NEW YORK'S SCOUNDRELS, SCALAWAGS, AND SCRAPPERS: The City in the Last Decade of the Gilded Age

In "The Gay Nineties," the gaiety was generally reserved for the top ten percenters. If you were a common working stiff, life was not so gay. Most New Yorkers played by the rules. Others played by totally different rules, successfully gaming the system to their advantage. The few who fought for truth and justice generally went down fighting.