Master Tommy Purcell

 

It's a charming photo of a musical child whose gender seems a bit ambiguous. With long blonde curls and kilt-like skirt the young tot might be mistaken for a girl or boy, but it's clearly a portrait that any grandmother would be proud to display. 

 

However this was not a picture taken for family appreciation. It was actually a souvenir photo produced for the public's admiration. And as I discovered, it was the first promotion for this very young violinist who was about to embark on a lifetime in show business. 

 

His name was Tommy Purcell.

 

His cabinet card photo was taken in the studio of C. F. Smith of Sterling, Illinois. The photographer accepted a challenge to show the full height of this diminutive child who was evidently shorter than what the camera's tripod would accommodate. So Mr. Smith came up with a simple solution. Have the boy stand on a chair. That way the lens could take in his stature, fancy dress, and instrument.

 

On the back of the photo is a rare prize. A penciled note with a name, a date, and a bonus review.

 

 

Master Tommy Purcell.
Aged - 5 years and 2 months
Thursday - June _16"_1892.
A fine violinist

 

                                      PROP.
                                                            AND.  HIST. SOCIETY

 

As my readers will know, this is a trifecta of valuable information for a history researcher like myself, even if the photo was deemed of no interest to a historical society. Here was a subject perfectly named, dated, and located to a place. Surely I could find Master Tommy in Sterling, Illinois.

 

I did find him, but there was one problem. On that day in 1892, this lad was not in Sterling, the photographer's town. He was in Iowa, 60 miles west across the Mississippi River, on tour with the Schubert Symphony Club and Lady Quartette, the Ideal American Musical Organization.

 

Waterloo IA Daily Courier
16 June 1892

On 16 June 1892 the town of Waterloo, Iowa was expecting the Schubert Symphony Club at the West Side Opera House on Monday 20 June. The ensemble would play beautiful selections on five charming instruments, two mandolins, two banjos and guitars. There would be vocal numbers by the lady quartette as well as superb cornet and artistic violin solos. The second part of the program would be an amusing operetta, The Rose of Auvergne by Jules Offenbach. And in between would be amusing songs by the charming little artist, Master Tommie.  Tickets were at summer prices of 25, 35, and 50¢.

 

 

Cedar Rapids IA Evening Gazette
17 June 1892

 

The next day the newspaper in Cedar Rapids ran a brief review of the Schubert Symphony Club at its concert in DeWitt, Iowa on June 16th. The event "drew quite a crowd, consisting of music loving people. They were all well pleased with the entertainment, but the evident hit of the evening was "Master Tommy" in his cute recitations and songs." By the following February, Master Tommy Purcell, was getting rave reviews from his hometown patrons in Sterling. Though only five years old he had already been performing for half his life.

 

 

 

Sterling IL Gazette
10 February 1893

 

Tommy was the son of Lavinia Zendt and Elias Hicks Purcell, two professional musicians who lived in Sterling. Thomas Valentine Purcell, i.e. Master Tommy, was born in Sterling on 5 January 1887. His father, Prof. E.H. Purcell, was a talented musician who played several different instruments and gave music lessons around the area. In about 1891-92 he formed a small ensemble with his students and friends of about twelve singers and instrumentalists that he called the Schubert Symphony Club. For the summer of 1892 they planned a concert tour of Iowa, Minnesota, and "Dakota" (then only a territory), and and Master Tommy would join them.

 

 

Schubert Symphony Club, Sterling, Illinois
Source: Sterling and Rock Falls Local History Collection

 

The Schubert Symphony Club are pictured in this photo found in the Sterling and Rock Falls history digital archive, though there are no dates or names attached. I believe Prof. Elias H. Purcell is the man holding a cornet standing left. His wife Lavinia Purcell has a banjo and is seated in front of him. And she is touching the shoulder of little Tommy who sits on a stool with his violin. Since Tommy has the same long curls and is wearing a darker kilt-like dress, I think it was taken at about the same time as his portrait. The other players, a man with a violin, and three women with mandolin, banjo, and guitar, are not identified.

 

Their first reviews described a program with a mix of vocal numbers by the Lady Quartette with various shorter works featuring string instruments with cornet. Mrs. E. H. Purcell was praised for her contralto voice "of phenomenal power and compass" in an aria from Verdi's "Il trovatore" that was accompanied by a cornet obligato. The group's repertoire may have included one of Franz Schubert's songs, but they did not play one of his symphonies. The Schubert Symphony Club performed lighter semi-classical music, usually in small venues like churches, schools, and civic halls for a respectable family audience.

