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Hello All. I am reading through Hall's biography (he was Hulbert's best friend whilst in London). It is helpful to read a book that contains 19th c Americanisms.
Sometimes we forget that the police were seeking an American right after the "Double Event" given that the "Dear Boss" was rife with American slang.
Amongst other expressions, "Boss" and "fix" count here. I was reminded of this when I read that the American Hall was a member of the Boss Tweed gang.
It is also interesting that Hall served as a prosecutor in the Friery/Lazarus murder case. When Friery stabbed Lazarus in the carotid he exulted, "I guess I have fixed him." It's easy to forget that a 19th c Englishman would have recognised these expressions as foreign.
Hurlbert replaced T. P. O'Connor as the Sun's London correspondent for a time in 1886. The February 28th letter has an interview with Stepniak, the acquaintance of William Westall.
New York Sun, February 7, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
The Path of England's New Premier Hedged with Difficulties
His Enemies Predict his Downfall but Gladstone is Confident--
Bitter Comments on the New Cabinet--
Ulster Leaders Order a Supply of Firearms--
Exploits of David Nero, the Swindler--
Nihilists Hanged in Russia--
Gossip of the Continent
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, February 07, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, February 14, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
English Comment Upon the Outcome of the Dilke-Crawford Case
General Disgust Over the Revelations--
The Socialist Hyndman Called to Account for Inciting a Riot--
Brutal Insults Offered to Ladies During Monday's Uproar--
Hopes of the Orangemen Raised bu the Quarrel in Parnell's Camp--
A Princely Fortune
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, February 14, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, February 21, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Parnell's Demands for Ireland to be Announced on March 17
Home Rule Must be Granted or the Ministry Will Fall--
Gladstone's Cabinet Imperilled by Internal Dissensions--
The War Against Religion in France--
Sisters of Charity Turned out of French Hospitals--
Dublin's Cool Welcome to Lord Aberdeen--
Dilke Deserted by Many of his Old Friends
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, February 21, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, February 28, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Doubts that Gladstone Can Solve the Irish Question
No Party Has a Good Working Majority in Parliament--
Sufferings of the Irish Poor--
Graphic Interview with Stepniak--
New Methods of Russian Revolutionists--
The Bimetallists Expect to Win in Germany--
Bismarck's Anti-Polish Measures
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, February 28, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, March 7, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Significance of Mr. Labouchere's Attack on the Lords
Poor Prospect of England Conceding Home Rule in Ireland--
Gladstone's Family Wish Him to Take a Peerage--
His Strength Visibly Waning--
The Cat and Dog Quarrel Between De Freycinet and Clemenceau--
Minister McLanes' Reception in Paris
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, March 07, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, March 14, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
The Whigs Expected to Resist the Premier's Irish Policy
Mr. Gladstone Still Incubating his Home Rule Scheme--
Labouchere's Spicy Attacks upon Patronage and Privilege--
Bishop Freppel's Happy Repartee--
Shaky Prospects of the Panama Canal--
A Portion of Egypt's Woes Due to Fall in Silver
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, March 14, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, March 21, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Growing Hostility to Gladstone's Irish Policy
John Bright Visits the Premier to Oppose his Land and Home Rule Scheme--
Serious Dissensions in the Cabinet--
Mrs. Neilson Winthrop Elopes with Count Gontaut Biron--
Their Supposed Flight to Spain--
Honors to List on his Visit to London
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, March 21, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, March 28, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
The Board of Trade Will Investigate the Oregon Disaster
Abbe Liszt Broken in Health and his Mental Faculties Impaired--
France's New Ship Canal Project--
Prof. Huxley's Witticism at Gladstone's Expense--
English Liberals, Encouraged by the Queen, Oppose the Premier's Irish Policy--
What is Going on at the Theatres
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, March 28, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, April 4, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
View of London Business Men on Gladstone's Irish Policy
Defection Strikes at the Premier from the Heart of Midlothian--
Lord Tennyson Opposes Home Rule--
Transatlantic Mail Service to be Improved--
Trappist Monks Put Beligian Rioters to Flight--
The Coming Congress in Berlin--
Honors to Liszt
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, April 04, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, April 11, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Poor Prospects for the Success of the Home Rule Bill
Features of the Measures that Impair its Chances--
Gladstone Loses his Temper in the House of Commons--
His Caustic Dispute with Chamberlain--
Liszt's Childlike Delight in the Honors Shown Him--
The Socialists Acquitted--
How Some Peers Can be in Two Places at Once--
Society News
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, April 11, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, April 18, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Scotland's Intense Opposition to the Irish Measures
The Queen Also Unfriendly to the Premier's Bills--
Their Fate Likely to be Settled by the Contest in Scotland--
Parisian Modistes have a Grievance--
The Efforts to Reconcile the Vatican and the Italian Crown--
Society News from the Continent
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, April 18, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, April 25, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Weighing the Merits of the Two New Irish Measures
Something Gained for Ireland Even if the Premier is Defeated--
M. de Freycinet's Recent Acrobatic Feats--
Scene at a Royal Wedding in Spain--
Minister McLane Invited to a Bear Hunt--
The American Colony in Paris--
Gladstone at Hawarden
