big antedating of "gimp," n.

[Joel S. Berson]

At 3/22/2011 11:41 AM, George Thompson wrote:
>Here's an early "gimpy":
>
>MURDERED IN A HALLWAY.   ***  Alice Welsh ... on Saturday night was
>in E. N. Garland's saloon ... with "Mickey" Welsh, a song and dance
>man with whom she lived until recently; Teenie and "Gimpy" Amanda,
>two sisters, with whom she traveled, and a tall stout man, who is
>described as an Italian or a Frenchman.  ****
>NY Times, April 22, 1895, p. 2, col. ?
>
>This is in Green's new dictionary, no doubt from my notes.
>
>I do not recall that the stories of this crime states expressly that
>Gimpy Amanda limped.

(1)  Off-list I gave Jon a citation from 1892.  It is a similar
appellatory citation, also not stating explicitly that Little "Gimp" limped.
-----
Burial of Little "Gimp" [headline]
...
"Gimp" was a waif. ... He was a cripple, having been scalded or
"somethin'," as the newsboys say.

The Daily Inter Ocean, (Chicago, IL) Tuesday, July 19, 1892; pg. 6;
Issue 117; col B  [19th Century U.S. Newspapers]
----------

(2)  I also came across this, from 1884, which is interesting but
perhaps not sufficient for "limp":
-----
Headline:  "Gubernatorial Gimp / That is to Say the "Twist" an
ex-Governor Gave Plans of Sabin."

Article is about Republican Party politics in Minnesota; I don't
think "gimp" appears other than in the headline.
Milwaukee Daily Journal, (Milwaukee, WI) Monday, May 26, 1884; [page
1], col A  [19th Century U.S. Newspapers]
-----
Jon's response was the cautious:
>1884 looks like an ex. of "a twist," as used much later by Hunter S.
>Thomson in 1966.
>
>"A twist" might suggest the twisting of a knee or an ankle that
>results in a limp. So it's impossible to say which sense came first.
>
>The paucity of exx. suggests that both are independent plays on
>words, but who knows?

Joel

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