49
Also that Woodward was at the Picayune Office! To
Harpers. Walked to Nassau St with Bonner. To Masons. Got
account. Here tis. No of copies bound 2028. On hand 351.
Given away 120. Sold 1557. Thats all Ive got for nearly
a years labor. It s paid the theives of publishers. Drawing
till late at night. O Brien at supper, and in Haney s room, sub-
sequently. I didn t go there. He out with Cahill anon. Met Bel-
lew, coming up town in the morning, and while we were talking,
Wild came up, and must needs have us drink with him.
19. Tuesday. The Major calls, just after breakfast, wanting
somebody to go to the Police Court with him. He had been arrested
the other day, and put in the Tombs for five minutes, for threatening
his ex-barkeeper. The man had come in, (probably to dun him
for his wages,) told the Major he lied &c whereupon the Major
produced a huge carving-knife, told him to arm himself in
a similar manner, and that he, the Major, would do himself the
pleasure of cutting his liver out, making it into sausages and
eating them only regretting that he, the pigeon-breasted barkeeper,
would not survive to witness the completion of the operation!!!
On this, the man, not unnaturally, turned as white as the wall
and, departing, got out a warrant against the valorous Irishmen,
who doubtless supposes that he acted in perfect accordance with
American customs. This occurred on Saturday. (The Major,
with all his blather, said nothing of it yesterday.) When before the
magistrate he acknowledged the truth of the charge, and said
that he would have cut the man s liver out &c &c He
had to appear in court that morning. Didn t go with him. To
Hutchings, Post Office, Pic &c &c. Reading and some drawing.
20. Wednesday. Jerroldiana all day, in doors.
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nine: page sixty |
| Description: | Regarding ''Major'' Piercy being arrested for threatening to cut out the liver of his ex-barkeeper. |
| Date: | 1858-01-17 |
| Subject: | Bellew, Frank; Bonner, John; Cahill, Frank; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Haney, Jesse; Hutchings, Dick; O'Brien, Fitz James; Piercy; Police; Wild; Woodward |
| Coverage (City/State): | [New York, New York] |
| Coverage (Street): | Nassau Street |
| 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. |
