Harry Lazarus

Harry Lazarus (1839 – January 2, 1865) was an English-born American pugilist, saloon keeper, thief and underworld figure in New York City during the 1850s and early 1860s. He is sometimes confused with his father, famed pugilist Israel "London Izzy" Lazarus, and was one of his three sons along with John and Izzy Lazarus, Jr. His murder by Barney Friery, and subsequent trial, in 1865 was one of the most notorious crimes in the city's history prior to the end of the American Civil War.

Biography Lazarus came to the US with his father and two brothers when Izzy Lazarus, Sr. fought Owen Swift in 1850. Lazarus was enlisted in Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth's Fire Zouaves for a time during the American Civil War, but returned to New York where he opened a saloon, the "X 10 U. 8" (phonetically spelled "extenuate"), on East Houston Street. He lived for a time in Washoe Valley, Nevada Territory. He was shot twice by Epitacis A. Maldonado and injured two fingers on his right hand on September 23, 1863.

Traditional accounts, such as those of Herbert Asbury in Gangs of New York (1928), claimed Lazarus became involved with thieves and confidence men soon after his arrival in New York. One of these acquaintances, Barney Friery, stabbed and killed him during an argument at Lazarus' saloon

The trial was held the following month, lasting three-days, and involved Assistant District Attorney Gunning J. Bedford, Jr. and Judge John T. Hoffman, as well as Lazarus' father Israel who testified for the prosecution. Harry Lazarus' bartender, Henry Connell served as one of the prosecution's star witnesses. Connell testified that on the night of the murder, while tending bar, Lazarus entered the saloon with five or six other men from his place of business next door. One of Friery's companions, California Jack, offered a challenge to the room betting $100 "that I've got a man here that will lick any man in the room". When no one responded, Jack turned to the owner and said "I'll bet $10 that I've got a man that will take that pistol away from you, Harry."

Lazarus' other bartenders, Dennis Kerwan and Thomas R. Walton, both stated that Friery had been to the saloon on previous occasions. Walton recalled an incident when Friery, admittedly drunk, broke a mustard pot after throwing it against the wall. The arresting officer, Patrolman John Dwyer, testified that he pursued the sleigh driven by Richard Birmingham and followed Friery into a saloon on 118th Street. Upon confronting the suspect inside, Dwyer claimed, Friery admitted to the killing telling him "Yes, I have killed him and I will dance at his wake". He was sentenced to death on March 31, but a writ of error delayed his execution pending his appeal in June, and Friery was hanged in a public execution at The Tombs on the morning of August 17, 1866.