by Mim E. Rivas
Rogers was dismayed: ARsb, correspondence with ASPCA, American Institute Fair.
“I do not know”: http://www.lostmuseum.cuny.edu/class (The Lost Museum Classroom: Letters between P. T. Barnum and Henry Bergh of the ASPCA); also Menand’s chapter on Agassiz, 97–116.
Clara’s social sphere: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/ women/saunders/joe/joe-XIX.htm (A Celebration of Women Writers/women’s reading circles, Bands of Mercy); generally on connection between women’s role in philanthropy, see Jeannette M. Oppedisano, Historical Encyclopedia of American Women Entrepreneurs.
“lover of all animals”: ARsb, Ida Sheehan letter.
one journey to Virginia: this anecdote appears in the Post Standard interview 9/7/1902; other news pieces quoted Dr. Key saying it was Lauretta finding the gold.
Doc Key had seen: Shelbyville Times-Gazette 1969 Historical Edition, “Bedford County Fair Was ‘Biggest’ Event of Year.”
kind of trouble: Cleveland Gazette 5/18/1895:
It will be remembered that at the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago it was utterly impossible for an Afro-American to get accommodation at any restaurant on the grounds under southern management. It was the universal rule not to serve one known to have in his veins “Negro” blood. The Afro-American was tabooed…. The south does not recognize Afro-American gentlemen and ladies. Neither hotels, nor restaurants, nor public places of amusement, nor railroads, nor educational institutions…are open to the man of color common with other men.
a politically risky deal: Sherman, A Thousand Voices: The Story of Nashville’s Union Station, 15.
“About the center”: Ibid.
“These occasions mark”: Herman Justi, ed., Official History of the Tennessee Exposition, speech of Professor Council, 196–98.
“Here are gathered”: “Vanity Fair,” Nashville American, 5/1/1897.
Rogers teased the press: Bobby Lawrence, Tennessee Centennial Nashville 1897, 86–87.
“because of his high office”: Justi, 233.
“Everyone appreciated”: Ibid., 236.
“Philadelphia, the pioneer”: Ibid., 238–40.
“knightly chivalry”: Ibid., 242.
“in fine, is a gem”: Ibid., 245.
“Mr. President”: Ibid., 251.
Jim Key for last: Ibid.; Rogers, “Information Regarding Jim Key”; Nashville Sun and New York newspaper (ARsb, probably New York Sun) 6/13/1897.
“It was during”: Shelbyville Times-Gazette, 10/13/1945 (one alleged source is Mr. McGrew, from whose parents Dr. Key purchased the 240 acres for $5,000 on Himesville and Tullahoma roads).
A second version: Lee, 31.
“While at the Nashville Exposition”: “He Was Taught by Kindness,” 1897 edition.
“BEAUTIFUL Jim Key”: ARsb clippings 8/15/1897 from New York Sun and New York Herald.
PART TWO OF THE HISTORY
When quotes from press accounts have been attributed in the text, they are not included in chapter notes below.
6. Key, Key, and Rogers
For background on the animal welfare movement and biographies of Henry Bergh and George Angell, I drew mainly from Gerald Carson, Men, Beasts, and Gods: A History of Cruelty and Kindness to Animals; also James M. Jasper’s “The American Animal Rights Movement” in Animal Rights: The Changing Debate, Robert Garner, ed. The MSPCA-Angell’s Web site provided further information on its founder.
an invitation to Glenmere: Catherine Medich research.
sixteenth-century castle: Google search, various travel sites, including “Palace and Park of Fontainebleau. Used by the kings of France from the twelfth century, the medieval royal hunting lodge, standing at the heart of a vast forest in the Île-de-France, was transformed, enlarged and embellished in the sixteenth century by François I, who wanted to make a ‘New Rome’ Italianate palace combining Renaissance and French artistic traditions.”
a new press release: ARsb, press release; quotes from Sun and World, 8/15/1897.
“Dear Sir”: ARsb, Fynes letter.
most popular drama: William Lawrence Slout, Theatre in a Tent: The Development of a Provincial Entertainment, 39.
“Absolutely not”: ARsb, correspondence.
“remarkable new play”: Ibid.
“could have heard”: ARsb, Thomas to Rogers.
“The perfection”: ARsb, press materials, House of Refuge Dir. testimonial.
“Houchee Couchee”: ARsb, Tomkins testimonial.
“The only trouble”: ARsb, Williams to Rogers.
Stanley found more: ARsb, Dr. Stanley Davis to Rogers, recalling Glenmere stay.
