Several times he has been on the brink of losing his office for
giving too much latitude to his craving for perquisites; yet, by
some unaccountable means, he manages to hold on. The other is a
robust son of the Emerald Isle, with a broad, florid face, low
forehead, short crispy hair very red, and knotted over his forehead.
His dress is usually very slovenly and dirty, his shirt-collar
bespotted with tobacco-juice, and tied with an old striped bandana
handkerchief. This, taken with a very wide mouth, flat nose, vicious
eye, and a countenance as hard as ever came from Tipperary, and a
lame leg, which causes him to limp as he walks, gives our man Dunn
the incarnate appearance of a fit body-grabber. A few words will
suffice for his character. He is known to the official department,
of which the magistrates are a constituent part, as a notorious--l;
and his better-half, who, by-the-way, is what is called a
free-trader, meaning, to save the rascality of a husband, sells
liquor by small portions, to suit the Murphys and the O'Neals. But,
as it pleases our Mr. Dunn, he very often becomes a more than
profitable customer, and may be found snoring out the penalty in
some sequestered place, too frequently for his own character.
Between the hours of ten and twelve in the morning, Dunn, if not too
much incapacitated, may be seen limping his way down Broad street,
to watch vessels arriving and departing, carrying a limp-cane in one
hand, and a large covered whip in the other. We were struck with the
appearance of the latter, because it was similar to those carried in
the hands of a rough, menial class of men in Macon, Georgia, who
called themselves marshals, under a misapplication of the term.
Their office was to keep the negro population "straight," and do the
whipping when called upon, at fifty cents a head. They also did the
whipping at the jails, and frequently made from five to six dollars
a day at this alone; for it is not considered fashionable for a