Timothy Sullivan

Timothy Daniel Sullivan (July 23, 1862 – August 31, 1913) was a New York politician who controlled Manhattan's Bowery and Lower East Side districts as a prominent leader within Tammany Hall. He was known euphemistically as "Dry Dollar", as the "Big Feller", and later as "Big Tim" because of his physical stature. He amassed a large fortune as a businessman running vaudeville and legitimate theaters, as well as nickelodeons, race tracks, and athletic clubs. Sullivan in 1911 pushed through the legislature the Sullivan Act, an early gun control measure. He was a strong supporter of organized labor and women's suffrage. The newspapers depicted Big Tim as the spider in the center of the web, mentioning his criminal activities and his control over gambling in the city. Welch says that "assigning the role of vice lord to Sullivan gave Tammany's enemies a weapon to be wielded in every municipal election between 1886 and 1912". Personal life He was born in the slum of Five Points to Daniel O. Sullivan, who emigrated from County Kerry, Ireland, and his wife, Catherine Connelly (or Conley), from Kenmare, County Kerry. His father, a Union veteran of the American Civil War, died of typhus in October 1867 at age thirty-six, leaving his wife to care for their four children. Three years later, Catherine Sullivan married an alcoholic laborer of Irish descent named Lawrence Mulligan and had six children by him. At age eight, Sullivan began shining shoes and selling newspapers on Park Row in lower Manhattan. By his mid twenties, he was the part or full owner of six saloons, which was the career of choice for aspiring politicians. Sullivan attracted the attention of local politicians, notably Thomas "Fatty" Walsh, a prominent Tammany Hall ward leader and father of stage actress Blanche Walsh.