THE ANNALS OF

CH APTER III.
1872-1873.

IHE
. ~.
'~,
•.
within its ow~ walls was held on
first 25,
March formal
18/2.meeting of the other
Amongst Club
important business which was trans-
~. acted, the following nominations for
officers to serve during the ensuing
year, were submitted by the committee:
Thomas Newcomb, President; Henry
Edwards, Vice-President; Sands W. Forman, Secre-
tary; Arpad Harazthy, Treasurer, and D. P. Belknap,
ElectIon of
office1's, Henry George, Frederick Whymper, R. C. Rogers
and B. F. Napthaly, Trustees. The first annual
balloting took place on Friday, April 1st, result-
ing in the election of the foregoing ticket. Within a
short time, however, Napthaly resigned from the Club
and other changes took place in the Board resulting
in the following named members being appointed
Trustees: D. P. Belknap, Edward Bosqui, Samuel M.
Brooks, A. G. Hawes andJ. C. Williamson. The office
of Assistant Secretary was held by Mr. J. H. Sayre.
An " Irregular Ticket" had been put in the field,
but only to serve as a vehicle for touching upon the
personal peculiarities of its candidates. For thus early
in its infancy did the Club show that tendency to cari-
THE CLUB'S FIRST HOMe.

Tbe Rooms occuPied 'iNre

on the corner, .tint floor.
 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB. 3I
cature which has since developed into one of its most
marked characteristics. If a member became prominent
in any way, or for any reason, or showed that he
thought highly of himself,.or was suspected of secretly
thinking highly of himself, his frailty was immediately
made the subject of artist's pencil and poet's pen. The
result has been that conceit is but short-lived in the
Club, and a Bohemian is recognizable in any latitude
by his extreme modesty.
After the installation of the President and his Board
of Trustees, it was decided to formally open the Club
rooms with an entertainment on April 13th. It was
further decided that this preliminary merry-making
The art of
should be the precursor of others to take place monthly, cancatu1'e.

in accordance with which the following by-law was

adopted: "An informal re-union shall be held on the
evening of the last Saturday in each month, under the
direction of a member to be selected for the occasion by
the trustees."
The title of " High Jinks" was proposed for these
entertainments, a name instantly adopted and since
made dear to many hundreds of men. That erudite and 'The origm
of
wealthy Bohemian manufacturer, Andrew McFarland "HIgh Jinks."
Davis, once wrote an essay on the genesis of the
term, which was published in the now defunct "Cali-
fornian Magazine." The equally erudite reader knows,

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 32 THE ANNALS OF

of course, that the word is Scotch and was used syn-

onymously with frolic, but more frequently referred to
a drinking bout into which some game was introduced
where the fine or forfeit was" guzzling scuds," or pay-
The genesis ing the score for other guzzlers' scuds. The Club,
of the term
"High Jinks."
however, borrowed the name directly from Sir Walter
Scott's novel of "Guy Mannering," where the High
Jinks, presided over by Counselor Pleydell, is of a
rather more elevated character than the drinking bouts
referred to. And, indeed, the, Bohemian Club enter-
tainment is in no sense a carousal, but an intellectual,
artistic and musical revel where drinking is subsidiary
and indulged in with that moderation which in the
Club's ritual is declared the chief of all virtues.
These Jinks have been an institution of the Club
now for twenty-five years, and while no two have ever
been exactly alike, they have a certain similarity, like
pearls upon a string, the string being the stout cord of
friendship and good fellowship. The method of pro-
cedure is briefly this: The member chosen by the
trustees, or directors, to conduct the festivities, is a
man noted for some one of those talents for the foster-
ing of which the Club was formed and which the Club
ever delights to honor. He is called" Sire." The Sire
from his own store of wisdom, if he has any, selects a
topic for the evening, literary or otherwise, and selects
 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB. 33

