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So you wanna go back to Egypt? Ocean rescue methods…
December 10, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
The Bible tells of the historical account of the Israelites’ journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom in The Promised Land. At one point, as their trek became particularly challenging, some began to grumble and complain – going so far as to attempt a coup in order to turn the wagon-train around and head back to Egypt – to slavery… to oppression… to strife… to the very misery which had caused them to cry themselves to sleep night-after-night as they called out to God for deliverance. How could they have so quickly forgotten? Yet, are we any different? Our brains have a tendency to filter the bad from our memory banks to allow our occasional backward glances to fall upon the good. If we’ve learned to walk through life with an acknowledgement of ever-present blessing and with a heart-deep gratitude for the very breath of life, this filtering-process can be healing and redemptive to our soul – perhaps even treasured as a gift from our Creator. However, when we walk with our heads down – with thoughts of dissatisfaction poisoning our minds and morsels of entitlement chaffing our lips, what was designed to be sweet-nostalgia turns into quite the bitter pill – causing us to forget just how great it is to live in the present. How sad.
BUT – In an effort to right the ship for some, reinforce good thinking in others, and foster a positive outlook regarding the present for all, we will occasionally post a newspaper article, image, or clip from the past to help remind us of how good it is to live in the 21st Century. Our first selection is a print from a late-19th century issue of Scientific American Supplement which depicts a rather precarious method for rescuing distressed air-travelers at sea – or was it air-travelers rescuing seafarers (???). Please enjoy – or better yet, allow it to nurture a thankful heart for contemporary travel methods and rescue techniques. 
They put it in print… Not much hope for a reconciliation…
November 23, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
The “Weekly Museum” newspaper of New York City has in its August 30, 1800 issue, a: “Curious Advertisement” by a woman whose husband left her. She pulls no punches on how she feels: “Whereas my husband…a dirty Dutchman…did…absent himself in a clandestine manner from my bed & board without my approbation or any known cause of provocation on my part…I do…disown and reject him from this time forever…no one will use the last influence…to return him to me again as I am relieved from a detested nuisance…” with more (see).
I don’t think there was much hope that marriage would be saved.
They put it in print… Forget the boxer: don’t mess with his wife…
September 28, 2015 by TimHughes · 2 Comments
An early 1800’s article of a grudge boxing match in London reports an interesting ending, when the losing boxer’s wife steps forward to challenge the assistant of the winning boxer. The October 25, 1805 issue of the Middlesex Gazette“ (Middletown, CT) states: “…They set to in great style & the wife rallied her opponent handsomely. She fought 14 strait…rounds and so completely disfigured the head of Leveret that he yielded to her superior science in the pugilistic art…The second was by far the best fight, and the delicate lady challenged her husband’s rival on the spot.” Forget the boxer… Don’t mess with his wife.
Government in action… yet another proud moment…
September 19, 2014 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
At first blush, this issue appears to be exactly what one might expect from a Government sponsored publication. However, upon closer inspection of the lower right corner, we soon realize… this is exactly what one might expect from a government sponsored publication. Somewhere, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are smiling. Please enjoy the cover of the April, 1944 issue of the U.S. Army-Navy Journal:
The Traveler… Gen. Lee’s wagon train… Davy Crockett makes a monkey…
May 19, 2014 by The Traveler · 2 Comments
This week I traveled back to New York City by the means of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper of May 21, 1864. There I found on the front cover the illustration of “Rebel Attack on Gen. Lee’s Wagon train at Mansfield, LA., April 8”. 
“In the late reverses in Louisiana one of the most disgraceful points was the loss of the wagon train of Gen. Lee’s cavalry, which had been sent so far forward that it became impossible for the defeated cavalry to retreat. This led not only to the disgraceful rout of the men but also the capture of the train…”
Also in the issue was the following: “The celebrated David Crockett, on visiting a menagerie, was comparing the countenance of a monkey to that of one of his fellow-members of Congress. Turning, he saw the gentleman had overheard his remarks; so, to make matters pleasant, he said, ‘I do not know which to apologize to, you or the monkey.'”
~The Traveler
Where this governor ranks in the day’s news…
January 31, 2014 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
“The Merrick County Item” newspaper of Central City, Nebraska, has a very inconspicuous & brief page 2 report in its December 1, 1880 issue announcing, almost casually, “Gov. Robinson, of Colorado, was on last Monday morning accidentally shot and killed.” This placement did rank above: “The National Grange will again convene in Washington, Nov. 1, 1881.” but below: “Trickett beat Ross in the sculling match on the Thames, last Monday, by about four lengths.” (see below)
Perhaps a different meaning for “idiot” in 1856…
January 27, 2014 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
The following appeared in the “New York Clipper” sporting newspaper in its December 6, 1856 issue:
A Three Stooges skit on the House floor…
January 24, 2014 by TimHughes · 1 Comment
“The New York Times” of February 6, 1858 reports a brawl on the floor of the House of Representatives the day before. Although perhaps not as infamous as the Charles Sumner/Preston Brooks attack, this one between Lawrence Keitt and Galusha Grow was more raucous.
The photo below reports some of the exchange of words between the two, but the better report is found in the Wikipedia account of the affair: “A large brawl involving approximately 50 representatives erupted on the House floor, ending only when a missed punch from Rep. Cadwallader Washburn of Wisconsin upended the hairpiece of Rep. William Barksdale of Mississippi. The embarrassed Barksdale accidentally replaced the wig backwards, causing both sides to erupt in spontaneous laughter.” The entire NY Times coverage may be viewed at: “The New York Times” of February 6, 1858
Long live the dead… a zombie love affair?
October 31, 2013 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
The New-York Observer (August 14, 1856) has a report which seems right out of a Hollywood Halloween-Thriller script (or crypt?). Was this a bogus story? Perhaps the blockbuster “Ghost” (1990) wasn’t fiction after all. I’ll save the “being married to a dead-beat” jokes for another post.
The Traveler… let her in… hard to replace…
October 21, 2013 by The Traveler · 4 Comments
Today I traveled to Omaha, Nebraska, by the way of The Omaha Daily Bee dated October 21, 1913. There I found a very interesting British lady had been detained at Ellis Island for the past three days, that being militant suffragist leader Emmeline Pankhurst. She had come to the States to do lecture engagements. “…It was difficult to imagine that the slightly built, gray haired little woman who stepped ashore from the ferry boat at the 
Battery was the same person that for several years had caused the British government so much trouble by reason of her militant tactics in behalf of woman suffrage or her incitation to militancy for the ’cause,'”. It took President Wilson and the Secretary Wilson of the Department of Labor issuing an order of release to allow her admittance into the country.
Did you ever think that you were irreplaceable on your job? A maid, Rose Bergenhammer, found this to be true. She was engaged to be wed and gave her employer, Mrs. Dwight, three weeks notice. Mrs. Dwight went to every employment agency and could not find anyone to take her place. When Rose tried to leave, Mrs. Dwight called the police and tried to have her fiance, Mr. Lee, arrested on attempted kidnapping charges. Rose must have been a fantastic maid!
~The Traveler