Eiffel's Tower

by Jill Jonnes

  131 “ hideous scenes of initiations”: Hugh Honour, The New Golden Land: European Images of America from the Discoveries to the Present Time (New York: Pantheon, 1975), pp. 237-38.

  131 “The Parisians appear to take”: Untitled, Home Journal New York, July 12, 1889, Buffalo Bill Wild West Paris 1889 Scrapbook, McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming.

  131 “The Indian tents”: “The Great French Show,” New York Times, May 19, 1889, p. 1.

  131 “ for the benefit of the Berck Hospital ”: “Cabby and the Paris Show,” New York Times, June 16, 1889, p. 1.

  132 “The irate husband”: “The Buffalo Bill Rage in Paris,” York Weekly Post, June 22, 1889, p. 5.

  132 “I am delighted with my reception”: “Carnot Among the Cowboys,” New York Herald, European edition, May 19, 1889, p. 1.

  133 “She is not even 25”: Clipping from Écho de Paris, dated May 20, 1889, in Annie Oakley Paris 1889 Scrapbook, McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming.

  133 “Many of the Indians”: “Astonished Redskins,” New York Herald, European edition, May 25, 1889, p. 1.

  134 “Had they tomahawked”: “Paris and Its Big Show,” New York Times, May 25, 1889, p. 9.

  134 “waved their hands”: “Astonished Redskins,” p. 1.

  134 “some of the petty Balkan states”: Montezuma, “My NoteBook,” The Art Amateur 21, no. 3 (Aug. 1889): 46.

  134-35 “It is not surprising”: Annette Blaugrund, Paris 1889 (New York: Abrams, 1989), p. 22.

  135 “ knows very little”: “Art and Artfulness,” New York Herald, European edition, June 1, 1889, p. 5.

  135 “through the transparent tower”: “The Eiffel Tower,” Times (London), June 3, 1889, p. 5.

  136 “have flocked to Paris”: “American Types at the Paris Exposition,” Harper’s Weekly, June 22, 1889, p. 499.

  136 “to which the Eiffel Tower”: Royal Cortissoz, The Life of Whitelaw Reid, vol. 2 (New York: Scribner’s, 1921), p. 128.

  136 “surmounted by a figure”: “At the Mayor’s Office,” New York Times, July 31, 1889, p. 8.

  137 “These voitures Tonkinoises”: Susan Hayes Ward, “With the Crowd at the Exposition,” Christian Union 40, no. 3 ( July 18, 1889): 74.

  138 “Only a Yankee”: Blaugrund, Paris 1889, p. 77.

  138 “It is American! ”: Letter to the editor from W. J. Hammer, New York Herald, European edition, July 28, 1889, p. 5.

  139 “when the card of a visitor”: Alfred O. Tate, Edison’s Open Door (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1938), p. 232.

  139 “He does not intend”: Letter from Alfred O. Tate to Samuel Insull, dated July 27, 1889, Thomas Edison Archives website, Rutgers University.

  140 “received his guests”: “Carnot Among the Cowboys,” p. 1.

  140 “Go see her”: “Annie Oakley,” Écho de Paris, May 20, 1889, from Annie Oakley Scrapbook, McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming.

  140 “I attribute her masterly shooting skill ”: “La vie en plein air,” undated clipping from Annie Oakley Scrapbook, McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming.

  141 “We could always have hot water”: Oakley, The Autobiography of Annie Oakley, p. 20.

  141 “Pahuska . . . was in town again”: John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993; orig. 1932), pp. 228-29.

  142 “The American traveller”: “The American Colony in France,” The Nation, April 18, 1878, p. 258.

  142 “During our travels”: Oakley, The Autobiography of Annie Oakley, p. 58.

  144 “he entertains handsomely”: “Personals,” Chicago Tribune, Sept. 23, 1889, p. 4.

  144 “the halo of glory”: Untitled clipping, Sunday Morning News, July 14, 1889, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Paris 1889 Scrapbook, McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming.

  144 “The fact that a man”: Cortissoz, The Life of Whitelaw Reid, vol. 2, p. 137.

  145 “a kindly feeling”: Ibid.

  145 “We do not forget”: “Mr. Reid Presented,” New York Tribune, May 22, 1889, p. 1.

  145 “to enfeeble a hated”: Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton (New York: Penguin, 2004), p. 119.

  145 “Americans have been swarming here”: Cortissoz, The Life of Whitelaw Reid, vol. 2, p. 127.

  145 “serried files”: “From the Top of a Coach,” Harper’s Weekly, Nov. 15, 1890, p. 576.

  145 “We do not intend to permit”: “Letters,” New York Herald, European edition, Oct. 6, 1887, p. 1.

  146 “This is simply excruciating”: “A French Paper,” New York Herald, June 16, 1889, p. 14.