from the members at large men to deal with it-poets,

essayists, orators, humorists, musicians, singers and 'The method of
painters. He then issues a printed invitation to the conductti1g a
High Jinks.
Club, setting forth the nature of his entertainment with
all the originality he or his friends possess. On the
appointed evening the Club seats itself individually on
chairs hired for the occasion, while the Sire enthroned,
as it were, in an easier chair on a platform at one end
of the room, with a gavel in his hand and a huge Loving
Cup filled with punch placed within easy reach on a
lectern in front of him, brings the meeting to order.
Then is the theme of the evening discussed in prose,
enshrined in verse, solos are sung about it, and glees,
instrumental pieces and orchestral effects make it their
motive, all of which, served up witp. an accompaniment
of such liquid as each member prefers, together with
the incense of tobacco, forms a mellow and pleasing
entertainment.
This is the High Jinks, and from this a Low Jinks
naturally developed. For after sandwiches had been
devoured (we are speaking now of the good old days
and not of the present degenerate times when a supper
is served which would make the old-time treasurer
stare aghast) the younger members, and eke some of
the older ones, gathered about a long table with pipes
and beer, and chose a Low Sire to preside over their

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 34 THE ANNALS OF

deliberations. Now, this Low Sire must be a man of

mettle, for as he rises to his feet he is made the target
for a desultory fire of all sorts of irrelevant comments.
The
evolution of
and witty suggestions, and out of this chaos he must
Low Jinks. bring order. He calls on some one, whom he chooses
at random, for a criticism of the more dignified early
evening discourses, a song, a story, anything in fact
that will amuse. Sometimes the person called upon
instantly uses his opportunity to attack the Sire, and a
duel of wit ensues to the delight of the others who con-
stitute themselves judges of the tourney. Sometimes
a man sings a song, or plays upon some instrument, or
recites. The actors who are occupied with their pro-
fessional duties during High Jinks usually come in at
Low Jinks and add greatly to the fun, as the persistent
reader will find out later on, for he is going to attend
twenty-five years of Jinks; a whole quarter of a century
of merriment awaits him. So we will merely add that
in the last twenty-five years the Low Jinks has changed
more than the High Jinks, the increased membership
having made the cosy gathering around the table and
the impromptu drollery impossible, so that it has grad-
ually been elaborated into a performance on a stage, a
play, an operetta, or variety show, composed and acted
by the members.
From almost the beginning, it has been the custom
 34 THE ANNALS OF

deliberations. Now, this Low Sire must be a man of

mettle, for as he rises to his feet he is made the target
for a desultory fire of all sorts of irrelevant comments.
The
evolution of
and witty suggestions, and out of this chaos he must
Low ]tnks. bring order. He calls on some one, whom he chooses
at random, for a criticism of the more dignified early
evening discourses, a song, a story, anything in fact
that will amuse. Sometimes the person called upon
instantly uses his opportunity to attack the Sire, and a
duel of wit ensues to the delight of the others who con-
stitute themselves judges of the tourney. Sometimes
a man sings a song, or plays upon some instrument, or
recites. The actors who are occupied with their pro-
fessional duties during High Jinks usually come in at
Low Jinks and add greatly to the fun, as the persistent
reader will find out later on, for he is going to attend
twenty-five years of Jinks; a whole quarter of a century
of merriment awaits him. So we will merely add that
in the last twenty-five years the Low Jinks has changed
more than the High Jinks, the increased membership
having made the cosy gathering around the table and
the impromptu drollery impossible, so that it has grad-
ually been elaborated into a performance on a stage, a
play, an operetta, or variety show, composed and acted
by the members.
From alm?st the beginning, it has been the custom
 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB. 35

to commemorate each Jinks by a picture done by one

of the artists, in which he represents the theme of the
evening according to his own wild and unkempt fancy,
The
and these pictures are hung upon the walls where they
mutations of
form a history of the Club, despite the derelict historio- Low ji11ks.

