Meet Casey "The Rhino" O'Malley. Born in 1849 to Irish immigrants, William and Margaret who ferried over during the potato famine in 1847, Casey was no stranger to bigotry and hatred on the streets of Boston. When he was 11 his father died of Typhoid, leaving him the sole breadwinner for his mother and baby sister. As a teen Casey made a name for himself, as well as a bit of scratch, on the streets of Boston in underground bare knuckle boxing rings, earning himself the nickname "The Rhino." When his ailing mother eventually succumbed to consumption in 1870 he and his sister moved to New Orleans to find work. Casey's reputation had preceded him and he soon became the bare knuckle boxing champion of New Orleans. This notoriety got him hired as muscle for the local crime boss where he gained enough experience to start his own "legitimate" gambling business. He currently is somewhat of a local celebrity and makes frequent appearances at the boxing fights that he orchestrates in and out of town. He is known for discovering and bringing in unusual talent from other cities to box and owns property by the docks. He is cunning, personable, and completely ruthless, but will turn deathly solemn at the mention of his estranged daughter Hannah.
3 comments:
I really love knowing the backstory of the subject. It really gives dimension to the portrait. How long did you have Casey sit for you?
Casey was an interesting subject. We did this one in several sessions and then I spent another month on my own smoothing out the details. He has a soft spot for jazz records, so with the aid of my gramophone the time passed rather quickly.
"the bare knuckle boxing champion of New Orleans"
i laughed out loud... not in a "lol" kind of way, but an explosion of laugh-o-tronics.
please tell me you plan to make a whole series of these and get them published. they're amazing so far! have you considered doing any classy dame creatures?
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