William Careleton, an Irish Elk

Every St. Patrick's Day, Elks might do well to pause and remember original Jolly Cork and founding Elk William Carleton. Carleton was born in Dublin about 1827 and named after his uncle, the Irish author William Carleton. Many of this uncle’s work is still in print, including Traits & Stories of the Irish Peasantry and The Black Prophet, 1847 : A Tale of Irish Famine.

Ellis’ history reports that Carleton (the future Elk) “went into the music hall line at an early age, and as an Irish dancing vocalist make quite a hit. . . . he made his first appearance in America at Tony Pastor’s Opera House on the Bowery, on February 26, 1866.” As has been reported in earlier Sagas of the Early Elks, Pastor’s was a frequent Jolly Cork and later, Elk venue.

Carleton’s career in the U.S. got off to a rocky start. He was booked to play at Pastor’s for a year, but was terminated after three weeks, partially due to nervousness. He travelled doing variety in the West for some time, but was back in New York City early in 1868 when the Corks transformed themselves from an informal drinking and variety club into a Benevolent Order, the Elks. However, Carleton’s bad luck as an actor continued. He forgot his lines during a performance of “Pickwick Papers” in which Charles Dickens, then visiting America, was actually in attendance. “Well, Winkle [Carleton’s character], what do you want to say?” another character prompted him. Ellis reports that “Carleton with his quick Irish wit replied, ‘I don’t remember what I want to say, but Mr. Dickens, the author, is sitting over there in the box; just ask him, he will tell you.”

Later Carleton found his niche with “Fritz in Ireland.” Carleton wrote the play and many songs in it, including “The Love of the Shamrock.” Carleton went on to author many plays and songs, including “Irish Aristocracy,” “McParlan, the Detective,” and “Gottlieb, the Wanderer.” But nothing topped “Fritz in Ireland.” Promoter J.K. Emmett paid him $2,000 for it, no small sum in those days, but went on to make a small fortune from the play. Ellis reports that later “many clever sketches were written by him [Carleton] and sold for the price of a good dinner, others taking credit for them and signing them as authors. He was a through Bohemian, a clever entertainer and a good story teller.”

Carleton had a sad end. At the age of 58, as Ellis reports it, “he went up to his room livelier than usual, was seen reading a novel at about 10pm; he wrote a poem on “Death,” pasted it on a woman’s skull which had for a table piece, stuffed up the cracks and apertures around the door and windows, turned on the gas and was found dead the next morning. A few articles of clothing in the room, some trinkets that he could not pawn, and a manuscript of the play of “Zitka,” was all that was left; most of his clothing had been pawned, and it is thought that a fit of despondency occasioned by owing several weeks’ rent for his room prompted him to this act of self-destruction.” Carleton was buried in the Actor’s Fund Plot, Evergreen Cemetery, Brooklyn.

Last updated on 7/15/08