grapher. The earlier cartoons were done in pen and

ink, or with charcoal on wrapping paper, cheaply
framed, then the efforts gradually became more ambi-
tious, some of them being finished pictures of great
value framed in frames of gold. Some of the old
members protest that as the value of the frames
increases the merits of the pictures decrease, and that
the cartoons, the music, the literature and all that
Jinks
formerly went to make the Club, has distinctly deteri- cartoons.
orated since the old days on Sacramento Street. But
this is sentiment, and as such is reverenced in the Club
even by the youngsters, who solemnly agree with their
seniors and wink the other eye.
This solemnity of visage and slG'';" descending
eyelid is the first lesson learned by the young
Bohemian from his tutelary genius, the Owl. For
at the beginning of the Club's existence the owl
was chosen to preside over its destinies. It first
appears in print on an invitation to a Jinks in
December, 1872, surmounting an elk's skull and
horns in a small circular design. The elk horns
 THE ANNALS OF

were afterwards abandoned and the owl appears

sometimes grasping a branch as in the seal on
page 9, or medit'ative1y perched upon a human skull.
The initial letter at the beginning of this chapter
is a drawing of one of these mortuary owls, of
which there are several in the Club's present home.
One of the most beautiful of the many representa-
tions of the bird is the bronze by Giessling, given
to the Club by Mr. James Freeborn, a reproduction
of which is attempted on the title page.
The Club also adopted a motto in this first year,
"WEAVING SPIDERS COME NOT HERE," a quotation
The Club's
motto. aimed at its ancient enmity for the dull plodder
whose sole ambition in life is money-getting.
 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB. 17

CHAPTER IV.
18i2-1873.

NEWSPAPER article de-

scribing that first enter-
tainment on Saturday, The Club's
domestic
April 13tb, 1872, says that enVirOn11'ltllts.

," the Club threw open its

~l rooms to its members
and their lady friends."
The rooms that were thus royally
thrown open have already been described. The larger
had been fitted up as a reading and lounging room,
while the smaller was furnished with a side-board and
a small, free lunch table of monastic simplicity; these
latter were in charge of a West Indian by the name of
Parker. Parker was a tall, colored man, self-contained
and ceremonious, as one appreciating the dignity of
being a club steward. A few months afterward when
he was given an assistant, he took unto himself added
stature and the title of head steward. It was in this
character that a very clever likeness was painted of him
by one of the artists, Mr. Joseph D. Strong-Mr. Strong
being the painter who later on figures in Mr. Robert
Louis Stevenson's story of the "Silverado Squatters."
The landlady of whom these apartments were rented
was irreverently known as" Mrs. MacStinger." From
 THE ANNALS OF

all accounts she was a sour female, hard and exacting,

who presented her bill for the ensuing month's rent
with awful promptitude at eight o'clock on the morning
of the first, accompanying it with a most alarming bill
for last month's gas.
These then were the rooms, and these the domestic
environments which, according to that ancient news-
paper article referred to, and which we may fairly guess
was written by one of the Bohemian journalists,
"presented a scene which, were it not for circumscribing
walls, made an ideal picture of an ideal Bohemia in
which art, fancy and literature dwelt." No invitations
were issued, but each member brought his lady friends
The Club in the afternoon, who "one and all declared themselves
1'eceives t'ts
as charmed with their reception by the new Bohemian
lady friends.
Club, and many were the wishes expressed that they,
too, might be allowed to become members." Shades of
MacStinger! Think of it, ye bachelor members of
to-day. But the night was given over to the men. A
banquet was served at which fifty members and invited
guests sat down, and the toasts that were given and
responded to, and the songs that were sung at this first
Bohemian revel may be imagined, in fact, must be
imagined, for there is no record of them.
The first few Jinks appear to have been of an
informal nature, the contributions not being confined to
 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB. 39

