Lead Pipe IV - A Lead Pipe Could be a "Sure Thing" even before it was a "Cinch"
A “Lead Pipe Cinch” is a sure thing. But pin-pointing its origin has been anything but. It has long been known that the phrase dates to at least October 4, 1888. A purported origin story, from 1890, asserted that the phrase “referred to the plumber who, while traveling on East River ferry, fell overboard with a coil of lead pipe around his body. The ‘lead pipe cinch’ was too much for him, and he never came up again.” The story has generally been dismissed as a fanciful, after-the-fact fabrication.
In my first three “Lead Pipe” posts, I looked at other origin stories, actual events that may have inspired the origin stories and/or the idiom, and discussed why “lead pipe” may have been used as an intensifier for the word, “cinch.”
I have since found one more story; an earlier story about another “sure thing.” The story refers to a coil of lead pipe as a “sure thing,” at a time before the earliest known use of the idiom, “lead pipe cinch.” The fact that the story did not invoke the idiom “lead pipe cinch” in telling the story may indicate that the was not known at the time. Perhaps this early story about a sure thing related to a lead pipe is an indication that the old-wive's tale was true - surprisingly, “lead pipe cinch” may actually be derived from a story about someone who drowned with a coil of lead pipe around their body,
Background
In my first “Lead Pipe” post, I discussed an actual drowning event that could have inspired the later origin story, and could also have helped inspire the idiom. In 1883, feather merchant apparently committed suicide by jumping from the East River Ferry with a ten-pound “bar of lead having been securely fastened to the vest by a piece of wire.” The event was widely reported, in part because of the fact that he had recently purchased several high-value insurance policies; when the coroner’s inquest failed to rule the drowning a suicide, the policies apparently paid off.
In my second “Lead Pipe” post, I reported that I had discovered an alternate, purported origin story that appeared in print just four days after the earliest known use of the idiom. The alternate origin story also involved a “coil of lead pipe,” a drowning, and a ferry; but transferred the action to the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, and involved a pair of burglars, instead of a plumber. When one burglar fell into the water with piece of lead pipe coiled around his waist, his partner took bets on whether he would come to the surface or not – since he knew about the lead pipe, the bet was a “lead pipe cinch.”
In my third “Lead Pipe” post, I analyzed what it is about lead pipes that made them amenable to use as an intensifier for the word, “cinch.” A cinch is a sure thing; and a “lead pipe” cinch is a very sure thing. The idiomatic use of “cinch” is based on a cinch strap used to secure a saddle to a horse. Lead pipe is soft and malleable, and can be (relatively) easily twisted and bent. It was easy to imagine bending a lead pipe around the belly of a horse to make a very strong cinch. The two early, purported origin stories even refer to a “coil of lead pipe” or lead pipe “coiled” around someone’s waist.
New Evidence
I recently came across another story about a burglar who fell from the East River Ferry with a coil of lead pipe wrapped around his waist, and a companion who made a “sure thing” bet on the outcome of the drowning. The story appeared a few years after Robert Cunningham’s actual, apparent suicide, and more than two years before the earliest appearance of the idiom, “lead pipe cinch.”
Tellingly, perhaps, the story does not use the phrase, “lead pipe cinch,” suggesting that the phrase was not yet in existence when the story was written. If the idiom already been in existence, and widely known, it seems likely that there would have been a more obvious reference to the idiom within the story itself. The mere use of “sure thing” in a story about a man who drown with “lead pipe” wrapped around his waist, without an express reference to a “cinch,” would have been a fairly cryptic allusion.
Tellingly, perhaps, the story does not use the phrase, “lead pipe cinch,” suggesting that the phrase was not yet in existence when the story was written. If the idiom already been in existence, and widely known, it seems likely that there would have been a more obvious reference to the idiom within the story itself. The mere use of “sure thing” in a story about a man who drown with “lead pipe” wrapped around his waist, without an express reference to a “cinch,” would have been a fairly cryptic allusion.
The pre-idiom existence of the story would be clear evidence that the story was not fabricated to explain the idiom. The story may nevertheless be a fabrication, however; just not one designed to explain away the origin of the idiom, “lead pipe cinch.” The story may even be a humorous reimagining of the facts surrounding Robert Cunningham’s (alleged) suicide three years earlier. Given the gambling subject matter of the story, and reference to the bet being a “sure thing,” it is actually possible that the story inspired the idiom. It is not proof, but based on the timing, content, and later use of the story to explain the origin of the idiom, it is not so easy to dismiss the possibility that the story inspired the idiom.
