July 11, 1906 (Monday)

NOTE: There was so much news in yesterday’s papers that I feel compelled to offer some spillover news.
KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL AND THE MALLET: Robert J. Collier (of the Collier’s Weekly publishing family) was hurt badly in a June 9 polo game at New York’s Meadow Brook Field. During the match, Harry Payne Whitney (left) swung his mallet at the ball. He missed. But in his follow through, the head of the mallet smashed into Collier’s face. According to The New York Times, Collier’s “eye was torn from its socket and he was stunned by the blow. He was treated at Nassau Hospital in Mineola. Evidently, being born with a silver spoon in your mouth can’t protect you from getting a polo mallet in the head.
SOMEONE SHOULD BUY EACH JUROR A NICE, TALL COLD ONE: The Rev. A.H. Seechel’s plan to expose a Sunday beer-selling scandal in Appleton, Wisc., has fallen flat. Evidently, he set aside some time on a recent Sunday and went to a saloon and bought some beer. He did this to provide evidence against a salon keeper, who had thereby violated a Sunday-closing law. Well, on June 9, jurors found the clergyman guilty of violating the Sunday labor law. They decided that the purchase of beer is, indeed, a form of work. This will be appealed.
PACHYDERM MAKES ‘EM SCATTER AT G.O.P. CONVENTION: Somebody had some fun over the weekend with attendees of the Republican County Convention in Fairfield, Ia., on Saturday. Some jokesters hired an elephant from a local circus, draped a G.O.P. banner over it and led it to the door of the convention hall, which at the time was full of delegates. The trainer then coaxed the animal to trumpet. The elephant then marched through the door. The delegates reportedly hastily left via the windows. Many were bruised. One man suffered a broken arm. Once the hoax was revealed and delegates discovered that the animal was under a trainer’s control the whole time, they returned. Some laughed about it. For the purposes of the exercise, the elephant was named “Teddy Roosevelt.” The lesson: The Republican party is afraid of him.

Jan. 10, 1906 (Sunday)

EUROPE READY TO TAN OUR HIDE: The scandal regarding Chicago's meat-packing industry is confirming some of the worst fears some Europeans have of Americans and the way business is done in the U.S. An article by the New York Sun's London correspondent has some interesting observations:
It is frequently said here that American memories are short and American public the most tolerant of abuses of any in the world, but the manufacturers of American food products will not find either of those characteristics among European consumers.
and
The old world has come to believe in general terms that American business methods are rotten. It is a sad thing to write of the reputation of one's counry, but it is the simple truth and the truth better be told without disguise. It will take more than paper reorganization of the great life insurance companies and a cleaning of the Augean stables at Chicago to restore European belief in American honesty and fair dealings. It will be a long time before public opinion on this side of the Atlantic will have any confidence in American corporate reform.

SPEAKING OF BRITISH SENSIBILITIES: Reports from New York to London seem to indicate that British readers think women in this country are dressing in "Godiva-like simplicity." Here's more, from those wild and crazy New York Sun correspondents:
These lurid reports of "peekaboo" blouses have caused anxious eyes to be cast at the costumes of British girls. The result is a report that what used to be known as the "pneumonia blouse" is practically extinct. High collars with less and less transparency below seem to be the order of the day.
Well, if they're upset by those "peekaboo" blouses and if the "pneumonia blouse" is giving them a fever, I hope they don't see how we are advertising our "undermuslins" (below).

June 9, 1906 (Saturday)

EXCUSE ME, COULD YOU PLEASE PASS ME THE BALL? Amos Alonzo Stagg (right, when he was a student at Yale in the 1880s), football coach of the University of Chicago, has come up with a plan that he thinks will help take some of the vicious edge off the game of college football. Some are calling it "new football." The rules will basically stay the same. He's looking to change attitudes. One thing he's working on is to have a dinner the night before the Minnesota-Chicago football game. At the banquet, players from opposing positions will sit next to each other. And there's supposed to be no talk of "conflicts in financial matters and eligibility questions,'' according to an article in the Washington Post. Wonder how the game will turn out this fall.


SECRET SERVICE HELPS "FURST" FAMILY: As the Roosevelt children headed from Washington to Oyster bay yesterday, some fur began to fly over the travel arrangements for the family's gray and white kitten named Posey. At the Baltimore and Ohio Station, the Pullman conductor refused to allow the kitten to be taken on board the special car. He told the children that the cat had to travel with the baggage. Quentin, who's 6 (right, in 1904, with his dad) was holding the kitten. He told the conductor that the trip would have to be postponed indefinitely until the arrangements were made so Posey could travel with dignity. Sensing trouble, a Secret Service guard named Connell stepped in and figured out how to avoid the situation that threatened "to upset the juvenile ship of state." He got ahold of a small pasteboard box, cut a hole in it, and put the kitten inside. At that point, the conductor stepped aside and the Roosevelts stayed on schedule. I liked reading about Quentin's spunk. Makes me wonder what will become of such a man when he grows up.