any special subject. This, in fact, was the formative 'The

formative
period of these peculiar gatherings, and from the very period of the
Jinks.
first a high standard was set up. It was quite natural
that in a miscellaneous assembly of this sort there
should be those who allowed their wit and humor
rather more latitude than was quite seemly. But the
Club invariably showed disapproval of any such display
of bad taste. Finally this feeling culminated in a
dramatic scene. Some of the old members recollect a
certain variety actor whom we will call Blank. In
private life he had the manners of a gentleman, was
well read and a delightfully entertaining companion.
He was a prominent member of "The Jolly Corks" at
the time the Bohemians had used that society's rooms,
and had been most cordial in his offers of assistance to
the new organization. In acknowledgment of these
courtesies, Blank was elected to the Bohemians, and at
one of the early Jinks he read what purported to be a
poem by Byron, which was, to put it mildly, somewhat
indecorous. The Club submitted to it for the first
fifteen or twenty lines, and then Newcomb, the Presi-
The President
dent, got up and protested. He spoke earnestly, and preserves the
with some feeling, declaring that while he was not proprieties.

prudish or inclined to assume any exalted plane of

morality, he felt it his duty as President of the Club to
I' point out the danger of such ribaldry, that vulgarity

- ~ - _._~--- _. __ ·r • -
 THE ANNALS OF

was not wit, and that as one gentleman in the society

of others, he, f6r one, felt no call to sit there quietly and
listen to it. Moreover, that if the Jinks of the Bohe-
mian Club were to be characterized by licentiousness,
he begged to tender his resignation as President then
and there.
Poor Blank was much astonished and quite over-
whelmed by this unexpected rebuke and protested
that he had no intention of offending anybody, and
with tears in his eyes begged everybody's pardon
individually and collectively. The affair, of course,
rather spoiled that particular Jinks, but it had a
most salutary effect in raising forever the tone of
the Jinks which followed.
In May, 1872, Dr. Octave Pavy came to town.
Dr. Pavy was a handsome, wel+-bred man, the son
of a wealthy Louisianian, whose mission in San
Francisco was to organize an exploring expedition
to the North Pole by way of Behring Sea, the route
taken in later years by Lieutenant De Long in the ill-
fated " Jeannette." The members of the infant
Bohemian Club promptly seized this opportunity to
encourage daring in others, and publicly set its seal
of approval on science. On June 3d it gave Dr.
The dInner to
Dr. Pavy. Pavy a dinner at Martin's restaurant on Commercial
street. Thirty - six members were present, and
 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB. {1

THE BOHEMIANS AT WORK.

- From tbe cartoon by Fren?:eny.

T. L. Johns, the journalist, is sitting at the table writwg; the man with tbe 'Punch and Judy show
is Henry Edwards; the singer is Sayres; the photograPher is Rulofson; tbe long-baired person wtth
the brush is Samuel 'Brooks, the painter, while the lawyer at the back is Judge "Dwinelle.

--.- .. ---- ---~~-~"

 THE ANNALS OF

among the guests were Selwyn, the dramatic man-

ager, and Nordhoff, who was correspondent for" Har-
per's Weekly." The bills of fare were embellished by
Denny, the marine painter, and Mr. Kidd, a visiting
artist from Boston. Polar bears prowled around the
soup, and ice-bergs overhung the dessert, while
speeches,' songs and stories were encrusted with
barnacles and glowed with hyperborean fire.
Dr. Pavy, however, did not go to the Arctic
regions. For some reason the expedition failed to
take shape. Afterward the unfortunate gentleman
accompanied the Greely expedition to the North,
where he lost his life under most distressing
circumstances.
On September 26th the Club gave a "Grand
Harry
Edwards' Testimonial Benefit" to Mr. Harry Edwards at
Benefit at Platt's Hall. Mr. Edwards was an actor in the
Platt's Hall.
excellent stock company which at that time was
making a reputation for the old California Theater.
Mr. Edwards was also an entomologist of some note
and an accomplished writer. Among those who
assisted at this benefit were John McCullough,
Anna Elzer, Owen Marlowe, J. C. Williamson,
Mestayer, Herr Muller and Prof. Fabbri, besides the
California Theater Orchestra under Charlie Schultz,
not to mention Mr. Robert Eberle, who was stage
 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB.

