Passing Strange (53 page)

14
On the history of the United States Geological Survey, see Mary C. Rabbitt,
The United States Geological Survey, 1879-1989
(U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1050, 1989); Nelson and Rabbitt, “The Role of Clarence King,” in Leviton,
Frontiers of Geological Exploration;
Clifford M. Nelson, “Clarence Rivers King (1842-1901),” in
The History of Science in the United States: An Encyclopedia,
ed. Marc Rothenberg (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 2001), 300-301. The most comprehensive history of the agency remains Mary C. Rabbitt,
Mineral, Lands, and Geology for the Common Defence and General Welfare,
3 vols. (Washington, DC: GPO, 1979-86).

15
U.S. Statutes at Large
20 (1879): 394, quoted in Nelson and Rabbitt, “The Role of Clarence King,” in Leviton,
Frontiers of Geological Exploration,
32.

16
“Confirming and Rejecting,”
Washington Post,
Apr. 4, 1879, 1.

17
[James D. Hague], “Biographical Sketch of Clarence King,” typescript, 8, A1, King Papers, HEH.

18
Bronson,
Reminiscences,
356.

19
Johnson,
Along This Way,
49.

20
Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary,
s.v. “slumming.”

21
Bronson,
Reminiscences,
326-27.

22
Ibid., 356.

23
On the electrification of New York, see Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace,
Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 1059-68.

24
For an interesting exploration of the night as a space with parallels to the frontier, see Murray Melbin,
Night as Frontier: Colonizing the World after Dark
(New York: Free Press, 1987). Thanks to Jean-Christophe Agnew for suggesting this book.

25
Norman Mailer,
The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster
(repr., San Francisco: City Light Books, n.d.), [3]. Originally published in
Dissent
(1957).

26
Wilkins,
King,
269-92; Nelson and Rabbitt, “The Role of Clarence King,” in Leviton,
Frontiers of Geological Exploration,
32-33.

27
For an illuminating and lively account of King’s Washington circle, see O’Toole,
Five of Hearts.
My account of the group is informed by O’Tooles’ excellent research. Her reference to the James story is on p. 72.

28
For the source of the group’s name, see ibid., xvi.

29
Ibid., 69, for a photograph of the tea service.

30
Henry Adams [Frances Snow Compton, pseud.], with an introduction by Robert E. Spiller,
Esther: A Novel
(1884 ; repr., New York: Scholars’ Facsimiles & Reprints, 1938), 19.

31
JH to Clover Adams, 14 Nov. 1881, Ms. 1146, Autograph Collection, Letters to Henry Adams, box 10, Theodore F. Dwight Papers, 1668-1915, Massachusetts Historical Society (hereafter MHS). Citation courtesy of Natalie Dykstra.

32
The best account of King’s complicated mining ventures is in Wilkins,
King,
esp. chap. 16.

33
“Clarence King’s Resignation,”
New York Times,
Mar. 16, 1881, 4 ; Rabbitt,
Minerals, Lands, and Geology,
2:54.

34
Wilkins,
King,
308.

35
Ibid., 308-11.

36
JH to Clover Adams, 14 Nov. 1881, Dwight Papers, MHS.

37
“In Trust,”
Brooklyn Daily Eagle,
Jan. 10, 1882, 4; “Secret Trust,”
Brooklyn Daily Eagle,
Feb. 22, 1884, 4;
Van Cott v. Prentice and others.
Monetary calculations made with the help of
www.measuringworth.com
.

38
Van Cott v. Prentice and others.
In 1887 the New York State Court of Appeals made a final ruling in Mrs. Howland’s favor, agreeing that Prentice clearly intended the interest to go to the Howland family until the youngest child, George, reached legal age, at which point Mrs. Howland and the children should receive the principal of the trust. But it had diminished over the years, and Mrs. Howland’s efforts to hold Prentice’s executors responsible for the management of the funds failed.

