Putney

“ Putney, a village in Surry, situated on the Thames, five miles south west of London, famous for being the birth place of Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex, whose father was a blacksmith here. About this village the citizens of London have many pretty seats; and on Putney Heath is a public house, noted for polite assemblies, and in the summer season for breakfasting and dancing, and for one of the pleasantest bowling greens in England. Here is an old church erected after the same model with that of Fulham, on the opposite shore, and they are both said to have been built by two sisters. ”

“ Putney’s consternation and wrath knew no bounds.
He fairly danced in his anger, while little Amos held his jaw and stared red-eyed at the wall.
“Cloudy McGee double-crossed us!” swore Putney. “He knew we’d do this, the dirty pup. Well,” Putney waved his arms in desperation, “we’ll have to kill McGee and get that money.”
“You do it,” said Amos wearily. “You can have my part of it. My Lord, that man is strong!”
“But don’t you see where it puts us?” wailed Putney. “He’s got all the money—eleven thousand. He don’t have to rob the bank now.” ”

“ Then it was that the strange actor gave that celebrated imitation of a dead man, of which the fame still lingers round Putney. It was almost impossible to believe that a living person could appear so limp.
The athletic harlequin swung him about like a sack or twisted or tossed him like an Indian club; all the time to the most maddeningly ludicrous tunes from the piano. When the harlequin heaved the comic constable heavily off the floor the clown played “I arise from dreams of thee.” ”

“ Rooney flapped his arms dismally. “I don’t need to know a man of his reputation in order to flay him in print, Mr. Putney.”
“He’s a bad egg,” put in Amos.
“Bad?” Putney lifted his brows. “He’d just as soon kill you as to look at you. If I was running a newspaper, I’d either say nice things about a killer, or I’d say nothing.”
“What satisfaction is your opinion to me?” demanded the harassed editor. “How can we stop him from coming here?”
“We?” Putney shook his head. “He has nothing against me. I have never seen the man in my life. This is a case for the sheriff—not an attorney.” ”

“ Putney came in, and he stopped with the laugh of a man who knows that his wife will find it necessary to account for him and apologise for him.
The ladies kissed each other. Mrs. Putney was dressed in the black silk of a woman who has one silk; she was red from the kitchen, but all was neat and orderly in the hasty toilet which she must have made since leaving the cook-stove. ”

“ She had not long to wait; the footsteps steadily approached, and the next instant two horsemen loomed up in the distance. What was it that made Imogene start, and sent the hot blood coursing through her veins, as she caught sight of the foremost stranger?
“No—yes—it must be—it is he!” she murmured to herself. She could with difficulty refrain from uttering a cry of joy, as [55] she recognized in the form of one of these men, the pretended American scout and patriot—Hank Putney. ”

“ Putney Heath two large houses are seen—Granard Lodge in the Putney Park Lane, and Summerfield behind it. Passing down the lane from the church and entering Howard's Lane we find a district of new houses to the north, in straight rows at regular intervals, gauged, apparently, by the size of the backyards. To the south one row of small cottages, Upper Park Fields, juts out into the market-gardens, which, with the fields behind, are still free from buildings. ”

“ Less than a century ago Putney still owned many an historic mansion standing in its own grounds, including the so-called Palace, Fairfax House, Essex House, Windsor Lodge, and Putney House, but they have all, alas, been demolished, as has also the no less interesting gabled cottage by the riverside in which Henry VIII.'s hated minister Thomas Cromwell was born, and the more important Lime Grove House, standing well back from the village on the road to Wimbledon, in which the great historian Edward Gibbon first saw the light. ”

“ Passing up the hill, a few new streets are being pushed into the fields, which are, however, still continuous to the westward, the limit of building being apparently reached for a time in that direction, and, after a short climb past fine houses with spacious grounds and drives, we come to Putney Heath near the Green Man, a quaint little road-house of the last century ”

