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Old Print Article: “To Beautify The Human Race This Wealthy Russian’s Fad,” New York Times (1904)

October 13, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

“On his lands there live men and women of striking physique and charm of face.”

A wealthy Russian man founded a Utopian farm in which beautiful people and only beautiful people were collected to be entered into arranged marriages in the hopes that perfection would be perpetuated. The opening of a September 18, 1904 New York Times article:

Reshetnikoff, a wealthy distiller of Northeast Russia, is a man with a fad. He believes that the human race, by judicious mating, can be brought to a state of physical perfection, and on his great estate near Perm he is doing what he can to prove his theory. Just as extreme speed and symmetry is developed by the breeder of horses, or as the horticulturist brings his plants and the florist his blooms to the highest possible degree of usefulness and beauty, it is his aim to give to the world a type of men and women who shall be flawless in strength and shapeliness.

Throughout all Russia he is known as the ‘man with a beauty farm.’ He is giving his time to the demonstration of his chosen task without stint, and spending his money with a freedom which would in itself insure notice. More than that, he has already proved to a large degree that he is justified in the stand he has taken, for on his lands there live men and women of striking physique and charm of face.

As a matter of fact the end for which he is striving is one which would probably be speeded by the thinking people of the world by every means in their power if it were not for an obstacle which others believe to be insurmountable and which he affects to ignore. This obstacle is affection. Since order was evolved from chaos and the waste places of the earth were populated, reason has entered but little into the matching of man and maid. The strong have loved the weak and the ugly have won the hearts of the beautiful. Those who have watched the work undertaken by the Russian distiller take these things into consideration in refusing actively to undertake the propagation of his cult. They know the futility of the fight he is making.

“Deformed and diseased persons are not permitted to find a home on the estate.”

The eyes of Europe were recently centered on the Reshetnikoff estate by a remarkable marriage arranged by him–a marriage which marks the passing of at least one milestone in the journey toward perfection which he has undertaken for the unbuilding of humanity. The bride and the bridegroom were ‘nurslings’ of his beauty farm, the first couple, both of whom had sprung from unions arranged by him.

That the bride was as nearly the ideal of physical womanhood as could be found by the most extended search, and that the bridegroom was as strong and handsome as could be desired, was admitted by all who saw them. But that their offspring would meekly accept at maturity the men or women selected as best qualified for the perpetuation of their strength and comeliness was not so readily granted.

“That is the weak link in M. Reshetnikoff’s chain,” said a scientist who is deeply interested in the ideal the distiller has set out to achieve. ‘His labor is doomed to be lost. Suppose a boy is born of this marriage who represents all that the patron of the parents hopes for. When that boy grows to be a man he is just as apt as not to choose a little, lop-sided woman for a wife as he is to select the kind of mate M. Reshetnikoff would have him take, and the care and thought which were embodied in him would be thrown away. The marriage is fortuitous. That is all. As long as there are men and women they will choose for themselves. His dream is Utopia, impossible of fulfillment.’

The Russian distiller has for many years attracted to his estate handsome giants of both sexes by means of concessions of lands and valuable privileges. Further grants of land encouraged them to enter the state of matrimony. All expenses of marriages are paid, and an annuity is given of $15 for every child born. In the event that marriages are arranged by the distiller, and the parties selected refuse to carry out the arrangements, they are deported. Deformed and diseased persons are not permitted to find a home on the estate.•

A Note From 1903 About A Lightning Calculator

October 11, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the April 13, 1903 New York Times:

“Trenton, N.J.–William Vallance, the famous lightning calculator, who could do any sum in mathematical calculation mentally and with but an instant’s hesitation, died here to-night, aged 30 years. About a week ago he was taken to the State Hospital suffering from a severe mental strain, believed to be the result of his juggling with figures.

Vallance could duplicate the feats of any of the lightning calculators, and then beat them all by stating instantly any desired date in history. His mind was a vast storehouse of historical data, and where he gathered it no one ever knew, as he was not a student. He could not tell how he knew history, but would rattle off fact after fact without ever making a mistake.

He could give instant answer to such arithmetical questions as multiply 389, 487 by 4,641. Feats in algebra were his delight. Despite his marvelous ability he would not put it to commercial use.”

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Old Print Article: “Texas Treasure Seekers,” New York Times (1893)

October 11, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

Like a lot of pirates, Jean Lafitte supposedly buried great treasures that were just waiting patiently beneath the earth to be struck with a shovel. Those with dubious maps and those with just a hunch went in search of such interred wealth in the nineteenth century, including a trio of enterprising Texans featured in a politically incorrect article in the August 3, 1898 New York Times. The story:

“Galvreston, Texas–For many years there have been traditions that Lafitte, the buccaneer, had left vast sums of gold coin and silver bars buried about Galveston Island previously to his having been ordered away by the United States Government. From time to time persons have dug on the island and mainland in search of this treasure, and their utter failure appears to have in no way prevented others from making the attempt.

