Edmund O'Flaherty  Edmund O'Flaherty (1821– New York, 27 December 1886), also known as William Stuart, was an Irish MP who hurriedly emigrated to the United States in 1854. In New York City he was the business partner of the actor-managers Dion Boucicault and Edwin Booth, and with them leased and managed the Winter Garden Theatre. He managed the New Park Theatre on Broadway from 1874 to 1876. A native of Knockbane, Moycullen, Galway, he was educated at Eton when Cardinal Wiseman was headmaster. O'Flaherty became the private secretary to the Duke of Newcastle, who wanted to forge an alliance between the Peelite party and that of the Irish MP's. O'Flaherty's ability was recognised by the Duke, who employed him as an emissary to Ireland, and gave him a Commissionership of Income Tax in Galway. He was active in Irish politics in the middle years of the 19th century. Described as "a man of great warmth, cleverness and inexhaustible resource", he was a friend of William Keogh and John Sadleir. In 1854 he disappeared from London and rumours were current throughout the city that warrants were out against him for forgery. Persons concerned included Lord Bolingbroke, Lord Dunkellin, Bernal Osborne and Sir William Gregory, the late Governor of Ceylon. O'Flaherty escaped via Denmark (which had no extradition treaty with Britain) to the U.S. under the alias of 'Captain William Stuart'. To earn a living he began by writing for the papers, made some money, and began a partnership with the actor Dion Boucicault, another expatriate Irishman. Together they leased Wallack's Theatre in 1855-1856, and put on a short season at the Washington Theatre in Washington D.C. After this they took over the Winter Garden Theatre, where Stuart was joint lessee and manager. It opened in September 1859 with John Jefferson in Boucicault's "Dot", an adaptation of Charles Dickens's "The Cricket on the Hearth". Boucicault's "The Octoroon" opened on 8 December 8, 1859, but arguments over money and ownership of the play led to Boucicault and his wife Agnes leaving for Laura Keene's Theatre at 622-624 Broadway, and then for England. Stuart remained at the Winter Garden.