or Bowery-girl, subs. phr. (American).—The ’Arry and ’Arriet of New York of some years ago. [The BOWERY is a well-known thoroughfare in the American metropolis and is situated on what was formerly the farm of Governor Stuyvesant.
18[?]. Chicago Tribune (A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant). When I first knew it, both the old Bowery Theatre and the old BOWERY BOY were in their glory. It was about that time that Thackeray, taking some notes in Gotham, had an encounter with the BOWERY BOY that seems to have slipped into history. The caustic satirist had heard of the BOWERY BOY, as the story goes, and went to see him on his native heath. He found him leaning on a fire hydrant, and accosted him with, ‘My friend, I want to go to Broadway.’ Whereupon the BOWERY BOY, drawing up his shoulders and taking another chew on his cigar, ‘Well, why the —— don’t yer go, then?’
