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Casebook: Jack the Ripper - Message Boards » Suspects » Tumblety, Francis » The 13th NY Infantry Regiment « Previous Next »

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Malta Joe
Detective Sergeant
Username: Malta

Post Number: 74
Registered: 5-2004
Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 1:10 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Here comes three Tumblety-articles from the Rochester Daily Union and Advertiser. I knew they existed, (the Evans + Gainy book had spoken of two of them) but it was just yesterday when I've read them for the first time in their entirety. There were a some words in these articles which I needed to look up. Here is a loose definition of them:

calaboose....jail
nostrums.....questionable remedies
wended.......pointed to; directed at

And this last one is now my favorite new word! They've actually come up with a word that captures all the aspects of Tumblety. It's called "mountebank" and it has a great definition. It's a descriptive type of word that refers to a quack who sells bogus medication who is a scoundrel, a charleton, and a pompous braggart! I love this word now! I hope these articles are liked, I'll post them in a jiffy.
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Malta Joe
Detective Sergeant
Username: Malta

Post Number: 75
Registered: 5-2004
Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 1:43 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

The Rochester Daily Union and Advertiser
Rochester, New York
March 11, 1858

Distinguished Arrival - The celebrated Dr. Tumblety, one of the most famous characters who has figured in recent Canadian history, has arrived in this city today. He will tell his numerous friends in a day or two, through our columns, where he may be consulted.

(Same Newspaper)
April 4, 1881

"Dr." Francis Tumblety, known throughout the United States and Canada as "the great Indian doctor" has come to grief in New Orleans for picking the pocket of a government clerk. Twenty years ago Tumblety was up high. He dressed extravagantly and sported a number of decorations which he said he had received from the "crowned heads of Europe," and they never denied it through the press. His turn-out resembled an aristocratic circle-wagon, and he was a man of many alleged wares. His forte lay in curing blood diseases, and for years his annual income could not have been less than $10,000. A year ago he was arrested while "practising his profession" in Toronto, Ont., for a serious offense which, however, was reduced to a common assault. Leaving there he wended his way Southward, and was at last brought up in the New Orleans calaboose. Sic Transit. - N. Y. World.

(Same Newspaper)
April 5, 1881

"Dr." Tumblety. Another Rochester Character Acquires Unenviable Distinction - W. H. Seward's Friend in a Prison Cell.

The "Dr." Francis Tumblety mentioned in the UNION'S Southern Notes yesterday as having come to grief in New Orleans for picking the pocket of a government clerk, appears to be not altogether unknown in this city. In fact, circumstances point to the renowned "blood disease" doctor having been none other than "Dr." Frank Tumblety, formerly of this city, where he first entered on his career as a healer. Those who knew him say that he acquired all of his knowledge of medicine from the late "Dr." Reynolds, proprietor of "Lispenard's Hospital," devoted to the treatment of special diseases. Tumblety was employed at the "hospital" to sweep the floor and do similar work. He then disappeared from Rochester for a time and when he was next heard from by Rochester men he was parading himself as one of General McClellan's staff at Washington. He was not on the staff, but dressed as near like an officer as he dare, and would follow the General's staff on horseback at a safe distance. When the Thirteenth Regiment was at Fort Corcoran, Tumblety came around mounted on a a fine Arabian horse and when the men who knew him asked where he got it his answer was "My friend Billy Seward gave it to me." The late Secretary of State had about that time received a gift of horses from abroad and the "Doctor's" story may have been true. Tumblety subsequently travelled through the States and Canada where he acquired quite notoriety by giving food to the poor in great quantities. In one Canadian city he distributed three thousand loaves of bread and was making a great deal of money by administering nostrums to fools. He also appeared in New York and attracted attention by his brazen manners. It was his custom to stop at some good hotel, keep one or two lackeys in attendance when he walked out, dress in extravagant costume and change attire several times a day. If the statement about his arrest is true, it is about what might be expected would happen to the mountebank.

Hopefully someone on the Casebook can get access to the New Orleans newspapers in the early April of 1881 so we can maybe learn more about this pickpocketing story. Tumblety had been in New Orleans before, and I think Luke Blackburn used New Orleans as his base as well for awhile before getting involved in Kentucky. Tumblety's stalking of the Thirteenth Regiment intrigues me and there is more to this. I should have those findings posted either today or tomorrow.
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Malta Joe
Detective Sergeant
Username: Malta

Post Number: 76
Registered: 5-2004
Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 2:32 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

I might as well make it today! Tumblety's tailing of the 13th Regiment took place between the dates of June 4 - July 16, 1861. The 13th Regiment of the NY Infantry came from Tumblety's hometown and were nicknamed the "Rochester Regiment." They were given the duty to report to the newly constructed Fort Corcoran on June 4, 1861 near Georgetown.

