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{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = William S.Stephen Devery
| image = BilldwebWilliam S. Devery.gif
| image_size = 200px
| caption =
| birth_date = January 9, 1854
| birth_place = [[New York, New YorkCity]], US
| death_date = June{{death 20,date and age|1919|6|20|1854|1|9}}
| death_place = [[Far Rockaway, New York]], US
| occupation = [[New York City]] Police [[Superintendent (police)|Superintendent]] Later changed to [[Chief of Police]]<br>Baseball team owner
| spouse =
| parents =
| children = Mrs. Edward M. Fink <br> Mrs. Florence Oliver2
}}
[[File:The Big Chief’s Fairy Godmother.jpg|thumb|William S. Devery satirized in ''Harper's Weekly'' on September 6, 1902, by [[William Allen Rogers]].]]
'''William Stephen Devery''' (January 9, 1854 &ndash; June 20, 1919), nicknamed "'''Big Bill'''". was the last superintendent of the [[New York City Police Department]] police commission and the first police chief in 1898.<ref name=tsr>{{cite web |url=http://brooklynnorth.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html |title= The Squad Room |accessdate=2007-06-June 14, |publisher= |work=2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mapsites.net/urbanpeace/sec6/Devery.html |title=The Last Police Chief |accessdate=2010-03-March 25, |quote=William2010 Stephen}}</ref> Devery, Newand York[[Frank City'sJ. lastFarrell]] chieflater ofco-owned police, was either an "illiterate ruffian" or an amazing, openly corrupt, and utterly likable eccentric. Born inthe [[New York CityYankees]] aroundof 1855,[[Major BigLeague Bill worked as a Bowery bartender until 1878, when he bribed a Tammany politician to become a policemanBaseball]]. |publisher= }}</ref>
 
==Biography==
He was born in [[New York City]] in 1854. In 1878, at age 24, he was hired as a patrolman. On September 16, 1881, he was made a roundsman, and on May 28, 1884, he was promoted to a sergeant. On December 30, 1891, after 13 years on the force, he was promoted to captain. OnAs Februarya 5police captain he once told his men, 1897"They astell me there's a captainlot of grafting going on in this precinct. They tell me that you fellows are the fiercest ever on graft. Now that's going to stop! If there's any grafting to be done, I'll do it. Leave it to me."<ref name=whale/> On February 5, 1897, he was arrested and charged forwith bribery and extortion. After conviction, he was dismissed from the force. He appealed his conviction toin the [[New York State Court of Appeals]]. It was overturned and he was reinstated to the force and promoted to inspector on January 7, 1898, and Deputy Chief on February 14, 1898. He was then appointed Chief of Police on June 30, 1898.<ref name=tsr/><ref name=NYT1/>
 
In 1899, [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and Republican state legislators established a committee, headed by [[Robert Mazet]], to investigate [[Tammany Hall]] corruption under the leadership of [[Richard Croker]].<ref name=tsr/> [[Lincoln Steffens]], a popular journalist of that time wrote of Devery, "As a Chief of Police, he is a disgrace, but as a character, he is a work of art."<ref name=whale>{{cite web |url=http://www.bjwhalen.com/article.htm |title=The Birth of the NYPD |accessdate=June 14, 2007 }}</ref> In 1901, the Police Department was re-organized again, and has been headed ever since by a [[New York City Police Commissioner|Police Commissioner]]. The first Commissioner [[Michael C. Murphy (New York politician)|Michael C. Murphy]] appointed Devery as his Deputy Commissioner. Both Murphy and Devery went out of office on January 1, 1902, when [[Seth Low]] became Mayor of New York.
 
Later, with [[Frank J. Farrell]], he bought the [[Baltimore, Maryland]] [[American League]] baseball team and moved it to New York and renamed it the [[New York HighlandersYankees|Highlanders]]. The team almost won the American League pennant in 1904, but otherwise had poor records during the Farrell-Devery ownership era. For $300K, they sold the team in 1915 to [[Jacob Ruppert, Jr.]] and [[Tillinghast L' Hommedieu Huston]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://baseballguru.com/bburgess/analysisbburgess21.html |title=Owners Registry |accessdate=2007-06-June 18, 2007 |publisher=Baseball Guru |work= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/history/timeline1.jsp |title=Yankees Timeline |accessdate=2007-06-18June |quote=January 9, 1903: Frank Farrell and Bill Devery purchase the defunct Baltimore franchise of the American League for $18,000 and then move the team to Manhattan. |publisher=[[Major League Baseball]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/history/timeline1.jsp |title=Yankees Timeline |accessdate=2007-06-18 |quote=January 29, 1915: Col. Jacob Ruppert and Col. Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston purchase the Yankees for $1.25 million. |publisher=[[Major League Baseball]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Frank J. Farrell, Sportsman, Dies. Suffers a Heart Attack While Recuperating From Bronchitis in Atlantic City|url=httphttps://selectwww.nytimes.com/gst1926/02/11/archives/abstractfrank-j-farrell-sportsman-dies-suffers-a-heart-attack-while.html?res=F60914F63A5E1A7A93C3A81789D85F428285F9 |quote=Suffers a Heart Attack While Recuperating From Bronchitis in Atlantic City. ... Devery and Ferrell remained in baseball from 1903 until 1915, when the holdings were sold to Colonel Jacob Ruppert, the present owner, and Colonel T.H. Huston for $460,000. |publishernewspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=February 11, 1926, Thursday|accessdate=2007-06-June 18, 2007 }}</ref>▼
As a police captain he once told his men, "They tell me there's a lot of grafting going on in this precinct. They tell me that you fellows are the fiercest ever on graft. Now that's going to stop! If there's any grafting to be done, I'll do it. Leave it to me."<ref name=whale/>
 
