Mr. Dooley Visits Winchester

While perusing through the first issue of the Morning News-Item, there was a notice about a Mr. Dooley visiting Winchester and his thoughts on the town. Breaking news pushed the item to the following day, December 4, 1906. Not being familiar with who this Mr. Dooley might be but curious to get his impression of the town, I read on for a snapshot of Winchester at the end of 1906.

Mr. Dooley and Mr. Hennessy on Their Way to Work, 1907, The New York Times.Reprinted in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Feb. 17, 1907.

Our plucky reporter seems to have caught up with Mr. Dooley on the corner of North Loudoun and Piccadilly streets, where Mr. Dooley had spent the night at the Hotel Evans, now demolished. He was "contemplating the beauties of the Shenandoah Valley National Bank," located across Piccadilly Street from the hotel, which still exists. The reporter quizzes Mr. Dooley on his experiences in town so far, and we can glean he "walked from me father George Washington Dooley’s Fort to Potato Top Hill this marnin, and obsairved the faitures of this town"  - or roughly the length of Loudoun Street, north to south, from the site of Fort Loudoun to about the 600 block of South Loudoun.

Mr. Dooley then befriends a man at a saloon, and they chat for a bit about hangover remedies before taking a stroll. The two new friends walk south along Loudoun Street to admire a yellow building, home of the Farmers & Merchants' Bank (another building that still exists in Winchester). The Irish accent is a bit taxing for the next stop on their journey:

An’ then me noo-made frind showed me the liyers all strung out up the Rouser avenue, with each liyers’ door livil with the street, like as if they all tryin’ to git in on the ground floor of ivry deal.

"Rouser avenue" is Rouss Avenue, and with a bit of local knowledge we can translate "liyer" as "lawyer." The numerous smaller buildings to the east of the F&M Bank building are collectively known as "Lawyer's Row," so-called because their proximity to the Old Frederick County Court House attracted lawyers (and other professionals) to use those buildings as offices. And indeed, those buildings have doors that are level with the street - though whether the lawyers were trying to get in on the ground floor of every deal is beyond our ability to fact check now.

A small aside mentions singing "Irish Molly, O" on the stage in Rouss City Hall. The article claims the music was written by Van Alstyne, "a Dutch Winchesterian." While it doesn't seem like a Van Alstyne wrote the original version of the song, an Egbert Van Alstyne is credited as an arranger for a version of it at the Library of Congress. From his biography on Wikipedia, it appears he was not from Winchester; however he "married into" a Winchester family around the time of this article. The more extensive biography at ragpiano.com gives us the clue we need: In 1904 he eloped with "vaudeville actress Louise Henry (King), who had been promoting his songs on stage. She was the daughter of Winchester, Virginia newspaper owner George R. Henry, and had previously been married to her manager, Joe King." Van Alstyne's song "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" seems to tie in to this Winchester connection, and its publication year of 1905 fits perfectly with his marriage to a Winchester girl, and his fame would have been worth a mention in the local papers. A Morning News-Item article from December 13, 1906, states the two of them had a home on North Main (Loudoun) street. Another later article noting their divorce in 1907 seems to confirm they also owned a farm with an apple orchard in Clearbrook, which is rumored to have been the inspiration for the song.

The next task, now that our musical side journey is complete, is checking out the other names mentioned in the article. The two Irish lawyers seem to be James Reardon (though if it is the same person, his middle initial is usually given as B. and not "Patrick") who was captured in a Colonial-era costume for a parade, and possibly Maurice Lynch, Sr. "Ronnie MacGuire" may be Randolph McGuire, a bank teller per the 1910 census, based on some photographic evidence related to the F&M Bank. The identity of "Jaimmy Collins" may be "James Collins," who is noted in the 1910 census as working as an insurance collector and living at 411 Main Street. It seems highly likely this was 411 South Loudoun Street, the Collins family home, which was torn down recently.

Tucked at the end of the article is a byline, identifying our plucky reporter as Robert Dunbarton, "with humble apologies and prayers for mercy to Mr. Peter F. Dunne." This clue brings the entire article full circle. Mr. Dooley (and his friend "Hinnisy") are fictional creations of American journalist and humorist Finley Peter Dunne. The Wikipedia article notes the heavy dialect utilized for Dooley has made penetrating Dunne's work difficult for modern readers, and the legacy of Mr. Dooley has largely fallen into obscurity despite a period of national newspaper syndication. Perhaps the national publication of Mr. Dooley in the early 1900s led to our local writer exploring fanfiction to expand the lore of Mr. Dooley.

Not to be outdone, even our author-reporter is a bit of a mystery. "Robert Dunbarton" is a nom de plume (not the author's actual name) according to a review in 1897 for another piece of fiction he wrote, entitled "A Noble Crime," which we may text correct in the future to see a sample of his longer form writing. Unfortunately, our mysterious Mr. Dunbarton seems to have sympathized with the white supremacists, given some of his later printed materials. It may have been a wise move on his part to keep his real name distinct from his writing in this case.

If this little taste of Mr. Dooley fanfiction has piqued your curiosity for more, you can find several collections of stories at The Internet Archive. It appears the Mr. Dooley series was printed with illustrations in the New York Times, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch often included the artwork in their syndicated runs.

Curious about the location of the Henry farm? It appears to be one of the farms near the present-day location of the Frederick County Fairground on Route 11 (Martinsburg Pike), but which one (and whether there is still an apple orchard there) cannot be determined from the newspaper sources alone.

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