"tamarack"? = whiskey

[Gerald Cohen]

>At 7:33 PM -0400 8/10/03, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>Subject:      Re: Circus slang, 1879--Query about "Tamshack"
>
>>    The "Tam" is clear.  There is a large black spot in the middle.  It is NOT
>>"Ramshack."  Two or three letters are illegible.  Tamblack?  Tamblock?
>>Tamshuck?
>
>Looks like "tamarack" ... but why this would mean whiskey I don't know,
>maybe from the brown color.

********


   "Tamarack" is a type of tree. Is there any evidence outside of the
possible 1879 circus-slang article in the _Cincinnati Enquirer_ that
it could also refer to whiskey.  Jesse, would you perhaps be able to
let us know whether HDAS has "tamrack" = whiskey.

Gerald Cohen