Steve, I've checked Harlow, and I must say that's it difficult to tell whether his comment refers to what he calls "Barnacle [sic] Bill" or to the succeeding "Priest and the Nuns." The part about "painting the town red" better fits "BB," but the paragraph structure seems to direct attention to what follows.

He does identify The P&N, however, as used at the "pumps." And indeed it had never been in print before.

Harlow's posthumous book is sort of a hodgepodge and clearly in unfinished condition.