A ghost robs a bank (revisited)…

October 29, 2015 by · Leave a Comment 

And just in time for Halloween, a report from “The Observer” of London, January 1, 1797 (original post, 2010):

They put it in print… when ghost stories were mainstream…

October 26, 2015 by · Leave a Comment 

Blog-10-29-2015-Ghost-StoryScience in the 1850’s was not what it is today, and although ghost stories still popular the fringe of scientific investigation, such reports rarely make the mainstream media today.

But not in 1858. The “Norwalk Experiment” newspaper of Ohio, printed in its Dec. 7 issue a fascinating report headed: “Dead Man Picking Himself Up–A Ghost Bringing His Bones from Hartford”. The crux of the article is: “The spiritualists of this city…gravely discussing the question whether the spirit of a man whose dead body was dissected by medical students…is picking himself up, piece-meal, and bringing his bones, one by one, to this city to be put together again…”. further on is mention that: “…This extraordinary determination, which we believe has no parallel in ghostology, ancient or modern, it is alleged, is being carried out…” with much more.

Interesting reading, giving evidence that ghost stories were more “mainstream” a century ago than they are today.

The Last Surviving Veterans Who Served at Pearl Harbor…

October 22, 2015 by · Leave a Comment 

Collecting World War II era newspapers covering significant events continues to be popular among collectors, even though the number of WWII veterans continues to decline. Authentic issues of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporting the Pearl Harbor tragedy certainly stand above them all. It is with this in mind we are pleased to post the following article compliments of Francisco Mesa.

The Last Surviving Veterans Who Served at Pearl Harbor

As the years roll by, the list of surviving US veterans of WWII who served at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese Navy attacked the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet inevitably becomes shorter. And with the Pearl Harbor survivors well past their late 80s and some passing even the ripe-old century mark, their numbers are dwindling rapidly all over the US. Last year, just about 2,000 survivors were thought to be around, still.

National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

On December 7, 2014, the US President Barrack Obama designated December 7 as the National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Four veterans of the remaining 9 USS Arizona survivors gathered at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center on December 7, 2014, for a meeting of USS Arizona survivors. The veterans were greeted by music and military salutes from the US Navy Band. Later, they viewed a live feed of an underwater dive beside USS Arizona’s sunken hull that still holds over 900 bodies. For the veterans, each return to Pearl Harbor brings back intense and, sometimes, painful memories.

USS Arizona Reunion Association’s Last Gathering at Hawaii

Although it was the last formal survivor gathering of the erstwhile USS Arizona Reunion Association at Hawaii, the veterans said they still intend to get together—if not in Hawaii, somewhere in the US. Louis Conter, 93, felt he still had some time, and he’d come back to the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center regardless of who else makes it.

Donald Stratton, USS Arizona Survivor

Donald Stratton, 92, of Colorado is another USS Arizona survivor. Don Stratton had been manning the Anti-Aircraft gun batteries. He remained at his battle station on the ship’s port side until the last possible moment. He endured 65 percent burns and a one-year hospitalization. Stratton was medically discharged from the US Navy but re-enlisted a year later. He said that the good Lord saved a precious few from the USS Arizona.

John Anderson, USS Arizona Survivor

John Anderson, 97, was ordered off the USS Arizona, but he wasn’t willing to leave behind his twin brother, Delbert. Although Anderson was forced into a boat and packed off to the safer Ford Island, he returned in an empty boat and rescued three shipmates. Sadly, he didn’t find his brother. Anderson recalled that he had just attended church services that day and had been heading to breakfast when someone warned that the Japanese planes were coming.

Anderson Recalls the Harrowing Experience

Anderson remembers lying in a bomb-blast crater on Ford Island after the surprise attack. He had picked up a rifle and two bandoliers of ammunition and started firing at Japanese aircraft. Anderson had hunkered there through that night with another sailor. In the morning, a passing Marine patrol informed him that survivors of the USS Arizona had to gather at the dock nearby to facilitate a head count. Anderson remembers everyone he saw having rags around their heads. He clearly recalls bandages covered their arms and their skin had been scorched, and their hair had been burned off.

Lauren Bruner, USS Arizona Survivor

Lauren Bruner, 94, had been alongside Don Stratton manning his battle station. There were four others as well. Bruner had escaped from the fiery, sinking battleship by shimmying across a rope that dangled 60 feet above Pearl Harbor’s waters. Bruner had been standing just 70 feet from the spot the torpedo bomb had exploded at the USS Arizona’s forward magazine. He suffered almost 75 percent burns. But that didn’t deter him. Bruner and his comrades were intent on fighting back. There was only one thing that hampered them … they just had to survive the next few moments. So, after catching the attention of one sailor aboard the warship moored alongside their own, a rope stretching almost 100 feet was thrown across.

The Sailors’ Great Escape from the Burning USS Arizona

All the 6 men made the painful—all of them had suffered serious burns—hand-over-hand escape. They had dangled 60 feet in the air as huge flames rising from the oily harbor had burned their skin even more. Bruner had been the second last to leave USS Arizona. Alvin Dvorak, the last one to escape over the rope, had been the one that caught the attention of the sailor on the USS Vestal. Unfortunately, Dvorak succumbed after spending 17 days in the hospital. He had suffered 84 percent burns. Lauren Bruner considers Alvin Dvorak to be the true hero of their great escape. Bruner spent the next seven months in the hospital and returned to the Pacific theater.

Conclusion

Although the survivors of Pearl Harbor are in their early or mid 90s, they can recall the Japanese sneak attack vividly. Many of the survivors fondly hope to live long enough to attend the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor strike in Hawaii on December 7, 2016.