  146 “I love America”: O’Connor, The Scandalous Mr. Bennett, p. 185.

  147 “I’ve held four kings”: Christopher Corbett, Orphans Preferred (New York: Broadway Books, 2003), p. 164.

  147 “The Russian, the German”: Letter from Minister Reid to Secretary of State James G. Blaine, dated June 20, 1889, Despatches from U.S. Ministers to France, M34 Roll T105 RG 59, Records of the U.S. Department of State, National Archives, College Park, Md.

  148 “ it is not easy to approach”: Rewald, Post-Impressionism, p. 261.

  148 “You want my news? ”: Lettres de Gauguin à sa femme et ses amis (Paris: Bernard Grasset, 1946), p. 19.

  148 “Schuff has written”: Gauguin by Himself, p. 104.

  CHAPTER SEVEN: Gustave Eiffel Holds Court amid the Art Wars

  151 “From the second floor”: “Up the Tower,” New York Herald, European edition, June 25, 1889, p. 1.

  151 “great triumph of American skill”: “Climbing the Eiffel Tower,” Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1889, p. 3.

  152 “the violence of atmospheric currents”: “1,000 Feet Above Paris,” Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1889, p. 9. Uses World reporting.

  152 “My request may seem odd ”: Bermond, Gustave Eiffel, p. 311.

  153 “a hundred Congo sailors”: “1,000 Feet Above Paris,” p. 9.

  153 “Spotted at 11 o’clock”: “Échos de la Tour,” p. 1.

  153 “Women selling cigarettes”: Kaufman, Paris of To-day, p. 57.

  155 “We gave the monarchies”: Bermond, Gustave Eiffel, p. 322.

  155 “an interesting group of buildings”: Ward, “With the Crowd at the Exposition,” p. 74.

  156 “I should so have liked ”: The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh, pp. 179-80.

  156 “Esquimaux, Laplanders”: Ward, “With the Crowd at the Exposition,” p. 74.

  156 “an African coastal king”: de Vogüé, Remarques sur l’exposition du centenaire, pp. 171.

  157 “ feelings of pride”: Ibid., pp. 172-73.

  157 “All these exotic peoples”: Ibid., pp. 188-90.

  158 “The inevitable Tsiganes”: “Exhibition Dinners,” New York Herald, European edition, June 20, 1889, p. 5.

  158 “The plates were cold”: “Exhibition Dinners,” New York Herald, European edition, June 25, 1889, p. 5.

  160 “In France, the American”: Blaugrund, Paris 1889, p. 81.

  160 “I would never have believed”: Americans in Paris, p. 13.

  161 “the thrilling story”: Rush C. Hawkins, Commissioner, “Report on the Fine Arts,” U.S. Commissioner Reports on the Universal Exposition of 1889 (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1890), p. 19.

  161 “a moment of intense satisfaction”: “At the Secrétan Sale,” New York Times, July 14, 1889, p. 5.

  162 “saw across the wide stretch of autumn fields”: “The Angelus,” Washington Post, July 5, 1889, p. 4.

  162 “They thought . . . the Louvre”: “At the Secrétan Sale,” p. 5.

  163 “Today we see a canvas”: Hawkins, “Report on the Fine Arts,” p. 18.

  163 “What a business, that Secrétan sale! ”: The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh, p. 194.

  163 “I left Paris”: Guy de Maupassant, La vie errante (Paris: Lou
is, Conair, 1939), p. 1.

  164 “Homage to M. Eiffel ”: Harriss, The Tallest Tower, pp. 125-26.

  165 “The madame of a whorehouse”: Édmond and Jules de Goncourt, Journal: Mémoires de la vie littéraire, vol. 16 (Monaco: Fasquelle et Flammarion, 1956), p. 71.

  165 “The ascent on the elevator”: Ibid., p. 100.

  166 “the bracing air”: “Exhibition Dinner,” July 5, 1889, New York Herald, European edition, p. 5.

  166 “the art (not very difficult in Paris)”: “A Sensible American,” New York Herald, European edition, July 7, 1889.

  167 “ where refreshments”: Kirkwood, “The Paris Exposition,” p. 799.

  168 “Altogether, Paris”: “1,000 Feet Above Paris,” p. 9. Uses World reporting.

  170 “Well, Doctor, we certainly”: Gerald Carson, The Dentist and the Empress (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1983), p. 145.

  170 “We offer our hearty congratulations”: “At the United States Legation,” New York Herald, European edition, July 5, 1889.

  171 “Miss Eames”: “1,000 Feet Above Paris,” p. 9.

  171 “Yesterday was a busy day for me”: Letters from Buffalo Bill, pp. 35-36.

  171 “was tall ”: Carson, The Dentist and the Empress, p. 154.

  172 “would be a wicked thing”: Ibid.

  173 “the strange, odd idea”: Blaugrund, Paris 1889, p. 81.