 

But no reviewer ever failed to highlight the wonderful performance of little Tommy Purcell in his delightful songs, comical pieces in an Irish brogue, and admirable violin solos. Most impressive was that Tommy had just started to learn the violin only a few months before.

 

 

The Schubert Symphony Club seems to have enjoyed great success on that first summer tour. Soon Prof. Purcell was taking bookings far beyond Illinois and the Midwest. His programs engaged various other instrumental artists besides his original core group and included dramatic speakers to add an educational element to the show. Yet after a few years, as his talent and skill matured, Master Tommy became the featured act. By January 1896 when Tommy had just reached age nine, the Schubert Symphony Club came to Asheville, North Carolina, which became my home town 100+ years later. They were set to play Asheville's Grand Opera House which first opened in 1890. (However its civic life was not so grand as the building was condemned in 1910 and demolished in the 1930s). 

 

 

Asheville NC Daily Citizen
20 January 1896

 

Shortly after arriving in Asheville, both Tommy and his mother became very ill and were sent to hospital, so their concert was cancelled. Asheville was then a popular destination for people suffering from lung diseases like tuberculosis. They hoped to regain their health in the region's refreshing mountain air, so there was no shortage of skilled physicians here. 

 

 

Asheville NC Daily Citizen
1 February 1896

According to the ensemble's leader and manager, Elias H. Purcell, they hoped to reschedule their concert when the boy and his mother had recovered. It was "the only rest this company has taken in over 16 months," he said. "It is hard to have sickness in a company, and not pleasant to lose money quite so fast, but as it had to come, I am glad we could have our bad luck in so pleasant a city as Asheville."

 

 

Asheville NC Daily Citizen
14 February 1896

Two weeks later the Schubert Concert Company finally appeared on stage at Asheville's Grand Opera House. The hospital's nurse matron, Miss Walton, said "she was never so reluctant to say goodbye to an inmate before, and must acknowledge Master Tommy to be their star patient. On his part Tommy said that Miss Walton cooks the best things to eat he ever tasted." Like his father, Tommy had a talent to sell tickets. 

 

 

Asheville NC Daily Citizen
15 February 1896

The Asheville newspaper's reviewer praised the company's soprano whose song, Keirzl's "The Little Sandman" was flawless, though her encore of "Suwanee River" was not improved by the variations. The clarinet soloist was also good. But "Master Tommy Purcell brought down the house at every appearance. His graceful and expressive manner combined with his diminutive size and beauty of person proved very attractive." The next day the Schubert Symphony Club and Lady Quartette took the train to Reidsville, NC, 200 miles east of Asheville, where they were booked to play at another "opera house".

 

 

This next photo takes a different perspective of Master Tommy Purcell with his violin. It was taken by the Miehle & Geiger photography studio of Chicago probably about 1896, the same year when the Purcells' company were on a winter tour of the southern states. At some point in the 1890s, Elias and Lavinia Purcell moved from Sterling to Chicago, which was then becoming the center of musical culture for the American Midwest. It was also a central hub for all the train lines north, south, east and west, an important logistical concern for any traveling entertainer.

Tommy, still with long hair, is dressed in a fancy velvet suit with lace collar, a boy's fashion made popular by the 1885-86 serial novel, "Little Lord Fauntleroy" by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924). The photographer raised his camera to point downwards towards the boy and then in the dark room he washed out the background and floor to give an illusion that Tommy is floating in air. Printed on either side of Tommy is a written caption.

Master Tommy Purcell
With the Schubert Symphony Club

 

 

His father must have traveled with a portable desk while on tour to keep up with the mass of correspondence needed to manage the Purcells' show business affairs. The following winter took the company to Florida and the Gulf states and by Tommy's tenth birthday they were in Texas. A program from their show in Galveston featured Tommy in three solo pieces. Most of the composers were names like Gounod, Rossini, Schumann, and others from what we now call the classical music genre, though the pieces were all lighter fare with easily recognizable melodies. Since the group had several female vocalists, including Tommy's mother, there was an emphasis on operatic music with occasional sentimental or comical songs. Tommy's ability on violin had led him naturally to the mandolin, and probably banjo too, so these instruments were now part of his act in the show.

