Snake-Charming Women, Part 3: An Erratic Disposition

Rosa Lansing was one of many young women working at Coney Island in the mid-1880s. She liked to be called simply "the Snake Charmer," as though she was the only one - or the only one that truly mattered. Rosa Lansing was not her real name: "she does not deny that this is an alias." The Eagle describes her as attractive and mysterious:

Visitors to Coney Island...will recollect a fine looking young woman, who professed to be a snake charmer. She flitted from one museum to the other...handling the huge boa constrictors as though she did in truth exercise some fascination ove them. Her dresses were always of the spangled variety and full of color, which combined with a pretty face, a fine figure and a certain grace of bearing, gave the girl a special charm of her own. Her intimates knew nothing of her except that she was well read, well spoken, and gave evidence of having received a first class education.

Her lawyer, Mr. Charles Kurth, who knew her true identity, added to this that "she is a girl of erratic disposition, whose habits offended her relatives, who occupy a high social position and are wealthy." Of course, this might also have been a lie, as one does not need to have been wealthy and socially prominent to be well educated. But Mr. Kurth - and Rosa - said nothing more.

Now, most snake charmers did not retain legal counsel (which implies that Rosa Lansing had some independent income of some sort, perhaps from her family). She hired Mr. Kurth in the spring of 1886, as a result of the charms that she exercised upon gentlemen less easily managed than the huge boa constrictors.

In the winter of 1885 Rosa Lansing met a horse trainer named John A. Cook. They quarreled soon after, and she broke off with him. Sometime in the spring of 1886, she "took up with" one of Cook's employees, a jockey named Robert Leiser. This caused Cook and Leiser to become "very unfriendly." Cook also became unfriendly to Rosa, and hit her. She took him to court and he was fined $5. In revenge for this, Cook them began to spread nasty rumors about Rosa, so she took him back to court, with Mr. Kurth in her wake. Cook had no lawyer, though, and the case was adjourned by Judge Waring.

In June 1886, another case came before Judge Waring, concerning "a snake charmer" and two different men who had got into a violent fight. On June 27, John Ross of 352 Madison St. in New York went to Coney Island for the day with a few of his friends. He was "a well known restauranteur of Fulton Market," noted the Eagle.

He went "walking on the beach with a young woman, who is know only as 'the snake charmer.'" The Eagle noted that they had met at a "dancing pavilion" and that she went by the name of "Rosie" although she was better known as "the snake charmer." Rosie and company visited "several small beer gardens at the West End" and then found themselves in from of "Quandt's place" on the Sea Beach walk.

At this point they encountered another young man from Manhattan, Thomas F. Greene, who "brushed up against them." The men with Rosie "remonstrated" with him and Greene said he could lick any of them who wanted to take him on. Ross said he would; soon after, Ross fell to the ground, bleeding from two deep stab wounds in the neck. A Dr. Chambers was sent for in a hurry, and he said Ross would probably die. Ross was taken to the hospital, and Greene (who made no attempt to flee) was arrested. Two knives were found near the spot, where Greene had probably dropped them.

This was reported in the June 28, 1886 morning edition of the Eagle. Rosa Lansing wasted no time in writing a rebuttal to the paper, and the following day the following letter was printed. Rosa's voice is more articulate and educated than that of Emily/Nala, the saucy snake charmer from Connecticut. And unlike Emily, she is worried about her reputation:

To the Editor of the Brooklyn Eagle:

In this evening's edition of the BROOKLYN EAGLE, I notice an account of a stabbing affray which took place yesterday on Sea Beach walk and in which you mention my name. Now as I can produce any number of respectable witnesses (in particular one who is connected to Coney Island) to testify as to my whereabouts at the time of that occurrence, I shall expect you to contradict in your next issue that I was at all implicated in the matter. I do not know the parties or have I ever seen them. Hoping you will give this your earliest attention I remain yours respectfully,

ROSA LANSING, better known as the Snake Charmer, CONEY ISLAND, June 28, 1886.

The Eagle printed the letter with no comment - much less a contradiction - aside from a subtitle stating that Rosa Lansing says she was not there. Two violent fights in two months must have terrified her; perhaps she also worried that her family would recognize her, somehow. I wish that there was some way to find out the rest of her story, a history hidden from history.

That sort of history was exactly what captivated a man who was born just about the time that Rosa was charming snakes and men in Coney Island. His name was Joseph Ferdinand Gould. He was, like Rosa, the son of wealthy parents. And like her, he chose to break off from them, and lose himself in a crowded, honky-tonk corner of New York City.

Coming up soon in the Virtual Dime Museum: the story of Joe Gould.

Image from NYPL Digital Gallery, depicting a trio on the beach at Coney Island in the 1870s.

SOURCES

"Cook's Jockey," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 20, 1886, p. 4.
"Stabbed in the Neck," New York Times, Jun. 29, 1886, p. 2.
"Stabbed At Coney Island," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Jun. 28, 1886, p. 4.
"Tha Snake Charmer Not There," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Jun 29, 1886, p. 4.