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, April 25, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, May 2, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
The Liberal Party Distracted Over Gladstone's Irish Policy
Growing Hostility of Scotch Radicals and Ulster Protestants to his Bills--
The Queen to Open the Big Colonial Show--
Miss Grant's Coming Marriage to Lord Cairas--
Mathew Arnold's Appraoching Visit to This Country--
Mediocre Display of Art
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, May 02, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, May 9, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
The Rejection of both the Irish Bills Deemed Probable
Intense Anti-Catholic Feeling Against the Premier's Measures--
The Fight of the Cable Companies--
Americans Colonizing London--
Royal Pomp Begins to Pall Upon the English--
A Good Story About Minister Phelps--
Doings of London Society
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, May 09, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, May 16, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
The Irish Programme of the Grand Old Man Drifting to Ruin
No Hope of Saving the Bill--
The Temper of the Anti-Parnellites Rising to the Point of Danger--
Entertaining Dr. Holmes--
Silver Takes Another Fall--
A Greek Play on the Stage--
Paris Absorbed in the Royal Wedding at Lisbon--
Diamons for the Bride
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, May 16, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, May 23, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
A Policy of Delay and Palaver Begun on the Irish Bills
Politicians More Intent on Party Interests Than on Ireland's Welfare--
The Heir to Portugal's Throne Kisses His Bride Amid Great Plaudits--
Pasteur Treats Miss Morosini--
Overwhelming Dr. Holmes with his Own Poetry--
Mr. McLane Coming Home
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, May 23, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, May 30, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Gladstone Invites his Dearest Enemies to Dinner
Feasting the Opponents of Home Rule--
Chamberlain Holds the Balance of Power--
The Actors of America Lauded by the English--
Thunderings of the French Radicals Against the Orleans Prince--
The Czar's Eldest Brother Lioninzed in Paris
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, May 30, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, June 6, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
All Sides Agree that Gladstone will be Defeated
The Probable Majority Against Him--
Making Preparations for the New Election--
Mr. Blaine's Unlucky Remarks--
The Prince of Wales Dances with Miss Langdon--
Mrs. Vanderbilt Buys $100,000 Worth of Diamonds--
Her Husband's Gift to Dr. Morgan's Church--
Society Gossip
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, June 06, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, June 13, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Gladstone's Opponents Will Carry the War into Ireland
Parnellite Seats to be Contested by Tories and Their Allies--
The Foes of Home Rule Have the Most Money to Spend--
An Angry Contest Expected--
Fears of Bloodshed--
Dethroning the Bankrupt King of Bavaria--
A Frenchman's Horse Ranch
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, June 13, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, June 20, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Facts Indicating that Gladstone is Doomed to Defeat
His Forces Not Wisely Handled--
Defeat Will not Kill the Cause--
A Practical Home Rule Bill Sure to Arise out of the Discussion--
France Means to Occupy the New Hebrides--
Mr. Irving's Part in Celebrating the Queen's Jubilee--
The Gossip of Society
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, June 20, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, June 27, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Forecasting the Result of the Election in Great Britain
Some Careful Estimates Leave Gladstone in a Hopeless Minority--
Home Rule May Gain More from Defeat than fron Victory--
The Count of Paris Becomes a Bitter Foe of the Republican Regime in France
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, June 27, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, July 4, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
The Tories Derive Some Comfort from Election Returns
They believe there is a Reaction Against the Premier--
Able Men Whom Mr. Gladstone has Alienated--
The Irish Question Sure to be Solved--
Collapse of the London Social Season--
The Count of Paris Visits the Prince of Wales--
A Big Blunder
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, July 04, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, July 11, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Gladstone Quite Happy, and Reading Dante under a Tree
Will Salisbury be Asked to Form a Cabinet?--
Small Prospect of an Absolute Conservative Majority--
Lord Rosebery's Loss of Prestige--
Bismarck in League with Russia--
Fears that the Panama Canal Scheme Will End in a Financial Crash--
Society
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, July 11, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, July 18, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Gladstone's Prestige Destroyed by His Defeat at the Polls
His Friends Fear that his Potency as a Leader has Vanished--
No String Man Around Whom the Radicals May Rally--
A Movement Toward International Action on the Silver Question--
Clouds that Disquiet Europe--
The New Extradition Treaty
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, July 18, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, July 25, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Hartington Likely to Support the Tories Only on Home Rule
English Parties Breaking into Groups--
Mr. Gladstone's Farewell Dinners--
Light Needed on the Extradition Treaty--
A Rustic's Joke at Herbert Gladstone's Expense--
Sir Charles Urged on His Final Course by Lady Dilke--
France's Hero of the Hour
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, July 25, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
New York Sun, August 1, 1886, Page 1
Latest News from Europe
Lord Randolph Churchill a Leader in the Commons
He is the Only Member Who Can Worry Mr. Gladstone in Debate--
Feeble Appearance of the Late Premier--
Necessity of Pushing the Fight for Ireland on New Lines--
The Labrador Story Said to be False
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, August 01, 1886, Image 1, brought to you by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation, and the National Digital Newspaper Program.