manager. Newcomb wrote a farce for the occasion

called "The Diamond Dividend," which was played
by Bohemian Club amateurs.
The first Jinks of which the theme was formally
announced beforehand, seems to have been that
given on November 30th, 1872, and of which Mr.
O'Connell was Sire. The subject, or subjects, were
"Tom Moore
"Tom Moore and Offenbach." This affair appears to and
Offenbach
have had a stimulating effect on the Club, for in a Jinks. "
burst of extravagance it authorized the finance com-
mittee to purchase "four picture frames and a coal
box."
This episode was followed by the Christmas Christmas
High Jinks, of which James F. Bowman was Sire, jinks.

the literary and musical exercises being "commemora-

tive of the ancient festival of Christmas." The
"Tom Hood"
subject of the Jinks of February 17th was" Tom Jinks.
Hood, the Humorist," Frank G. Newlands, the
present United States Senator'from Nevada, being the
Sire.
Additional interest is attached to this latter
occasion for tbe reason that here for the first time
was produced an elaborately lettered program in pen
and ink, embellished by little caricatures of the
performers. This sheet was tbe work of Mr.

W r. !J'(ewlands.

[Mr.). G. Denny.
 THE ANNALS OF
How Mr.
Bosqui and Edward Bosqui and Thomas Newcomb, who III
Mr. Newcomb secret conclave had devised it to add amusement to
drew the first
Jinks cartoon. the Jinks. They drew better than they knew, for
this modest effort proved to be the forerunner of
that great host of cartoons which now crowd the
walls of the Club.
The Jinks of March 29th, 1873, was an anniver-
sary occasion, and was what is caned a close Jinks,
no invitations being issued to other than members.
The President was Sire and the subject was
"William Makepeace Thackeray." The cartoon III
pen and ink is, like its predecessor, the result of
the combined efforts of Bosqui and Newcomb.
And this finished the first year of the Bohemian
Club's existence, a date further marked by the
adoption of its present Coat of Arms, which was
designed by the wen-known marine painter, the late
G. J. Denny. The Club has a number of canvasses
by this talented artist ou its walls. Of those who
joined the Club in its first year, there remain with
it at the present day, General Barnes, T. B. Bishop,
Some of the H. R. Bloomer, Arpad Harazthy, R. C. Harrison,
old members.
Colonel Hawes, J. N. H. Irwin, Reuben H. Lloyd,
Henry Marshall, Captain J. M. McDonald, Paul
Neumann, Thomas Newcomb, Daniel O'Connell and
Charles W. Stoddard. Mr. Newcomb, who so ably
 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB. 45

steered the Bohemian ship through the troubled

waters at the beginning of its cruise, went to New
York in 1876, and for many years ceased to be a
member of the organization. In 1890, however, he again
became identified with the Club, being created an
honorary member. His portrait looks down upon
us from the walls, young, genial and debonair,
while men who were scarcely out of kilts when he
relinquished the gavel, point the picture out to
visiting strangers with affectionate familiarity as
"Tommy Newcomb, our first President."

Mr, Newcomb drawin¥ cartoons.

 THE BOHEMIAN CLUB. 45

steered the Bohemian ship through the troubled

waters at the beginning of its cruise, went to New
York in 1876, and for many years ceased to be a
member of the organization. In 1890, however, he again
became identified with the Club, being created an
honorary member. His portrait looks down upon
us from the walls, young, genial and debonair,
while men who were scarcely out of kilts when he
relinquished the gavel, point the picture out to
visiting strangers with affectionate familiarity as
"Tommy Newcomb, our first President."

Mr. Newcomb drawing cartoons.