On January 31, 1843, Dick Pelham did have a benefit, but the performance was of the ordinary nature; nothing unusual, such as a quartet of black-face performers appearing at one time, which would have caused considerable stir; thus may we eliminate January 31, 1843, as the date of the first performance in public. The following announcement appeared on February 6: BOWERY AMPHITHEATRE, Monday evening, Feb. 6. 1843, first night of the novel, grotesque, original and surpassingly melodious Ethiopian Band entitled THE VIRGINIA MINSTRELS Being an exclusively minstrel entertainment combining the banjo, violin, bone castanets and the tambourine, and entirely exempt from the vulgarities and other objectionable features which have hitherto characterized negro extravaganzas. [Illustration: 11:45 FROM THE HOTEL] The New York _Herald_ commented on the performance for the first time on February 9. The quartet remained at the Bowery Amphitheatre until February 11; five days later they were over Cornucopia Hall, at No. 28 Park Row; February 22, they began an engagement at the Park Theatre, and shortly afterwards went to Boston, where they played at Melodeon Hall for a few weeks, and sailed from New York, April 21, 1843. May 21, they gave their first performance at Liverpool, England, at the Concert Rooms on Concert Street; subsequently playing a week in Manchester, and thence to the Adelphi in London, where they remained one month; the original four disbanded then. BILLY WHITLOCK was a typesetter on the New York _Herald_, and appeared at various theatres in the evening, while retaining his position during the day. He made his first appearance in New York City in 1835, as Cuff in “O, Hush.” He resigned from the _Herald_ in 1837, and went with a circus; he returned to New York, and in the Winter of 1839 was engaged by P. T. Barnum to play the banjo for John Diamond, the great dancer. Mr. Whitlock was the first to return to the United States after the dissolution of the original company; he arrived about August, 1844; subsequently appearing with various small organizations and circuses. For many years he traveled as a Yankee comedian, and was also an actor at the Bowery Theatre about 1853; he was the composer of “Lucy Long,” one of the great songs of early minstrelsy. His last appearance was with Dan Rice’s Circus in 1855. His daughter married Edwin Adams, the great actor. It is a strange thing that no one seems to know where Mr. Whitlock is buried. Billy Whitlock was born in New York City, 1813; he died at Long Branch, N. J., March 29, 1878. DICK PELHAM (Richard Ward Pell), like Billy Whitlock, made his first appearance in his native city in “O, Hush,” in 1835. February 13, 1840, he danced against John Diamond in New York City.