Steve Brodie

Brodie, Steve, 1863–1901, Brooklyn bookmaker who gained immediate fame and a measure of immortality by allegedly jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge and surviving the fall, on July 23, 1886. It was claimed that Brodie had not, in fact, jumped from the bridge but that a dummy was used as he hid under a pier. In any case he gained the publicity he was seeking, and a tavern he opened shortly after in the Bowery became a mecca for sightseers.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.