In response to this discovery, McSorley’s made ceremonial coasters which joked: “Certainly, that would be greatest illusion-so far.” The discrepancy, however, has since been explained away.
#Time out ale house serial number
There they have remained ever since.Įxcept, a few years ago, a dedicated patron bent over to examine the handcuffs and noticed they were etched with a serial number that postdates Houdini’s death. Triumphantly, Houdini clanged the handcuffs down on the rail below the bar-locking them into place forever. In no time, the five-foot-six Houdini managed to escape. Houdini good-spiritedly agreed to the challenge and let the police officer shackle him. (Whether he was still on duty is anybody’s guess.) Sure, Houdini could get out of his own handcuffs, said the copper, but what about those of the NYPD? A police officer who happened to also be drinking at the bar was unimpressed. Houdini produced a pair of handcuffs, had someone else shackle him, and then-with a practiced flourish-twisted free. Sometime around the turn of the century, Houdini was performing one of his usual tricks for a few of the regulars. To this day, a pair of his handcuffs can be seen dangling from the rafters by the front right window. Harry Houdini, the Hungarian-American escape artist and magician, was a regular at McSorley’s. Houdini’s handcuffs Photograph: Walker Schulte Schneider
It is no wonder, then, that Old John began to collect Lincoln memorabilia immediately after the death of McSorley’s first celebrity patron. Douglas to secure the nomination as the Republican presidential candidate. It helped him vault over his rival Stephen A. Historians credit the Cooper Union Address as the turning point in Lincoln’s campaign.
That speech, in which Lincoln condemned the expansion of slavery, galvanized the city into a feverish excitement. After all, in 1860, Lincoln reportedly went straight to McSorley’s to quench his thirst after giving a speech that later became known as the Cooper Union Address. Old John McSorley was probably partial to Honest Abe. It offers a “$100,000 REWARD” for the capture of “THE MURDERER f our late beloved President Abraham Lincoln.” High on the wall above the bar, angled a few degrees towards the ground, hangs an original wanted poster for John Wilkes Booth, the actor and Confederate sympathizer who murdered Abraham Lincoln in 1865. An original John Wilkes Booth “wanted” poster Photograph: Walker Schulte Schneider Patrick’s Day, I’m going to share of few of my favorites with you. After nearly two centuries of operation, the bar has compiled its own canon of secrets. cummings described it as “snug and evil”) and a certain magic that its communal tables seemingly conjure every night when they manage to turn strangers into close friends-if only for a fleeting moment or two.īut that’s what is commonly known about McSorley’s. The bar is known for many things: its unchanging appearance (the last time its decorations were changed was in 1910 when the founder “Old John” McSorley died) its limited drinks selection (patrons are challenged with a choice of light or dark beer) its literary fame ( New Yorker essayist Joseph Mitchell called it a “Wonderful Saloon” while e.e. It’s been home to presidents and poets, scallywags and scribes-and just about everyone in between. Since its establishment in 1854, McSorley’s sawdusted floors and tchotchke-covered walls have beckoned countless New Yorkers and visitors alike. Down in the heart of the East Village, tucked around the corner from the imposing Cooper Union, lies McSorley’s Old Ale House, arguably the greatest Irish pub in New York City.
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