antedating "the old dart" (1880)

[Stephen Goranson]

OED has 1889 "Austral. and N.Z. colloq."

1880 Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, (Milwaukee, WI) Saturday, June 12, 1880; pg. 7;
Issue 136; col B
     Items from the Interior Events of Yesterday in Racine?Flax Fulture in
Outagamie County?Results of the Storm, Etc. [19th C N]
...people familiar with the linen producing districts of Ireland,
pronounce this
climate and soil to be almost an exact duplicate of the "old dart."

1882 St. Louis Globe-Democrat, (St. Louis, MO) Saturday, April 22,
1882; pg. 10;
Issue 336; col B
     The Justices Well-Known Citizens Involved in Litigation about a
Dog?Precise Jurymen Agree on a Damage Verdict for ? [19th C N]
Herman Moller and Louise Bornemann, newly arrived German emigrants were
married
last Thursday evening. They were engaged to each other in the old "dart" and
travellede together across the Atlantic....

1883 The Daily Journal, (Milwaukee, WI) Saturday, May 05, 1883; Issue
144; page
2, col A
     THE authorities at Washington have allowed the profound state secret to
leak out that John Bull has entered into negotiations for the extradition of
Sheridan
Category: News [19th C N]
THE authorities at Washington have allowed the profound state secret to
leak out
that John Bull has entered into negotiations for the extradition of Sheridan
Walsh and an number of kindred spirits from the Old Dart.

1883 Milwaukee Daily Journal, (Milwaukee, WI) Tuesday, May 29, 1883;
page 4, col
A
     Firing the Irish Heart Scenes and Incidents at the Academy Last Night
Category: Arts & Entertainment
....Father Boylan, a typical Irishman, fresh from the Old Dart, was the next
speaker, ....

and;
The Galveston Daily News, (Houston, TX) Wednesday, September 19, 1883; Issue
181; page 2, col F
     Railway Notes Items along the Lines--Train and Track--Personal Mention
Category: News

Daily Evening Bulletin, (San Francisco, CA) Saturday, August 23, 1884; pg. 4;
Issue 118; col F
     Ireland?s Woes Peculiar Views of Gladstone?s Land Policy?Irish Beer
out of California Barley?American Farmers Rooting out English
Landlords?Popularity of Cleveland in England?Free Trade Means English Work
in America?An Irish Democrat Who Will Vote for Blaine and Protection
Category: Elections

St. Louis Globe-Democrat, (St. Louis, MO) Sunday, October 23, 1887; pg. 21;
Issue 151; col A
     In the Police Courts A Menu of Misfortune, Misery, Depravity and
Criminality
Category: News

The Daily Picayune, (New Orleans, LA) Friday, November 02, 1888; pg. 7; Issue
283; col G
     Skelly?s Ready Cash The Irish Laborer Who Got Rich on His Lafourche
Plantation
Category: News

St. Louis Globe-Democrat, (St. Louis, MO) Thursday, November 03, 1887; pg. 6;
Issue 162; col D
     A Chapter on the Ballet Its Failures and Successes on the American Stage
Category: News

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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