  173 “would materially help”: Letter from Whitelaw Reid to Secretary James Blaine, dated June 28, 1889, Despatches from U.S. Ministers to France, M34, Roll T105 RG 59, U.S. State Department, National Archives, College Park, Md.

  173 “I want you to capture him”: “Gossip from Gay Paris,” Chicago Tribune, July 28, 1889, p. 26.

  174 “No other horse”: Ibid.

  174 “When you feel like changing your nationality”: Kasper, Annie Oakley, p. 104.

  174 “How much do you want for her?”: Courtney Ryley Cooper, Annie Oakley (New York: Duffield and Co., 1927), pp. 213-14.

  176 “I was eight years old ”: Kasper, Annie Oakley, p. 4.

  176 “All went well for a month”: Oakley, Autobiography of Annie Oakley, pp. 7-11.

  179 “the only and original painter”: “Whistler,” Washington Post, Sept. 23, 1889, p. 4.

  179 “He might just as well ”: Letter from Alfred Tate to Samuel Insull, dated July 23, 1889, TAED (D8959ACS), Rutgers University.

  180 “I have always insisted”: Letter from Samuel Insull to Alfred Tate, dated July 30, 1889, TAED (LB031451), Rutgers University.

  180 “truly Whistlerian”: Hawkins, “Report on the Fine Arts,” p. 81.

  CHAPTER EIGHT: The Monarchs of the World Ascend the Republican Tower

  183 “His Majesty”: “Honoring the Shah,” New York Herald, European edition, Aug. 1, 1889, p. 1.

  185 “To my astonishment”: L.K., “At the Big Exposition,” New York Times, Aug. 18, 1889, p. 9.

  185 “The king climbed ”: St.-Jacques, “Dernière heure,” Le Figaro de la Tour, Aug. 3, 1889, p. 1.

  186 “The truth is”: Rudorff, Belle Époque, p. 41.

  186 “everyone was waiting for him”: L.K., “At the Big Exposition,” p. 9.

  187 “ lacked application and tenacity”: E. Yarshater, “Observations on Nasir al-Din Shah,” in Edmond Bosworth and Carole Hillenbrand, eds., Qajar Iran (Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, 1992), p. 7.

  188 “I readily assented”: Richard J. Walsh, The Making of Buffalo Bill (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1928), p. 277.

  189 “obvious. . . . And”: R. Parent, “Chez Buffalo-Bill,” Le Gil Blas, Aug. 3, 1889, Buffalo Bill Wild West Show 1889 Paris Scrapbook, McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming.

  189 “When you learn”: Yarshater, “Observations on Nasir al-Din Shah,” p. 6.

  189 “with an intense, almost childish”: “Fêting the Shah,” New York Herald, European edition, Aug. 2, 1889, p. 1.

  190 “made an amusing speech”: “A Brilliant Dinner,” New York Herald, European edition, Aug. 1, 1889.

  190 “One little Indian boy”: “Fêting the Shah,” p. 1.

  192 “Their religious services”: William Walton, Chefs-d’oeuvre de l ’Exposition Universelle (Philadelphia: G. Barrie, 1889), p. xlii.

  192 “Do you think this exhibition”: Gauguin by Himself, p. 104.

  192 “What annoys me”: Jan Hulsker, Vincent and Theo van Gogh: A Dual Biography (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Fuller Publications, 1990), p. 376.

  193 “W hen I think”: Marie-Angélique Ozanne and Frédérique de Jode, T heo: The Other van Gogh (New York: Vendôme Press, 2004), p. 164.

  193 “a five week Paris engagement”: Oakley, The Autobiography of Annie Oakley, pp. 33 and 39.

  194 “The Indians are very bitter”: “Sioux Nation Consents,” New York Herald, Aug. 21, 1889, p. 1.

  194 “told his Indians”: Sam A. Maddra, Hostiles? The Lakota Ghost Dance and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006), p. 70.

  195 “Such a breakfast”: “Les Gaillard de Paris,” New York Herald, July 28, 1889, p. 7.

  195-96 Le Cercle des Patineurs: Oakley, The Autobiography of Annie Oakley, pp. 37 and 38.

  196 “there were 12 days”: Ibid., p. 33.

  196 “The American jury”: Walter E. Smith, “An Explanation Wanted,” New York Herald, European edition, Aug. 5, 1889, p. 5.

  197 “very picturesquely costumed”: Richard Thomson, “Camille Pissarro, ‘Turpitudes Sociales,’ and the Universal Exhibition of 1889,” Arts Magazine 56, no. 8 (April 1982): 85.

  198 “There’s no beating John Mackay”: Robertson, The International Herald Tribune, p. 16.

  199 “news empire”: Laney, Paris Herald, p. 15.

  199 “I will have no indispensable”: Seitz, The James Gordon Bennetts, p. 243.