“trained Southern horse”: “Beautiful Jim Key, the Educated Horse and His Wonderful Feats,” Orange Journal, 9/18/1897; “Beautiful ‘Jim Key,’” Orange Chronicle, 9/18/1897.
showed guests around: evening at Glenmere reconstructed from Catherine Medich research; ARsb correspondence; also “Beautiful Jim Key, the Educated Horse and His Wonderful Feats,” Orange Journal, 9/18/1897; “Beautiful ‘Jim Key,’” Orange Chronicle, 9/18/1897; “At the Waverly Fair,” Newark Evening News, 9/9/1897; Newark Daily Advertiser, 9/8/1897.
“prominent Orangeites”: ARsb, press release, Hathaway testimonial.
“I have been twice”: ARsb, press release, Major Pond testimonial.
“A good BARKER”: “Beautiful Jim Key at the Inter-state Fair,” Trenton Sunday Advertiser, 9/26/1897.
“has the services”: Lee, 58, quoting Pittsburg clippings, WKsb.
“best draw we ever had”: ARsb, West Pennsylvania Exposition Society testimonial.
“side show”: WKsb, Pittsburg clippings.
“Not a Side Show”: Ibid.
“I cannot refrain”: Sousa’s testimonial in Rogers, “He Was Taught by Kindness.”
“F-R-U-I-T-L-E-S-S”: “Jim Is Highly Educated—Can Both Spell and Figure,” Post-Standard, 9/7/1902.
“what about your claim”: Orange Journal, 9/18/1897, WKsb clippings. This exchange quoted as printed.
“Those who desire”: WKsb, ARsb, program excerpts as printed.
“Speech alone”: New York Mail and Express, 10/25/1897; also Jim’s 1897 success in Cincinnati clippings: “Little Ones: From House of Refuge and Children’s Home,” “Odeon, Beautiful Jim Key,” “Auditorium, Beautiful Jim Key,” “A Wonderful Horse.”
“In my province”: ARsb, Lykens’s testimonial.
“A free show”: Lee, 194.
between 1896 and 1906: David Hoffman research, inventions of the era.
“Take care of the pigs”: Dickens cited in Gerald Carson, Men, Beasts and Gods, 77.
hindered the efforts: see generally James M. Jasper, “The American Animal Rights Movement,” in Animal Rights, Robert Garner, ed., 130–31.
“a private matinee”: ARsb, correspondence, Rogers to Connelly.
In the meantime: ARsb, correspondence, Rogers to John Haynes of AHS, George Angell of AHA.
“Ohio Humane Society”: ARsb, correspondence, Rogers to Angell.
“I for one”: Carson, 107, citing Angell’s letter in Boston Daily Advertiser, 2/23/1868.
“a lady’s name”: Ibid., 108; also Jeannette M. Oppedisano reply to query, confirming role of women in shaping animal welfare movement.
“Patience”: Rogers, “He Was Taught by Kindness.”
7. Service to Humanity
Charles Eliot: Menand, 117.
lawyer made a gift: Thomas Johnson Collection, inscribed book copies.
“an animal act”: ARsb, correspondence, rejection letter from American Institute Fair.
“mouth is all wet”: Cincinnati clippings, “Beautiful Jim Key, Odeon”; retold in Senour, 147; retold in Lee, 55.
“What makes this horse”: Rogers, “He Was Taught by Kindness”; ARsb, Philadelphia news clipping.
“most faithful man”: Rogers, “He Was Taught by Kindness.”
“Dear Sir”: ARsb, Key to Rogers.
“P-H-Y-S-I-C-S”: ARsb, Baltimore news clipping.
had been
kidnapped: ARsb, correspondence between Rogers and Key; Annie Mott Whitman AI 3/31/2003.
“rains last two weeks”: ARsb, correspondence. The original letter, not a carbon, was apparently not mailed, and no other record of Albert’s friend Louise could be located.
Sam Jones Union Tabernacle: for Nashville Humane Society correspondence with Reverend Jones, I relied on ARsb; Mayor Dudley’s notes were found in WKsb; history of Tabernacle at Ryman Auditorium and Museum visit 4/4/2004; also, Jim Key as first solo entertainer at Ryman’s Web site time line; “Object Lesson to Humanity,” Nashville American, 2/11/1899; “Chesterfield Among Horses,” Nashville American, 2/12/1899; “Jim Key the Famous Horse,” Nashville Banner, 2/18/1899.
Pittsburg Press welcomed: press articles: “Humane Society Endorses the Press Animal Ambulance Fund,” 10/24/1900; “Pittsburg Heartily Praises Fund,” 10/25/1900; “Need of Animal Ambulance Recognized,” 10/26/1900; “No City Needs Ambulance More,” 10/1900; “More Money Than Was Originally Asked For,” 10/1900.
