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Portents for Dead Rabbits

About This Item

  • Title: Portents for Dead Rabbits
  • Date: 20 April 1858
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: per.00938
  • Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 20 April 1858: 2. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm scan of the original issue. Microfilm of original issue held at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the journalism, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Editorial note: This piece is unsigned, as was the case for most of Whitman's journalism. However, this editorial is part of a series of texts that deal with a coherent theme that has been identified by the Whitman Archive journalism team as likely authored by Whitman. This decision is based on a combination of historical and (auto)biographical accounts, similarity to contemporary Whitman writings, a history of scholarly attribution, extant clippings retained by Whitman, computational stylometric analysis, and, in some cases, manuscript evidence in Whitman’s hand.
  • Contributors to digital file: Kaylen Michaelis Francesca Boston Jason Stacy Karie Cobb
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Portents for Dead Rabbits." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 16 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: per.00938.xml (TEI)
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PORTENTS FOR DEAD RABBITS.—

Yesterday was an eventful day in New York city politics. The Dead Rabbit Street Commissioner, Charles Devlin,1 was finally removed from office, and Edward Cooper2 appointed in his place. Then Fernando Wood,3 Augustus Schell,4 and “our own” John Vanderbilt5 suffered a signal defeat in the election of Sachems and officers of the Tammany Society for the ensuing year. Wood & Co. reached up to about 130 votes; but the opposition ticket, headed by Andrew Mickle, went up to about 230 over the Dead Rabbit Democracy; therefore, it may be said, the stars loom lurid and portentous. We are sorry to see Mr. Vanderbilt in such company. It is to be hoped that his name was used without his knowledge or consent.

Notes:

1. Charles Devlin (1805–1881) was one of the most successful city work contractors in New York City, and was appointed as City Street Commissioner in 1857. [back]

2. Edward Cooper (1824–1905) was Mayor of New York City from 1879-1880. [back]

3. Fernando Wood (1812–1881), a Democrat, was mayor of New York City from 1855–1857 and 1860–1861. He was widely regarded as corrupt. During his time at the Brooklyn Daily Times, Whitman penned numerous fiery articles against "King Fernando." [back]

4. Augustus Schell (1812–1884) was a lawyer and New York democrat; he lost the New York Governor nomination in 1852 to Horatio Seymour. [back]

5. John Vanderbilt (1819–1877) was a member of the New York State senate. [back]

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