 

Many of their concert notices were for Lyceum and Chautauqua festivals, though the nature of the Schubert Symphony Club's small ensemble of six to ten musicians meant they were not suited to outdoor stages or genuinely grand opera houses. Generally a typical good audiences might number in the hundreds. Ticket prices remained in the 50 to 75¢ range.

 

 

Galveston TX Daily
19 January 1897

 

By the 1900s, the Purcells had added a daughter, Virginia, born in April 1900, and were living in Aldine Square, a small but elegant development constructed in 1874 in the Oakland neighborhood of south Chicago. It was surely a sign of success for Elias H. Purcell to promote his address at No. 32 Aldine Square with a postcard view of the picturesque park with, presumably, he and his wife standing on the house steps. It was "Where the “Schuberts” rest and rehearse every summer."

 

 

The postcard was sent to Mrs. A. D, Alderman of Big Spring, Texas on 25 March 1909, possibly by either Elias or Lavinia Purcell when they were on tour in Texas. The back has no message but instead has a printed promotion for the Schubert Co., who seem to have evolved to sometimes omit the "symphony club". Ironically, Elias H. Purcell, who was born in Virginia, claimed he was a descendant of the English Baroque composer, Henry Purcell (1659–1695). Elias also fancied himself a composer too and his Schubert Co. published several of his songs that doubtless were inspired by the travels he and his troupe had taken across America.

 

• Sir Arthur Sullivan could take a two cent sheet of music paper and write a song on it that would sell for $25,000 — That's Genius. 
• The Schubert Co. can transform any great composers' notes into beautiful music. — That's Talent. 
• Mr. Vanderbilt can write a few words on a piece of paper and make it worth $5,000,000. — That's Capital. 
• You & Yourself, with a much smaller sum, can take a few friends to hear the splendid Schubert Entertainment, which will make all of you feel like millionaires. — That's the Proper Caper. 
• A Sweetheart might say no to a proposal six months long, but the ladies are always glad to accept an invitation to hear the Schuberts. — That's Sense.

After more than a decade in show business, Prof. E. H. Purcell claimed his Schubert Symphony Club had visited every state as well as Canada and Mexico. I have verified this achievement using the search engine on Newspapers.com which shows that from 1882 to 1910 the group's name appeared at least once, if not dozens of times, in a newspaper from every state in America. For example, beginning on January 1st, 1909 the Schubert Symphony Club was in Blackfoot, Idaho. By Christmas they finished the year in Grass Valley, California near Sacramento.

Grass Valley CA Morning Union
23 December 1909

Now that he was a young man, Tommy left the long curls and velveteen suits behind him and was now introduced as "the brilliant American violinist" using his full name, Thomas Valentine Purcell. He had independent solo work now outside the Schubert ensemble, and had started writing reviews and witty puzzles for some of the music magazines catering to refined cultural tastes. In July 1912, Thomas V. Purcell married Miss Leta Corder in Texarkana, Texas, one of the singers in the Schubert Lady Quartette. She would go on to find success as an actress in musical comedies.

 

 

Medford OR Mail Tribune
18 February 1913

The Schubert Symphony Club seems to have retired from concert tours in May 1916, though there were a couple of concerts in March 1917. By 1919 Elias and Lavinia Purcell left the house at Aldine Square for a more modest flat in an apartment building in north Chicago on Roscoe St. that Elias had bought as an investment. Their daughter, Virginia Purcell, had recently married and moved to Hibbing, Minnesota with her husband, John Sheehy. Thomas was now busy leading his own society orchestra and was often on the road. Sadly he and Leta had divorced. 

 

 

 

Evansville IN Press
23 September 1919

On 21 September 1919, Elias H. Purcell was discovered dead by the janitor at the Roscoe St. apartments. Purcell was alone in the flat as his wife was away visiting her sisters in Sterling. His body was found bound to a kitchen chair and he was gagged, yet other than some minor marks on his head, there was no sign of a struggle or any injury violent enough to cause death. As numerous furnishings in the apartment were overturned or ransacked, it looked like he was a victim of a brutal robbery. Elias was then in poor health, so investigators initially concluded that he suffered a heart attack or stroke from the shock.

 

But there were more clues that didn't fit that simple scenario.

