This certainly sounds bizarre to us today but in the late 19th and early 20th centuries a ‘mangle’ was what we Americans would call the clothes wringer on a washing machine. Before the advent of the machines, a mangle could either be a free standing contraption with a metal sluice beneath the rollers to direct the water back into the wash tub. Later on, the mangle had legs that allowed it to sit astride the rim of the wash tub. No doubt, this Boston proprietor was looking for some strong armed Irish women who would be up to the task of mangling all day long. The Irish ladies weren’t totally adverse to such a job, because it allowed them to stay informed about all the goings on in the Irish ghettos. This was the origin of an old Boston expression, “Oh, she gossips like and old Irish washerwoman!” And what of the safety of such a device? Well, now you know where term “mangled” comes from!