Twelve miles ‘down the island’ to the west of the city is a small clump of live-oak trees, situated on the line of the Galveston and the Western Railroad, which is commonly called Lafitte’s Grove. History has handed down the fact that these trees were the favorite camping ground of the Caranchua a savage tribe–said to be cannibals–of magnificently proportioned warriors one roaming over the mainland and crossing to Galveston Island across the shallows still bearing the name of Caranchua Reefs. There they would have great oyster roasts, procuring the succulent bivalve from the natural reefs along the shore of the bay; and the huge piles of shells still remaining attest the fact that their appetites were good.

Here tradition has it that Lafitte attacked these savages for the murder of one of his men, and after a severe conflict defeated them with heavy loss, a number of his won men being slain in the battle.

Having consulted an old man with a divining rod, who made an examination of the land near Lafitte’s Grove, and who positively asserted that there was buried treasure in the neighborhood, Frank Corbin, John Geen, and William Irvine of this place concluded that the spot where Lafitte had ‘planted’ his loot had been located at last, and secured permission from Capt. M.A. Baro, the owner of the land, to dig there, it being stipulated that he was to receive 35 percent of the value of the find.

The prospectors began operations about a week ago, and prosecuted work vigorously until to-day, excavating about twenty large holes in different spots in the vicinity of the trees, but they failed to discover anything of value. They, however, unearthed the skulls and bones of a number of large men, supposed to be the remains of the Caranchua warriors who perished in the battle with Lafitte’s men, as well as a number of flint arrowheads and tomahawks.

The party is not at all discouraged, and says that it will shortly resume perations at another point.”

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A Brief Note From 1902 About A Sore Throat

October 9, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the October 9, 1902 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“Cleveland–Frank Buettner, a well known contractor of this city, died early to-day as the result of an operation performed to remove a set of false teeth which it was supposed he had swallowed while asleep Monday night. Just as his esophagus had been opened its entire length a relative of Buettner’s rushed into the operating room with the missing set of teeth, which had been found in Buettner’s bed. It was then learned that Buettner was suffering from acute laryngitis. The pain in his throat led him to believe he had swallowed his teeth.”

Old Print Article: “When Grover Cleveland Acted As A Hangman,” New York Times (1912)

October 8, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

In the 1870s, a little more than a decade before the first of his two non-consecutive terms as U.S. President, Grover Cleveland acted as a hangman in New York State’s Erie County, making sure murderers received the drop. It’s not likely that Cleveland wore a hood since he was the sheriff and everyone knew he was performing the deed. From an article in the July 7, 1912 New York Times that recalls the Commander-in-Chief as an awkward, young executioner:

“In the office of Sheriff of Erie County there has been for many years a Deputy Sheriff named Jacob Emerick. Mr. Cleveland’s predecessors had from time immemorial followed the custom of turning over to Emerick all of the details of public executions. So often had this veteran Deputy Sheriff officiated at hangings that he came to be publicly known as ‘Hangman Emerick.’ Although a man of a rugged type and not oversensitive, Emerick after a while realized that this unfortunate appellation was seriously embarrassing to his family. Therefore a feeling of resentment began to grow within him.

During Cleveland’s term as Sheriff a young Irishman was convicted of the murder of his mother, and was sentenced to be hanged. The case of ‘Jack” Morrissey developed some features that excited widespread public interest and some sympathy for the convict. Efforts to obtain a pardon failed, however, and the final date of execution was fixed.

Then it was that Cleveland surprised the community and his friends by announcing that he personally would perform the act of Executioner. To the remonstrance of his friends he refused to listen, pointing to the letter of the law requiring the sheriff to ‘hang by the neck,’ &c. He furthermore insisted that he had no moral right to impose upon a subordinate the obnoxious and degrading tasks that attached to his office. He considered it an important duty on his part to relieve Emerick as far as possible from the growing onus of his title of ‘Hangman.”

‘Jake and his family,’ said Mr. Cleveland, ‘have as much right to enjoy public respect as I have, and I am not going to add to the weight that has already brought him close to public execution.’

Thus it was Sheriff Cleveland, standing behind a screen, some twenty feet away from the law’s victim, pushed the lever that dropped the gallow’s trap upon which poor Morrissey stood.

A few Buffalo people still live who can bear out the statement that this little tragedy made Mr. Cleveland a sick man for several days thereafter. He was not so stolid and phlegmatic as very many persons have been told to believe.”

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A Brief Note From 1901 About A Leisurely Drive

October 7, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the May 28, 1901 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“Eastport, Long Island–While driving through the woods here yesterday, Theodore Tuthill, a resident of this vicinity, found an opossum, with nine young ones. The whole family was secured and Mr. Tuthill will receive $2.25 in bounties for the ears of the mother and the young.”

A Brief Note From 1890 About A Missing Body

October 6, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the March 7, 1890 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“Moscow–A ghastly tragedy has come to light in this city. A parcel was left at the residence of Prince Dolgoroukoff, which upon examination was found to contain the head of a woman. With the parcel was left a note, bearing no signature, saying: ‘This is our first exploit. We will soon outdo Jack the Ripper.’ It is believed that the woman was killed for betraying Nihilists.”

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Old Print Article: “Witch Loose In Orange,” New York Times (1905)

October 6, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

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“He succeeded in convincing the awestruck onlookers that he had pulled a large wad of hair out of the girl’s mouth.”

