15
incessantly. Soon the fellows got to boxing we had brought
the gloves. Cahill and O Brien had a spar or two in which
O Brien did not come out best. Then, three boys appearing, one with
a gun, we fell to taking sixpenny shots, at caps, hats or trees.
This continued for a long time everybody scattering about among the rocks
and trees promiscuously. Some got down the face of the cliffs, and
were reviled or pelted in friendly sort by the others. The drinking
went on, and the day grew towards sunset. O Brien perhaps appear-
ed more affected than the rest of the party. He had proclaimed his
intention of getting Cahill drunk, and though remonstrated with, had given
so much liquor to the Jersey boys two of them that they were half
intoxicated. I was very quiet, and did not develop till the return,
when I appeared all at once to tumble down a perfect abyss of drunk
eness. Night closed round and there was originated a general move-
ment towards departure. Then the extravagancies commenced. O Brien
began hurling his plates, mustard-pot &c over the cliffs and set fire
to his basket. I got it and stuck it up in a tree where it burnt with
splendid effect which the party were not too drunk to notice. Arnold
imitated O Brien in destructiveness. Haney was very busy packing things in
our basket, numbering forks &c, ramming in pies, cheese and tobacco in
a manner which would have been unspeakably ludicrous to a sober observer.
Anon we all began to move. Along the cliffs and down the long stairs.
I went down first carefully and thoughtfully, thinking as I remember
that, careless walker as ordinarily I am, that I d better get out
of the crowd, or I should be chaffing and romping and so risk
a fall. How the other fellows got down I only learnt subsequently, and
what follows is gathered from the rest, with fragmentary remembrances of
my own. O Brien had a very bad tumble, and rolled down six or
eight steps would, probably have broken every bone in his body but
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nine: page twenty-four |
| Description: | Describes a picnic at Hoboken with other New York artists and journalists. |
| Date: | 1857-11-03 |
| Subject: | Arnold, George; Bohemians; Cahill, Frank; Drunkenness; Firearms; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Haney, Jesse; O'Brien, Fitz James |
| Coverage (City/State): | [Hoboken, New Jersey] |
| Scan Date: | 2011-02-02 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nine |
| Description: | Includes descriptions of boardinghouse living, a picnic at Hoboken with other New York artists and journalists, his drawing and writing work in New York, attending a lecture by Lola Montez, visits to James Parton and Fanny Fern and the Edwards family, a controversy over Fitz James O'Brien's story ''The Diamond Lens,'' artist Sol Eytinge's relationship with writer Allie Vernon, the suicide of writer Henry William Herbert, antics of the New York Bohemians, the interest of people living in his boarding house in spiritualism, a visit to his friend George Bolton's farm in Canada, a visit to Niagara Falls, and a scandal involving Harbormaster Willis Patten, who lives in his boarding house. |
| Subject: | Boardinghouses; Bohemians; Farms; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Publishers and publishing; Suicide; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; Rochester, New York; Elmira, New York; Paris, Ontario, Canada |
| Note: | Thomas Butler Gunn was born February 15, 1826, in Banbury, England, and came to New York in 1849. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and the New York Evening Post. He returned to England in 1863, and died in Birmingham in April 1903. The collection includes twenty-one volumes of his diaries, including newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, sketches, and various other items inserted by Gunn. Diary entries date from July 7, 1849, to April 7, 1863, and include his experiences with the New York publishing and literary world, his descriptions of boarding houses, his travels throughout the United States, and his experiences traveling with the Federal army as a Civil War correspondent. |
| Publisher: | Missouri History Museum |
| Rights: | Copyright 2011 Missouri History Museum. |
| Source: | Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum. |
