Hell-Cat Maggie was the pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 of an American criminal and early member of the Dead Rabbits

Dead Rabbits

The Dead Rabbits were a gang in New York City in the 1850s, and originally were a part of the Roach Guards. Daniel Cassidy claimed that the name has a second meaning rooted in Irish American vernacular of NYC in 1857 and that the word "Rabbit" is the phonetic corruption of the Irish word ráibéad,...

. She was a well-known personality in Manhattan's Five Points district

Five Points, Manhattan

Five Points was a neighborhood in central lower Manhattan in New York City. The neighborhood was generally defined as being bound by Centre Street in the west, The Bowery in the east, Canal Street in the north and Park Row in the south...

 and a noted female fighter, her teeth reportedly filed into points and wore long claw-like brass fingernails, who fought alongside the Dead Rabbits and other Five Pointers against rival nativist gangs from the Bowery, most especially the Bowery Boys

Bowery Boys

The Bowery Boys were a nativist, anti-Catholic, and anti-Irish gang based north of the Five Points district of New York City in the mid-19th century. They were primarily stationed in the Bowery section of New York, which was, at the time, extended north of the Five Points...

, during the early 1840s. Although there is little information on her life, she is one of the earliest female criminals of the "Gangs of New York

The Gangs of New York (book)

The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld was a 1928 non-fiction book by Herbert Asbury about New York gangs in the 19th century, and was loosely adapted into the film of the same name by director Martin Scorsese. It details the rise and fall of gangs prior to the domination of...

" era and has been compared to later criminals such as Sadie the Goat

Sadie Farrell

Sadie Farrell was an American criminal, gang leader and river pirate known under the pseudonym Sadie the Goat. She first came to prominence as a vicious street mugger in New York's "Bloody" Fourth Ward. Upon encountering a lone traveler, she would headbutt men in the stomach and her male...

, Gallus Mag

Gallus mag

Gallus Mag was a 6-foot-tall female bouncer at a New York City Water St. bar called The Hole in the Wall in the early 19th century, who figures prominently in New York City folklore...

 and Battle Annie, the latter leading the female auxiliary of the Gopher Gang

Gopher Gang

The Gopher Gang was an early 20th century New York street gang known for its members including Goo Goo Knox, James "Biff" Ellison, and Owney Madden...

 during the 1870s.

A composite character

Composite character

A composite character is a character composed of two or more individuals, appearing in a fictional or non-fictional work. Two fictional characters are often combined into one upon adaptation of a work from one medium to another, as in the film adaptation of a novel...

 based on Hell-Cat Maggie, Sadie the Goat and Gallus Mag was played by Cara Seymour

Cara Seymour

Cara Seymour is an English actress of stage and screen. She has appeared in many ensemble casts for acclaimed films such as American Psycho, Adaptation., Gangs of New York, Hotel Rwanda, and The Savages....

 in the 2002 film adaptation

Film adaptation

Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...

 of Herbert Asbury

Herbert Asbury

Herbert Asbury was an American journalist and writer who is best known for his true crime books detailing crime during the 19th and early 20th century such as Gem of the Prairie, Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld and The Gangs of New York...

's Gangs of New York

Gangs of New York

Gangs of New York is a 2002 historical film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. It was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan. The film was inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1928 nonfiction book, The Gangs of New...

directed by Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese

Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...

. She was also featured in the 2003 historical novel

Historical novel

According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...

 A Passionate Girl by Thomas J. Fleming

Thomas Fleming (historian)

Thomas James Fleming is an American military historian and historical novelist.-Biography:Thomas Fleming was born in 1927 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He is a historian and novelist with a special interest in the American Revolution....

.

Further reading

• Botkin, B.A. New York City Folklore: Legends, Tall Tales, Anecdotes, Stories, Sagas, Heroes and Characters, Customs, Traditions and Sayings. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1976. ISBN 0-8371-9310-9
• Penhaligon, Tom. The Impossible Irish. London: George Routledge & Sons, 1935.
• Petronius. New York Unexpurgated: An Amoral Guide for the Jaded, Tired, Evil, Non-conforming, Corrupt, Condemned, and the Curious, Humans and Otherwise, to Under Underground Manhattan. New York: Matrix House, 1966.