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The Traveler… election time… one horse tail…
November 4, 2010 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Our elections have been over for a couple of days, however I found that not the case 100 years ago. In the November 4, 1910 issue of “The Call” from San Francisco, the governor race was heated with the report of a rally of 7,000 people. “Johnson Hurls Lie Direct in Teeth of Detractors and Lays Bare True Meaning of Battle” is one of the sub-headlines. It seems that politics has not changed…
But the deceit and lies does not stop in the political arena. A man traded a mule under the guise of a “shaved tail” horse. Afterward he began to laugh about it, to the point he could not stop laughing. This continued for hours to which a physician was called in. Finally after 12 hours of laughing, they resorted to electric shock therapy which did stop the laughter. This may truly be a case of who really got the last laugh in this deal!! ~The Traveler
A ghost robs a bank…
October 30, 2010 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
And just in time for Halloween, a report from “The Observer” of London, January 1, 1797:
The unearthing of a President… yet another discovery!
October 28, 2010 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
The image shows a portion of a full-page ad found buried in the back of the January 4, 1902 edition of Harper’s Weekly Illustrated. One of the joys of collecting rare and early newspapers is the fun collectors have digging up hidden treasures. A student at Arizona State University recently noticed that one of the contributors listed in an ad for encyclopedias was Woodrow Wilson, more than 10 years before he would be elected as the 28th President of the United States. In case one did not already know, this ad also reveals that he was a Professor at Politics at Princeton. I wonder if any other noteworthy individuals are named within this ad??? Additional close-up images can be found at: Additional Images. Feel free to add your finds.
Old age is relative…
October 23, 2010 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Enjoy the following, which appeared in an 1857 newspaper:
The Traveler… coffins… do they really have an expiration?
October 21, 2010 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Take me out to the ballgame… It’s the reporting for Game Three of the World Series between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Chicago Cubs in the October 21, 1910 issue of The Allentown Morning Call in which it is reported, “The Combat to-day was a slaughter with the final score Philadelphia 12 – Cubs 5″. Just a Wikipedia tidbit of information — in 
Game 2, all nine Philadelphia players in the line-up got a hit, the first time in World Series history.
The reporting of Dr. Crippen’s murder trial is also on the front page as well. This was the first murderer caught via wireless communications.
An unrelated article caught my eye as I was quickly scanning through inside pages… “Three Years For Coffin”. It ends up being about a man with the last name of Coffin who was being sent to Leavenworth on counterfeiting charges. At a quick glance, it makes one wonder if there were was an expiration date on “coffins”. I thought they were to last an eternity. 🙂
~The Traveler
Roosevelt to blame for the Pearl Harbor attack…
October 16, 2010 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
We often list on our website issues from the island of Guernsey during World War II when it was occupied by the Nazis. As such all news is filtered through the German propaganda machine which offers interesting reading, as the reports are in English because the residents speak English.
Although many battles reports border on the absurd, particularly with historical hindsight, the front page report in the “Evening Press” dated December 8, 1941, one day after the Pearl Harbor attack, is one of the more outrageous (see the photo below).
The Traveler… a hatchet and… a slap in the face…
October 9, 2010 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
This week I ventured off the date just a bit, but staying within the current week. I began reading through the October 3, 1810 issue of Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy, or Worcester Gazette when a lengthy front page article entitled “An Island of Savage Cannibals” caught my eye. This was from The Fejee Islands, and after reading the article, I have decided that this would definitely not have been on my vacation agenda! For some reason, a part of ransom requested by these people was twelve hatchets??!!
Inside the issue was a small article entitled “Real Bravery” which read “Little Algiers has declared war against France. The independent States of America dare not.“ Now, talk about a slap in the face…
~ The Traveler
Beware what you “conjure”…
October 2, 2010 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
The “Massachusetts Centinel” newspaper from Boston printed this interesting item headed “Astrology” in its May 12, 1790 edition:
“Keeping” the Commandments…
September 25, 2010 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
The following is an interesting item printed in “The Floridian” newspaper from Tallahassee, August 12, 1848. The “Temperance Aphorisms” which follows it is worth a look as well:
The Traveler… can’t you just go outside and play???
September 23, 2010 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
This week bring us to the reporting of the gubernatorial nomination for New Jersey. The front page of the September 23, 1910 issue of The Christian Science Monitor has the headline of “Believe Wilson May Have Career Like Cleveland” “Gubernatorial Victory in New Jersey for Princeton Man, It Is Said, May Lead to Presidency”. Do you think that they were possibly setting his next goals for him before he even got this one accomplished?
Also on the front page of this issue was a picture of a bi-plane and a young man standing beside it with a simple headline “Fitchburg Has Its First Aeroplane”. This intrigued me to read on, only to find that this a bit more unusual in more ways than one. “Fitchburg’s first aeroplane has been built and its wings tested in several short glides, according to its inventor, Edward W. Macy, 17-year-old… who had labored in secret on his free glider since early in February. The youthful inventory recently took the machine apart for the purpose of perfecting one or two points that the trials had brought to his attention…” It was noted that he was also intended to equip it with a motor. So, when your children get very quiet… watch out, you may not believe what they may be up to!!!
~The Traveler