<p>Street gangs were rampant in the 1850s and nowhere more than Baltimore. Tracy Melton has gone back to the newspapers, court records and every conceivable original source to recreate this colorful period. Some of it is violent and grisly, but the reader also gets descriptions of clothing and everyday life of gang members, etc. And finally we have the spectacle of four men on the gallows in the jail yard (a yard still visible from I-83 North off Centre Street) with all appeals exhausted, singing a farewell song to 15,000 spectators on a blustery cold, gray April day. Street gangs were rampant in the 1850s and nowhere more than Baltimore. Tracy Melton has gone back to the newspapers, court records and every conceivable original source to recreate this colorful period. Some of it is violent and grisly, but the reader also gets descriptions of clothing and everyday life of gang members, etc. And finally we have the spectacle of four men on the gallows in the jail yard (a yard still visible from I-83 North off Centre Street) with all appeals exhausted, singing a farewell song to 15,000 spectators on a blustery cold, gray April day.</p>

Hanging Henry Gambrill: The Violent Career of Baltimore's Plug Uglies, 1854–1860

History

Melton, Tracy Matthew

Americas

The Maryland Center for History and Culture

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Melton, Tracy Matthew. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Melton, Tracy Matthew

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Melton, Tracy Matthew. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Hanging Henry Gambrill: The Violent Career of Baltimore's Plug Uglies, 1854–1860