The heart wants what the heart wants, but the mind doesn’t readily make itself up. So we can accomplish anything, even catching or spreading illnesses that don’t actually exist, if only we believe. Some true believers were profiled in the August 8, 1905 New York Times. The story:

“Orange–The Italian colony in Orange is all stirred up to-day. The residents of that section have an idea that a witch is loose and playing hob with the belles of the settlement. Two girls have been under the ‘spell.’ They are Clementina Carnizzo, seventeen years old, and Rosina Russo, nineteen years old, both of 11 Hurlbut Street. Drs. Frederico Loungo, John H. Bradshaw, and Giovanni Megaro, who have attended them, all diagnose the cases as hysterical convulsions.

The Carnizzo girl was the first to be ‘stricken.’ She was under treatment for a month. Then a ‘witch doctor’ was summoned to treat the case. He was successful to the extent of $30. By a deft sleight of hand trick he succeeded in convincing the awestruck onlookers that he had pulled a large wad of hair out of the girl’s mouth. The feat gave the girl’s friends much satisfaction, and the girl seemed relieved. Apparently the malady is communicable, for the Russo girl, who is a chum of Clementina, became ill with hysteria and convulsions a few days ago. The ‘witch doctor’ duplicated his interesting treatment with the aid of $30 and a wad of hair, and there was an improvement in that case, too.  

"Then Clementina started to bark like a dog."

“It was decided that she had a ‘dog devil.'”

Then Clementina started to bark like a dog, and it was decided that she had a ‘dog devil.’ The Rev. Father Romanelli, rector of the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, was called in. Father Romanelli has ordered the ‘devil’ to get out, and it is believed that the evil spirit is packing up now, for the girls had a good night’s sleep last night, after having had one or two convulsions, and to-day they seemed much better.

Dr. Loungo says the cases are simply examples of hysteria, and the communication from one girl to the other is merely a phase of hysterical contagion common in emotional people. The response to the treatment of the ‘witch doctor’ was due to suggestion by him coupled with seemingly tangible proof.

Nevertheless, the Italians take the matter very seriously, and it would not surprise the doctors if there were an epidemic of the cases for a while.”

 

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A Brief Note From 1900 About Eccentric Brothers

October 3, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the December 11, 1900 New York Times:

“Plainfield, N.J.–Frederick Hatfield, who for years has been noted as one of the eccentric and parsimonious characters in this section, died Saturday night in the tumble-down house that he and his brother have lived in for years on the old Frazee Lee property in Fanwood Township. He had been ill but a few days with pneumonia.

The two brothers lived alone, and were noted for their hate of women. No woman, it is said, had darkened the door of their home for over a quarter of a century. They never had their hair cut, and never wore hats. Whenever they came to town to trade they drove a donkey attached to a two-wheeled gig of their own make. The brothers are reputed to be worth $100,000. The house they lived in is said to have been built over a century ago, but had gone to ruin through neglect.”

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Old Print Article: “Confessions Of A Body-Snatcher,” New York Times (1878)

October 3, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

"I've bought meat of this man many a time, and now I'll sell him for meat."

“I’ve bought meat of this man many a time, and now I’ll sell him for meat.”

Demand invites supply. Case in point: Medical schools need bodies for students to work on, so a trade arose in the nineteenth century that put grave robbers in cahoots with medical colleges. Shovel-ready entrepreneurs scanned local papers for death notices, headed to cemeteries, usually with doctors in tow, and welcomed back the recently departed. Sometimes the bodies of particularly wealthy citizens would be ransomed, but the corpses would usually just be sold for a couple of bucks to universities. An inside look at an Ohio operation in this strange “recycling” business appeared in the November 18, 1878 New York Times. The story:

“Cleveland–Joiner, the wretch who has been in all the recent grave robbing jobs in this section, continues to divulge the secrets of the trade. He pretends to be very contrite over what he has done, and ready to make amends by exposing his companions in guilt. His last story related to Mr. J.E. French, a son of the old gentleman who was ruthlessly torn from his grave, in Willoughby, on Sept. 16. The robbers watch the newspapers, and when death notices of persons thought to be available occur, the graves are visited and a resurrection takes place. In August last a young man fell over a ledge in Geauga County and broke his neck. The fact was published, and the night after the funeral Minor and Joiner repaired to Chardon, 30 miles distant, where the burial had taken place, with the intention of obtaining the body. As usual, the doctor was sought, who told them that the grave was watched by two men with shot-guns. This was unpleasant, but the robbers thought the doctor might be deceiving them with the intention of obtaining the body himself. They accordingly sought another doctor, who confirmed the story, and so they abandoned the scheme and returned. At Chester Cross Roads, in the same county, two robbers from this city were assisted by the Doctor and a medical student of that village. They went to get the body of an old lady who was very fleshy, and who had died of apoplexy. The coffin was reached and broken open without accident, and a hook fastened in the neck. Four men tugged and pulled in vain at the prize, but were unable to move it. They were in despair, when a happy thought struck them. Taking the reins from the harness and hitching the horse to the hook, the body was successfully brought to the surface. Another pull and the body was safely sacked and loaded. Another visit was made to Hampden, in this county, and this time the robbers were assisted by two doctors and a medical student. They did what Joiner calls a good night’s work, obtaining three bodies in a short time. One of these was that of a butcher, and as his body was sacked the home doctor remarked: ‘I’ve bought meat of this man many a time, and now I’ll sell him for meat.’ Some time after this the body of a young lady was stolen from the cemetery at Leroy, Lake County. After digging a certain distance they found water. This had to be bailed from the coffin before the body could be taken out. The corpse was found to be somewhat swollen but made a good subject. Mr. French, who is quite wealthy, expressed his determination to follow up this gang and will prosecute in every case. Dr. Carlisle, who is said to have assisted in the Willoughby job, has been indicted in the Lake County Court for disturbing the grave. The best counsel in this part of the State has been engaged on both sides, and important revelations will doubtless come out. The trial is set down for Thursday next.”

