organized the Dusters in the late 1890s. He placed their principal territory below West Thirteenth Street between the Hudson waterfront and Broadway, with occasional activity farther south, and named the Pearl Buttons and Marginals as waterfront enemies. Those foundation details are retained as Asbury's account rather than presented as contemporary documentation.[3]
Crime, politics and rivalries
The Sun described coat thefts, robbery of delivery wagons and fences who moved stolen property to the East Side. It also reported that a Greenwich Village politician used the gang to supply repeat voters and intimidators at elections. The same article recounted a planned attack on the Marginals and the severe beating of Patrolman Dennis Sullivan, while making clear that many particulars came from gang members or neighborhood informants.[1] On January 2, 1914, the Evening World reported that police dispersed a Hudson Dusters gathering at Eleventh and Bank streets after a citizen complained of a beating; Joseph Russell was accused of firing at the responding officers.[4]
The gang's relationship with neighboring groups was not fixed. A September 1913 report said police believed Hudson Dusters and Gophers cooperated as armed repeaters during a West Side primary fight against Jack Sirocco's men.[5] Asbury likewise called the Dusters and Gophers allies, although a syndicated 1933 retrospective later characterized them as early rivals.[3][6]
Decline
By January 1914, The Sun described the organization as disordered: Farrell had left gang life, Redmond was unavailable and lesser figures assembled members when political patrons required them.[1] Asbury later attributed the Dusters' disappearance to police raids, imprisonment and drug use among leaders. Their name survived in newspaper reports into the middle 1910s, but no evidence establishes continuity with later Greenwich Village or waterfront organizations.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “Hudson Dusters—Night Terrors of Greenwich Village”, The Sun, January 18, 1914, Fourth Section Pictorial Magazine, p. 2.
- ↑ “Big Jim, Gang Boss, is Arrested for Spite”, The Evening World, December 9, 1914, p. 11.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928), pp. 234–240.
- ↑ “Bullet of Gangster Nicks Policeman's Ear”, The Evening World, January 2, 1914, p. 7.
- ↑ “Repeaters in Gun Fight on Broadway”, The Sun, September 17, 1913, p. 1.
- ↑ “New York's Capone Is Coming Home”, Brownsville Herald, July 6, 1933, p. 7.