Hello (again) Trade. I am copying and pasting part of your post #25 from the CNA thread.
Here it is.
Cheers.
LC
Apropos of Hurlbut, I heard many years after, in England, that a certain well-known litterateur, who was not one of his admirers, having seen him seated in close tete-a-tete with a very notorious and unpopular character, remarked regretfully, "Just to think that with one pistol-bullet both might have been settled!" Hurlbut was, even as a boy, very handsome, with a pale face and black eyes, and extremely clever, being facile princeps, the head of every class, and extensively read. But there was "a screw loose" somewhere in him. He was subject, but not very frequently, to such fits of passion or rage, that he literally became blind while they lasted. I saw him one day in one of these throw his arms about and stamp on the ground, as if unable to behold any one. I once heard a young lady in New York profess unbounded admiration for him, because "he looked so charmingly like the devil." For many years the New York Herald always described him as the Reverend Mephistopheles Hurlbut. There was another very beautiful lady who afterwards died a strange and violent death, as also a friend of mine, an editor in New York, both of whom narrated to me at very great length "a grotesque Iliad of the wild career" of this remarkable man.
Probably a long shot. If the woman described in the following article about the 1891 New York "Old Shakespeare" murder actually wrote for magazines and newspapers at one point, perhaps she knew Leland?
Mr. Byrnes Confident Statement after Two Days' Work
[...]
TWO SHAKESPEARES?
The Shakespeare who is still alive is a tall
woman. The dead woman was scarcely five
feet tall. The live one was making merry early
yesterday morning over the accounts which
she took to be accounts of her own murder. She
is an Interesting character. She has been an
east side rounder for more than ten years, but
she is a woman of education. She is mistress of
four or five languages, and she literally carries
in her head all the lines of the principal plays
of the dramatist whose name is the only one
she responds to. Ten years ago she was tolerably
respectable when sober. She dressed
decently and usually carried a book under
her arm or bore some other sign of literary
tastes. She told Sergeant Creeden of the
Eldridge street station that she wrote for
magazines and newspapers and, as the sergeant
expressed it, "She used beautiful language when
sober." She would recite passages
from Shakespeare with a good deal of dramatic
force as long as any one would listen to her.
She has been arrested by the police of the
Eldridge street station more than fifty times
probably, the charge always being either
drunkenness or soliciting, Policemen Nell and
O'Kell say that have arrested her twenty times
each. Her resemblance to the murdered woman
is so great that Sergeant Creeden and
Policeman Nell both identified the body at the
morgue yesterday as hers. Policeman O'Kell
went to the Morgue later and decided that the
murdered woman was not Shakespeare. In
the mean time a SUN reporter visited some of
the haunts of the old woman In the region of
Hester, Chrystie, Forsyth and Canal streets to
learn something of her antecedents. J. J.
Sullivan who keeps the saloon at Hester and
Chrystie streets was the first man asked when
he had last seen Shakespeare.
"Between 12 add 1 o'clock this morning,"
Was his reply. "She came in here and got a
drink."
Sullivan could not be shaken in his statement
and he said there were dozens of people
in the neighborhood who had seen her within
twenty-four hours. Just outside the saloon
were two men who had seen her on that corner
at 1 o'clock In the morning. She was half
drunk and she had an angry altercation with
a man who ran against her on the sidewalk.
