[Ads-l] Raising Cain

[Peter Reitan]

I have run across some early examples of "to raise Cain."

"They all came in for a share at night, excepting Jo - a ragged little urchin, who cared more for raising Cain than for nick-nacks."

The Long Island Farmer, and Queen's County Advertiser (Jamaica, New York), September 25, 1839, page 3.

"The Irishmen at the Croton Water Works are raising Cain once more . . . the workmen threatening to destroy the works and shellalah any body who attempts to prevent their righteous operations."

Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), April 18, 1840, page 2.

Several other early examples, that I have seen elsewhere, are jokes; for example, "Why have we every reason to believe that Adam and Eve were both rowdies?  Because Eve raised the Old Harry [(euphemism for the devil)], and they both raised Cain."

Maumee City Express (Ohio), May 16, 1840, page 1.

In doing unrelated digging into "too many to shake a stick at," I ran across dozens - perhaps hundreds - of examples of "raising canes" - in descriptions of fights, threats, or defensive postures.  It made me wonder whether "to raise Cain" was, at least in part, meant as a pun - raising Cain as an allusion to raising canes to fight.  Interestingly, the citation about the Irishmen at the Croton Water Works refers explicitly to using shellalaghs.

I posted a piece on my blog about "shake a stick at" and "raise Cain".  
http://esnpc.blogspot.com/2016/03/sticks-and-canes-may-break-my-bones.html

Any comments? 		 	   		  
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