The daily gazette., 1878-01-02
Death Of a Noted Barber
PATRoNIzED BY THE LEADING EDI-
TORS AND NEWSPAPER MEN.

TORS AND NEWSPAPER MEN.
From the New York Sun, Monday.
Few men living are better entitled to
the name of "Genial Tom" than was
Thomas +. Higginson, who for more
than twenty years managed q popular
BARRIERS shop under the Park Hotel, and
after brief illness than week
died yesterday ,of pneumonia in his
home in Brooklyn. In 1857, when he
began his tonsorial business In Beekman
street, his little shop, with mirrors and
pictures and great arm chairs, was a
revelation Of luxury to the men and
brethren Of that region. The ready wit
and sapoir .fdire Of the proprietor made
him popular In very short time, and
his place became widely known.
The elder Bennett, Henry j. Raymond
Horace Greeley, Frederic Hudson, Jas.
r. Spaulding, William Henry Hurlbut,
Charles G. Halpine, John Clancy, Isaiah
Rynders, Fernando Wood. John Wood,
Marcus Cicero Stanley, all the Vanity
Fair set, and Bohemians generally, ,made
frequent use of Tom Higginsop's barber
shop, and many who preferred 10 shave
dt IlOtuc hNdiicu tifCnuoCitCo vi ui5 ohiti
in hair cutting, and Of the well-msDaged
bathing facilities. On one occasion Tom
rendered Henry J. Raymond most i'm
portant service in obtaining, by cum
ming strategem, possession Of a packet OF
letters that were being used TO the lat
ter's detriment, and subsequently,, when
1t was ascertained that copies were in the
hands offs third person, Ton proved
his fitness for diplomacy, by securing
their destruction also. MIR. Raymond
was ever thereafter friend TO Tom, and
on his return from Europe made HIM a
very costly and serviceable present. In
the early Sumter days discussion Of af-
fairs frequently ran high in the Higgin-
sonian chairs, and when there was some
doubt in the public mind, as to which
flag-Union or Confederate-was to be
flung from the Herald building window,
Tom Higginson.learned of plot the exc
tion of which would have caused EN-
barrassment and personal Inconvenience
to say the least, to the veteran editor OF
that journal. He lost no time In seeing
and warning Mr.. Bennett of the project
and, however the issue might have been,
Mr.. BeHnett never forgot his friend, the
"carly- headed barber"
A noted divine. who has been preach
ing hereabouts nearly thirty years, went
into Toms ONE morning to be shaved.
He was not so generally known then as
he is now, and the foreman assigned q
green hand TO him. After a bunglng
lathering, the fellow began to scrape
and tug at his customers face, winch
chanced TO be in most tender condition.
The sufferer bore it for some time with
patience. Finally he could stand it nc
longer. Pulling the towel impatiently
from his neck, he roared out, "1his is
purgatory, sir; worse than purgatory, )"
Tom bad Just come in. At once he
pushed his subordinate aside. He gontly
lathered the great read cheeks,and softly
rubbed the lather in. Then with deli,
cate touch he passed the sharpest OF
razors across the growing beard. slow
is this sir?" This" the satisfied prea-
cher replied; "why, this is Paradise" )"
From that day forward the preacher and
barber were warm friends, and Tom
used 10 tell the green hands story with
great gusto.
In "CalIfornia times" when the ru
raj districts were nearly depopulated
and the hotels of Beekmah, Nassau
aud Cortlandt streets were the favor.
ed resorts of returned miners, Tom
reaped golden harvests. Manya man
has spent $50 for an outfit in Toms
shop. He entered rough, dirty, and
miner, and went ont smooth, clean
and agentleman. buckskip on en-
trance, broadclotb at exit. Sometimes
twenty or thirty Of these returned
Californians, having registered their
name in French's, Lovejoy's or the
Park Hotel, would take possession OF
Higginson's chair ranch" aud run it
for several hours, TO the utter exclu.
sion of other customers. The regular
routine was hair cutting, shaving
bathing, now socks, new shirt, new
underclothes, and full suit of new
clothes, Brought from one of the read,
made warehouses near by, from whom
Tom had, OF course, a royalty or com
mission. The quantity of hair oil,
pomade. bears grease, brushes, comb.
cheap jewelry, cuff buttons, shir
studs, and fancy canes he used I,
dispose of, at a prodigious profit, /,
men of this class was astonishing
They we're like children ON spre,
They had an abund 4nce of money
and wanted to buy every prett,
| thing they saw.