He died on June 20, 1919, at 4:15&nbsp;p.m. of [[apoplexy]] in [[Far Rockaway, New York]].<ref name=NYT1>{{cite news |title='Big Bill' Devery Dies of Apoplexy |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B05E6D8173AE03ABC4951DFB0668382609EDE |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=June 21, 1919|accessdate=June 14, 2007 }}</ref>
[[Lincoln Steffens]], a popular journalist of that time wrote of Devery, "As a Chief of Police, he is a disgrace, but as a character, he is a work of art."<ref name=whale>{{cite web |url=http://www.bjwhalen.com/article.htm |title=The Birth of the NYPD |accessdate=2007-06-14 |work= }}</ref> The superintendent of the police commission title was changed to chief of police in 1898.
 
▲Later with [[Frank J. Farrell]], he bought the [[Baltimore, Maryland]] baseball team and moved it to New York and renamed it the [[New York Highlanders|Highlanders]]. The team almost won the American League pennant in 1904, but otherwise had poor records during the Farrell-Devery ownership era. For $300K, they sold the team in 1915 to [[Jacob Ruppert, Jr.]] and [[Tillinghast L' Hommedieu Huston]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://baseballguru.com/bburgess/analysisbburgess21.html |title=Owners Registry |accessdate=2007-06-18 |publisher=Baseball Guru |work= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/history/timeline1.jsp |title=Yankees Timeline |accessdate=2007-06-18 |quote=January 9, 1903: Frank Farrell and Bill Devery purchase the defunct Baltimore franchise of the American League for $18,000 and then move the team to Manhattan. |publisher=[[Major League Baseball]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/history/timeline1.jsp |title=Yankees Timeline |accessdate=2007-06-18 |quote=January 29, 1915: Col. Jacob Ruppert and Col. Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston purchase the Yankees for $1.25 million. |publisher=[[Major League Baseball]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Frank J. Farrell, Sportsman, Dies. Suffers a Heart Attack While Recuperating From Bronchitis in Atlantic City|url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60914F63A5E1A7A93C3A81789D85F428285F9 |quote=Suffers a Heart Attack While Recuperating From Bronchitis in Atlantic City. ... Devery and Ferrell remained in baseball from 1903 until 1915, when the holdings were sold to Colonel Jacob Ruppert, the present owner, and Colonel T.H. Huston for $460,000. |publisher=[[New York Times]] |date=February 11, 1926, Thursday|accessdate=2007-06-18 }}</ref>
 
He died on June 20, 1919 at 4:15 p.m. of [[apoplexy]] in [[Far Rockaway, New York]].<ref name=NYT1>{{cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title='Big Bill' Devery Dies of Apoplexy |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B05E6D8173AE03ABC4951DFB0668382609EDE |quote=New York's Picturesque Police Chief of Long Ago Stricken at Far Rockaway. Famed for his philosophy. First "Chief of Police" City Had. Van Wyck Called Him the Best. Later Ran for Mayor. Was [[Richard Croker]]'s Right-Hand Man. Acquitted of Extortion Charge. Made Deputy Police Commissioner. His Characteristic Reply to Gaynor. His Philosophy of Life. His Remarks on His New Abode. Mourned by Men of the Force. William S. Devery, "Big Bill" Devery, as he was generally known, who was the city's first titular Chief of Police after consolidation, and was called by Mayor Van Wyck "the best New York ever had," who worked his way from patrolman to Chief of the department and for a time served as First Deputy Commissioner, died at 4:15 o'clock ... |publisher=[[New York Times]] |date=June 21, 1919, Saturday |accessdate=2007-06-14 }}</ref>
 
==See also==
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==References==
{{reflist|2Reflist}}
 
==External links==
*[https://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/Goff+OR+Lexow+OR+Parkhurst+%22William+Stephen+Devery%22+OR+%22William+S+Devery%22+OR+%22William+Devery%22/from18900101to19170401/allresults/1/allauthors/oldest/ William Stephen Devery articles in New York Times]
 
{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{succession box |
title=[[New York City Police Commissioner|Chief of the New York City Police]]|
before=[[John McCullagh (superintendent)|John McCullagh]] <br>as Superintendent of Police|
after=[[Michael C. Murphy (policeNew commissionerYork politician)|Michael C. Murphy]] <br>as Police Commissioner |
years=1898-19011898–1901}}
{{s-bus}}
{{succession box
| before=[[CalvinBan ChanJohnson]]
| title=Owner of the [[New York Yankees]]
| years=with [[Frank J. Farrell]] 1903-19151903–1915
| after= [[Jacob Ruppert, Jr.]] and [[Tillinghast L' Hommedieu Huston]]}}
{{s-end}}
 
{{New York Yankees owners}}
{{Authority control}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devery, William Stephen}}▼
{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Devery, William
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH = January 9, 1854
| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[New York, New York]]
| DATE OF DEATH = June 20, 1919
| PLACE OF DEATH = [[Far Rockaway, New York]]
}}
 
▲{{DEFAULTSORT:Devery, William}}
[[Category:1854 births]]
[[Category:1919 deaths]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball owners]]
[[Category:New York Yankees owners]]
[[Category:New York City Police Commissioners]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]
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