THANKS, CAP'N: Passengers of the steamer Chicora (right) of the Niagara River Line had a rough passage on a trip from Toronto to Lewiston, N.Y. A storm struck in the middle of Lake Ontario and heavy seas repeatedly swept the ship's decks. Eventually, Capt. Smith steered the ship into the river and safety. The grateful passengers passed a hat and presented the captain with $200.

A BRUTAL KILLING IN A BRONX MANSION: Evidently, 40-year-old widow Alice Kinnan was sitting in her house with her mother, Mrs. Louis M. Stanton, when she heard a knock on the front door. She went to the door, exchanged words with someone. Then her mother, nearly 90, heard a sound like a body hitting the floor. It turns out it was Alice's body. The police are stumped. Here's how the last paragraph in the Washington Post story goes:
The house where the murder was committed is known as the Stanton mansion, and is one of the oldest in the Bronx. According to the neighbors, Mrs. Stanton is quite wealthy. It is said the she was a great friend of the late Commodore Vanderbilt, and that he aided her at one time when her home and fortune were in danger of being swept away many years ago.
Might want to keep an eye on this one.

June 8, 1906 (Friday)

A SHIP WITH A FUTURE: The 790-foot-long Lusitania was launched at Glasgow yesterday. The launching at Clyde Bank was witnessed by thousands. It's the largest liner in the world. The picture at right shows the business end of the ship. Don't know why I think it's important, but I thought a view from below the waterline would be of interest. It's expected that the Lusitania will be able to scoot along at about 24 or 25 knots. The crew will number about 800. There's room for 550 in first class, 500 in second class and 1,300 in third class. This probably won't be the last we hear of this great ship. Cunard expects to launch her sister ship, Mauritania, in a month or so.

DON'T READ THIS BEFORE YOU EAT THAT HAMBURGER: Labor Commissioner Neill faced some rough treatment at the hands of Congressmen yesterday during hearings about the quality (or lack thereof) of meant-packing. Some representatives questions Neill's ability to evaluate what he saw. According to The Washington Post, Neill said, "I claim that any man can tell dirt and filth when he sees it." He was forced to back up his claim that he saw men with tuberculosis spin on the floor of the packing houses.

A BIBLICAL REFERENCE IN A BASEBALL STORY: Syracuse Stars pitcher Willie Mains ran into trouble in the ninth inning yesterday. He lost a 5-2 lead and gave up some hits in the process. The article put it this way, In the ninth they fell upon him and smote him hip and thigh. Wonder if the hitters were swinging a "jawbone of an ass."

ROOSEVELT'S LASTING IMPRESSION: A sculptor (The Washington Post says it's "K.E. Frazer," but I think it's probably J.E. Fraser) is working on a bust of President Roosevelt, reportedly in the East Room at he White House. It's open to the public for a couple of hours each day, and plenty of people are watching the artist at work. It's supposed to be a likeness of TR when he was VP; I think it's supposed to be placed with other vice presidents in the Capitol. Here's what I think it's going to look like when it's finished.

June 7, 1906 (Thursday)

June 7

HOW THEY CAUGHT 'OLD JACK' CANNON: New York police finally nabbed "Old Jack" Cannon. The widely known burglar was spotted by someone when he was taking money from a room in the Astor House in New York City. He admitted early yesterday that he is, indeed, Cannon, whom an article called "one of the cleverest 'underworld' workers in this country." To back that up, the article in the Washington Post says Inspector Byrnes (meaning Thomas Byrnes, pictured at right, a NYC inspector who was fired by Teddy Roosevelt in 1895 -- Jacob Riis mentioned him in Chapter 13 of his book.) included him in his book on criminals. One of Cannon's early crimes was about 30 years back, when he shot detective Patrick O'Neil in Detroit's Cadillac Hotel. In the 1860s, he robbed a jewelry story of $50,000 in diamonds; he later stole $90,000 worth of jewels from a store in Mobile, Ala. He's pretty old now, but it apparently it took three men to subdue him.

A TICKLE IN THE THROAT LEADS TO A 'MIRACLE' IN CHICAGO: Louis Mendelson, who's 38, walked into his family's wholesale liquor store on Halstead Street in Chicago two days ago, and said, "Hello. Is this hot enough for you?" The comment stunned his brother Samuel so much that he failed to answer the question. Instead, he called two other brothers into the room so they could hear Louis repeat the question. They were stunned. That's because Lewis had not said a word for more than 20 years -- since he was 17. At that time he had contracted a fever. Somehow his vocal chords were paralyzed. Doctors couldn't explain it. It all changed on Tuesday. Samuel is quoted as saying, "I never expected to hear him utter a word again. If miracles are possible in these days I guess this must be one of them." An article in The Lincoln (Neb.) Evening News says, "He told his brothers he had felt a sudden tickling in his vocal chords and the impulse to attempt speech had grown so strong that he could not resist it." He left the business to take a walk and came back talking. And the topic, not surprisingly, was the weather, about which "everybody" talks.