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Jules Reveillier, By Land Or By Sea (1907)

October 2, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Photography, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

That the early 20th-century demonstrations of the Waterland were a great success didn’t really matter; there wasn’t a market for an amphibious automobile. But that doesn’t diminish the wow factor of inventor Jules Reveillier’s insane boat-on-wheels, pictured here in a classic photograph. From a November 13, 1907 New York Times report about an outlandish test run in (and around) the Hudson:

“The amphibious French automobile took its first plunge in America yesterday afternoon at Fort Washington on the Hudson, while fifty or more automobile and motorboat experts watched its performance. After a half hour spent in diving from the beach to the river and returning, cavorting about in the quiet waters of the Hudson, and similar stunts, the car ran up the bank and across the New York Central Railroad tracks, climbed the steep hill to Riverside Drive, and rolled merrily down the Drive amid the plaudits of those who watched it. The opinion of the experts who saw it was that the demonstration was a complete success, though in its present form its commercial value is not apparent.

The demonstration was arranged by a firm of automobile dealers, and on its success was supposed to depend whether or not the firm would put the invention on the market. The invention is owned by Jules Reveillier, a French automobile enthusiast, who recently brought the boat across the Atlantic to show Americans its possibilities.

The contrivance is unusual enough in appearance to arouse interest anywhere. Its body is shaped exactly like the ordinary motorboat, except that it is a little broad of bean for high speed. It has the regulation straight prow, sharp nosed and broadening quickly to its greatest beam. The engine is set well forward in the usual covered compartment, and a cockpit, equipped with typical automobile steering wheel, is directly amidships. A seat wide enough to comfortably accommodate two persons is set behind the wheel, and is supposed to be occupied by the steersman and the engineer. Behind this seat, and almost flush with the deck, is another, wide enough for two men. The body is rounded off abruptly at the stern.

The front wheels, which respond to the steering wheel, are set forward of the engine two or three feet. The wheels are directed by a steering gear like that attached to the rudder of an ordinary boat operated by chains running from the bow, while the rear wheels are turned by chain gear.

The wheels are made of hollow steel plates and have ordinary automobile tires. They are thus available for road service, and act as air chambers to help keep the machine afloat when in the water and as a keel to prevent it from turning over. A simple mechanical contrivance shifts the power from the driving wheels to the propeller as the boat enters the water, and shifts it back again when it reaches land.

The present boat is built entirely of steel. It is equipped with a low power automobile engine. On land the engine is capable of driving the car twenty miles an hour, while in the water it attains a speed of about nine knots under ordinary conditions.

The machine is 8 or 9 feet long, with a wheel base of 54 inches.

The possibility of navigating on land was acknowledged by the party that went up the Hudson to see to see the boat tried, and it was taken at once to the waterfront yesterday. It traveled over the rough ground on the bank of the river without difficulty, and entered the water easily. As the forward wheels entered the water they floated the prow, when the hub was submerged, and the rear wheels drove the boat on while they were on land.

The driver who handled the car transferred the power to the propeller skillfully, and the momentum acquired in leaving the bank carried the contrivance well out into the stream. It answered perfectly to the rudder.

Returning, the machine mounted the bank easily. Several time these dives were repeated, and the boat each time entered and left the water successfully.”

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A Brief Note From 1907 About A Meat Market

September 30, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the May 19, 1907 New York Times:

“Berlin–The Cologne Gazzette reports that fearful cannibalism is still practiced in the German West African protectorate of Kamerun.

A German merchant writes to the newspaper that the natives not only devour their enemies, but also criminals and persons who have been locked up for trivial offenses. The merchant escaped the fate with difficulty. 

Kaka natives, he writes, offer human flesh for sale in the public market, to provision which death sentences are imposed for the most trivial offenses.”

A Brief Note From 1897 About Flame Broiling

September 28, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the October 13, 1897 New York Times:

“The manager of Shanley’s restaurant, at 1,476 Broadway, informed his patrons a 7 o’clock last night that the place was on fire, but that there was no danger. He then told the leader of the orchestra what was the matter, and instructed him to play the liveliest air in his repertory. After that the police were informed, and finally the Fire Department.

