The Vault at Pfaff'sFrank Cahill was an arguably infamous Pfaffian due to the complex nature of his work and social lives. According to Thomas Butler Gunn’s diaries, Cahill was introduced to the Pfaffian scene in October 1856 as an early acquaintance of Frank Henry Temple Bellew. Thomas Butler Gunn and Solomon Eytinge would meet Cahill through this connection. Jesse Haney became an early collaborator of Cahill’s after the untimely passing of William Levison. The two men were employed by Levison’s widow, Mary Levison, on the New York Picayune. Cahill had occasionally troublesome relationships with A.F. Banks and Eytinge, the latter issues stemming from social complications in sharing a boarding house.
Cahill’s closest relationships were often formed over nights spent drinking. Mortimer Thomson, Fitz-James O’Brien, Nathaniel Graham Shepherd, Sol Eytinge, Henry Clapp Jr., Robert Gun, Arthur Ledger, Edward Mallen, and George Arnold were among those who often joined him. While Cahill’s drinking habits led to his estrangement from his Bohemian cousin, Charles Bailey Seymour, his connections to Arnold, Robert Gun, and Haney only grew stronger. Cahill and Arnold began their collaborative relationship over a failed attempt at playwriting, as chronicled in a New York Mercury piece titled “Confessions of an Ex-Dramatist” (vol. 9, p. 89). Cahill also grew closer with Robert Gun after they became roommates at the Houston Street boarding house. However, that arrangement was short-lived before Cahill moved in with the Thomson family and attempted to turn his life around. Gunn was particularly invested in Cahill’s self-betterment and disheartened throughout the man’s struggles. Cahill eventually lost his employment and housing with Thomson over his [Cahill’s] drinking habits. Other social difficulties ensued, including with Sol Eytinge and Allie Vernon.
Shortly thereafter, Cahill lost many opportunities for employment and struggled to pay his debts. Gunn was hesitant to believe that anything meaningful would come from Cahill’s hardships: “Cahill has a pretty sharp lesson this time, but it won’t change his character. His small lyings hint that he has commenced a course of minor O’Brienisms. You can’t help a man on this sort; he’s too weak to stick together” (vol. 11, p. 79). Cahill’s work at the New York Courier and Picayune often suffered during his times of struggle, which strained his relationships with Gunn and Robert Gun.
Cahill worked alongside Frank Wood and James Willard Morris with the launch of the comic paper Vanity Fair. Arthur Ledger, known for his investigative work, also hired Cahill as a detective. Shortly thereafter, Mary A. Levison employed Cahill as editor of Nick-Nax. This position would lead to Cahill’s infamy among Pfaffians. In 1860, Cahill embezzled over $400 from Mary A. Levison’s Nick-Nax and fled to England. This decision spurred the disdain of Gunn, A.F. Banks, Bellew, Arnold, and other Bohemians. A New York Tribune article, titled “An Absconding Agent”, reflected the Pfaffians’ ensuing alienation of Cahill: “Frank Cahill is a young man who, during his stay in this country, had made many friends among literary persons and gentleman of the press, and although he had, by his conduct, on several occasions, given them much pain, there was not one among them who thought him capable of so dishonest and mean an action” (vol. 13, p. 42).
Cahill returned to New York in 1861. Bellew and Bob Gun came to Cahill’s aid while he was abroad, but Cahill was not met with a warm reception in the United States. George Arnold and O’Brien were among those who chastised Cahill to his face. He struggled to find steady editorial work and often relied on other Pfaffians - Shepherd, O’Brien, Mallen, Boweryem, and Seymour - for income. He was also indebted to many Pfaffians, including Larason and Bob Gun. Gunn often focused on Cahill’s social improprieties in relation to Shepherd and Boweryem, though Gunn would eventually distance himself from Cahill entirely.
Gunn’s Diaries included a newspaper detailing Cahill’s Civil War service: “Mr. Cahill, widely and favorable known as an able attache of the New York Times, has been appointed First Lieutenant in Captain Lloyd’s Company of the Pope Rifles the Fifth Senatorial District Regiment and is recruiting at No. 7 Broadway” (vol. 20, p. 135). Cahill was released from the Times in 1863 and later hired by Hezekiah Bateman for advertising work. Gunn’s last mentions of Cahill centered around his antagonistic relationship with Boweryem, as well as his continual mischief with Shepherd and Mallen. Ultimately, Cahill was depicted as arguably one of the most tumultuous figures in Pfaffian history.