Bloody Monday was August 6, 1855, in Louisville, Kentucky, an election day, when Protestant mobs attacked Irish Catholic neighborhoods. These riots grew out of the bitter rivalry between the Democrats and the nativist Know-Nothing Party. Multiple street fights raged, leaving twenty-two people dead, scores were injured, and much property was destroyed by fire. Five people were later indicted, but none were convicted, and the victims were not compensated. The Know-Nothings won the election but ten years later a German was elected mayor.
Famous quotes containing the words bloody and/or monday:
“Come, seeling night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day,
And with thy bloody and invisible hand
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
Which keeps me pale.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“You’ve gotten in through the transom
and you can’t get out
till Monday morning or, worse,
till the cops come.”
—Philip Levine (b. 1928)