The arrival of the fireman was hailed with a syncopated arrangement from the orchestra of the appropriate melody, ‘There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight.’ The guests accepted the situation and remained at their tables, while the men rushed in with hose and picks.

The fire was discovered over the boiler room, where it had been started by the crossing of electric wires. It was extinguished with a loss of about $1,500. Thomas J. Shanley remained in the restaurant while the smoke filled the place and assured the men and women at the tables that they could eat their dinners and depend on him to keep them posted as to the fire’s progress.”

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Old Print Article: “Giant Skeletons Found,” New York Times (1902)

September 26, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

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“The chest of the being is reported as having a circumference of seven feet.”

Some sort of excavated bones led to hope that the remains of an extinct race of giants could be unearthed in New Mexico, according to an article in the February 11, 1902 New York Times. The story:

“Los Angeles, Cal.–Owing to the discovery of the remains of a race of giants in Guadalupe, N.M., antiquarians and archaeologists are preparing an expedition further to explore that region. This determination is based on the excitement that exists among the people of a scope of country near Mesa Rico, about 200 miles southeast of Las Vegas, where an old burial ground has been discovered that has yielded skeletons of enormous size.

Luiciana Quintana, on whose ranch the ancient burial plot is located, discovered two stones that bore curious inscriptions, and beneath these were found in shallow excavations the bones of a frame that could not have been less than 12 feet in length. The men who opened the grave say the forearm was four feet long and that in a well-preserved jaw the lower teeth ranged from the size of a hickory nut to that of the largest walnut in size.

The chest of the being is reported as having a circumference of seven feet.

Quintana, who has uncovered many other burial places, expresses the opinion that perhaps thousands of skeletons of a race of giants long extinct will be found. This supposition is based on the traditions handed down from the early Spanish invasion that have detailed knowledge of the existence of a race of giants that inhabited the plains of what now is Eastern New Mexico. Indian legends and carvings also in the same section indicate the existence of such a race.”

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A Brief Note From 1901 About Boaters

September 24, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the December 12, 1901 New York Times:

“Washington–Cannibalism has appeared in the varied list of crimes charged against Filipinos by American military courts. According to the record of a court-martial convened in the Department of the Viscayas, Raymond Fonte, a native, found his working companion, Liberato Benliro, sleeping in his (Fonte’s) boat. He became enraged, killed the slumbering man with a blow of an oar, cut off his nose and ears, and, according to his own confession, cooked and ate part of the body. He was sentenced to be hanged at Capiz, Panay, on Dec. 13.”

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Old Print Article: “Bald Eagle Attacks Two Boys,” New York Times (1895)

September 24, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

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“Their first movements angered the bird, indicating their nearness to his nest.”

When Ben Franklin wasn’t busy with orgies, teetotalism or inventions, he took a moment to suggest that the turkey be made the United States’ official bird. Not a bad idea. Turkeys are resourceful as hell, can survive almost anything and are pretty good neighbors. The bald eagle, which instead won out, is admired for its fierceness, but such temperament rarely stays in check for long. That was the horrifying lesson learned by two California lads who happened too close to a bald eagle’s nest in 1895. The story from New York Times article of that year:

“Ukiah, Mendocino County, Cal.–Clinging to the side of Hill’s Peak, 1,000 feet above the canon bed, Willie and Eddie Briggs, aged thirteen and eleven years, fought a bald eagle for their lives Tuesday. The younger lad was knocked down repeatedly, and so torn by the talons and beak of the bird that he will lose his eyes and be disfigured for life. His life was saved by his brother’s heroic attack on the eagle with a short stick, beating it off. A party of men from Bachelor Valley organized when they heard of the eagle’s attack and succeeded in killing it. The bird measured eight feet eight inches from tip to tip of the wings.

For four years a large eagle has been noticed in the vicinity of Hill’s Peak, and it has been supposed it had a nest in that locality. Hill’s Peak is one of the most inaccessible and dangerous places in the neighborhood of Bachelor Valley. For some time farmers of the valley have missed lambs from their flocks and chickens from their yards, but not until lately did the eagle become so bold as to be caught in the act of making off with a lamb from the flock of Lemuel Briggs.

Seeing the swoop of the bird, Mr. Briggs went to the house for his gun, but before he could return the great American bird was far out of reach. He told his two boys to watch and see if they could find out where the eagle made its nest.

The next day, while tending a flock of sheep some distance from the house, the boys sighted the eagle near the peak and prepared to make the ascent. To do this they had to go up on the divide between Potter Valley and Bachelor Valley and get up back of the mountain on the north side. The south side is inaccessible, being a sheer precipice of about 1,000 feet at the foot of Doyle Creek.

Everything went smoothly with the boys until they were nearing the top, and knowing that the hardest part of their work was yet to come, they took a short rest, and then commenced their laborious work of climbing. The rock near the top is almost perpendicular, and they now had to use the greatest care, for a slip meant a fall to the bottom of the canon.

