250

George P. Avery.

The Duke of Gilford and his [Dog].

Gilford, NH, 18 January 1830
Letterpress broadside, 15¼ x 7 inches, illustrated with a small woodcut of a dog; foxing, folds, minor wear; uncut.

This broadside is, in the grand scope of history, entirely trivial, but gives us some amusement. Lyman B. Walker, one of the elite of Gilford, NH, suffered the death of his watchdog on 6 January 1830. Three days later, he published a long notice in the local Democratic Spy, a short-lived newspaper which was published in his basement. He offered a $10 reward for information leading to the dog's killer, and provided evidence suggesting that local butcher George P. Avery had poisoned the dog.

Avery soon produced this broadside in response, repeating Walker's accusation, and unloading upon Walker in the harshest terms. "It is a truth the dog had but few friends. It is a truth his master has but few, and it an indisputable truth that the owner has no honorable principle to govern him, but is a wilful, malicious, beastly scoundrel as ever pushed himself into the society of decent men. . . . As long as life lasts, and one drop of blood runs in my veins, never will I humble myself to his Dukeship." 

Unsurprisingly, we trace no other examples of this tirade in OCLC or at auction.

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