  199 “A wealthy bachelor”: Stephen Fiske, Off-hand Portraits of Prominent New Yorkers (New York: Arno, 1975; reprint 1884), p. 37.

  200 “With their large dark coats”: “Les Buffalo Bill,” Le Figaro de la Tour, Aug. 9, 1889, p. 3.

  200 “all around, the many other visitors”: Ibid.

  200 “Paris is again Paris”: Kirkwood, “The Paris Exposition,” p. 799.

  202 “Ah, Saint Virgin Mary”: Henri Rousseau, Une visite à l’Exposition, 1889 (Geneva: P. Cailler, 1947).

  202 “Neuilly, the Isle of La Grande Jatte”: Rudorff, Belle Époque, p. 31.

  203 “Before the Persian shah’s visit”: Édmond and Jules de Goncourt, Journal, vol. 16, p. 127.

  CHAPTER NINE: In Which Thomas Edison Hails the Eiffel Tower and Becomes an Italian Count

  205 “I have come to Europe”: Bermond, Gustave Eiffel, p. 304.

  205 “The famous inventor”: “Edison,” Le Journal Illustré, from website of Thomas A. Edison Digital (TAED), Rutgers University, http://edison.rutgers.edu/images/fp/fp0559.jpg.

  205 “The French public”: “Edison Is Enjoying Himself,” Chicago Tribune, Sept. 13, 1889, p. 9.

  206 “strolling down the long platform”: Alfred O. Tate, Edison’s Open Door (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1938), pp. 233-34.

  207 “How do you like Paris?”: “Edison’s Millennium,” New York Herald, European edition, Aug. 13, 1889, p. 1.

  208 “T his was done”: Tate, Edison’s Open Door, pp. 235-36 and 241.

  208 “some hard work”: “Edison’s Millennium,” p. 2.

  209 “When we reached the place”: Tate, Edison’s Open Door, p. 166.

  209 “An elevator was reserved for us”: Letter from Margaret Upton to her mother, dated Aug. 14, 1889, Margaret Upton Papers, New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, N.J.

  210 “saluted him”: St.-Jacques, “Edison à la Tour Eiffel,” p. 1.

  210 “Mr. Edison was not quite prepared ”: “Edison’s Pleasant Day,” New York Herald, European edition, Aug. 14, 1889, p. 3.

  211 “Toasts of all kinds”: Letter from Margaret Upton, dated Aug. 14, 1889.

  211 “Miss Annie Oakley”: Kasper, Annie Oakley, p. 104.


  211 “If I spend one dollar foolishly”: Oakley, The Autobiography of Annie Oakley, pp. 11 and 60.

  212 “The Exhibition is immense”: Sherard, Twenty Years in Paris, pp. 178-79.

  213 “My déjeuner with Edison”: Sherard, Twenty Years in Paris, pp. 183-85.

  214 “The work of a bridge builder”: Richard Sherard, “With Mr. Edison on the Eiffel Tower,” Scientific American 61, no. 11 (Sept. 14, 1889): 166.

  214 “There is a great deal of humbug”: Sherard, Twenty Years in Paris, pp. 185-88.

  215 “They are all clamoring for you”: Letter from J. S. Sargent to James McNeill Whistler, from early May 1889, Centre for Whistler Studies, Glasgow University Library, Online Archive, Glasgow University, http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence.

  215 “I would very much like to be”: Letter from J. M. Whistler to Stéphane Mallarmé, dated early July, Centre for Whistler Studies, Glasgow University Library, Online Archive, Glasgow University, http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence.

  215 “I fear that I have an inherent objection”: Letter from J. M. Whistler to Sheridan Ford, dated August 18, 1889, Centre for Whistler Studies, Glasgow University Library, Online Archive, Glasgow University, http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence.

  216 “But Paris is so lovely”: Letter from Lady Gertrude Campbell to Beatrix Whistler, dated Aug. 18, 1889, Centre for Whistler Studies, Glasgow University Library, Online Archive, Glasgow University, http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence.

  216 “a more enthusiastic welcome”: “An American Abroad,” New York Tribune, Aug. 18, 1889, p. 6.

  216-17 “seated at a banquet”: Helen Cody Wetmore, Buffalo Bill (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003), p. 191.

  217 “Edison has had a reception”: “Edison Is Enjoying Himself.”

  217 “Dinners, dinners, dinners”: Josephson, Edison, p. 334.

  217 “Like every American abroad”: “At Home in France,” New York Herald, European edition, Aug. 23, 1889, p. 1.

  218 “police agents at Mentone”: Telegram (in cipher) from Minister Whitelaw Reid to Secretary of State James Blaine, dated Aug. 7, 1889, RG 59, Dispatches from Minister Whitelaw Reid, U.S. State Department, National Archives, College Park, Md.