Gelett (Burgess) is born in the South End.

Born at 37 Appleton Street, Burgess Gelett becomes a novelist, humorist, and a member of Boston’s Bohemia. He gains a measure of fame as the author of a poem that contains the lines, “I never saw a purple cow / I never hope to see one / But I can tell you, anyhow / I’d rather see than be one!”