Sadie Farrell

1869) was an alleged semi-folklorish American criminal, gang leader and river pirate known under the pseudonym Sadie the Goat.

Upon encountering a lone traveler, she would headbutt like a charging goat a man in the stomach, and her male accomplice would hit the victim with a slungshot and then rob him.

It was while wandering the dockyards in the spring of 1869 that she witnessed members of the Charlton Street Gang unsuccessfully attempting to board a small sloop anchored in mid-river.

[5] Within days, she engineered the successful hijacking of a larger sloop [6] and, with "the Jolly Roger flying from the masthead", she and her crew reputedly sailed up and down the Hudson and Harlem Rivers raiding small villages, robbing farm houses and riverside mansions, and occasionally kidnapping men, women, and children for ransom.

[2][3][4][6] She and her men continued their activities for several months and stashed their cargo in several hiding spots until they could be gradually disposed of through fences and pawn shops along the Hudson and East Rivers.

The New York City waterfront where the "Sadie the Goat" Farrell and the Charlton Street Gang of river pirates harassed shipping in the 1860s.
The Charlton Street Gang of river pirates raided ship cargo in the mid-late 19th century along the New York City waterfront .