Nickname #24 -- March 14, 2013

This purports to be a photograph of Johnny Devine, an Irish immigrant who boxed in New York then came to San Francisco and became a crimp, a man who shanghaied sailors, for the master San Francsico crimp, Shanghai Kelly.  Devine became known as the Shanghai Chicken.  During a brawl in a drinking establishment, a man with a knife cut off the Chicken's hand.  Devine picked it up, walked to a nearby pharmacy, asked the pharmacist on duty to "Sew me fin back on" and collapsed.  The fin was replaced with a sharp metal hook, which made the Chicken a more terrible man.  Eventually, drink caught up with him.