If you are ever visit Hawaii, there are several Pearl Harbor tours that range from just a couple hours to a full day. There are still droplets of oil coming out of the sunken battleship USS Arizona. Also, there are hundreds of people still entombed within the sunken battleship. It is said that the droplets of oil represent the crying of the fallen men and women. And when the droplets of oil stop, the crying will stop.

© Francisco Meza

The Traveler… suffrage is defeated… groom and bride-to-be divided…

October 19, 2015 by · Leave a Comment 

Blog-10-19-2015-Woman's-SuffrageToday I traveled to New York City by the way of the New York Times dated October 20, 1915. The headline is “New Jersey Beats Suffrage by 46,278; While President Wilson Votes ‘Yes,’ Mrs. Galt, his Fiancee, Is Out As Anti”. “Woman suffrage was defeated at the special election in New Jersey yesterday, when it had its first test in any Eastern State… President Wilson’s endorsement of the suffrage cause and his pledge to vote for the Constitutional amendment on which the suffragists of New Jersey had built such strong hopes did not help to carry the day for the suffragist even in the precinct where he himself cast his ballot yesterday… Mrs. Galt, the President’s fiancee, while Mr. Wilson was on his way to Princeton to vote “Yes,” let it be known in Washington that she is opposed to women voting…”.

While their opinion differed on the topic of suffrage, that did not hinder their relationship as they were married just two months later.

~The Traveler

Noteworthy newspapers – one person’s view (part I)…

October 15, 2015 by · Leave a Comment 

At Rare Newspapers, the most difficult to answer yet common question our staff is frequently challenged to answer is, “Do you having anything new to offer that’s interesting?” While some newspapers would certainly rise to the top of the heap and make the answer a no-brainer (Lincoln assassination, Declaration of Independence, an Oxford Gazette, a great Stock Market crash report, etc.), these issues are few and far between – and do not come along very often. What about the periods when no “best of the best” has come our way? Selecting great issues is often quite subjective – and ends up being heavily Blog-10-22-2015-Joe-Paternoinfluenced by one’s own interests and knowledge base. This truth makes answering this question nearly impossible. However, just for fun, from time to time we’ll ask the Rare & Early Newspapers’ staff to take turns looking at the issues listed month-to-date to select their choice for the most interesting new item.

I’ll get things started by taking a look at September (to-date), 2015. In my opinion, there are several good issues to choose from: The New York Yankees acquire Joe DiMaggio, the very 1st King Kong advertisement,  the announcing of the creation of a Jewish homeland, the execution of the Rosenbergs, and the death of William Randolph Hurst – to name a few. However, as a graduate of Penn State University, my selection of the month is an issue announcing Joe Paterno becoming a starter at Brown University. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I’m confident my selection may not be the same as yours.  You can weigh in on your own thoughts by looking at the first page of our Recent Listings. Enjoy.

Next stop: October, 2015.

They put it in print… living Tammy Wynette’s anthem “Stand By Your Man”…

October 12, 2015 by · Leave a Comment 

Blog-10-12-2015-Jack-DempseyThe News” from Cleveland reports in its September 30, 1926 issue comments of the wife of famed boxer Jack Dempsey following his unexpected loss to Gene Tunney in one of the more noted fights in boxing history. In defense of her husband she noted: “…I didn’t marry the heavyweight title – I married Jack Dempsey.” and later: “I have never taken an interest in boxing… Jack didn’t bring the ring into the home… But fighting is Jack’s business. That is the thing he loves to do, and I have no more right to influence him with regard to it…”.

She put into practice the anthem Tammy Wynette would make famous some 42 years later with her song “Stand By Your Man”.

Great Headlines Speak For Themselves… death of Gandhi…

October 8, 2015 by · Leave a Comment 

The best headlines need no commentary. Such is the case with the TAUNTON DAILY GAZETTE, Massachusetts, January 30, 1948: “GANDHI SHOT TO DEATH”…Blog-10-8-2015-Gandhi

The Traveler… unbelievable human brutality…

October 5, 2015 by · Leave a Comment 

This week I traveled back to New York City by the way of the Harper’s Weekly, October 7, 1865. Although this issue is filled with a variety of woodcuts [illustrations], the one that struck me the most was of the “Grounds at ABlog-10-5-2015-Andersonvillendersonville, Georgia, Where are Buried Fourteen Thousand Union Soldiers Who Died in Andersonville Prison” and the accompanying article. “…The graves of the soldiers starved and poisoned and brutally murdered there are not scattered about over the innocent hill-sides of our land, but are dug under the sod that drank their blood and bore witness to the cruelty of Wirz, Winder, and the rebel authorities at Richmond, who kept these demons at their posts… James M. Moore,Assistant-Quarter-master, and his party, returned from Andersonville, where they have been engaged for a month in identifying the graves and giving honored sepulture to the fourteen thousand victims of rebel barbarity, who suffered all manner of torture and death in that notorious prison-pen…”.

~The Traveler

An October stroll thru time… 1765… 1815… 1865… 1915… 1945…

October 1, 2015 by · Leave a Comment 

Blog-10-1-2015-October-Thru-TimeWhat news was reported in the month of October – 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 years ago? Such a walk back through time via the eyes of those who read the daily and weekly newspapers of the period can be quite revealing. This is why we often say, “History is never more fascinating than when it’s read from the day it was first reported.” The following links will take you back in time to show the available newspapers from the Rare & Early newspapers website. There’s no need to buy a thing. Simply enjoy the stroll.
October
1965 – 50 years ago
1915 – 100 years ago
1865 – 150 years ago
1815 – 200 years ago
1765 – 250 years ago