36
Stories about Ledger
Now for particulars imparted by Cahill.
In illustration of Ledger s unscrupulousness, he
tells of his having talked of extracting certain
favors from women under promise of marriage.
Of his purchasing a rotten condemned, un-seaworthy
ship, during the year of the Californian gold
discovery, and chartering her for a voyage to San
Francisco, the captain knowing the vessel s
condition, but risking the venture, with the pre-
caution of always keeping a prepared boat for his
own and perhaps two or three others escape;
being determined to secure it to themselves by
the use of pistols, if necessary. The ship was
loaded with passengers but reached port in
safety, and then sank at her moorings!
Another instance: Ledger told of his buying
a large quantity of worse than bad flour,
which had been condemned by some South Ame-
rican authorities as utterly unfit for food; of
his bribing some magnate into consent to the
purchase on condition that he was not to manu-
facture it into bread. He made it into corn-
starch and then sold it, at great profit.
Here s a detective story, told by Ledger, of which
he may have been the hero. Some extensive Eng-
lish defaulter had got off to Mexico with large
booty. Detective is sent after him by the suf-
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Twelve: page forty-four |
| Description: | Describes tales about Ledger heard from Frank Cahill. |
| Date: | 1860-02-04 |
| Subject: | Cahill, Frank; Detectives; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Ledger, Arthur |
| Scan Date: | 2011-01-29 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Twelve |
| Description: | Includes descriptions of boarding house living, his freelance writing and drawing work, antics of the New York literary Bohemians, visits to the Edwards family, the activities of London detective Arthur Ledger who is staying in his boarding house, Thomas Nast's courtship of Sally Edwards, two masked balls at his boarding house, a visit to Lotty Granville at Fordham, the state of Charles Damoreau's marriage, and a visit to the ''Phalanx'' in New Jersey with George Boweryem. |
| Subject: | Boardinghouses; Bohemians; Detectives; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Journalism; Marriage; Publishers and publishing; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; Fordham, New York; New Jersey |
| 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. |