“ Putney, by Thames-side, was the home of their very lowly beginnings.
Of the descent of the Williams throughout the Middle Ages nothing is known. Much later they claimed relationship with certain heads of the Welsh clans, but the derivation is fantastic. At any rate a certain Williams was keeping a public-house in Putney in the generation which saw the first of the Reformers. His name was Morgan, and the "Ap William" or "Williams" which he added to that name was an affix due to the Welsh custom of calling a man by his father's name; for surnames had not yet become a rule in the Principality. ”

“ Thence there is a blank in our intelligence until she appears as a hardly recognizable corpse, stuffed by hands beneath an old drain-pipe in the Thames at Putney. How do you fill up that gap, Mr. White?”
“Simply enough. Corbett, or some other person, persuaded her to voluntarily accompany him to Putney. She was killed there, and not in London. It would be almost a matter of impossibility for any man to have [Pg 116] conveyed her lifeless body from Raleigh Mansions to Putney without attracting some notice. One man could not do it. ”

“ Wilmington sat down amidst a general sensation, which was heightened by Putney's failure to anticipate any action on Gerrish's part. Gerrish rapidly finished something he was saying to Colonel Marvin, and then half rose, and said, “Mr. Moderator, I withdraw my resolution—for the time being, and—for the present, sir,” and sat down again.
“Mr. Moderator,” Putney called sharply, from his place, “this is altogether unparliamentary. That resolution is properly before the meeting. Its adoption has been moved and seconded, and it cannot be withdrawn without leave granted by a vote of the meeting. ”

“ If the sheriff does kill Cloudy McGee, he won’t squeal on us, Putney.”
“He better not,” grinned Putney. “But the deal ain’t all finished, Amos. You go down to the bank and take out every cent of that ten thousand dollars. Nobody is goin’ to wonder if you go in there this time of night, because you often work late.” ”

“ Cotterell is coming on the tenth. How can we tell her that the men won't let her speak?"
"There was never anything like this in Putney church before," groaned Mrs. Elder Knox. "It was Andrew McKittrick put them up to it. I always said that man would make trouble here yet, ever since he moved to Putney from Danbridge. I've talked and argued with Thomas until I'm dumb, but he is as set as a rock." ”

“ War-Cloud frequently paid them visits, bringing with him pretty and costly furs for the “little ones,” denoting that he had again taken to hunting the beast instead of Tories.
Hank Putney never made his appearance at the fort again; but we believe he became the chief of the Tory League after the death of Iron Hand, and during some quarrel between him and his ruffians he was killed. ”

“ Pushtoo or Pushto, the language of the Afghans, said to be derived from the Zend, with admixtures from the neighbouring tribes.
Puteaux (17) , a suburb of Paris, on the left bank of the Seine, a favourite residence of the Parisians, who have villas here.
Putney (18) , a London suburb on the Surrey side, 6 m. from Waterloo, has a bridge across the Thames 300 yards long; the parish church tower dates from the 15th century. The river here affords favourite rowing water, the starting-place of the inter-universities boat-race; Putney Heath was a favourite duelling resort; Gibbon was a native ”

“ Serge on the road. The poor man, with a heavy heart, mentioned, that they should find the way much longer to Putney on returning, than when in search of their kind friends. “You have shewn us,” added he, “that we have relations, and we shall go home with heavy hearts, counting the miles which separate us; but I shall never forget Tarefield, nor like Putney again.” “We part as relations and friends,” answered the worthy baronet, taking his hand, “as such we have participated in your recent vexation, my good Mr. Serge ”

“ A toll of a halfpenny was charged foot-passengers, and on Sundays this was doubled, for the purpose of raising a fund of £62 a year, which was divided annually between the widows and children of poor watermen belonging to Putney and Fulham as a recompense to the fraternity, who were not allowed to ply on Sundays after the [Pg 73] building of the bridge. ”

“ No greater loss could be sustained by the school than this giving up of Mr. Putney.
D. R.
Mr. Putney was a man dearly loved by all who knew him. His gentle ways, his remarkable whole-heartedness and his polished manners are characteristics of a man who was a great but modest hero in the great Civil War.
He had no favorites among the pupils but he was the favorite of the pupils. Thus we mourn the loss of Mr. Putney next to the loss of a near relative.
C. T.
When I first saw Mr. ”