 

 {click any image to zoom}

  

Chicago Tribune
23 September 1919

 

The kitchen table was curiously set for a breakfast of three persons but the three pieces of toast were torn from a single slice. The butter knives were laid incorrectly. Only one egg was cooked. The coffee cups were untouched. It seemed a "camouflage breakfast." 

 

Despite the disorder found throughout the flat, nothing valuable like silverware or Purcell's watch was taken. A key was found in the backdoor lock. Purcell had written two letters to his wife saying he feared a plot by crooks out to rob him. Though he was considered a wealthy man who supposedly had recently cashed in a number of Liberty bonds, no money was stolen. During police questioning the milkman reported that during his early morning delivery he had seen a figure wearing an army cap in the apartment window. A neighbor woman said she had seen a strange man at Purcell's apartment door. Another neighbor said they heard a woman's voice that night and maybe the sound of a piano and violin.

 

Was Purcell murdered? The coroner began tests searching for clues on the deceased's body. The small marks on his scalp came from a tack hammer but were too minor to have hurt him much. The gag had no teeth marks. The rope was so loosely bound that Elias surely had the ability to untie himself. 

Who would have motive to do such a terrible thing? The Purcell family were suspected. All had alibis. Mrs. Purcell was in Sterling. Thomas was with his band in Michigan. Virginia and John Sheehy were in Hibbing, Minnesota. Perhaps it was a German barber in Minnesota who Elias had denounced for seditious pro-German speech during the war years leading to the man's arrest. Did he have business partners who resented his success and wished him harm? The tragic story of Elias Purcell's death became front page material in newspapers across the country.

 

 

Dixon IL Evening Telegraph
23 September 1919

 

 

A few days later the medical exam revealed that Purcell had consumed a large quantity of nicotine, a toxic chemical that was then sometimes used as in pesticides or rat poison. The coroner considered the amount to be 10 times a lethal dose. There were stains of it on his shirt. Now investigators needed to look at motives for suicide, not murder. Who would fake the breakfast and bungled robbery? Was it possible Purcell placed all those false clues to distract from his swallowing a poison? The newspaper reports became more sensational as everyone tried their hand at solving the case.

A psychic claimed he had foreseen Purcell's murder and offered to assist the police investigation. Dr. Julius Grinker, a Chicago physician, believed Purcell's death came from a Jiu Jitsu hold, a Japanese martial arts trick that used a tight hand grip on neck arteries yet left no traceable marks. Purcell's financial affairs were checked. His real estate investments had recently taken a severe loss. He also had $15,000 life insurance payable to his wife, but not if his death was self-inflicted. There were too many misleading clues and no proof as to what actually happened to Purcell.

 

The coroner presented the case of Purcell's mysterious death to a special jury of six people. After hearing the evidence the jury split, 3 to 3, between suicide and murder, and the cause of Elias H. Purcell's death was deemed inconclusive. It took just over three weeks for the state to decide the case. The verdict obligated the insurance company to pay the indemnity to his widow. His remaining estate was taken through probate court.

 

Lavinia Zendt Purcell died in 1935. Perhaps her passing was the reason why on 1 December 1935 the Chicago Tribune devoted over a page to reopen this unsolved case, complete with photos and drawings of the Elias's death scene. I offer it here for anyone who likes to read a real mystery who-dun-it.

 

 

Chicago Tribune
1 December 1935

 

 

 

 

Though I originally intended this to be just a story about two photographs of Master Tommy Purcell, the terrible death of his father, Elias H. Purcell, was so unusual and graphic that I felt it deserved to be included. I imagine the traumatic stress of the investigation and the sensational newspaper reports must have been very painful for Elias's wife and children. It couldn't have been easy for a family that had devoted their lives to making music together. Unfortunately civil records and newspaper notices give us no details on the personal life of Elias and his family. Any questions about the circumstances of his tragic death must remain sadly unanswered. 

The show biz life of the Purcell family resembles several family bands in my stories. For distance traveled the Purcell's rivaled The Noss Family Band - Practice Makes Perfect . And the awful death of Prof. E. H. Purcell is only surpassed in tragedy by the murder of the father of Master Eddie Derville - Cornet Soloist. Like many of these talented children, Tommy's musical ability was nurtured by his father and mother. Elias was obviously a multi-talented musician but I feel certain that everything he knew about music was entirely self-taught and not the result of any formal musical education at a conservatory. Musicians in the 19th century learned their craft in the old time-honored way. They played for their livelihood and it was hard work.

