Gallus Mag

Gallus Mag was a formidable force in the New York City underground world. At 6 feet tall and always carrying both a pistol and large club strapped onto her wrist, Gallus Mag served as the bouncer for a popular saloon with gangsters, the Hole-in-the-Wall. Her real name was Margaret Perry, and she ran the bar with her husband, a fellow thief named Jack Perry. It’s said that she received her nickname based on her habit of keeping her skirt up with galluses, or suspenders. As the Hole-in-the-Wall’s bouncer, Gallus Mag was known for her no-nonsense policies and violent removals of unwelcome patrons. After bludgeoning a rowdy patron with her club, Gallus Mag would often then drag the man out of the bar by his ear in her teeth. Occasionally, she would bite a man’s ear off completely, and keep it as a trophy behind the bar, as she had with Sadie the Goat’s ear. Asbury says that “the police of the period shudderingly described her as the most savage female they had ever encountered.”