# Gallus Mag
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> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gallus_Mag.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallus_Mag
> Source revision: 1353844072
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{{Short description|Female bouncer in New York City}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gallus Mag
| image =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = unknown
| birth_place = [England](/source/England), [United Kingdom](/source/United_Kingdom)
| death_date =
| death_place = unknown
| other_names =
| occupation = [Bar bouncer](/source/Bouncer_(doorman))
| known_for = Female bouncer in 19th century [Manhattan](/source/Manhattan), [Five Points](/source/Five_Points%2C_Manhattan) personality, appears in ''[The Gangs of New York](/source/The_Gangs_of_New_York_(book))''
}}
'''Gallus Mag''' (real name unknown) was a six-foot-plus tall, female [bouncer](/source/Bouncer_(doorman)) at a 19th-century [New York City](/source/New_York_City) [bar](/source/bar_(establishment)) called The Hole in the Wall. She figures prominently in New York City [folklore](/source/folklore). The name "Gallus"[{{cite web |url= https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gallus |title= gallus |website= Wiktionary |access-date= 2017-06-07 }}] originated from the men's [suspenders](/source/suspenders) she was fond of wearing and "Mag" or "Meg" was likely her forename.[[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/nyregion/13fyi.html Profile], Nytimes.com; accessed December 25, 2016.] The Hole in the Wall bar was at 279 [Water Street](/source/Water_Street_(Manhattan)), [Manhattan](/source/Manhattan), more recently the site of the historic [Bridge Cafe](/source/Bridge_Cafe).
==Bar bouncer==
[Herbert Asbury](/source/Herbert_Asbury)'s book ''[The Gangs of New York](/source/The_Gangs_of_New_York_(book))'' referenced her as one of Charley Monnell's "trusted lieutenants," along with Kate Flannery.[{{Citation |last=Mensch |first=Barbara G. |title=South Street |chapter=A South Street Story |date=2007-04-03 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/mens13932-001/html |pages=45–172 |access-date=2023-05-06 |publisher=Columbia University Press |language=en |doi=10.7312/mens13932-001 |isbn=978-0-231-51134-6}}] He 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.[[Asbury, Herbert](/source/Herbert_Asbury). ''The Gangs of New York''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928; {{ISBN|978-1-56025-275-7}}]
According to legend, Gallus Mag's ghost still haunts the building.[{{Cite book |last=Farnsworth |first=Cheri |title=The big book of New York ghost stories |date=2019 |isbn=978-1-4930-4387-3 |location=[Place of publication not identified] |oclc=1127844246}}]
==In popular culture==
*Gallus Mag's was the name of a bar near [Corlears Hook](/source/Corlears_Hook) in the mid- to late 19th century.[{{cite news |author= |title= River Thieves |url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/60760711/?terms=%22gallus%2Bmag%22 |work= The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |location= Brooklyn, NY |date= 1874-01-20 |access-date= 2017-06-12}}]
*In the 2002 [Martin Scorsese](/source/Martin_Scorsese) film ''[Gangs of New York](/source/Gangs_of_New_York)'', the character Hell-Cat Maggie, a female street gangster and fierce fighter, played by [Cara Seymour](/source/Cara_Seymour), is a composite of Gallus Mag, the real-life [Hell-Cat Maggie](/source/Hell-Cat_Maggie), and the apparently fictional [Sadie the Goat](/source/Sadie_Farrell).[{{cite web|url=http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2014/06/will-the-real-gallus-mag-or-meg-stand-up-no-biting-please |title=Will the Real Gallus Mag, or Meg, Stand Up? No Biting, Please - Old Salt BlogOld Salt Blog |website=Oldsaltblog.com |date=2014-06-04 |accessdate=2016-12-25}}][{{cite web |url=http://www.nypress.com/print.cfm?content_id=3753 |title=The Gangs of New York |author=Estep, Maggie |date=2001-03-01 |publisher=[New York Press](/source/New_York_Press) |access-date=2016-12-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040107032757/http://www.nypress.com/print.cfm?content_id=3753 |archive-date=2004-01-07 }}] Scorsese recreated the restaurant as "Gallus Mag's Hole in the Wall."