A Boston resident found a rye whiskey bottle inside an interior wall of their home. The bottle, discovered between near the fireplace flue, had a curious note inside:
Tom Ford
6 on Shea
Shea Sep 23
1894
I was thinking that Shea could be a boxer or a horse. The City of Boston Archaeology Program invites the public to help solve the mystery. A photo of the note is below. From WHDH:
One Facebook user suggested that the note was evidence of secretive "drinking and gambling."
Another user commented, "There was a (very short-lived) professional football/soccer league in 1894- one of the captains was Dennis Shea."
And another Facebook commentator, Jenny Nathans, writes:
In 1894 a man named John Shea was convicted of keeping an unlicensed bar (I think in Washington, D.C.). They caught him selling whisky (notice that the mystery note is stored in a whisky bottle). President Cleveland had previously pardoned Shea for a similar offense and was following this case as well. So, I assume the Shea case would have also been followed by the public nationally. Shea went to trial on October 18, 1894. Perhaps someone named Tom Ford was betting on the outcome of the trial, in favor of Shea. BTW, Shea was found guilty.
