By the turn of the 20th century, Hell's Kitchen in New York was notorious. The origins of the name were

obscure, but by 1900 the neighborhood on the west side of Manhattan, bordered by 34th Street

to the south, 59th Street to the north, 8th Avenue to the east,

and the Hudson River to the west, had become synonymous with urban crime and lawlessness.

Having started as a largely African American neighborhood, Hell's

kitchen witnessed the arrival of large numbers of Irish and German immigrants in the

1850s. While the provenance of the mollicure is murky, Hell's kitchen the first German and Irish immigrants found work and some of whom eventually formed gangs in the 19th century.

The writer Herbert Asbury referred to it as the most dangerous area on the American continent.

Sensational as his style was, Aspery's description nevertheless gave voice to how many middle-class New Yorkers

not only viewed the neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, but also the people who lived there.

From stories they read in the press or accounts that filtered out into the posture parts of

the city, Hell's Kitchen was considered the epitome of the worst aspects of New York life,

the poor corrupted by urban living.

The words of the contemporary African American preacher Reverend Butler who visited Hell's Kitchen and preached in the neighborhood in the summer of

1995 articulated what were the common perceptions perceptions. and he said he'd been on the beat for four years and he did not know a single

honest man or good woman on it. To bolster this view when people from the

neighborhood appeared in the press the accounts seemed to reinforce these stereotypes.

One story from the New York Times in September 1910 fully captured the numerous stereotypes of

Hell's Kitchen at the turn of the 20th century.

On September 24th that year, the Times reported on a street quarrel between two homeless men,

Charles Brennan and Thomas Mooney. The disagreement turned physical when Brennan tried to leave.

Mooney first struck Brennan knocking him to the ground before producing a revolver.

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