Articles: William Butler Yeats Ireland's Nobel Poet Laureate   No Irish Need Apply   He wasn't Irish... The Joseph Petrosino Story   My Tipperary Family Beyond the Pale

William Butler Yeats 1865 - 1939 by John Singer Sargent

The Brian Boru Harp Trinity College Dublin

 Above Center Panel: William Butler Yeats - Ireland's Nobel Poet Laureate  - Charcoan drawing created in 1908  posed slightly askew which highlights  light and shade depict a deeply intense and somrtimes conflicted person.  Romantic or disillusioned depending on his stage of life.

Above right: The Brial Boru Harp: One of the oldest surviving midevil harps estimated to be somewhere between 500 and 600 years old.  It appears prominently in  Ireland's coat of arms.

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfee

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made

Nine bean rows I will have there, a hive for honey bee

And live alone bee-loud glade

And shall I have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow

Dropping from the veils of morning to where the cricket sings

There midnights all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow

And evenings full of Innet's wings

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavement gray

I hear it in the deep hearts core.

No Irish Need Apply 

I'm a decent boy just landed from the town of Ballyfad

I want a situation, yes, and wants it very bad

I seen employment advertised - "It's just the thing," says I

But the dirty spalpeen ended with 'No Irish Need Apply'

"Woah," says I, "but that's an insult, though to get the place I'll try"

So I went to see the blaggard with his 'No Irish Need Apply'

Some may think it a misfortune to be christened Pat or Dan

 But to me it is an honor to be born an Irishman

Well I started out to find the house, I got it mighty soon

There I found the old chap seated, he was reading the Tribune

I told him what I came for, when he in a rage did fly

"No!" he says, "you are a Paddy, and no Irish need apply"

Well I gets my dander risin', I'd like to black his eye

To tell an Irish gentleman, 'No Irish Need Apply'

Some may think it a misfortune to be christened Pat or Dan

But to me it is an honor to be born an Irishman

Well I couldn't stand it longer, so ahold of him I took

 And I gave him such a whelping as he'd get at Donnybrook

He hollered "Milia murther," and to get away did try

And swore he'd never write again 'No Irish Need Apply'

Well he makes a big apology, I bid him then good-bye

Saying "when next you want a beating, write 'No Irish Need Apply'"

Some may think it a misfortune to be christened Pat or Dan

But to me it is an honor to be born an Irishman

Joseph Petrosino  1860 - 1909

          Born on August 30 1860 in Padula Italy, Michael Giuseppe Pasquale Petrosino immigrated to New York City in 1873.  He and his brother lived under the care of an uncle until his untimely death shortly after their arrival. Along with many new Italian immigrants he settled in the old Five Points of New York which later became known as Little Italy.  He joined public service at 18 in 1883 and at 23 years of age joined the NYPD . His fluency in Italian dialects was seen as an asset when it came to fighting crime and earning the trust of Italian immigrants.  He made a name for himself and soon caught the eye of Theodore Roosevelt who was then the police commissioner of New York City and in 1895 he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. As Roosevelt ascended in New York politics so did Petroseno.  After many appeals to Commissioner Theodore Bingham in 1906 an Italian Squad was formed consisting of 30 Italian police officers with the sole purpose of combating the scourge of the Black Hand.   That same year the Italian Squad began a campaign against Italians carrying concealed weapons making many arrests damaging the power and influence of the secret society.  Sargent Petrosino developed crime fighting techniques that are still use effectively today.  In order to break the influence of the Black Hand, he used surveillance and undercover work which resulted in arrests and ultimate dismantlement of the organization. 

   His connections to the Italian American community was based on mutual respect.     

Left: Marriage Certificate 30 December 1907  Joseph Petrosino and Adelina Salino Venti

On December 30,1907 he married Adelina Salino Venti a widow 10 years his junior. 

My Tipperary Family - Beyond the Pale