"Frank Pankuk, a Hungarian, boarding at No. 72 East Fourth-street, was called on last evening by his brother Joseph, a worthless young ruffian, 21 years old, who wanted money. Frank refused to give it to him, whereupon Joseph pulled a revolver and fired two shots at his brother. One took effect in his right breast, inflicting a dangerous wound. Joseph fled, and had not been arrested at a late hour. The wounded man was removed to Bellevue Hospital."
So reported the New York Times on January 9, 1885. But about the incident's outcome, the paper is silent - as is history itself. What happened to Frank Pankuk? Did he live? How dangerous was his wound? How did he, a simple boarder, afford his bill at Bellevue?
& what about that worthless young ruffian, Joseph Pankuk? Was he ever caught? Did he ever shoot anyone again? Will he continue to be vilified by history, being an unhappy example of young, worthless Hungarian ruffians?
Alas, the "grey lady," the "paper of record," does not answer these questions. Frank Pankuk, a young adult Hungarian male who had arrived in the United States in early 1883 in order to find work in the slave labor trade, distinguished himself early on as an obvious foreigner & strange-looking person who couldn't speak English very well. His brother Joseph, too, seemed very much unlike average New Yorkers unless they had recently arrived from Eastern Europe or were in some ways unpleasant to the observer. The two brothers chose not to live together, Joseph instead preferring to hang out with other young ruffians, & Frank being far more comfortable with sitting in his filthy room drawing pictures of naked women in his bible.
Why wouldn't the New York Times report these obviously untrue facts? & why, after deigning to report on a bloody skirmish between the two brothers, not bother to report on their fates? What was more important? Teddy Roosevelt at Harvard? Kaiser Wilhelm learning how to tango? Sarah Bernhardt in La Fille de Roland? The discovery & subsequent loss of Fred Hermsch's entire oeuvre? What I had for breakfast?
Surely you can see my point. Alas, we may never know what fate befell the Pankuk brothers, but you can make sure the same thing never happens to you, especially if you're Hungarian, a young ruffian, &/or living in the 19th century. So please do. & tell them it has everything to do with the War On Sailing.
