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A NYC police officer hanging over Times Square, 1920 (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 3 months ago by sjmarf@sh.itjust.works to c/historyporn@lemmy.world

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[-] OfficerBribe@lemm.ee 132 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

His name is Charles N. Fitzgerald. Here's additional info about him and the photograph.

Fitzgerald also did things like stand on the upper wing of a biplane as it did a loop-de-loop. He had 18 occupations in 26 years, most of which were dangerous. These included high diver, Texas Ranger, motorcycle racer, and vaudeville strongman.

Here's another article and higher resolution image of that newspaper article.

[-] afk_strats@lemmy.world 27 points 3 months ago

That's awesome. Thanks for posting that vintage article

[-] FarFarAway@startrek.website 17 points 3 months ago

Man, that guy had quite a life! Bet he was a hit at party's.

...Back when you could actually be anything you wanted to be. How romantic!

[-] pwnicholson@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

...If you were white, male, and probably reasonably affluent.

[-] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 months ago

I mean, he sounds Irish. I don't believe they had the best treatment back then either.

[-] GladiusB@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

Not the best, but not the worst either

[-] pwnicholson@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

12 of the first 28 Presidents of the USA (which is the time Fitzgerald was doing his thing) had Irish heritage. 3 of them were first generation Irish (parents born in Ireland). Most of the police force of NYC was stereotyped as being all Irish by this point.

Yes, there were areas and times they were disadvantaged, but don't even compare it to women and non-whites at the time.