"A.C. in A.C." -- A Note to the Perplexed

This paper was, in fact, delivered before the Allegheny City Society in conjunction with a much more factual presentation by Marilyn Holt, Head of the Pennsylvania Department.

Readers are advised that truth is embedded in fabrication. And vice versa. Thus, the following passage

At the height of this early success he was, however, injured when crossing the frozen Allegheny on thin ice (to avoid paying the bridge toll). Saved only by the quick thinking of his companion, Christopher Gist, the two young men were forced to spend the night on a small island in the river--since washed away.

is, in reality, an allusion to George Washington's mishap when crossing the Allegheny River in winter in 1753. In Western Pennsylvania, this incident is so well-known as to, in a sense, lose its significance. For those unaware of the incident--regionally or nationally--humor is a method of introducing/re-introducing Western Pennsylvanians and Americans to their own history.

I apologize to those misled by the misinformation presented in this brief sketch; however, there are precedents for such distortions. Readers are referred to:

* Don Brockett's "Forbidden Pittsburgh";
* "Peabody's Improbable History" on the television cartoon show Rocky and His Friends;
* a number of books by Richard Armour, including
American Lit Relit: A Short History of American Literature for Long-suffering Students, for Teachers who Manage to Keep One Chapter Ahead of the Class, and for All Those Who, No Longer Being in School, Can Happily Sink Back into Illiteracy.
It All Started with Columbus: Being an Unexpurgated, Unabridged, and Unlikely History of the United States from Christopher Columbus to John F. Kennedy for Those Who, Having Perused a Volume of History in School, Swore They Would Never Read Another.
It All Would Have Startled Columbus: A Further Mangling of American History That Started with It All Started with Columbus;
* and, most especially,
1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England: Comprising All the Parts You Can Remember, Including One Hundred and Three Good Things, Five Bad Kings, and Two Genuine Dates by W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman;
* not to mention the wonderful distortions of Robert Benchley.

All newspaper accounts are as reported in The Pittsburgh Daily Gazette. They serve to give some flavor to the environment in which Andrew Carnegie lived as a young man and also serve as an antidote to a picture of a rosy past. Not every young person came from as disciplined and determined a family as Mr. Carnegie. Supported by Margaret Morrison Carnegie, it was his determination to "push inordinately" (see: Joseph Wall, Andrew Carnegie, page 31) that got the family off of Rebecca Street in "Slabtown" and set Carnegie on the road to his fortune.

Citations for news accounts and the correct version of distorted quotes are offered in a list of direct sources.

This effort is a first version of either a book or a section of a book which the Pennsylvania Department, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, hopes to undertake on Pittsburgh. (It may also eventually find itself as a Website.)

The reader is directed to the online exhibit, "Bridging the Urban Landscape," for a genuine encomium on the life and works of Mr. Carnegie.

A.C. in A.C., or B.Chad's Homepage.