"Eighty-six" or "86" in a 1920 article from Topeka, KS. I see this is also OED's earliest. This knocks out NYC's Chumley's & Empire State Building theories. A new thread. cc @davidwondrich.bsky.social 1/
www.newspapers.com/article/the-...
www.newspapers.com
Clipping found in The Topeka Capital-Journal published in Topeka, Kansas on 10/22/1920. "Eighty-six" or "86" slang term (1920).