39
FKH to JH, 1882, quoted in O’Toole,
Five of Hearts,
109.

40
FKH to JTG, 8 May 1881, Gardiner Collection, NYSL.

41
Stedman, “Frolic,” in Hague,
Memoirs,
203-5.

42
For an excellent overview of King’s time in Europe, see Wilkins,
King,
312-35.

43
Clarence King, “The Helmet of Mambrino,”
Century Illustrated Magazine
32 (May 1886): 154-59.

44
Royal Cortissoz,
The Life of Whitelaw Reid
(London: Thornton Butterworth, 1921), 2:86, cited in Wilkins,
King,
327.

45
Hay, “Clarence King,” in Hague,
Memoirs,
129-30.

46
Ibid., 124-25.

47
Wilkins,
King,
317-25.

48
Stedman, “Frolic,” in Hague,
Memoirs,
207.

49
Howells, “Meetings with Clarence King,” in Hague,
Memoirs,
143-44.

50
Ibid., 144.

51
“Sanctum Chat,”
Saturday Evening Post,
May 31, 1884, 8.

52
See Seth Koven,
Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004), 14-15, 187-88.

53
John Baker Hopkins, “Lazarus to Dives,”
Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature
(Feb. 1887): 263.

54
Quoted in Leon Edel,
Henry James: The Treacherous Years: 1895-1901
(Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1969), 237.

55
Ibid., 237-38; George Monteiro,
Henry James and John Hay: The Record of a Friendship
(Providence, RI: Brown University Press, 1965), 98.

56
Raymond, “Biographical Notice,” in Hague,
Memoirs
, 369.

57
Hay, “Clarence King,” in Hague,
Memoirs,
123.

58
F. H. Mason to JH, 1 Sept. [1883], cited in Wilkins,
King,
320.

59
Raymond, “Biographical Notice,” in Hague,
Memoirs,
369-70.

60
Hon. Maude Stanley, “Country Holidays for Working Girls,”
Outlook
63, no. 6 (Oct. 7, 1899): 346.

61
F. H. Mason to JH, 18 Jan. 1884, cited in Wilkins,
King,
321
n
.

62
Bronson,
Reminiscences,
354; Henry James to JH, 13 May [1885], cited in Phillip Horne, ed.,
Henry James: A Life in Letters
(London: Penguin, 1999), 176.

63
F. H. Mason to JH, 18 Jan. 1884, cited in Wilkins,
King,
321n.

64
Ibid.

65
Raymond, “Biographical Notice,” in Hague,
Memoirs,
370.

66
Wilkins,
King,
325-26, 333-34.

67
CK to “Haig,” 27 June 1884, A1, King Papers, HEH.

68
Henry James,
Daisy Miller
(1878; repr., New York: Penguin Classics, 1987); Koven,
Slumming,
169-80.

69
Wilkins,
King,
334.

70
CK to D. C. Gilman, 27 Feb. 1885, cited ibid., 338.

71
John La Farge, “Clarence King,” in Hague,
Memoirs,
192.

72
Catalogue of Valuable Paintings and Water Colors to Be Sold at Unrestricted Public Sale by Order of the Executors and Trustee of the Estates of the Late Clarence King, William H. Fuller and Theodore G. Weil the trustees of H. Victor Newcomb
(New York: Press of J. J. Little, 1903). Auction catalog, American Art Association, New York, March 1903.

73
La Farge, “Clarence King,” in Hague,
Memoirs,
192-95.

74
Adams, “King,” in Hague,
Memoirs,
166.

75
CK to Henry Adams (HA), 6 Oct. 1884, cited in O’Toole,
Five of Hearts,
129.

76
Clarence King, “Household Expenses 47 Lafayette Place, NY [fall 1873],” A2, King Papers, HEH. In this small ledger book, King kept note of his payments to his servants. “Mary” starts work on Sept. 9, 1873, for $3 to $4 a week and works for King until Oct. 30. “Sarah Johnson” begins at $4 a week on Oct. 31. “Edward Schoales” begins at $35 a month on Oct. 8, 1873. Because the notebook ends at the end of the year, it is difficult to tell how long the servants stayed.

77
Miller’s Strangers’ Guide for the City of New York
(New York: James Miller, 1867), 70.

78
Taintor’s Route and City Guides: City of New York
(New York: Taintor Brothers, Merrill, 1876), 26.

79
Edna L. Farley,
The Underside of Reconstruction New York: The Struggle over the Issue of Black Equality
(New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1993), 157.

80
“Personal Intelligence,”
New York Times,
Apr. 8, 1881, 5; Apr. 28, 1881, 8; Apr. 30, 1881, 5; “Duke of Sutherland,”
New York Times,
Apr. 27, 1881, 8.

