# Lew Baker > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lew_Baker > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lew_Baker.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lew_Baker > Source revision: 1342650773 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Welsh-American policeman and assassin}} {{Other people|Lewis Baker}} {{Infobox person | name = Lew Baker | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Lewis Baker | birth_date = c. 1825 | birth_place = [Wales](/source/Wales), United Kingdom | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | known_for = [Tammany Hall](/source/Tammany_Hall) "slugger" and murderer of [William "Bill the Butcher" Poole](/source/William_Poole). | education = | alma_mater = | employer = [Tammany Hall](/source/Tammany_Hall) | occupation = [Police officer](/source/Police_officer) | title = | height = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = }} '''Lewis "Lew" Baker''' was a Welsh-American patrolman in the [New York Police Department](/source/New_York_Police_Department) who was simultaneously employed as a "slugger" for [Tammany Hall](/source/Tammany_Hall). He was involved in [voter intimidation](/source/voter_intimidation) and [election fraud](/source/election_fraud) during the 1840s and 1850s. A close friend and associate of [Irish mob](/source/Irish_mob) boss [John Morrissey](/source/John_Morrissey), Baker frequently battled supporters of the nativist [Know-Nothing movement](/source/Know-Nothing) for over a decade. He is most remembered however as the assassin of [William "Bill the Butcher" Poole](/source/William_Poole). Baker shot and killed Poole in a [Broadway](/source/Broadway_(Manhattan)) saloon during a brawl. Both Baker and Morrissey were placed on trial for murder, but were acquitted.[Asbury, Herbert](/source/Herbert_Asbury). ''The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the New York Underworld''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (pg. 85-90) {{ISBN|1-56025-275-8}}[English, T.J.](/source/TJ_English) ''Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster''. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. (pg. 25) {{ISBN|0-06-059002-5}} ==Early life and Tammany Hall== Born around 1825, Baker immigrated to the United States from [Wales](/source/Wales)Monkkonen, Eric H. ''Murder in New York City''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2001. (pg. 217) {{ISBN|0-520-22188-5}} around 1840 where he became an officer with the [New York Police Department](/source/New_York_Police_Department). It was during this time that he became acquainted with [John Morrissey](/source/John_Morrissey) while he was an immigrant runner{{clarify|date=September 2017}} and later joined him as a "slugger" for [Tammany Hall](/source/Tammany_Hall). He soon became involved in violent fighting against the many nativist organizations of the period, in particular, the [Bowery Boys](/source/Bowery_Boys_(gang)). In January 1855, Baker and [Jim Turner](/source/Jim_Turner_(criminal)) entered ''Platt's Hall'' and became involved in a verbal altercation with prizefighter [Tom Hyer](/source/Tom_Hyer) ''"calling the fighter vile names"''. The argument escalated until Turner drew his pistol and shot Hyer in the neck. Hyer fired back but missed hitting the wall instead. Putting away his weapon, Hyer attacked his assailants and dragged Baker out into the street but the fight came to an end when a police officer arrived. The fight was broken up, but no charges were brought against the three.Sutton, Charles; James B. Mix and Samuel A. Mackeever, ed. ''The New York Tombs: Its Secrets and Its Mysteries. Being a History of Noted Criminals, with Narratives of Their Crimes''. San Francisco: A. Roman & Co., 1874, pp. 138-44.Duke, Thomas S. ''Celebrated Criminal Cases of America''. San Francisco: James H. Barry Company, 1910, pp. 593-94. ==Murder of William Poole== On the night of February 25, 1855, Baker entered the Stanwix Hall saloon with [Jim Turner](/source/Jim_Turner_(criminal)) and [Paudeen McLaughlin](/source/Paudeen_McLaughlin) to confront Poole, the latter having threatened Morrissey with a gun during an argument only hours before. Walking up to Poole, Baker spat in his face and then pulled a [Colt revolver](/source/Colt_revolver) but accidentally shot himself in the arm as he stepped back to draw the weapon. Dropping to the floor, he did manage to fire a second shot hitting Poole in the leg and similarly incapacitating him. Both men eventually got up from the floor, however Baker managed to get to Poole first and [pistol whip](/source/pistol_whip)ped him back to the ground. Baker then shot Poole twice, once in the stomach and the second in his chest, and left the saloon.