Others in neighboring saloons had seen and
talked with her even later in the night. She
was released after her last term at the island
on Thursday night, and on Friday, when the
newsboys were crying the extras announcing
her supposed murder, she was in Barney
O'Rourke's saloon in Forsyth street, near
canal. She was talking with the bartender
who had lust heard the news of the murder
and he joked her about it. He did not know
then that she was the woman supposed to have
been murdered.
"The Ripper is here, Shake, old girl," he said.
He'll be after you."
"No, he'll not," replied Shakespeare. "It
won't be an old woman like me he would look
for."
While they talked in walked two women who
had been at the East River Hotel, and who were
arrested and examined by Capt. O'Connor
immediately after the body was found. They had
just been released. They had identified the
dead woman as Shakespeare. They didn't tell
Shakespeare what they had told the police,
but they repeated In detail the story of the
murder. Shakespeare went from Barney
O'Rourke's to Sullivan's saloon and from there
to Louis Dorn's place at the corner of Hester
and Allen streets. That is her usual day resort
and she stayed there some time.
Afterward she was seen in various places in
the precinct. She visited O'Rourke's place
again and the bartender joked more with her
about the Ripper. A reporter who tried to
find her yesterday lost track of her at Grand
street and the Bowery where she Was at 5
o'clock in the morning. She was probably
asleep in a cheap lodging house during the day.
Shakespeare is the only woman who can get
a drink in Steve Brodie's place In the Bowery.
He lets her In because she amuses his male
customers by her recitations. She told Brodie
one morning that her husband was a wealthy
man and that he was living with another
woman in West Thirty-second street. He was
a good husband, she said, and she had been an
unfaithful wife. He had condoned her offences
five times. The sixth he got a separation from
her, She had not lived with him since.
"But he has got to support me," she said,
bringing her fist down on the table, "and he
does it, too--see."
She produced a roll of bills which she said he
had given her. She said she went to him whenever
she wanted money, and she always got it.
She would not tell her husband's name or any
thing about him.
Shakespeare was several times an inmate of
Bellevue Hospital, and she once told one of
the matrons there that her name was Annie
Campbell. So much does she resemble the
murdered woman in features that the same
matron yesterday was confident that the body
was that of Shakespeare. At police stations
and hospitals Shakespeare has given various
names such as Elizabeth Allen, Elizabeth
Brown and Elizabeth Smith.
Clerk Rickets of Bellevue Hospital says
positively that the murdered woman is not
Shakespeare. The body at the Morgue, he says,
is much shorter and smaller in every way than
Shakespeare, although the features resemble
hers. He says Shakespeare came out from the
island on Thursday, after serving thirty days.
The woman whom Inspector Byrnes calls
Shakespeare spent Wednesday night. he says,
in the East River Hotel.
An ex-policeman named Courtlander, who
until recently was attached to the Oak street
station keeps a little shop at 91 James slip.
He says he knew both Shakespeare and the
murdered woman. He went to the Morgue
yesterday and saw the body. He told a SUN
reporter later in the day that
the murdered woman was not Shakespeare.
"She is an old rounder whom I have known
in this neighborhood for about two years," he
said. "I arrested her late one night about six
months ago in a hallway just below here,
where she had crawled in to sleep. I don't
remember what name she gave at the station
house. I never knew her by any name. She
lived a few months ago for a while with a
one-eyed Italian on James street known as
one-eyed Frank. He disappeared and I haven't
seen him for six months."
[...]
---end
An editorial about Hurlbert's coverage the 1886 Parliamentary elections:
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 21, 1886, Page 2
Newspapers and Correspondents.
One of the most pleasing things in connection
with the close of the election excitement
in England is the fact that it will probably
serve to restore harmonious relations between
some of our esteemed contemporaries in
New York and their European correspondents.
The public have viewed with a good
deal of pain the gradually widening breach
between the man who cabled the special
news from London and the men who wrote
the editorials in two, if not three, of the great
dailies, for the public are usually sympathetic
and they look upon an editor who is being
daily contradicted and crushed by his correspondent
as an object of sincere pity. Here, for
instance, is the Sun, whose editor long ago proclaimed
himself a great friend of Ireland and
of Home Rule. He gave a very practical proof
of the sincerity of his opinions by organizing
schemes of relief for the suffering Irish poor
and collecting money for the benefit of the
Home Rule cause. But while Mr. Dana was
eloquently addressing Home Rule meetings
and his principal assistant displaying a spotless
shirtfront in postprandial orations at
Irish dinners, his London correspondent was
engaged in a vigorous campaign for the defeat
of Home Rule. In an evil hour for his own
peace of mind Mr. Dana sent Mr. Hurlbert,
late editor of the World to London. This
gentleman was born in America, but so for
that matter was Benedict Arnold and Rutherford
B. Hayes, so that it does not follow
that all Americans have the same spirit or
the same opinion. He is essentially an
English Tory, a fact which we do not mention
to his discredit, but simply to show that
America does sometimes grow English Tories.
