FEATURE—LITERATURE After almost a century, readers of Ulysses are many publications, the latest being Joe Duffy’s Children of the Rising. In still learning about how and why James Joyce conversation with the writer, former Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave recalled his created one of the most complex and father, W.T. Cosgrave, speaking provocative Jewish characters in literature. fondly of ‘Altman the Saltman’ of Usher’s Island. Padraic Colum opined that James Joyce did not know any of Dublin’s Jewish com- munity. Nonetheless, as an avid ‘ALTMAN THE reader of newspapers Joyce could not but have been aware of the Altmans, who were Dublin’s leading Jewish SALTMAN’, politicians. While Ireland’s Jews were, by and large, pro-Empire, the LEOPOLD Altmans were notable exceptions: they were Irish nationalists. BLOOM AND The Invincibles James Fairhall suggests that ‘the Phoenix Park murders lie at the cen- JAMES JOYCE tre of Ulysses’, and readers are often mystified by Bloom’s muddled thoughts on James Carey and the In- By Vincent Altman O’Connor vincibles. In 1881 the Altmans were associates of Carey in the Irish Home Manufacturers’ Association, and dur- ing the trial the Invincible Joe Brady hile Leopold Bloom merchants Albert Altman (1852?– cited Altman in his evidence. After is the most renowned 1903), his brother Mendal Altman Brady was hanged, his brother James Irish Jew of all time, (1860–1915) and Mendal’s son fled to Paris, where he associated it is generally Emanuel Altman (1889–1963) have with the Fenian Joseph Casey, a Waccepted that the character was contributed parts of the composite cousin of the movement’s founder, modelled on Joyce’s Jewish friends that is the fictional Leopold Bloom? James Stephens. Casey was an ac- in Trieste, including, most promi- Until recently Joyceans were quaintance of John Joyce, and dur- nently, the novelist Ettore Schmitz. unaware of the Altmans, although ing his son’s sojourn in Paris the Could, however, the Dublin salt they have been documented in impoverished writer dined with and borrowed money from ‘Casey the Fe- nian’. In 1909 another Invincible, James Mullet, attended the funeral of Mary Ellen Callanan, a cousin of Joyce and the model for Mary Jane in his short story ‘The Dead’. The Callanans lived at 15 Usher’s Island, near Altman’s imposing residence at 11 Usher’s Island, and in 1896 Mul- let supported Altman in his bid to be elected to Dublin Corporation. David Sheehy MP, a close friend of the Joyces, was a frequent visitor to the Altman house. Left: Albert L. Altman & Co. Salt Stores, 1–6 Bridgefoot Street, c. 1895, opposite St Catherine’s Church, Thomas Street, where Robert Emmet was executed in 1803. Emmet was a preoccupation of Leopold Bloom’s in Ulysses. 30 /HISTORY IRELAND/ May–June 2017 sobriquet coined by Barrow Belisha, predicted, the gathering ended in a In the beginning who is opaquely cited in Finnegans fist fight. Jane Edelstein, a descen- Wake. Readers of Ulysses will recall dant, informed the writer that Joyce Moritz Altman, his wife Deborah and that Leopold Bloom’s political views and Edelstein were acquainted. their infant son Albert arrived in 1 were inspired by, amongst others, In 1901, after many unsuccess- Ireland in the early 1850s. Moritz Lalor, Mitchel, Parnell and Davitt, ful attempts, Albert was elected to was a talented milliner and was but ‘the man that got away, James Dublin Corporation, where he repre- sometimes referred to as ‘Moses the Stephens’, is never far from his sented the Usher’s Quay ward. He Tailor’2. He also sold ladies’ undergar- thoughts. Intriguingly, Susan was succeeded by Mendal in 1907. ments and Chaco paper. Examples of O’Reilly, Albert’s wife, was a relative Although the Altmans were mem- Altman’s creations can be viewed at the British Post Office Museum and of Denis F. Burke, a member of the bers of the United Irish League, they the Imperial War Museum in IRB Military Council, who master- were supported by the Labour Elec- London. In 18773Albert was expelled minded the cunning escape of toral Association, much to the cha- from Mary’s Abbey synagogue for Stephens from prison in 1865. grin of John Redmond. Albert’s having ‘married out of the pale of John O’Hanlon, later parish political ally was the prominent Sinn Judaism’, and in 1881 it was reported priest of the Star of the Sea Church Féiner Alderman Thomas Kelly. Kelly that his father, Moritz, had died after in Sandymount, had officiated at was one of the chief mourners at Al- ingesting poison. Luca Crispi of the Stephens’s wedding, and before his bert’s funeral and, as we know from James Joyce Research Centre at UCD capture Stephens lived at ‘Fairfield’, his letters, Joyce was familiar with opines that Joyce must have recalled Newbridge