The boys had reached a little bench and were commencing to get their breath from their hard work, when without the least warning and before Eddie, the youngest, could put himself on his guard, the eagle came swooping down upon them and almost knocked the little fellow over the precipice. So sudden was the descent that they could not tell from which way the bird came.

talons23The eagle now commenced to circle around them, sometimes coming within striking distance. The two boys stood as close together as possible, to combine forces in case of another attack, which they realized would come sooner or later. They also tried to get to a place of safety.

Their first movements angered the bird, indicating their nearness to his nest. Having for their weapons only the short poles they used in climbing, they were, as they soon realized, practically defenseless.

Every movement on their part was watched by the bird, and it was not long before the eagle, with a screech, made for the younger boy, this time knocking him down.

The position in which they were made it almost impossible for one to help the other and they were at the mercy of the fierce bird. The bird seemed to know this and to take advantage of it, and it now became a fight for life with the boys.

They determined, if possible, to retrace their steps. At every turn the eagle came swooping down upon them, making the fiercest attacks upon the smaller boy. Willie tried in every way to encourage his little brother, but from his exertions from climbing and from resisting the fierce attacks of the bird, the lad soon lost his strength and said he could go no further.

Realizing now that his only chance to save his brother would be to draw the bird’s attention to himself, Willie started off, telling Eddie to keep quiet and he would look for some place where they could defend themselves until their father could come to their assistance. He had not gone far when he heard piercing screams from his brother and returned immediately. He found a most horrible sight.

The eagle had pounced upon Eddie and was tearing his face, neck, and head with beak and talons. With almost superhuman effort Willie struck the bird a well-directed blow and it went screaming away. Willie found his brother insensible and covered with blood. He wiped the blood away as best he could, only to find one of Eddie’s eyes protruding from its socket and the other badly injured.

Fearing a new attack, Willie made frantic appeals to his father, whom he saw in the valley below. Loosening a large rock he rolled it down and was rewarded by his father’s attention being drawn upward. The boy made frantic gestures to his father, who saw something was wrong and started for the cliff. He reached them, and by dint of hard work the disfigured boy was carried to his home and medical attention secured. His right eye is lost, and the probability is that the sight of the other is destroyed.

The people in and around the valley organized a party and went out looking for the eagle. They came upon the bird yesterday and succeeded in shooting it.”

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A Brief Note From 1912 About A Machinist’s Nose

September 22, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the July 15, 1912 New York Times:

“Ludwig Wozny, a machinist, of Jackson and Beebe Avenues, Long Island City, had his nose almost cut off last evening by the automobile of Alexander C. Walker of 414 Riverside Drive. The prompt and skillful work of Dr. Brown of St. John’s Hospital, it was said last night, would save Wozny from having to go through life without a nose.”

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Franz Reichelt, Pride Before The Fall (1912)

September 22, 2013 in Excerpts, Old Print Articles, Photography, Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

“I am confident of success.”

Franz Reichelt was sure he was right. A tailor taken with aviation, Reichelt convinced himself in 1912 that his nouveau parachute would serve and protect. French authorities forbade his planned demonstration of the contraption with a leap from the Eiffel Tower unless a dummy was used in his stead. But Reichelt would not listen to reason: He became his own dummy. These two classic photos show him just prior to his fatal miscalculation played itself out in front of hundreds. From “Dies in Parachute From Eiffel Tower,” a New York Times article that misspells the surname of the man in decline:

“Paris–Franz Reichalt, an Austrian tailor, who had been experimenting with a new form of parachute, jumped to-day from the first platform of the Eiffel Tower, 180 feet high, and fell to the ground like a stone. He was killed instantly. 

Reichalt had long been interested in aviation questions. Every spare hour he spent pursuing this hobby. He recently decided to compete for a prize offered for the best form of parachute or other device which would safeguard an aviator in the event of an accident happening to his machine.

Reichalt tried several designs for a parachute and experimented with them in the courtyard of the house he occupied. Apparently his experiments to some extent were successful. At all events for weeks past Reichalt had been petitioning the authorities to allow him to make a serious trial of as apparatus from the Eiffel Tower.

Such permissions were not easily obtained, and that which he finally got from the Prefecture stipulated that the test be made with a dummy. There was little secrecy about the fact, however, that Reichalt intended to substitute himself for the dummy in spite of 10 degrees of frost and a stiff northeaster.

Several hundred people gathered underneath the Eiffel Tower toward 8 o’clock when the experiment was to be made. Reichalt arrived with a friend carrying his parachute, which was made of khaki colored canvas, weighing about 20 pounds and had a surface of nearly 40 square yards.

Several aviation specialists were present, among them M. Hervieu, who made several experiments with the same kind of device himself, and it is significant that M. Hervieu, on examining Reichalt’s apparatus, expressed great doubt as to its practicability, advancing one or two technical arguments against it which Reichalt was quite unable to oppose.

But he was not shaken in his conviction even at the eleventh hour, for he said almost jauntily: ‘I am confident of success.’ Mr. Hervieu emphatically declared, on seeing a preliminary test from a distance that the parachute required much too long a time to open itself out. His judgement had hardly been made when it was most fully confirmed.

