A Brief Note From 1870 About “Lulu Johnson”

From the July 28, 1870 New York Times:

“About eight months ago a sprightly, prepossessing boy about seventeen years of age, came to this city from Philadelphia, and obtained employment in a respectable family. He was not only exceedingly bright and intelligent, but was well educated for a boy of his age, and his manner about the house in which he was employed made such a favorable impression upon the mistress of the establishment that she took quite a fancy to him, and according to his statement she induced him to cast off his ‘unmentionables’ and don female ‘toggery.’ He was known as ‘Lulu Johnson,’ and was regularly installed in the house as a female servant, no one, it appears, about the establishment doubting his sex, or knowing that he was not what his dress indicated, except the mistress. In this way matters continued for a considerable length of time, even up until one day last week, when ‘Lulu,’ thinking he was not receiving full compensation for his labor, concluded to leave his new home and seek another, and when he left, by some unaccountable means a breastpin and a pair of ear-rings, valued at $7, the property of Mrs. C., the lady of the house, left with him. The husband, on hearing of the departure of ‘Lulu’ and the loss of the jewelry, made information before the Mayor charging ‘Lulu’ with larceny. A warrant was issued, and placed in the hand of Officer Moon, who found her employed in a saloon on Woodstreet, but to his surprise ‘Lulu’ was a boy. When he was informed that he was wanted at the Mayor’s office on a charge of stealing jewelry, he frankly stated to the officer, who thought still that ‘Lulu’ was a girl and had donned the male attire to escape detection, that he was the identical ‘Lulu’ Johnson he was in search of, but that he was not a girl, neither had he stolen the jewelry, but he had taken it as compensation for services performed while he was in the house. The officer was willing to believe a part of the story but not all of it. He could not be persuaded that ‘Lulu’ was a boy, not a bit of it. ‘Lulu’ was taken to the Mayor’s office, and after satisfying His Honor that he was what his apparel indicated, he gave a full statement of the affair. The prosecutor was present but could not be convinced but that ‘Lulu’ was a girl. The jewelry was returned, and ‘Lulu’ allowed to return to the saloon at which he was employed, with a promise to return to the Mayor’s offices in the morning at 10 o’clock for a hearing.”

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