Yes, I recently came upon the song myself in that same Merchant's Gargling Oil Songster, 1885, not from Chicago but Lockport NY. Merchant's Gargling Oil was a highly successful product and company in this area (Western NY) in the second half of the 19th century, making & selling their liniments for both man and beast. Apparently, they would put out a songster every so often as a promotional piece, with product testimonials and other hype printed after each song. They have several years' worth of this songster at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, all with great artwork on the covers. I also have a version of this song from a Westchester County (NY) singer born in 1858. Jeff Warner has some great background on the song from his parents' research as well as from Martin Carthy and some others. Jeff believes that the song started here in the US and moved to the British Isles.

Other interesting songs in the 1885 edition of this songster are a version of Give An Honest Irish Lad a Chance, an early version of Jimmy Brown the Newsboy (which I only knew from Peter Rowan and the like), and of course the Merchant's Gargling Oil theme song, which I'd love to set to music sometime.