 

It's quite possible that the Purcell family moved to Chicago in order to give Tommy access to a high-level violin teacher, but he never mentioned any musical mentor in his promotional material. More likely, because the Schubert Symphony Club seemed to be constantly on the road, Tommy probably never had much time for any serious study with a teacher. However on his later census records he listed his highest education completed as C3 for 3 years college.

 

After his father's tragic death, Thomas Valentine Purcell, continued in music, though his name turned up less frequently in reviews. I think he may have gone abroad in 1920 as I could not find him in any U.S. census. In 1930 he was living, divorced and alone, in a hotel in Buffalo, NY. He listed his occupation as entertainer. In the 1940 census Thomas V. Purcell was a "Guest" at the Hotel Harold in Detroit. On the question "In what place did this person live on April 1, 1935?", Tommy listed "Same Place".  Under the questions on employment, for number of hours worked in the previous week, Thomas answered 3 hours. For duration of unemployment? 156 weeks.  

Ten years later in the 1950 census Tommy was still residing at the Hotel Harold in Detroit but now he had a job, timekeeper at a Blower Manufacturer. However in the previous week he had no work and was currently seeking a job. Perhaps at age 66, his motivation was low.   

 

After his brief marriage to Leta Corder, Tommy may have married a second time. (Or even multiple times!) The only evidence I found for this was in a ship manifest for the S.S. Minnesota liner sailing from London in  August 1928. Thomas Valentine Purcell, age 41 is traveling with Uelva Ivo Purcell, age 24, birthplace Pulaski, IL.  They were marked married and gave an address on West 104th St. in New York City, near Central Park. However I found no other information that verified her relationship with Tommy Purcell. 

 

By the 1940s Tommy's name was no longer a headline in entertainment notices, though I did find another Tommy Purcell who was a pianist and night club bandleader. But that man was younger and obviously a different person. After 1950 Tommy's name disappeared entirely in newspapers though it seemed likely that he still lived in the Detroit area. It was frustrating that despite learning so much about his life I still had not discovered Master Tommy's final number.

 

But with perseverance and a new twist of search terms, the answer suddenly appeared at the bottom of a newspaper archive list. 

 

Thomas Valentine Purcell died in his sleep
at the Harold Hotel in Detroit on 14 January 1960.
He was 73. 

 

 

Detroit Free Press
16 January 1960

Few of Tommy Purcell's neighbors at the hotel knew of his musical background, but the rector of St. Timothy's Episcopal Church went to his room after his death and found a scrapbook of faded clippings that he brought to the attention of the Detroit newspaper. The reporter then talked to Tommy's sister, Virginia, now living in Mont Dora, Florida, who filled in the rest of his biography. 

 

In the 1920's Tommy toured with the Henry Santrey jazz band on the Orpheum theatre circuit. During this part of his career his instrument was oddly not the violin but the Hawaiian ukulele. He evidently became very proficient on it and boasted that while on tour in England, he once gave ukulele lessons to David, the Duke of Windsor, the future, and briefly, King Edward VIII.

As he traveled Tommy asked other entertainers he met or worked with to scratch their names in the varnish of his ukulele. Later he filled the marks in with white ink so they could be easier to read. A photo of Tommy's treasured ukulele ran at top of his obituary showing the back and front covered with names like Elsie Janis, Rudolph Valentino, Jack Dempsey, Irving Berlin, Jimmie Walker, Damon Runyon, Walter P. Chrysler, Alma Gluck and many others.

On the side bar was a second photo of Tommy's violin. I'll let Louis Cook, the staff writer for the Detroit Free Press, finish Tommy's story.

An odd thing about the fiddle. Nobody has heard Purcell play for years. Yet the bows were freshly haired, the strings tightened, the bridge in good shape, and a fresh sprinkle of rosin under the strings.

Somebody has been playing it. Possibly, very softly, "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles," and "Dear One, The World is Waiting For the Sunrise."  

 

Purcell kept the words to the two songs in his fiddle case, written down many years ago on yellowing slips of paper.

 

 

 

 That's how a show business life
gets concealed behind a photograph.

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where, for this weekend only,
children are allowed to stand on the chairs.