[Ads-l] chebang (antedating, 1840)

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

Many of you are far more familiar with research into "chebang" than I,
but I thought I'd bring what appears to be an antedating of the word.
(Last I heard, for example, Peter Reitan had pushed this back to 1854:
https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2015-November/139602.html.)

-- Bonnie

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(About the raising of Liberty poles. Text within asterisks is
italicized. Bonus early "O K oll korrect" in the full text at the URL
below.)

On Wednesday night last, they again cut the flag rope, and broke the
top of the pole off; by the way you will suppose our pole was getting
rather *short*, and as the Locos advertised a general meeting of their
party to raise a pole of their own, the whigs (ever ready to meet
them, any way they choose to take it) concluded to raise a new one --
about 2 o'clock, P.M., both poles arrived in the village; the whig one
was 120 feet long; the *Hickory* one considerable shorter -- in a few
minutes both poles were were under way -- the loco focos foremost, (as
they were four times as numerous as the whigs, who had not advertised
their meeting) when they had theirs about half way up, off come the
top chebang; and Mr. Editor, it would have one you good to have seen
them at that time ...

[In a letter to the editor dated 3 October 1840, The Village Record
(West Chester, Pennsylvania), 6 October 1840, p. 2;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-record-the-top-chebang-10640/157182814/.]

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