Fort Corcoran had just been constructed in May 1861 by the Union Army's "Irish Zouaves." The First Battle of Bull Run was on the horizon, and noteably these "Irish Zouaves" would be pitted up against The Louisiana Zouaves in that famous Virginia fight. The Louisiana Zouaves were made up of Irish Catholic immigrants. Colonel Corcoran himself would be relieved from his duty when he refused to parade his Irish Regiment before the visiting Prince of Wales. (I believe that would have been the future King Edward VII.) I could see how Tumblety would be attracted to all of this as he stalked the troops from a distance. Tumblety was familiar with some of the soldiers, and he wasn't afraid to utilize the name of his hometown to get in good with this "Rochester Regiment."
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Jeffrey Bloomfied
Chief Inspector
Username: Mayerling

Post Number: 568
Registered: 2-2003
Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 7:10 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Hi Joe,

Fascinating stuff. Maybe this can help.

1) "Montebank" - a pretty common term for a fraud back in the 19th Century. William S. Gilbert (of Gilbert & Sullivan) wrote a non-Sullivan operetta about people who can magically transform themselves (via an alchemist's potion) called THE MOUNTEBANKS (with music by Alfred Cellier) in 1892. While not as successful as H.M.S. PINAFORE or THE MIKADO, it had a moderately good run. The pretentious (and bigotted) Upson family in AUNTIE MAME (also the musical MAME), live in a restricted community near Darien, CT. (c. 1939) called Mountebank.

2) "My friend Billy Seward" - a curious comment for Doc. T. to have made. If he was a hidden member of Booth's conspiracy of 1865, Secretary of State William Henry Seward was attacked and seriously wounded by Booth's fellow conspirator Lewis Payne/Paine/Powell. It was the only one of Booth's planned and coordinated attacks that night that actually came off with his attack on Lincoln. Seward survived, to continue to preside as Secretary of State under Andrew Johnson (and to buy Alaska in 1867), and died in 1872. However, his sons Frederick and Augustus, as well as a male nurse, were all wounded by Paine, and the horror of the attack shortened the lives of both Mrs. Seward, and Seward's daughter Fanny (both died in the next year). These collateral casualties are rarely mentioned in accounts of the Lincoln Assassination. It is hard to imagine that the Seward family would acknowledge Tumblety's friendship under normal circumstances due to his patent medicine business and sexual behavior. But throw in the question of the "good" doctor's possible connection to Booth and it is even less probable.
Of course, Seward may have known Tumblety prior to 1865, and then may have befriended him. But to add to the conundrum, "Billy Seward" may not refer to the late Secretary of State. He had a third son, Col. William H. Seward Jr., who was colonel of the 9th New York Heavy Artillery (and who was wounded at the Federal defeat at the battle of the Monocacy River on July 9, 1864).

3) Corcoran and the Irish Brigade: I have a book
(have had it for twelve years now) that I never read called THE IRISH BRIGADE by Paul Luce (Washington, New York, Robert B. Luce Inc., 1969). I will read it in the next week or so to see if Dr. T. is mentioned.

Jeff
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Jeffrey Bloomfied
Chief Inspector
Username: Mayerling

Post Number: 570
Registered: 2-2003
Posted on Saturday, February 05, 2005 - 9:47 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Hi all,

I finished THE IRISH BRIGADE (which was written by Paul Jones, not Paul Luce as I wrote above). Dr. T is not mentioned at all. The book is recommended to discuss the Civil War and the hope of Fenians to use it as a training ground for the eventual Irish army of independence against Great Britain.

Michael Corcoran was the original commander of the Irish Brigade in 1861. An Irish patriot, he angered army brass in 1860 when he refused to lead the Brigade in cheering the visiting Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII - father of the Duke of Clarence and George V). He led the Brigade in the First Battle of Bull Run, but was wounded and captured in that defeat (which his Brigade performed very well in) and spent nearly a year in Libby Prison in Richmond before being exchanged. He died in 1863. The Irish Brigade was settled at a Camp outside Washington named Fort Corcoran after it's Colonel.

Corcoran was replaced as commanding officer of the Brigade by Thomas Meagher (pronounced "Marr") who was one of the leaders of the "Young Irish" movement in the 1840s, that were involved in the 1848 revolt. He and other leaders (Charles Gavan Duffy, John Michell, Smith O'Brien) were tried for treason and ended up in Australian penal colonies for awhile. Michell and Meagher escaped to America (interestingly they took opposite views on the Civil War, Michell being an outstanding secessionist). Meagher served well in the army, rising to the rank of Major General. In 1866 he was appointed acting governor of Montana, but he died within a year in a drowning incident.

The survivors of the Irish Brigade did maintain patriotic connections to Ireland, but only a few of them became active participants in Fenian military activities (mostly two "invasions" against Canada in 1866 and 1867). It was this activity of the Fenians that Thomas Darcy M'Gee spoke out against in 1868, leading to his assassination (you may recall that Tumblety once considered running against M'Gee in Canada for office). M'Gee had also been a leading member of "Young Ireland" in 1848, and escaped to the United States, before he went on to Canada for his career as a newspaper editor and politician (and one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation in 1867).

Jeff

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