April 28, 1906 (Saturday)

A BURNING TRIAL IN ATLANTA: Jurors in Atlanta found Mrs. M.L. Standifer not guilty. She had been charged in the shooting death of her sister who was having an affair with Mr. Standifer. The front page of The Atlanta Constitution included a drawing of Mrs. Standifer in the courtroom. She's shown with her little boy. The paper also included a facsimile of the last page of her statement. One article says she went into the witness box with the babe in her arms, which is sure to make an impression on a juror. The verdict ends what the Constitution calls "one of the most pathetic tragedies that ever occurred in Atlanta."




LOCKED IN A DISPUTE: A London lawsuit pits Charles M. Schwab against an art dealer named Rothschild over the selling price of John Constable's "Dedham Lock" (right) Evidently the owner's asking price was about $4,250 and the dealer offered it to Schwab for $25,000. They agreed on $15,000. When another dealer offered it to Schwab for $10,000, Schwab canceled the sale. Hence, the court date.


JUBILEE FOR ACTRESS: Actress Ellen Terry passed a milestone yesterday in London. She celebrated her 50th year on stage. She's 58. Here, she's pictured as Lady Macbeth. The celebration was memorable. A men dressed as Falstaff recited an ode that congratulated the actress. Then a dove fluttered down to her, carrying a scroll. A "dainty fairy" plucked the scroll from the dove and presented it to Terry, who read the words. Then the Playgoers Club presented her with a silver casket. The production for the evening was "The Merry Wives of Windsor." She portrayed Mistress Page. She played most of her important female Shakespeare roles with Sir Henry Irving.

April 29, 1906 (Sunday)

SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED: To honor the spirit of the people of San Francisco, who have had to deal with the devastating earthquake, the Syracuse Herald printed a large rendering of the poem "Unconquerable" by William Ernest Henley. It seems appropriate in light of the emphasis on self-reliance. The last lines are, "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Henley died a couple of years ago, but this poem is likely to remain a favorite, and will likely show up in some very strange contexts.



THE ARSENIC-MINDED PROFESSOR: Police in Cambridge are on the lookout for Erich Muenter, who teaches German at Harvard. His wife died about a week ago. Before the body was cremated in Chicago, an alert medical examiner sent Leona's stomach to Harvard professor Whitney. On the 27th, the professor announced that he had found traces of arsenic in the stomach. Muenter has disappeared. Maybe he will remain hidden. Who knows? He might pop up again and again.

April 27, 1906 (Friday)

SENT BACK HOME: Yesterday, the Hamburg-American steamer Moltke (right) headed back to Europe with more than 200 Italians and Poles who have been deported. Immigration officials say this is a record number of rejections for one ship. Reasons are scanty. Here's what one news article says: "One Pole was excluded because he was unfit for manual labor. He asked in vain that his wife might stay here and work to bring him and five children back from Russia. Some of those excluded were without underwear or clothes. One of them had but two cents upon arrival. This was part of a dime which he borrowed from one of the stewards of the Moltke." Wonder what they'll be thinking as they go back past the Statue of Liberty, with that wonderful poem. I don't remember much of it. The last part, however, is hard to forget:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

OLYMPIC CONTROVERSY: A Greek man named Demetrios Tofalos won a weight-lifting event, beating an "Austrian giant" named Josef Steinbach yesterday. The crowd was angry at the Austrian because of talk that he is a professional. When he got ready to lift, the crowd hooted him mercilessly. So, he left the platform, leaving Tofalos with the first prize. Here's what happened next, according to a news report:
"The Greek flag had been raised amid tremendous cheering when Steinbach calmly re-entered the arena and picked up the weight which Tofalos had raised with difficulty and raised it above his head several times with the greatest ease. Then he left the stadium with a sarcastic bow to the wondering audience."
Another dispute arose yesterday regarding the Irish athletes. The program lists them as coming from England, and the organizers plan to count any of their victories toward Great Britain's total. Peter O'Connor, a jumper, has protested. He has brought a large green streamer with a golden harp on it, which he plans to wave at the top of the Stadium when an Irish athlete scores. It's in the hands of the International Committee.


CHECK THIS OUT: I'm looking at an ad for The Rambler Automobile, which includes a picture of one (right). The prices range from $1,250 to $2,500. That's a lot of money when you consider you can buy a nice suit for $8 to $15. But, heck, it's got four cylinders. You can't help but get a feeling that this kind of vehicle will be around for a long, long time.

April 26, 1906 (Thursday)

YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN IN VIRGINIA: The Massachusetts Senate yesterday rejected an appeal by colored men who have been lobbying for a special provision regarding the upcoming Jamestown Exposition that's planned for 1907 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the founding of the British colony in Virginia. The men wanted a state grant of $50,000 that was to support the event to be "contingent on the governor receiving assurances that colored citizens of Massachusetts will not be discriminated against in case they visit or participate in the exposition."
The odds are, this won't be the last we'll read of the controversies regarding the exposition and its relationship with "colored citizens of Massachusetts" and other states.


