Rambling observations on books, history, movies, transit, obsolete technology, baseball, and anything else that crosses my mind.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
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.
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