Reichelt clambered over the hand rail and threw himself forward, but the parachute never opened, and his descent was one of unbroken acceleration 180 feet to the ground. His body was a shapeless mass when the police picked it up and carried it with all speed in a taxicab to the nearest infirmary.

The accident caused a protest to be raised this evening against a repetition of such experiments except with the fullest approval and knowledge of specialists.“•

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A Brief Note From 1898 About Imperfect English

September 20, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the August 25, 1898 New York Times:

“Anton Wozonecski, twenty-seven years old, died at his home, 173 Eleventh Street, Jersey City, at midnight on Tuesday from poison administered by his wife through mistake. Wozonecski was suffering from an attack of bilious colic and a neighbor suggested that he should take a dose of rochelle salts.

Mrs. Wozonecski went to Freeman Stoddard’s drug store, 557 Grove Street. She says she asked for rochelle salts. She speaks English imperfectly. Mrs. Stoddard says she simply asked for ‘roach.’ He though she wanted an insect powder and gave her one. This is borne out by the package that contained it. It was originally marked ‘Persian powder,’ but this had been scratched out and the words ‘roach powder’ were written in its place.

Mrs. Wozonecski gave her husband the poison. He soon became worse and then Dr. Finnerty was called in, but when he arrived Wozonecski was dead.”

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Old Print Article: “A Strange Delusion–Ohio Fanatics Who Worship A Woman As Christ,” New York Times (1886)

September 19, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

"A party of 30 or 40 people, most of them prominent and above the average in intelligence, believe that Mrs. John E. Martin, of Walnut Hills, is Christ manifest in the flesh."

“A party of 30 or 40 people believe that Mrs. John E. Martin is Christ manifest in the flesh.”

A religious mania with a gender twist arose in urban Ohio in the late nineteenth century, according to an article in the July 18, 1886 New York Times. The story:

“Cincinnati--One of the most remarkable religious manias of which there is any record has broken out in a little circle in this city. A party of 30 or 40 people, most of them prominent and above the average in intelligence, believe that Mrs. John E. Martin, of Walnut Hills, is Christ manifest in the flesh, and that her sister, Mrs. John F. Brock, is the Holy Ghost. The followers of these two young women meet at Mrs. Brook’s house and worship them both. Mrs. Martin has exerted some strange and wonderful influence that has put them completely in her power, and they are fanatics on the subject. One of the followers of this woman Christ is named Jerome. He was a bookkeeper here for the Cincinnati agency of D. Appleton & Co., the New-York publishers. He gave up his position of $1,800 a year to serve the female Saviour of mankind. To an Enquirer reporter who saw him to-day he said in an earnest and eloquent conversation: ‘I have seen God face to face in the last half hour.’

A young man named Cook, who works in the auditor’s office of the Adams Express Company, has also been captured. He resigned his position, and has attached himself to the new sect. They believe that all churches are frauds, and the preachers a set of fools. Accounting for the fact that Christ should manifest himself in a female, they say that in heaven there are no sexes, and the Saviour is as liable to appear in a woman as in a man. Mrs. Martin, the ‘New Christ,’ and Mrs. Brook, the ‘Holy Ghost,’ they say, are the only two perfect women on earth, and that the millennium is at hand. This movement has been going on quietly for a year without becoming generally known. The women seclude themselves, and will not be seen by any one who is not a worshiper, or vouched for by one of them. Many have sold their homes and taken houses near the woman on the hill. Those who have given up their positions say they do not need work or money. All they need is spiritual food, and this will be furnished by the Lord, just as it was furnished to the children in the wilderness.

A Miss Andrews, who lives with her mother on Walnut Hills, is almost insane from excitement, and passes her whole time in weeping, singing, and praying. Her mother has tried to show her the folly of her belief, but in vain. Among the worshipers of these new gods are Mrs. Judge Worthington, Miss Julia Carpenter, Miss Emma Black, Mrs. L.H. Foulds, Mr. John Cook, Miss Cook, Mr. E.W. Jerome, Miss Marie Andrews, Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Burke, Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Sherwood, Mrs. Flora Miller, Mr. Sheppard, Miss Homitt, and Mrs. Crocker. In this list are numbered some of the best people in Cincinnati. Exposure to public ridicule, it is thought, will bring them to their senses.”

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A Brief Note From 1888 About False Teeth

September 19, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the September 2, 1888 New York Times:

“Duluth, Minn.–Gabriel Marillo died yesterday as a result of a singular accident. While working on the streets several days ago he was struck in the face by a stream of water from a hydrant and his false teeth were knocked down his throat. He died from a hemorrhage following their removal.”

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A Brief Note From 1911 About Aggrieved Dogs

September 17, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the September 15, 1911 New York Times:

“San Francisco–Nearly 100 dogs of high degree yesterday marched in a strange funeral procession from the home of Miss Jennie Crocker, at Burlingame, to pay tribute to Dick Dazzler and Wonderland Duchess, two Boston terriers, valued at $5,000 each, which died a few days ago. The dogs, according to those present at the ceremony, seemed to feel the importance of the affair and acted as though they were really grieved over the loss of their companions.”

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Old Print Article: “Cranks And Criminals That Worry The Wealthy,” New York Times (1905)

September 17, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

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“Several small-bore cannon and sundry howitzers are planted around the house.”