81
On American vs. European plan, see
Rand McNally & Co.’s Handy Guide to New York City
(Chicago: The Company, 1895), 15.

82
“The Arts: Our Domestic Architecture,”
Appletons’ Journal: A Magazine of General Literature
13, no. 302 (Jan. 2, 1875): 22. An image of the hotel can be found in Henry Collins Brown,
Fifth Avenue Old and New, 1824-1924
[New York, c. 1924], 57.

83
Appleton’s Dictionary of Greater New York and Its Neighborhoods
(New York: D. Appleton, 1879), s.v. “Restaurants”;
Rand McNally Guide
(1895), 115.

84
Rand McNally Guide
(1895), 19.

85
Ibid., 16-17.

86
“New York City Directory, 1890,” on
Ancestry.com
(accessed Aug. 15, 2007);
Trow’s New York, New York City Directory for 1890
(New York: Trow City Directory, 1891); “Another Big Office Building,”
New York Times,
Oct. 29, 1893, 21; “Punished for Contempt,”
New York Times,
Apr. 2, 1880, 8; “Theatrical Gossip,”
New York Times,
Mar. 9, 1887, 3.

87
“Eclipsed by Four Mules: The Tantivy’s First Trip to Pelham and Gilmore’s Practical Joke,”
New York Times,
Apr. 27, 1886, 8.

88
Fifth Avenue Bank of New York,
Fifth Avenue Events: A Brief Account of Some of the Most Interesting Events Which Have Occurred on the Avenue
([New York]: Printed for the Fifth Avenue Bank of New York, 1916), 49-51.

89
“City and Suburban News,”
New York Times,
Jan. 14, 1887, 3; “Discussing Future Hunt,”
New York Times,
Mar. 15, 1888, 3; “An Electric Convention: A Big Meeting at the Brunswick Hotel,”
New York Times,
Aug. 30, 1888, 8; “City and Suburban News,”
New York Times,
Jan. 14, 1887, 3; “Lee Talks for the South: Frank Words for the Southern Society Dinner,”
New York Times,
Feb. 23, 1889, 5; “Soured by a Single Bad Egg,”
New York Times,
Jan. 29, 1889, 5.

90
“The Professional Clubs: Influence of Outsiders on Their Management,”
New York Times,
Jan. 10, 1887, 2.

91
For King’s memberships and thumbnail descriptions of the clubs, see
Club Men of New York
(New York: Republic Press, 1893) and
Rand McNally Guide
(1895), 183-86.

92
On the mail drop-offs, see “Professional Clubs.”

93
King named different clubs as mailing addresses in the 1893 and 1896 editions of
Club Men of New York.
He made frequent use of stationery from both the Century Association and the Union League Club during the 1880s and ’90s, suggesting he was using both clubs as office spaces.

94
Edith Wharton,
The Age of Innocence
(1920; repr., New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1968), 126.

95
Wilkins,
King,
345, 352-53.

96
Hague, “Memorabilia,” in Hague,
Memoirs,
411-12.

97
Walt Whitman, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” stanza 11, lines 121-22.

98
Earl Lind [pseud.],
Autobiography of an Androgyne
(1918; repr., New York: Arno Press, 1975), 47.

99
Ralph Werther [Jennie June, Earl Lind, pseuds.],
The Female-Impersonators
(New York: Medico-Legal Journal, 1922), 82.

100
Rand McNally Guide
(1895), 140.

101
JH to Clara Stone Hay, 6 Dec. 1879, quoted in O’Toole,
Five of Hearts,
66.

102
CK to JH, 30 May 1885, Hay Collection, Brown.

103
Ibid.

104
Ibid., June 1886.

105
Bronson,
Reminiscences,
329.

106
CK to JH, 4 July 1886, Hay Collection, Brown.

107
Ibid., 30 May 1885.

108
Ibid., 28 July 1887.

109
Ibid.

110
Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Locksley Hall,” lines 167-68.

111
CK to JH, 28 July 1887, Hay Collection, Brown.

112
Clarence King, “U.S. Geological Survey July 1867 Private” [small pocket notebook], D12, King Papers, HEH.

113
Clarence King, “Bancroft’s Native Races of the Pacific States,”
Atlantic Monthly
35 (Feb. 1875): 172.

114
Helen Hunt Jackson,
Ramona
(1884; repr., New York: Penguin Books, 1988), 360, 362.