Baseball game won by 2 1/2 to 2…

September 20, 2013 by · 2 Comments 
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The “Bethlehem Globe-Times“, Pennsylvania, newspaper of August 4, 1937 has a curious some article about a baseball game in 1893, as told by an elderly gentlemen who was involved in the game some 44 years previous. It provides some interesting reading, although I’m not convinced it actually happened. What do you think?

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The Traveler… Birmingham church bombings… and baby makes how many?

September 16, 2013 by · Leave a Comment 
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Today I traveled to New York City through The New York Times (dated September 16, 1963). There I found the headlines “Birmingham Bomb Kills 4 Negro Girls in Church; Boy Slain in Protest Riot”. This bombing occurred five days after the desegregation of three previously all-white schools in Birmingham, in which President Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard and the Federal Courts issued a sweeping order again Governor Wallace due to his defiance. This church was the same one which was used as the staging point for anti-segregation demonstrations led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in May of that year. Dr. King was reported to be coming to Birmingham to “plead with my people to remain non-violent in the face of this terrible provocation”.

The front page also was providing an update on a special birth that was reported the previous day. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Fischer delivered quintuplets, four girls and one boy. They had five children at home, ages 3 1/2 to 7 years! I did a little research on them and found that they also had one more child after the quints too.  The quints were the second surviving set to be born in the Western Hemisphere and the first to be born in the United States.

~The Traveler

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Trenton as the nation’s capital in 1799…

September 13, 2013 by · 2 Comments 
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A small news bit inconspicuously located on page 2 of the “Columbian Centinel” newspaper from Boston, dated  October 19, 1799, struck me as being in error: “The President of the United States arrived at the seat of government, (Trenton) in good health.” Or so I thought. While history tells us that the seat of government had moved from New York to Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. during this period, it appears in fact that the federal government did remove itself from Philadelphia (to Trenton) for a brief time in 1799 to escape the Yellow Fever epidemic in that city. But to my surprise there is very little on the internet about it. There are several sites which provide some detail about Trenton being the nation’s capital for 54 days in 1784, but just two sites have a passing reference to the 1799 event. There is no mention as to exactly when or for how long. Can anyone provide more detail? Surprisingly even the sites of the city of Trenton offer no help.

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How often does a President admit he is wrong?

September 9, 2013 by · Leave a Comment 
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The character of Abraham Lincoln, which has made him arguably the best President of the United States, has been the subject of many books. One bit of evidence can be found in the September 5, 1863 issue of the “Army & Navy Journal” which contains a famous letter to General U.S. Grant (see below).

In this remarkable letter, President Abraham Lincoln congratulates General Grant for an important victory — the capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 4, 1863. Lincoln differed with Grant about how to handle the campaign, but when Grant pursued his own strategy successfully, Lincoln frankly admitted that Grant was right.

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Baseball is a game involving idiots…

September 6, 2013 by · 2 Comments 
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The “Cleveland Daily Herald” issue of May 15, 1876 has an interesting perspective on the game of baseball, as provided by a Brazilian (see below).  The entire article may be viewed at:  Dom Pedro’s Views of the National Game.

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The Traveler… Edison’s ears… cheaper at night…

September 2, 2013 by · Leave a Comment 
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Today I journeyed to Springfield, Massachusetts through the Springfield Daily Republican (dated September 2, 1913) where I found an article on the “Genius of Thomas A. Edison”.  William H Meadowcroft, who was closely associated with Edison, was interviewed and spoke of Edison’s capacity of long hours of hard work. Even though Edison was significantly hard of hearing, he could detect unusual other sounds and he used this ability to perfect recording techniques.

There also appears to have been a pricing war between the newspapers in San Francisco. “…The field is now sharply divided, with all four afternoon newspapers selling for one cent each, and the two morning papers adhering to the old price of five cents.” I guess the headline of the article says it all, “Cheaper to Read at Night”.

~The Traveler

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Exploring the Civil War… 150 years ago, September, 1963…

August 30, 2013 by · Leave a Comment 
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Last week we explored: “What were those living 150 years ago reading about in the newspapers during the last week of August (1863)” .  The response was very positive. We hope you enjoyed the trip back in time.  Today we thought we’d look ahead into the past by assembling a similar, by longer chronological list of authentic newspapers from the entire month of September, 1863.  Similar to last week,  the following link will take you to authentic newspapers that were held by those whose loved ones were fighting to realize their greatest convictions – whether it was to set slaves free, preserve state’s rights over federal dominance, to protect house and home, or another noble cause. The issues have been arranged in chronological order. Enjoy your visit back to this incredibly formative time in American history: Authentic Newspapers (September, 1863)

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Filed under: Common Questions, Confederate, Harper's Weekly, Illustrated Newspapers, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, Noteworthy Issues, The Hobby, The Rare Newspapers Community, Yankee
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Exploring the Civil War… 150 years ago, end of August, 1863…

August 23, 2013 by · Leave a Comment 
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What were those living 150 years ago reading about in the newspapers during the last week of August? The following link will take you to authentic newspapers that were held by those whose loved ones were fighting to realize their greatest convictions – whether it was to set slaves free, preserve state’s rights over federal dominance, to protect house and home, or another noble cause. The issues have been arranged in chronological order. Enjoy your visit back to this incredibly formative time in American history: Authentic Newspapers (8/24/1863 – 8/31/1863)

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The Traveler… a proclamation… the plague… “neat” wines…

August 19, 2013 by · Leave a Comment 
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Today I traveled to London through the The Post Boy dated August 20, 1713. The issue contains a Proclamation by the Queen, calling for a New Parliament as the last Parliament had been dissolved.

There I also found the terrible news coming from Vienna concerning the plague. “The Plague now rages very much in this City; 70, 80, or more people dying of it every day… Her Majesty’s Steward having bury’d one Daughter with it, and sent another to the Pest-House, while himself and the rest of his Children are gone to perform Quarentine;… Be that as it will, a Council having been held… it was therein resolv’d, to shut out Austria and other found Provinces, and to appoint Quarentine-Houses on all our Frontiers;…”

This also contained an interesting advertisement for “A Sale of Neat Wines…”.  Now, I have seen many vine advertisements but this is the first time that I have seen wines described as “neat”. One wine is further described as “excellent Canary Wine, Rich and Racy”… and that too is an interesting description as well. Cheers!

~The Traveler

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Elon Musk and his Hyperloop idea is 146 years old…

August 16, 2013 by · Leave a Comment 
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The recent buzz about Elon Musk and his Hyperloop transportation system is an idea that was actually conceived in 1867, and received enough attention at that time that a model of the “Pneumatic Railway” system, as displayed at the American Institute in New York City, appeared on the front page of the October 19, 1867 issue of “Harper’s Weekly”.

Once again the old adage and Biblical verse  “there is nothing new under the sun” is proven to be true. Every new idea seems to have some sort of precedent or echo from the past.

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