I feel a bizarre kinship to Levi D. Little that is based
solely on the contents of his scrapbook. In fact, I consider Little’s scrapbook
to be one of my favorite items in our entire collection. It’s not so much that
the contents are remarkable—it consists of newspaper clippings which are mostly
available to read elsewhere. Instead, what I love about the scrapbook is that I
feel like it gives a unique insight into his personality, and as it turns out,
we like a lot of the same things.
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| Levi D. Little |
Levi Little was born in the Town of Baldwin on May 20, 1850. As a young man, he
quickly moved up the ranks of local law enforcement; he was elected constable
in 1873 and, in 1874, moved to Elmira, where he became as deputy sheriff. Three
years later, he was elected sheriff on the Republican ticket. Less than four
years later, he became the Elmira Chief of Police on April 11, 1883, a position
he held until his resignation from the force in 1895. Claiming he was tired of
the job, politics, and criticism, he worked the rest of his life as a detective
for the Northern Central Railroad.
The scrapbook in our collection is from 1889 to 1890. Little
mostly saved clippings of local police and crime news. That makes sense, of
course. I used his scrapbook in my research for the “Great Female Crime Spree”
chapter in my book Curiosities of Elmira
because it includes clippings on the criminal dealings of forger Ella White,
alleged murder Mary Eilenberger, and sex trafficker Mary Fairman (check out the
book to find out more about these wild women).
But the crime stories are not the main reason I love the
Little scrapbook. Occasionally, Little would clip a news story that had nothing
to do with his professional life. He seemed to have an interest in what we
might call “oddities,” something Levi Little and I have in common.
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| An article of national news about a man who was allegedly 150 years old, from the Levi Little scrapbook |
He clipped a story about John Lawes, a local man who found
unwanted fame for weight gain caused by a uncontrollable medical condition.
Lawes’ is a deeply sympathetic story (which I also tell in Curiosities of Elmira) and it is unclear if Little knew Lawes
personally or was just following his story.
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| John Lawes, from the Levi Little scrapbook |
Little also saved stories that had to do with the happenings
of some of the local clubs and organizations with which he was involved, giving
us a better sense of how he was a member of the community outside of his
official duties.
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| News of the Elks Lodge, from the Levi Little scrapbook |
I appreciate all of these things, but tucked away on a page
toward the back of the scrapbook is the clipping I gravitate towards most:
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| Railroad Jack in 1890, from the Levi Little scrapbook |
This article and etching show the famous Railroad Jack, a
train-riding mutt from Albany, NY, who is the subject of my next book (check
out www.findingrailroadjack.com for more
information!)
Levi Little died unexpectedly on March 8, 1901 from
complications from surgery for appendicitis. He had never married, a fact that earned him some gentle ribbing in an 1888 Elmira Telegram article about local eligible bachelors. What was
Levi Little actually like as a person? Like all people, he was certainly a
complicated figure, but I can’t help but to like the glimpses of the “real” him
see in his scrapbook.