New York City had nearly a thousand millionaires in 1905, and seemingly everyone wanted to part them from their money. Cranks would frequently write a gigantic number on a piece of scrap paper and expectantly hand it to a bank teller, believing it was a sure thing. They were escorted from the building–and often sent to Bellevue. But in the waning days of the Gilded Age, some took things a step further, paying unannounced visits to the well-to-do in their mansions. Precautions had to be taken. From an article in the November 12, 1905 New York Times:

“…The Morosini mansion at Riverdale-on-the-Hudson is equipped with very extraordinary and picturesque apparatus as a proof against burglars and other unwelcome visitors. Several small-bore cannon and sundry howitzers are planted around the house, each piece of ordinance being connected with the house by an electric wire.

Whenever occasion demands, a button may be pressed inside the mansion, and any one or all of the cannon can be fired off. In addition to this novel safeguard the grounds surrounding the mansion can be illuminated by means of electric bulbs scattered thickly among the trees and shrubbery.

Recently there was occasion one night for the police to answer a call from the Morosini mansion, two servants having become obstreperous. As the vehicle containing two officers from the King’s Bridge Station passed through the gate, the lawn for a hundred feet about suddenly burst into light. Adjacent trees glowed with a hundred dazzling flashes. Surprised, the officers came to an abrupt halt. But presently continuing on toward the house, every foot of the way was similarly illuminated, lights budding everywhere, making the grounds almost as brilliant as day. During a subsequent survey of the premises the police learned that all the windows on the ground floor were connected with heavily charged electric wires. When the family retires a switch is turned on, and any one attempting to open a window from the outside is apt to be fatally shocked.”

A Brief Note From 1909 About A Sneezing Fit

September 15, 2013 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

From the September 17, 1909 New York Times:

“A sneezing fit, which opened an old wound in his wrist, almost cost the life of Frank Genole of 48 Union Street, Brooklyn, yesterday morning. He attended the Mardi Gras at Coney Island on Wednesday night, and while there some one threw some confetti at him, with which, it is believed, snuff had been mixed.

On his way home Genole began to sneeze and kept it up until early yesterday morning. Then he discovered that a deep cut in his left wrist, caused by an accident some time ago, had been opened by the violence of his sneezing. Members of the family, after trying in vain to stop the flow of blood, had him taken to Long Island College Hospital. The physicians there ended Genole’s sneezing and sewed up the wound, stopping the bleeding. Genole had become very weak from the loss of blood.”

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Percival Lowell, Viewing Venusians (1914)

September 15, 2013 in Excerpts, Old Print Articles, Photography, Science/Tech | Permalink

Astronomer Percival Lowell did some brilliant work in analyzing our solar system, but he took a wrong turn at Mars. In this classic 1914 photo, Lowell is examining Venus, but it was the Red Planet that burned him. At his Flagstaff Observatory, he “discovered” canals in Mars’ surface, which he felt must have been man-made–or at least Martian-made. These beliefs did not raise his stock in the scientific community. The opening of “Martians Build Two Canals in Two Years,” an article by Mary Proctor, daughter of early Mars mapper Richard A. Proctor, in the August 27, 1911 New York Times:

“According to a telegram dated Aug. 17, from Flagstaff Observatory, Arizona, Dr. Percival Lowell announces the rediscovery of two new canals of Mars, which were seen for the first time at the last opposition in 1909. The canals are now very conspicuous, and attracting world-wide attention because of their startling significance. 

Measurement of their dimensions shows each of them to be a thousand miles long and some twenty miles wide. In comparison, the canon of the Colorado River would be a secondary affair. What has been the cause of these vast chasms which have suddenly opened on Mars, where the internal forces are far less than could be possibly be the case with our planet? Nothing like it has ever been seen or heard of before. To witness the coming into existence on another world of a surface feature in what we know to be no airy cloud-built fabric, but the solidest of ground, is in its character an event so far of unique occurrence.

That these vast chasms have been caused by some internal disturbance is out of the question, for shattering of the sort would certainly have left its mark in yawning, cavernous abysses–such as are on our own planet in regions where volcanic disturbances have taken place. In the case of the new canals recently observed on Mars, such widespread, shattering effects are altogether absent, and as Dr. Lowell expresses it: ‘The outcome is purely local, and of most orderly self-restraint at that. An enormous change in the planet’s features has taken place, with no concomitant disruption beyond the bounds it set. The whole thing is wonderfully clear-cut.’

That the new canals were not a mere illusion or vagary of the imagination is proven by the fact that they are again visible, but they are as great a problem now as they were when first seen in 1909. Canals a thousand miles long and twenty miles wide are simply beyond our comprehension. Even though we are aware of the fact that, owing to the mass of the planet being a little less than one-ninth of the earth’s mass, a rock which here weighs one hundred pounds would there only weigh thirty-eight pounds, engineering operations being in consequence less arduous than here, yet we can scarcely imagine the inhabitants of Mars capable of accomplishing this Herculean task within the short interval of two years.”

Lowell’s sketches of the so-called Martian canals.

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