“square roots?”: ARsb.
“with all eyes”: “Exposition Notes,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/8/1899.
“‘Charge of the Light Brigade’”: “Jim Key Does Sums for 8000 People,” Minneapolis Journal, 4/4/1906.
“Jim!”: “Captured the City, He Broke All Records,” St. Joseph Star Special Jim Key Edition, 3/23/1906 (Dr. Key recalled the Philadelphia 1899 incident).
“get the eight of clubs”: “The King of All Horses, Beautiful Jim Key,” York Press, 10/4/1898.
local equine gait: see generally Bob Womack, The Echo of Hoof Beats; also Marilyn Parker horse research: “Bell Buckle Horse History” by Betty Sain and Benvis Beachboard, compiled by Parker; Bob Womack AI 3/30/2004; Kathryn Kerby Tolle AI 4/3/2004; Shelbyville Times-Gazette, 1969 Historical Edition, “Heritage of Tennessee Walking Horse.”
“Jim Key Brand”: WKsb, Robinson-McGill order forms, ads; ARsb, endorsement deal ads and brochures, including office sales of Beautiful Jim Key Amberg Imperial Cabinet Letter File (Chicago, London, New York).
“In all my travels”: ARsb press materials, Lew Parker testimonial.
“Pan American??”: ARsb, Key to Rogers.
Key told reporters: WKsb, clippings Boston Globe, Traveler, Evening Transcript; October–December 1901.
name started moving up: Ibid.
“scrub colt”: WKsb, clipping.
“paper should be read”: “A Letter from Jim Key,” Our Dumb Animals, vol. 34, no. 7, 12/1901.
both leaders were right: for background on era, Washington, and DuBois, see Zinn, 209–10.
race riots exploded: Allan Morrison, “One Hundred Years of Negro Entertainment,” in Anthology of the Afro-American in the Theatre, ed. Lindsay Patterson, 5.
“be the main feature”: “Last Chance to See Beautiful Jim Key,” Boston Traveler, 11/1/1901.
“Probably no amusement line”: Slout, 23, quoting A. R. Rogers in Billboard Magazine on electric parks and street railway journals.
“This special ticket”: WKsb.
“my people are as proud”: WKsb, original copy of Booker T. Washington speech.
“Kindness has accomplished”: WKsb, program of Providence benefit.
“most interesting features”: Rogers, “He Was Taught by Kindness.”
“Jim likes to hear”: Ibid.
“The weather is very fine”: ARsb, correspondence, Key to Rogers, circa spring 1902.
“I am in fine health”: Ibid.
8. The Horse Who Could
For the history of African-Americans in popular entertainment, I relied on Langston Hughes and Milton Meltzer, Black Magic: A Pictorial History of the Negro in American Entertainment, along with Lindsay Patterson, ed., Anthology of the Afro-American in the Theatre; also Howard L. Sacks and Judith Rose Sacks, Way Up North in Dixie.
For the account of how Rogers obtained a concession at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, I drew from his “Information Regarding Jim Key”; his press materials and financial records were also instructive.
Information about the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition came from a variety of sources including: David Francis, The Louisiana Purchase Exposition; Mark Bennett, The History of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition; www.boondocksnet.com/expos; and coverage in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on both 4/30/1904 and 5/1/1904; general background on world’s fairs came from the Web site for CSU Fresno Library’s World’s Fair Donald G. Larson Special Collection.
Caro Senour, Master St. Elmo, 118–51. A detailed description of the fair and of Jim’s show.
Background on Walt Disney, the Carousel of Progress, and Disney’s connection to the St. Louis World’s Fair was gleaned during a visit to Epcot 6/27/2003, supported by many biographical pieces on Disney.
Walt consciously remembered: Epcot staff AI, noting pervasive influence on nation and especially on young boy growing up in Missouri in fair’s wake; compare also with observation by Erik Larson, Devil in the White City, 153, 373, on the 1893 Chicago Fair’s “lasting impact on the nation’s psyche” and Disney.
indebted to the animator: Epcot staff AI on importance of animals to Disney. It should be noted on the other hand that parts of Dumbo reinforced some of the racial stereotypes emerging in the early 1900s.
theatre was shunned: Slout, 2.
advent of melodrama: Shelbyville Times-Gazette, 1969 Historical Edition, “Activities of Thespian Club…in 1888,” 218: “The presence of Dr. J. P. Dromgoole here…reminds me of the way back when we had a Thespian Club in our town that gave a weekly performance in a hall then in the rear of Evans & Shepard…a great deal of prejudice against the theatre and so we called it the Thespian Hall.” Space had shifting scenery, trapdoors, drop curtain. Members of the company were Edmund Cooper, Dr. R. F. Evans, and Jos. H. Thompson; Cooper got all the leads, best actor and he remembered his lines, could “weep or cry at will.”
