The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-27
A NEW YORK BOHEMIA.
The Place Where 1.-THE Pfaff Crowd"
Used to COngregate and Cogitate.
Walt Whitman, Thomas Bailey Aldrich and
Other Literary CrOnies in Their CLUB"
Special Oddities in New York.

| the house where the Authors Club has its rooms.
in West Twenty -fourth street, close to Broad
way, there is little beer shop where cheap
| luncheons are served. This unobtrusive place
is in close proximity to the barbarie splendor of
| the Hoffman House, opposite that most aristo-
| cratic of playhouses, the Madisor-square
Theater, and within cali of the marble palace
conservatism represented by the Fifth avenue
| Hotel It is only few steps from there to the
point where Fifth-avenue and Broadw ay cross,
| just below the Worth monument-one Of the
hearts of the city; for New York has several
hearts, thereby avoiding the inconvenience of
having any particular heart. Notwithstanding
its aristocratic environment this little beer shop
| is quite obscure and has no vogue. And yet. to
| those who remember the things of New York
| twenty-five years ago it forms curiously inter-
citing link with the local Bohemia of that period.
The other night a couple Of gray haired old boys
sat there at one Of the tables chatting over their
toddies. There nothing about them that
would seem to the casual observer remarkable;
but to ne, and doubtless to old Pfaff himself, the
proprietor Of the place, they represented to some
extent famous old kingdom of writer's that
| formerly hourished in Broadway celar-a
| kingdom that long since lost its power and
passed away forever.
In those days there was real Bohemia in
| New York, and there were men of great brillian-
cy and power in it, for at that time art and liter
allure, to a large extent, smoked short pipes.
drank beer and whisky in humble surroundings
and was not so familiar with the interior OF
dress coats as it is now. 1t was not the sort of
| Bohemia that Partisan, Henri Murger, immor
| talized; nor was it much like that of which
Thackeray loved to write; but for all that it was
| a genuine bit Of Bohemia, in its own way. AL
|
| probably somewhat melowed, hallowed and glo
rifed by time the colony to which l refer en-
| braced men and women Of considerable ability,
who were like exotics planted in the dull, do
nestle, prosy existence Of the city, as it then
was. Some of them did more than creditable
work with their pens.
Pfaff's saloon, in 1856, was on Broadway, just
below Bond street. down in a basement. 1t was
a large, roomy place, and the proprietor not only
supplied the asprants to Parnassus with food
and drink but also gave to their circle his own
name They became known as THE Pfaf
Crowd" special table was reserved for these
companions in the valuable space that extended
beneath the sidewalk and around it used
gather. every night, Walt Whitman. William
Winter Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Fitz James
O'Brien and others, including several painters
who afterward achieved fame.
Whitman, in gray suit, with broad turn
down shirt collar opening low on his chest was
an oracle after his own manner. He used to say
to Aldrich, referring to the latter's verse; II
in fraternal tone, would reply that occasionally
he saw some merit in Whitmans "barbaric
yawp" The recognized king of Bohemia, how
ever, was Henry Clapp. who became the editor
of the Satur day Press, a vigorous and witty pa
per which enlisted vast amount of talent. If
Capp's personal debts had not been so large as
they were, anu If there had been any COM
petent business management of the pa
to flourish until the present day. 1t was
a great success, but the receipts somehow
disappeared mysteriously, and the paper was
obliged to suspend in the full tide Of prosperity
Clapp himself afterwards disappeared from the
public gaze as mysteriously as the receipts had
previously done. He died, finally, on Black
wells island, whittier he had been sent at his
own request, as a confirmed inebriate. Ada
Glare, a gifted and beautiful actress, was the
so-called Queen of Bohemia" She, too, used
to sit at the round table in Pfafs cellar; and she,
too, died traeically of hydrophobia, resulting
from the bite of a pet dog. Another of the con-
fraternity, George Arnold. persisted prematurely.
worn out by dissipation and disease. He
wrote for Vanity Fair, that early,
an abortive American comic paper, whose
title has, since been borrowed
| in London, and to which Charles g. Leland
| (author Of "Hans BreItmann') and Orpheus c.
Kerr were important contributors. Arnold left
behind him, when he went to the other world
which particular world it was, whether the
upper or lower, don't know-poems enough to
fill volume which vera edited by Willie Winter
and published, and are now as completely for
gotten as the author himself is. Walt Whitman
has become the recipient of horse and phaeton.
presented to him by Oliver Wendell Holmes, S.
T.. Clemens, Howells and others; Winter has
become the famous dramatic critic of the
Tribune, besides being the author of many
charming poems of sentiment. and t. B. Aldrich
has become a Bostonian and the editor Of the
Atlantic Monthly.
Stephen Fiske was another Bohemian of the
epoch under review; but he has not become the
owner of a charitable phaeton nor the editor of
magazine, though he continues to be identified
with theatrical affairs as a manager and critic
One of Fishes notable achievements was that Of
holding the Geographic wires for his own use,
when he was sent to Canada to report the
ception of the Prince of Wales at Clifton. In
order to prevent the Tribune correspondent
from sending dispatches ne gave the operator the
generations of Enoeh" from the Bible to trans
nit by wire and thus kept the man employed
until it was too late for Fiske's rival
to telegraph the news. Another story about
Fiske. which has never seen print is that he was
present at club reception given about year
ago to a distinguished English actor, and was
standing in the same room with the president of
the club, on the other side of small table. The
president looked at him, but failed to recognize
him. Presently in came the great English actor
and said to Fiske in tone that indicated cordial
familiarity: "Hullo, Steve!" "Hullo, Harry"
replied Fiske. 'How are your short
| versation ensued and when the actor had gone
away the president of the club came around the
table and said: "Why, Mr.. Fiske, how do You
do? I didn't know you when saw you just now
| You have changed SOL"
IF have changed, was the answer, lit must
have been within the last FIVE minutes"
There is Bohemia in New York to day, but
| it is more like that Of a quarter of a century
| ago than that in which Give Newcome, War
| ringtou and Pendennis dwelt is like the present
| world of authors and artists in London. Wheth-
| er for better worse, the writer's and painters
| of the present are recognized members of soci-
ety. meeting people of wealth and show some
| what as kindred, and conducting their own lives
in an orderly way. On the whole, think it was
| for the best
There is certainly something in the Christmas
| season which warns even the coolest hearts
with that feeling which Dickens has so beauti-
fully portrayed. Here in New York, fortunate
| ly enough there is no lack of the true Christmas
| feeling and the homeless Door benefit by il. It