The story appeared in the Omaha Daily Bee, but was credited to the Philadelphia Press. Presumably, the story would have been picked up in other markets, and would likely have also been known in New York City, where the idiom eventually emerged. The story is very similar to the origin story of October 8, 1888, except that the action is transferred to the East River (where Robert Cunningham drowned) from New Jersey. The date of the earlier story also helps narrow the time frame in which the idiom developed. The idiom likely developed sometime between the date of the earlier story, January 5, 1886, and the earliest known date of use of the idiom, October 4, 1888.
A Lead Pipe was a “Sure Thing” Even Before it was a “Cinch”
Betting on Life and Death.
Philadelphia Press: The passion of betting takes precedence of everything with some men. No opportunity to make wages is ever permitted to go by. Illustrative of this a good story is told of a New York gambler, who was in the habit of getting drunk occasionally, and when in that condition was not at all particular as to his associates. One night, before the Brooklyn bridge was built, he fell in with two professional cracksmen in a saloon near the old Fulton ferry, and the three drank heavily. Toward midnight it was proposed to take a trip to Brooklyn, and the gambler, easily persuaded, accompanied the other two. Arrived in Brooklyn, a house was selected, and the gambler requested to wait outside while the burglars entered. He did so, and they returned in a few moments disgusted. The house was unoccupied and nothing had been found except a coil of soft lead pipe. Determined not to go back empty-handed, one of the burglars wrapped the pipe around his waist and buttoned his coat over it. When the party arrived at the ferry entrance they found a boat just starting. All three ran for it. The gambler and one burglar got aboard safely. The man with the lead pipe came last. He jumped and fell into the water. Immediately there was great consternation and the boat was stopped.
“Throw him a line,” was shouted. “Get a life preserver.” “Heave a block overboard!”
Then the smart man – there is one in every crowd stepped forward and remarked cooly.
“That’ll be all right. There’s no hurry. He’s bound to come up three times before he drowns.”
Instantly the gambler’s right hand went up.
“I’ll bet you a hundred dollars he don’t.”
And he didn’t. The gambler was betting on a sure thing.
Omaha Daily Bee, January 5, 1886, page 5, column 7.
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UPDATE:
In July 1883, about one month after Robert Cunningham's coroner's inquest failed to rule his death by drowning (with a lead pipe under his jacket) a suicide, Puck magazine published a cartoon suggesting a new method of preventing suicide by jumping from the ferry; apparently Robert Cunningham was not the only person to (allegedly) commit suicide that way:
Similarities between Robert Cunningham's tragic end, in 1883, and the “humorous” story of the lead-pipe drowning and “sure thing” bet, in 1886, may suggest that the latter story was concocted as a sort of joke, based on vague recollections, perhaps, of the earlier drowning. The connection is certainly not a certainty, as is evidence of at least one more lead-pipe drowning incident in the 1880s. In March 1888, a deep-sea diver recollected an encounter he had had with a corpse in the East River (I was surprised to learn that there even were professional deep-sea divers in the 1880s):
We divers never touch bodies in this state [(of decomposition)], because it brings the worst luck possible. The only exception to the rule I know was the body of a man who had committed suicide. He had tied around his neck a bag of some heavy stuff, shot or lead pipe, it may have been, and had jumped in from the ferry-boat or a pier-head near to shore. When I came across it it was dilated with its own gases and seemed in the half light under the water to be a stout man trying to swim to the surface, but anchored down by a heavy weight.
The Abilene Reflector, March 8, 1888, page 2, column 5.
It is possible, I suppose, that the diver misremembered some of the details, and he may have been recalling the Robert Cunningham suicide from years earlier. Or, it could have been a different case, one which might also have inspired the legend of the “sure thing” gambler and lead-pipe drowning.
But regardless of the origin of the story, given the similarities of the gambling subject matter, it is possible that the “sure thing” story of 1886 may have influenced the origins of the idiom, “lead pipe cinch.” If that story had been inspired by an earlier, actual lead-pipe drowning, like Robert Cunningham’s suicide, an actual drowning incident may well have been the ultimate origin of the idiom, “lead pipe cinch.” The suggestion is at least much more difficult to dismiss as fanciful, given the existence of the earlier, actual drowning incidents, and the earlier story about the sure bet.
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UPDATE:
In July 1883, about one month after Robert Cunningham's coroner's inquest failed to rule his death by drowning (with a lead pipe under his jacket) a suicide, Puck magazine published a cartoon suggesting a new method of preventing suicide by jumping from the ferry; apparently Robert Cunningham was not the only person to (allegedly) commit suicide that way:
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| Puck, Volume 13, Number 333, July 25, 1883, page 330. |