CLOSE CALL IN THE ALPS: The Washington Post has a remarkable tale of a man and woman and two guides who survived an avalanche on Pointe d'Orny (right) in the Pennine Alps. On their descent, they accidentally started an avalanche, which swept the four of them along. The guides yelled to the Americans to keep their feet and not sit down. Here's how one of the survivors, an American named Kenrick, described it:
I thought every moment that we would be dashed to pieces, as I know the big precipices on the flank of the mountain. I was in front, then came a guide, then my wife, and then the other guide. Suddenly I brought up with a jerk which shook the breath out of me. We had stopped on a ledge three yards from the brink of a fathomless depth into which the avalanche rolled with a roar. I turned and saw my wife lying motionless. A guide was rubbing her face with snow.
We owe our lives to Guide Dupras, who had dexterously clasped a projection of rock and clung to it, thereby bringing us up with a tremendous jerk on the rope which, fortunately, did not break. When the avalanche had passed and my wife had recovered, we clambered to safety, but he was pleased when my wife kissed him gratefully.

April 25, 1906 (Wednesday)

NEW BERTH FOR OLD ADMIRAL: In an impressive ceremony at Annapolis, the remains of John Paul Jones (left) were placed in a crypt beneath the marble stairway of Bancroft Hall at the Naval Academy. They will stay there until they're moved to the chapel, which is under construction. At the ceremony, there were about 1,500 sailors, 200 of whom are from France, the most recent resting place of the naval hero. Theodore Roosevelt, not surprisingly, talked at great length to mark the occasion. About 10,000 people were in the Armory to hear him. He spoke quite a bit about the War of 1812 and tilted it heavily toward military readiness. He reminded listeners that the British took Washington during that war. Then he said,
I am sorry to say that those of our countrymen who now speak of these deeds usually confine themselves to denouncing the British for having burned certain buildings in Washington. They had better spare their breath. The sin of the invaders in burning the buildings is trivial compared with the sin of our own people in failing to make ready an adequate force to defeat the attempt.

Sorry I don't have time to give you the whole speech. Interestingly, and appropriately, Roosevelt was introduced by the secretary of the navy, whose last name is -- no kidding -- Bonaparte (right). I think he's the grandson of Napoleon's brother, making him Napoleon's great nephew.

REPORTS OF FATALITIES ARE SCALED BACK, FOR NOW: Now the latest figure for the people killed in the earthquake in San Francisco stands at 277. But I'll say about 277. The same day that figure is announced, there's another article out of San Francisco that says that stray packs of dogs are running loose and are gnawing at corpses that lie half burned in ruins. Sailors not lucky enough to be an Annapolis for the JP Jones ceremony had the distasteful duty of finding the dogs and shooting them. An article says, "It was not believed that there were so many dead in the ruins of Telegraph and Russian hills until the dogs were found there digging for the bodies."

April 24, 1906 (Tuesday)

TEEN FASHION:Here's a look at the type of suits that are being sold for spring. This one is "cut after the latest Spring 1906 models." It's designed for young men, which means between the ages of 14 and 18. That's high-school age, or course. This illustration is "an exact copy of our suits," according to an ad for a clothing store published in today's editions of The Post-Standard in Syracuse. There, customers will see suits with "every detail of fashion." That means "snug fitting collars, broad lapels, deep vents, pear shape trousers." That last element sounds like a fashion statement that's here to stay. The prices range from $6 to $8. Not sure how much more it will cost to get the total package as shown in the drawing -- adding the cane, hat or handkerchief.



OVER-THE-TOP JOURNALISM: Walter Wellman, former journalist, has evidently found an outlet for his energies and his hot air. He is attempting to discover the North Pole with an airship. The New York Motor Club gave him a farewell reception yesterday at the Waldorf- Astoria. He leaves for Europe tomorrow on the Kaiser Wilhelm II. There will be five men in the airship. Among them: Major Henry Hershy (or Hershey?) of the weather bureau and the American Geological Society, and William Smith, who will oversee the wireless device on the ship. They expect to set out from Norway on June 20 in a steamer. They will launch the airship -- called America -- from North Spitzbergen.

FAST-AGING PROCESS: An article with a dateline of Pueblo, Colo., puts a bit of a twist on how the San Francisco earthquake affected someone. In this case, it was B.K. Coffman, a traveling salesman from Fort Worth. He talked with a reporter after he arrived in Pueblo on the 22nd. Here's how the short item ended:

"... when he looked out over the city and saw the falling buildings and the flames shooting into the sky, he fell upon his hands and knees and buried his face in the sand, believing that the end of the world had come. As a result of the strain to which he was subjected, Mr. Coffman's hair is now almost perfectly white."