Old Print Article: “Practical Joking In Flatbush,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1885)

September 1, 2010 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

Once we've murdered the cobbler, we'll all have a good laugh. (Image by Catleen Thorbecke,)

Practical jokes aren’t really funny unless several people are sued and arrested. In Brooklyn in 1885, a pack of jackass neighborhood kids played pranks seemingly endlessly on an elderly Flatbush cobbler with a funny name. Their many humorous attempts at maiming him and ruining his life were unfortunately interrupted by that uptight, unfunny thing called the law. An excerpt from a Brooklyn Daily Eagle article on the topic that ran in the July 23, 1885 edition, with  the subtitle “Local Humorists Under Arrest”:

“For a long time past the more youthful portion of Flatbush has found much pleasure in playing practical jokes on Mr. Charles Brankenhausen, a local shoemaker, somewhat advanced in years, but the recreation seems to have come to a sudden stop. Previous to the last election, Mr, Brankenhausen was inveigled into delivering a stump speech at a burlesque banner-raising to have it hopelessly ruined by the explosion of a cannon cracker beneath the barrel on which he stood.

This he passed lightly by, but when the humorists found him asleep they partially tarred and feathered him, the result was not so pleasing. He sued Ravenhall, the proprietor of the house where the tarring was done, for $10,000, and got $250 in a compromise. On July 4 Mr. Brankenhausen was awakened at an unseemly hour by the terrific explosion of a vast number of big crackers, distributed judiciously about his sleeping room, and narrowly escaped injury. Suspicion fell on Adrian Bergen and Joseph Smith, two youthful wits, who were both arrested. The trial has been twice postponed, but will come up finally before Justice Cox this evening.”

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