Prior to his appearance in England the Sun
had been admirably served by a member of the
Nationalist party, a clever journalist, and Mr.
Hurlbert was expected to co-operate with
him, but the ex- World editor made things so
unpleasant for the Irishman that in a week or
two he severed his relations with the Sun.
Then Mr. Hurlbert proceeded to do his best
to upset Mr. Gladstone's government. He
corresponded with Dukes and Marquises to
that end; he retailed all the damaging gossip
about the Premier he could pick up in London;
he made himself conspicuous at Tory
meetings and Tory dinners, and, about the
middle of the campaign, was engaged, in connection
with a Mr. Balfour, in a vigorous attempt
to prove Mr. Gladstone a liar. The
Sun correspondent is a great man, and there
are some people who are of opinion that if he
had remained in America Mr. Gladstone's government
might haye been saved and Home
Rule carried. If so, Mr. Dana has, without
intending it, proved himself a greater
enemy of the Irish race than any man since
the days of Lord Castlereagh. But poor Mr.
Dana was not to blame; he could not keep his
correspondent right and could only say with
David: "These men, the sons of Zeruiah, be
too hard for me." All this, of course, is very
sad; that the tail should wag the dog might
be pleasing to Lord Dundreary, but it makes
the judicious grieve. And yet the tail wagging
the dog or the dog chasing his tail in a
frenzied circle in a vain attempt to dislodge
from it a too affectionate flea would be a soul
inspiring sight in comparison with the spectacle
of an editor who cannot control his own
staff.
Our esteemed contemporary, the Tribune,
has not been without its own sorrows from the
same cause. For a long time it has been represented
in London by Mr. Smalley, an excellent
journalist, but one whose love for the
Irish is not great. The Tribune, recently,
for reasons of its own, became a champion of
Home Rule, but the editor has had no sort of
success in keeping its correspondent in line.
That gentleman, indeed, could hardly, be expected
to change his opinions at his editor's
convenience. For a long time he has
been familiarly known as the Tribune's
"Tory Squire," a designation which expresses
tersely his political leanings and the
firmness of his character. During the political
campaign just ended he was very severe
on Mr. Gladstone, publicly rebuking him
on numerous occasions and showing up his
political inconsistencies and the general baseness
of his conduct. The high moral ground
taken, by Mr. Smalley quite upset the aged
Premier, and it, is said by some that fear of
meeting Mr. Smalley's severe and virtuous
eye, and not ill health, was the real reason
why Mr. Gladstone did not speak in London,
an omission which is believed to have lost
him the elections. If this be so, the Tribune
correspondent may claim to have achieved
a result as important as the Englishman
whom Sydney Smith describes,
who danced so rigorously at the Court of
Naples. This party, by his extraordinary
dress and still more extraordinary capers,
threw the Queen into such a fit of laughter
that it ended in hysterics, with such results
as to change the dynasty of the Neapolitan
throne.The other day the editor of the
Tribune found it necessary to publicly
rebuke Mr. Smalley in editorial columns for
a dispatch which appeared, duly leaded,
on the first page. This was another cause of
great sorrow to the public, although some
were so inconsiderate as to indulge in ribald
laughter at the absurdity of the situation.
Now that the elections are over the public are
anxious to see a modus vivendi established between
the Sun and Tribune and their London
correspondents. This may be done in various
ways; the easiest, of course, would be for the
papers to renounce their present views on
Home Rule and adopt those of the gentlemen
who represent them in London. In this way
the editors would acquire in time the same
standing among the British aristocracy which
their correspondents have already gained,
would be occasionally invited to dinners when
in London and allowed to play jackal to the
great lions of society.
But as this might interfere with the popularity
of their papers here the best plan, perhaps,
would be for it to be understood between
editor and correspondent that Home Rule is
not to be mentioned, or if mentioned only in
the way of narrative. We believe that
neither Mr. Hurlbert nor Mr. Smalley is implacable
and that they would be disposed to
be merciful to Mr. Dana and Mr. Reid if approached
in a proper spirit. Thus a great
controversy which has agitated the public and
demoralized journalism might be amicably
settled and the dog continue to retain his tail,
even though not permitted to wag it.