Avenue, a house later oc- Kelly’s political activities. Kelly lived this fairly uncommon fact when he cupied by Philip McCann, godfather at 23 Longwood Avenue, which crafted the story of the unfortunate ‘death by misadventure’ of Rudolph, to James Joyce. In Ulysses, Paddy abutted the birthplace of Leopold father of Leopold Bloom. The Dignam lived at 9 Newbridge Av- Bloom at 52 Upper Clanbrassil Altmans were fervent supporters of enue. Street. the Temperance Movement, where The Altmans’ activities in the In Ulysses the Citizen, an alco- one of their comrades was a Mr Land League were widely reported, holic land-grabber, abuses Leopold Dignam. Ironically, the brothers and William Morris, the libertarian Bloom, yet John Wyse reminds the drank wine ‘because of their reli- Marxist, noted Albert’s membership barflies that ‘Bloom gave the idea for gion’, it is recalled. In an obvious of the Irish Labour League. The Sinn Féin to Griffith’. Joyce’s asser- parody, Joyce reveals that the fic- brothers were also shareholders in tion that the temperate Bloom is the tional Paddy Dignam is a drunkard. the Freeman’s Journal and, together inspiration for Sinn Féin has con- with the Fenian John Kelly, were piv- founded scholars and has resulted in otal in the release from prison of tenant Thomas Moroney. Ellmann and Costello have suggested that Below: Denis F. Burke, a member of the IRB Kelly, also a member of the Irish Military Council, who masterminded the Home Manufacturers’ Association famous escape of James Stephens in 1865. and godfather to Florence Joyce, is In Ulysses ‘the man that got away, James Stephens’, is never far from the thoughts of the model for Mr Casey in Portrait of Leopold Bloom. Intriguingly, Susan O'Reilly, the artist as a young man. wife of Albert Altman, was Burke’s cousin. Arthur Griffith and Sinn Féin In 1896 Altman’s manifesto was published in The Nation. It prefigures that of Sinn Féin yet there is no evi- dence to suggest that the Altmans were involved in the party’s forma- tion. According to Emanuel, the Above: Albert Altman’s younger brother, family was distressed by Arthur Grif- Mendal, also referred to as “Altman the Saltman”‘. fith’s early anti-Semitism. These were tumultuous years for the Jewish community, as they struggled to come to terms with the James Stephens and the Fenians demand for Home Rule. Councillor Lily Kierans, a member of the ex- Mendal Altman facilitated a meeting tended Altman family and a friend in the Mansion House of the Judeo- of Maude Gonne, claimed that Al- Irish Home Rule Association, whose bert Altman was occasionally re- secretary was the controversial Joe ferred to as the ‘Jewish Fenian’, a Edelstein, but, as might have been HISTORY IRELAND/ May–June 2017/ 31 on a fresh vitality. In the 1970s, the tion. Reference was made to the Joyce scholar Hugh Kenner stumbled rates books of 1893, the year in across a rumour in Dublin which which John Joyce had been dis- suggested that Griffith had ‘a Jewish missed from the Rates Office in con- advisor-ghost writer’, but he was un- troversial circumstances. In what the able to identify Griffith’s mysterious press described as a ‘crushing defeat Jewish mentor. for the Lord Mayor’, the case brought ‘Altman the Saltman’ once ‘Ivy Day’ more to the attention of the Irish Mendal Altman shared a house in public, and his part in the downfall Queen’s Street with a Joe Hynes, of M’Coy would not be forgotten. In who appears as a character in Joyce’s Ulysses, Bloom has little time for the short story ‘Ivy Day in the Commit- character M’Coy and considers him tee Room’ and in Ulysses. Mendal dishonest. also had an address at 12 Saint Also in Ulysses, the enigmatic Kevin’s Parade, but the family even- Mrs Emily Sinico dies in Sandy- tually settled in 28 Arbour Hill, mount on 14 October 1903, the very Stoneybatter. In an obvious coded al- day when it was reported that Albert lusion, Joyce locates Moses Herzog, Altman, yet again, accused members the moneylender, at 13 Saint Kevin’s of the Corporation of being tardy in Parade and Geraghty, the debtor, at paying their rates. As the Irish Times 29 Arbour Hill. headlines screamed ‘Altman’s Reve- During the municipal elections lations’ and ‘Corporation Scandal’, of 1902, both Albert Altman and the Rates Office was besieged by many fanciful interpretations. Once James Connolly were endorsed by lawyers attempting to regularise ‘Altman the Saltman’ is factored into Griffith in the United Irishman. their clients’ affairs. While Dubliners the equation, the confrontation be- Emanuel Altman claimed that John held their breath in anticipation of tween the Citizen and Bloom takes Joyce canvassed for Albert ‘to return further revelations, ‘Altman the Salt- a favour’, and Charlie Joyce con- man’ was reported dead.