May was christened Mary Duignan, and was born in 1871 to a poor farming family in the village of Edenmore, County Longford, Ireland. When May was nineteen, her mother was again pregnant, and May knew she would be expected to rear the child as if it where her own. Because May didn’t want to be stuck in that situation forever, she stole all of the family savings and ran away from home. She ended up in Liverpool, England, spent a good sum of the money on clothes, and bought a ticket on a ship to New York. This was the beginning of her nomadic lifestyle that she would fall back on in times of extreme tribulation.
America the Beautiful
As May was quickly running out of funds when she docked in New York, she didn’t want to waste her life and looks on the extremely horrible life of prostitution. Instead, she boarded a train to Nebraska to live with an uncle. While living in Nebraska, May fell in love with a gangster by the name of Dal Churchill. He showed her everything he knew, and she caught on quickly. They married, but the happiness of marriage wasn’t to last. After one routine train robbery, May traveled to Chicago to wait for Dal, but Dal was killed in the town where he was hiding out.
With nothing to lose, May finally decided that prostitution, pick pocketing, and blackmail were the only ways to support herself in Chicago. May toughened up quickly, and was known as one of the toughest women in the trade. She was able to support herself, fight until she got what she wanted, and became a major player in the Chicago underground, earning the name ‘Chicago May’. As time progressed, May found herself in New York again and continued her work as a pick-pocketing prostitute. But with immigration to America increasing, May needed to find a way to stick out and make her money. The opportunity came in the guise of Broadway.
World Traveler
In Broadway, May found a new fame, as an actress, but to make ends meet, she still pulled off petty crimes. Her first stint in jail was after she pick-pocketed a minister. To get out of jail, she married a man she barely knew, by the name of Jim Sharpe. At that point, she had a moment of clean living in New Jersey. The marriage lasted a year until she ran from her hastily married husband, who ended up being somewhat psychotic in nature. After her American years, May went around the world selling herself. She was in Cairo, Rio de Janeiro, Paris and finally to London.
Chicago May and Eddie Guerin
It was in London that May met Eddie Guerin, an Irish gangster, freshly released from a French prison. Guerin, with May and his gang, set off to Paris to rob a major bank. When the heist failed, Guerin was hauled off to jail and later so was May. For the robbery, Guerin was sentenced a life term, and May was sentenced to five years. After a four year imprisonment, May was back in London.
May even made a visit home to Edenmore, Ireland, only to find that the town was exactly the same as when she left it, and she was despised by the villagers. Her family forgave her, but they didn’t respect what she had become. She left once again for London, and when she got there, Guerin was there, just escaped from prison some months beforehand. They pulled small crimes together, but May left within a year and fled to Argentina, scared for her life. Shortly after she docked in South America, Guerin was extradited back to France. Once released, Guerin again found her, and tried to kill her. A shot rang out, and Guerin was shot in the foot. May’s lover received life in prison and May got fifteen years, both for the attempted murder – of each other.
After ten years of hard labor in an English prison, May was deported to America, because of her citizenship status when she married the psychotic Jim Sharpe. She landed in New York, only to be swindled out of her remaining property. May moved to Detroit, got sick, wrote her biography, lived on the streets, and ended up in Philadelphia. An old lover came to be by her side for the end, and promptly disappeared after her funeral.
Sources
- O’Faolain, Nuala. (2005). The Story of Chicago May. London, England: Penguin.
- Stradling, Jan. (2008). Bad Girls: The Most Powerful, Shocking, Amazing, Thrilling & Dangerous Women of all Time. New York, New York: Metro Books.
Maureen Zieber - I currently hold a Bachelor's Degree in World History, and Women's Studies, with a minor in Anthropology from the University of Delaware, ...