Buckle, to (Scottish), to marry, a vulgarism used by D'Urfey in his imitation of a Scotch song, popular in the time of Charles II., "Within a mile of Edinburgh Toun." The phrase is still current in England among the lower classes, among whom to be "buckled" not only means to be married, but to be taken into custody.
Cod (popular), a fool; to cod, to chaff, hoax. An idiom imported from the sister isle.
She threw a plaice right in my face,
And told me to depart.
I thought that she was codding me,
And told her I should stop.
She lifted up her lovely foot,
And kicked me out of the shop.
—Barrett: Old Jones's Gal.
Fix, to (old cant), to put people in the hands of justice, to apprehend.
I daresay if any of us was to come in by ourselves and should happen to take a snooze you'd snitch upon us and soon have the traps fix us.—G. Parker: Variegated Characters.
Twice around the clock: or, The Hours of the Day and Night in London (London: Richard Marsh, 1862), Page 242
by George Augustus Sala
I have been an editor, and know the amenities that are showered on those slaves of the lamp; the people who accuse you of having set the Thames on fire, and murdered Eliza Grimwood, if you won't accept their interminable romances, and darkly insinuate that they will have your heart's blood if you decline to pay for poems copied from the annuals of eighteen hundred and thirty-six; but to find the acme of persecution and badgering commend me to a theatrical manager.
My Diary in America in the Midst of War (London: Tinsley Brothers, 1865), Volume 2, Page 13
by George Augustus Sala
[...]threatened to return to England to cover the whole surface of the land with street railways, and once more accuse Lord Palmerston of having violated the doctrine of uti possidetis, poisoned Thamas Kouli Khan, murdered Eliza Grimwood, and set the Thames on fire?
Echoes of the Year Eighteen Hundred and Eighty-Three (London: Remington, 1884), Page 346
by George Augustus Sala
In the course of an animated debate on Mr. Anderson's measure, the honourable, noble, and volatile member for Woodstock said that pigeon-shooting was a "Radical sport," and that it was not more than fifty years old. Excellent! Lord Randolph. I will say little about the " Radicalism" of pigeon-shooting. Radicals, it is well known, are a very wicked race; and I am afraid that, were all the evidence fully brought home to them, it would be found that Springheeled Jack and the Little Unknown were both Radicals, and that it was the Radicals who were at the back of the treaty of Unkiar Skelessi—who invented the Income Tax, caused the Irish potato famine, set the Thames on fire, and murdered Eliza Grimwood. A pestilent crew.
The Daily Life of a London Journalist
(by GA Sala in the Illustrated London News)
As it is, it occurs to me that it might be slightly useful to young men who are ambitious to adopt journalism as a profession to try to give within, comparatively speaking, the compass of a nutshell, a sketch of how a hardworking writer for the newspapers really does dispose ot the 24 hours diurnally at his command. In the morning, punctually as the clock strikes 8, you sit down to breakfast (which rarely extends beyond a cup of coffee and a morsel of toast, for mea who lead sedentary lives should eat and drink as little as ever they possibly can, and live much more à la Francois than à l' Anglaise); and you breakfast with spectacles on nose and a pair of scissors in your hand; for you must read attentively, in order to obtain subjects on which to descant in leading articles, the Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily News, the Standard, the Morning Post, the Morning Advertiser, the Paris Figaro, and the New York Herald. On Tuesday morning this pabulum is augmented by the World; on Wednesday by Punch, and on Saturday by the San Francisco News Letter; there are the evening papers to go through every afternoon, and on Thursday there is Truth ; and you must expect, in addition, a desultory deluge of newspapers and periodicals, skimming which you find paragraphs marked with red or blue pencil, setting forth that you are the author of "You Shouldn't;" that you are going to Mesopotamia, or to the moon; that you are an Irishman, a Turk, a Quaker, or a Jew; that you know more than you should do about the murder of Eliza Grimwood; and that your grandmother danced on the tight rope. Before or after this course of literature you open the letters which the first post has brought you.
[...]
The Life and Adventures of George Augustus Sala (London: Cassell, 1898), Page 356
by George Augustus Sala
It so fortuned that I was as innocent of writing the article in question as I am of having murdered Eliza Grimwood, set the Thames on fire, or eaten the puppy pie under Marlow Bridge.
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