A DEAL IN D.C.: Here's a semi-detached house (right) that's for sale in the Washington Heights area of Washington, D.C. Each has a servants' stairway and other distinctive interior features. A group is being sold, and each one costs $8,000. This is a good deal, the ad in today's Post says. "They cannot be duplicated for less than $10,000."

June 6, 1906 (Wednesday)

ANCHORS AWAY, AWAY, AWAY: The Senate passed the Navy bill, which allows for the construction of a large battleship. Senator Bacon worried how expensive it would become if we kept trying to keep pace with Great Britain. Senator Tillman said the Navy has been so careless or unlucky with its operations that he thought it unwise to make the ships too expensive. He took a deep breath and drew from a fable of Aesop (right) to express his worries: We are getting bigger and bigger like the frog that tried to emulate the ox and if we don't look out we'll pop.
It would be nice to get my hands on Townsend's translation of the fable. One version of the moral: Not all creatures can become as great as they think.

ONE PERSON'S MEAT: All this talk about bad meat coming from Chicago packing houses is having an effect on restaurants. One article says, with a New York dateline, "Pork products have been taken off the bills of fare at even the cheapest restaurant." The beneficiaries are the "physical culture and vegetarian restaurants." One manager of a vegetarian eatery told a reporter, "The recent revelations about the conditions in Chicago has been the entering wedge for people who were inclined to a vegetarian diet but who were ashamed to forsake meat for fear that they would be dubbed odd."

TAKE A JOKE AT BEDTIME; CALL ME IN THE MORNING: Here's a little joke printed in today's Washington Post, which got it from Puck:
Medical student: What did you operate on that man for?
Eminent surgeon: Five hundred dollars.
Medical student: I mean, what did he have?
Eminent surgeon: Five hundred dollars.

June 5, 1906 (Tuesday)

WHEN YOUNG WAS YOUNG: There's a fascinating tale in today's Post-Standard about the very beginning of the pitching career of Cy Young (right) -- back in 1890 when he was trying to get a chance to play with Canton (Ohio) of the Tri-State League. The writer of the little story, George Geer, was manager of the rival Mansfield team. One day, Mansfield visited Canton and an untried Young -- who was signed as a catcher -- was languishing on the Canton bench. Geer recalls:
During preliminary practice Young was seated on the bench wearing a very funny makeup in the way of a baseball uniform. The outfit was much too small for his big frame and as his spirits were at a low ebb the expression on his face tallied with his uniform. Altogether he was a forlorn looking individual.
Then the Mansfield catcher, named Fitzsimmons, stepped in. Geer recalls, "He was a good fellow who was always willing to do anyone a good turn." Fitzsimmons tried to cheer up the opposing team's player, but he didn't get far. Young told him he wanted a good tryout but was awfully homesick and was ready to retire before he even began his career. The next day, the Mansfield team showed up at the ballpark and noticed Young throwing to a catcher near the grandstand. They were amazed at his speed. When Canton's Manager Morton arrived, the Mansfield catcher (Fitzsimmons) took it upon himself to encourage Morton to give Young a tryout as a pitcher. A couple of days later, word came over the wires that Young had shut out the Wheeling team -- limiting them to one hit. This marked the beginning of a remarkable career as a baseball pitcher. The writer says that catcher, Fitzsimmons, deserves credit for getting Young's career started. Here's how Geer ends the article:
Manager Morton assured the writer that he had fully determined to send Young home, and Young has said numerous times that had he been released by the Canton Club he would have in all probability remained on the farm for the rest of his life.
That's a chilling thought to baseball fans everywhere. I'm not sure if this story is commonly known about Young's beginnings. If true, it's pretty neat.

ROOSEVELT REVEALS REVOLTING REPORT: President Roosevelt has sent to Congress the report of Charles P. Neill and James B. Reynolds that describes some of the horrid conditions at Chicago's stock yards. "Conditions are revolting," Roosevelt wrote. He points out that U.S. laws protect meat destined for other countries much better than they protect meat that's eaten domestically. This brings the meat-packing controversy to a new level. To help make the point, The Washington Post recently published a little poem that was reprinted in today's Post-Standard:
Mary had a little lamb,
And when she saw it sicken
She shipped it off to Packingtown,
And now it's labeled chicken.

THE CASE OF THE DUNNING DOCTOR: A Newark, N.J., doctor is in trouble. He was fined $50 yesterday in U.S. District Court for using the mails to send a threatening postal card. What was the threat? It turns out he sent a notice to a patient who owed money for treatment and threatened legal proceedings unless the account was settled. What's someone supposed to send to a debtor, flowers?