{{cite book |last1=Duke |first1=Thomas Samuel |chapter=THE MURDER OF PUGILIST BILL POOLE IN NEW YORK. (From Sutton's History of New York Tombs.) |pages=593–594 |title=Celebrated Criminal Cases of America |date=1910 |publisher=James H. Barry Company |location=San Francisco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pkQ37-_VMpQC |oclc=3811019 |language=en |quote=By Thomas Samuel Duke, Captain of Police, San Francisco; Published with Approval of the Honorable Board of Police Commissioners of San Francisco, 1910. (Public Domain Free Download)}} A second version according to retired police chief George W. Walling, Turner and McLaughlin had a more active role in the fight. It was McLaughlin, he claimed, who challenged Poole to a fight spitting in his face each time he refused. All three were reportedly drunk, Baker having recently been dismissed from the NYPD,Lardner, James and Thomas Reppetto. ''NYPD: A City and Its Police''. New York: Macmillan, 2001. (pg. 37) {{ISBN|0-8050-6737-X}} and the still sober Poole was dismissive towards his taunts but offered $100 that he could beat any of the three men. Turner then pulled out a pistol to fire at Poole, using the hollow of his left arm as a rest, but instead shot himself in the arm. He then fired the second shot that hit Poole in the leg. Poole then staggered towards Baker who drew his own revolver and shot him twice before leaving the bar.Walling, George W. ''Recollections of a New York Chief of Police: An Official Record of Thirty-eight Years as Patrolman, Detective, Captain, Inspector and Chief of the New York Police''. New York: Caxton Book Concern, 1887. (pg. 49-51)Lynch, Denis Tilden. ''"Boss" Tweed: The Story of a Grim Generation''. Piscataway, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2002. (pg. 143-144) {{ISBN|0-7658-0934-6}} ==Capture and trial== By the time Poole died two weeks later, a massive search for Baker took place. Morrissey and [Dan Kerrigan](/source/Dan_Kerrigan) were accused as accessories to the murder, the latter suspected of helping Baker escape the city, but neither man was ever indicted.Anbinder, Tyler. ''Five Points: The 19th-century New York City Neighborhood that Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001. (pg. 275) {{ISBN|0-684-85995-5}} Baker hid out in [New Jersey](/source/New_Jersey) for a time before fleeing the country altogether. Authorities managed to catch up to Baker, using the [clipper yacht](/source/clipper) ''Grapeshot'' provided by [George Law](/source/George_Law_(financier)),Richardson, Darcy G. ''Others: Third Party Politics from the Nation's Founding to the Rise and Fall of the Greenback-Labor Party''. Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse, 2004. (pg. 236); {{ISBN|0-595-31723-5}}Bennett, David Harry. ''The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History''. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1988. (pg. 125) {{ISBN|0-8078-1772-4}} and took him into custody less than 100 miles west of the [Canary Islands](/source/Canary_Islands); another version claims that he was captured after arriving at [Tenerife](/source/Tenerife) with the police having arrived two hours ahead of Baker. Brought back to New York, Baker stood trial and twice appeared before the state supreme court before his acquittal by a jury split between six in favor of acquittal and six in favor of a manslaughter conviction.{{Cite news |title=Split jury in trial of Lew Baker for the killing of William Poole |work=The New York Times |date=8 December 1856 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-split-jury-in-trial-o/122301843/ |access-date=2023-04-05 |page=1 |language=en-US}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Further reading== *[Beals, Carleton](/source/Carleton_Beals). ''Brass-knuckle Crusade: The Great Know-Nothing Conspiracy, 1820-1860''. New York: Hastings House Publishers, 1960. *Lewis, Alfred Henry. ''Nation Famous New York Murders''. New York: G.W. Dillingham Company, 1914. {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Lew}} Category:People acquitted of murder Category:1820s births Category:19th-century American murderers Category:American assassins Category:Year of death missing Category:Welsh emigrants to the United States Category:Gangsters from New York City Category:Police misconduct in the United States Category:New York City Police Department officers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lew Baker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lew_Baker) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lew_Baker?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.