{"id":901,"date":"2014-03-03T05:01:40","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T05:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=901"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:50:39","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:50:39","slug":"jimmy-mckays-capital-of-crookdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/03\/03\/jimmy-mckays-capital-of-crookdom\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy McKay\u2019s \u2018capital of crookdom\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Newspaper <\/a>
Newspaper coverage of Carrie Nation visit to Pittsburgh. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Allegheny <\/a>
Allegheny City in 1904. (Photo credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"North <\/a>
North Side, circa 1940. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Carrie Nation stormed into Pittsburgh one day in 1908, took a look at the city\u2019s taverns and declared, \u201cThis is the worst place I\u2019ve ever seen and the saloons are in terrible condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can insult Pittsburgh\u2019s air and rant about its roads but, as Nation soon learned, the city doesn\u2019t take kindly to those who denigrate its taverns. The fiery temperance crusader was arrested.<\/p>\n

At the police station, she continued to roar: \u201cAll the young men in this city are going to hell. The young women, too, are awful, and all this is caused by the saloon.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her tirade, a spry man entered the station. This was Jimmie McKay, owner of a North Side tavern. McKay listened attentively while Nation ranted. She was looking for a fight. She wouldn\u2019t get one from McKay.<\/p>\n

In fact, McKay told her he\u2019d learned a few things from her diatribe. \u201cThis seemed to gratify the little woman very much,\u201d one newspaper reported.<\/p>\n

It was classic McKay. He judged no one. \u201cAbout the only thing I ever did was to take pretty literally that business about \u2018live and let live,\u2019\u201d he once said.<\/p>\n

His saloon reflected this attitude. It was a haven for safe crackers, thieves, mill workers, newspaper reporters and crooked politicians \u2014 people with names like the Albany Kid, Big Swede and English John.<\/p>\n

Before annexation by Pittsburgh in 1907, the North Side was known as Allegheny City. Folks called it \u201cLittle Canada\u201d because extradition treaties didn\u2019t extend there. Parts of Allegheny City were quite raucous.<\/p>\n

McKay\u2019s tavern in Allegheny City was the \u201ccapital of crookdom,\u201d the PG\u2019s Ray Sprigle wrote in a 1948 remembrance of the man. Sprigle described McKay as \u201cone of the most lovable people on the face of the earth.\u201d McKay\u2019s obituary in The Pittsburgh Press on Jan. 4, 1944, indicates he was an Irish immigrant whose family settled on the North Side in the 1870s. McKay worked in a steel mill before opening his tavern.<\/p>\n

We searched the PG archives for photos of McKay and unearthed none. Sprigle\u2019s story, found on microfilm, was accompanied by a faded image of an aging man with tousled hair. It is McKay, casually holding a pipe to his lips. His eyes are at once playful and sad.<\/p>\n

The PG holds no file of newspaper clippings mentioning McKay. He remains\u00a0one of those legendary Pittsburgh characters that seem just out of reach for those of us trying to pin facts to tales.<\/p>\n

One of the more interesting McKay stories concerns an organization called \u201cThe Piano Mover\u2019s Association,\u201d headquartered in McKay\u2019s saloon.<\/p>\n

The organization sprung into action each time the Allegheny River overflowed its banks and flooded portions of the lower North Side. This, coincidentally, was home to Allegheny City\u2019s red light district.<\/p>\n

When waters rose, madams and \u201cworking girls\u201d quickly moved their establishments\u2019 gaudy furniture to safety on upper floors. But they needed help with their unwieldy pianos. That\u2019s when McKay\u2019s piano movers stepped in.<\/p>\n

The association gathered together newspapermen, cops and businessmen for the difficult job of hauling the heavy, ornate instruments up brothel stairways. Membership to the association came with an official card and was considered a privilege, costing as much as $100, according to one report.<\/p>\n

We at the Digs have given these facts considerable thought and we\u2019re certain our forebears in the newspaper business considered piano moving a vital public service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carrie Nation stormed into Pittsburgh one day in 1908, took a look at the city\u2019s taverns and declared…<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesJimmy McKay\u2019s \u2018capital of crookdom\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[947],"tags":[988,1036,1046],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_n1q408lViH1rr5swxo4_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C443&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":746,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/04\/21\/sculptor-selma-burke\/","url_meta":{"origin":901,"position":0},"title":"Sculptor Selma Burke","date":"April 21, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Born into poverty in Mooresville, North Carolina, Ms. Burke dug her fingers into riverbank clay as child.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/tumblr_n48bvqJHlg1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=864%2C834&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":885,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/03\/07\/a-close-look-at-restaurant-sanitation-in-allegheny-county\/","url_meta":{"origin":901,"position":1},"title":"A close look at restaurant sanitation in Allegheny County","date":"March 7, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Efforts to rate restaurants in a meaningful, useful way for local diners dates back more than 60 years.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_n20z82rwFg1rr5swxo6_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C895&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6245,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2016\/01\/27\/one-armed-daredevils-prostitutes-and-pugs-morris-bermans-big-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":901,"position":2},"title":"One-armed daredevils, prostitutes and pugs: Morris Berman’s big year","date":"January 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A Post-Gazette photographer's best images are a visual time capsule of 1963.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Digs.WEBberman1963010.jpg?fit=1200%2C891&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":850,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/03\/19\/pittsburghs-extraordinary-mail-order-detective\/","url_meta":{"origin":901,"position":3},"title":"Pittsburgh\u2019s extraordinary mail order detective","date":"March 19, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Earle Waugh was a newspaper reporter, would-be detective and character out of a different age.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/tumblr_n2nhjgoupG1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C1029&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1573,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/07\/24\/pittsburghs-bridge-to-nowhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":901,"position":4},"title":"Pittsburgh’s bridge to nowhere","date":"July 24, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The Fort Duquesne Bridge now serves as a connection between Downtown and the North Side, spanning the Allegheny River. 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