“ The other, a friendly Mohawk, was taken prisoner, and Major Putnam afterward saw him in Canada.
On the way back to Fort Edward, Putnam and his men were fired upon by a scouting party of Provincials, who mistook them for Frenchmen; but they were quickly undeceived when the doughty major ordered his men, "in a stentorophonick tone," to advance and give a good account of themselves. Putnam's "stentorophonick" voice—as his original biographer styles it—was well known to all the army, having been heard many times rising above the din of battle, and always in the forefront of the fighting. ”

“ All these events took place within the space of a week's time, and before another week had passed Brigadier-General Putnam was in headquarters at Cambridge, occupying a house which stood within the present grounds of Harvard University. General Artemus Ward, of Massachusetts, was commander-in-chief of the forces, having been commissioned by the Provincial Congress; but Putnam was the greater favorite with the soldiers, in whose vocabulary (to paraphrase a saying common at the time) "the British were the Philistines, and Putnam, the American Samson, a chosen instrument to defeat the foe." ”

“ But Washington would not stir, for he knew that General Israel Putnam, in charge of the forces there, was well able to look out for himself. As this Putnam is one of the heroes of the Revolutionary War, it will interest you to hear a few stories about him, which all Americans should know.
We are told that, even as a lad, Putnam was famous for his courage. Once, when a wolf caused great damage in his neighbors' herds, he determined to kill it. ”

“ He was stationed the following winter at Danbury, when the famous descent of the precipice at Horse Neck occurred, one of the latest marvels of Putnam's anecdotical career. While he was on a visit to one of his outposts at Horse Neck, Governor Tryon of New York, advanced upon the place with a considerable body of troops. Putnam planted his small force on the hill, but was speedily compelled to provide for the safety of his men by a retreat, and for his own, by plunging down a formidable rocky steep by the roadside. ”

“ Israel Putnam met nearly all the great British commanders, with the possible exception of Wolfe, and had assisted with all his might at the upbuilding of English power in America, so it was not strange that when, later, the Revolution opened, he was looked upon by them more as a friend than an enemy. The next year, when Amherst moved upon Montreal, then the chief, almost sole possession of the French in Canada, Colonel Putnam went along, as a matter of course, and, it is gravely related by his first biographer, he assisted the general at a critical moment and in a very novel way. ”

“ The Putnams settled early in Salem. John, the first emigrant, came from Buckinghamshire, in 1634, with three sons, Thomas, Nathaniel, and John. Some of the name exercised a fatal influence during the reign of witchcraft. Israel was already an old man when he left his plow in the furrow to gallop to Cambridge, having been born in 1718. At twenty-one he removed to [Pg 218] Pomfret, Connecticut. Putnam was prompt, resolute, and incapable of fear—full of fight, and always ready. Washington, who did not judge badly, thought him the only fit man to make an assault on Boston. ”

“ Judging from the stability of his position in Danvers, it would seem that young Farmer Putnam was established for life. He had land enough to satisfy any ordinary cultivator of that period, and a comfortable house in which dwelt with him wife and child, to cheer him by their presence. But the future patriot felt within him an ardent thirst for adventure. He longed for a wider field, and though to all appearances firmly rooted in the soil of Salem Village, he was already thinking of transplanting himself and family into that of another region. ”

“ Putnam's bold stand at Prospect Hill, so promptly taken and so stoutly maintained, kept the enemy within the territory they had purchased with the blood of their best soldiers, and they never advanced any farther into the country they coveted. The lines of investment around Boston were drawn closer and made more nearly impregnable, yet weeks and months went by without any material change in the relative positions of British and Provincials, save that Putnam still kept on digging, and creeping nearer and nearer to the foe. ”

“ During the years he was engaged in this occupation a she-wolf committed considerable ravages upon his sheep and those of the neighborhood, and all efforts to capture or kill her were in vain until Putnam entered her den in a rocky cavern with a torch in one hand and a gun in the other, and shot her before she had time to spring upon him. Putnam distinguished himself in the French and Indian War, and at the breaking out of the Revolutionary War was placed at the head of the Connecticut troops. ”