“America’s Best Bad Actor”: Slout, 19.
“halls and reception rooms”: “Last Day of Mechanics Fair,” Boston Traveler, 10/30/1902.
Clever Hans, and his story: David Hoffman AI 10/11/2002, re: correspondence with Hanne Wolf on Wilhelm von Osten, Clever Hans, Morocco; 2002 Skeptical Inquirer, “Psychic Pets and Pet Psychics” on Pfungst.
would be dismissed: Portia Iversen AI 3/17/2004, about investigating/teaching alternate forms of communication with autistic students.
Time magazine: quote attributed to Time in Essie Mott Lee’s Dr. William Key, 117, attributed it to “a magazine near the turn of the century.”
“I then asked”: ARsb, Palmer’s letter to Ohio Humane Society.
“change two bits”: ARsb, clipping.
real Negro play Uncle Tom: Langston Hughes and Milton Meltzer, Black Magic, 36.
“Dear Lincoln”: ARsb, the World’s HDC, 11/21/1903, letter of introduction.
ten million readers: ARsb, press materials extract of AP story “read by ten million.”
new Union Station: These details were informed by interviews with staff at Union Station Hotel in Nashville, where I stayed during the weeks of 3/3/2003 and 4/2/2004; also I relied on Joe Sherman, A Thousand Voices.
“The phenomenal success”: ARsb, press materials.
“Every nation”: WKsb, original speech a gift from Booker T. Washington to Dr. Key, 6/30/1904.
“The telephone”: Senour, 146.
“I hope that after”: Ibid., 147.
“A painful condition”: Bell’s Handbook, 25.
“my horse”: ARsb, press materials; also it’s interesting to note that after St. Louis, Rogers sometimes billed Jim as Wonderful Jim Key.
“truly a wonderful horse”: “Beautiful Jim Key a Wonderful Horse,” Chicago Daily Journal, 5/27/1905.
“I take it for granted”: ARsb, correspondence, Stillman to Rogers.
“She is like a person”: ARsb, correspondence, Rogers to Angell.
whopping $2,300: ARsb, financial records.
“Dear Sir”: WKsb, ARsb, Key to Rogers.
/> One newspaper: ARsb, clippings, 1906.
9. All Horses Go to Heaven
For the falling-out between Rogers and the AHA, and MSPCA, I relied on correspondence between him and George Angell, as well as other officers.
“Bonner the Great”: ARsb, WKsb.
“Mr. Rogers”: ARsb, correspondence, Key to Rogers.
“I appreciate”: ARsb, Rogers to Colby.
German Coach Horses: WKsb, flyer.
opened his newspaper: “Soldier of Peace: George T. Angell 1823–1909,” Boston Traveler, 3/20/1909.
honored its founder: MSPCA-Angell Web site.
clipped out an article: ARsb, clipping: “Tell of Mind Link to Horses and Dogs,” New York Times, 10/1/1927.
“smart little horse”: ARsb, correspondence between Stanley Davis and Rogers.
Harvard’s president, Charles Eliot: WKsb, clipping: “Dr. Eliot’s Five Foot Library,” Chattanooga Times, 6/29/1909.
“I am not the father”: Will of Dr. Wm. Key, 3/14/04.
a kind of amnesia: Rogers, “Information Regarding Jim Key,” and correspondence between Rogers and Stanley Davis.
“it was feared”: Rogers, “Information Regarding Jim Key.”
“everything that love”: Ibid.
“they treatin’ you”: Annie Mott Whitman AI 4/3/2004; Nancy Barnett AI 3/28/2003.
a third version: Dick Poplin research, letter from Marie Davis Harris to Poplin.
“out with all ease”: ARsb, correspondence, Stanley Davis to Rogers.
journalists present: rough draft of news piece, attributed to Mr. McGrew or to W. McGill; Bob Womack AI 4/3/2004; these quotes from that draft.
SOURCES
BOOKS AND SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS
Ades, Harry. The Little Book of the Civil War. London: Barnes & Noble Books, 2002.
Barber, James. Presidents. New York: DK Eyewitness Books in association with the Smithsonian Institution, First American Edition, 2000.
Bennett, Mark. The History of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. St. Louis: 1905.
Caroli, Betty Boyd. The Roosevelt Women. New York: Basic Books, 1999.