June 17, 1906 (Sunday)

WOUNDED KNEE SURVIVOR: A reminder of Wounded Knee surfaces today with news out of Beatrice, Neb. Yesterday, the Sioux chief Little Cloud and others came to the residence of Gen. L.W. Colby. They were looking for Lost Bird (right). Defying the odds, she survived the massacre in 1890. Colby raised her as his own. But now the chief, who says he is Lost Bird's father wants to see her. Evidently, she's in Washington, D.C., with Gen. Colby's ex-wife. Colby was conveniently not at his Nebraska home yesterday, when Little Cloud visited. Lost Bird is about 20. Her saga must be an incredible story. There's got to be a way to find out more about her.

OUTSTANDING (hopefully) IN THEIR FIELD: Things are getting desperate in Kansas. The wheat harvest begins tomorrow and the state's farmers are looking for 25,000 men to help in the fields. Fewer than 5,000 have come from the East. So, farmers are getting a bit desperate, evidently. In Salina, farmer John Freeman was searching for four men. He had no luck. Then he thought of the city jail. He found out that two prisoners were still in jail because they lacked the $5 fine for being drunk. Freeman paid their fines and "took them home with him to help save the wheat," an article said. The farmer probably reminded the formerly inebriated souls that wheat has at least one very interesting byproduct.

AN EAGLE MIGHT BE FEELING A LITTLE PAIN, BUT MANY IN OKLAHOMA ARE HAPPY: Yesterday, President Roosevelt signed the bill that clears the way for statehood for the combined Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory. The measure also allows for Arizona and New Mexico to be admitted as the State of Arizona. (Of course, the people in those two states still have to vote on it.) That's why Roosevelt used two pens. He wrote his first name with a gold pen, presented by people from Arizona. He scribed his family name with a quill, snatched from an eagle in Oklahoma.

June 16, 1906 (Saturday)

SUFFRAGISTS CREATE A ROW: A group of suffragists tried to break up a meeting in Northampton, England, yesterday that featured a speech by Herbert Asquith, chancellor of the exchequer. Just wen he began to speak, three women, Misses Kenny and Billington and Mrs. Rawood, stood and started screaming. When stewards rushed to quiet them, Miss Billington pulled a short whip from under her cloak and swung it wildly at a man's head and shoulders. (a Washington Post headline said she was "fighting like a tigress." The trio waved flags with the inscription "Votes for Women" (right). After the three were taken out of the hall someone referred to only as "Mrs. Pankhurst," presumably Emmeline, "came to the front of the women's gallery and started making demands." She was drowned out by shouts of "Throw her out." Asquith made his speech, but the news report neglects to say what he said.

GANS AND LEWIS EXCHANGE BLOWS: Maybe the suffragists could have used some help from someone like Joe Gans (left). But the boxing star was busy in Philadelphia yesterday, in a match with Harry Lewis. The two fought at the National Athletic Club. The news report says, "There was lots of action in every round, with both men exhibiting far more cleverness in getting away from blows than in delivering them." The six-rounder ended in a draw. The article added, "Although Gans put up a fast fight, he was a little bit slower than he usually is." Hope he's not getting ill or something.

SCHOOL vs. CIRCUS: Remember the dispute between the mayor and school board in Haverhill, Mass.? Well, Massachusetts Supreme Court Judge Hammond suggested on June 14 that Haverhill close its schools as the mayor wants. The mayor figured he had the authority. And, heck, the circus is in town. The school board didn't listen. The schools were open on June 15. And guess what? They were empty. Where were the kids? At the circus, or nearly 3,000 of them, anyway. Not surprisingly, "occasionally small groups of them were heard cheering the Mayor."

June 15, 1906 (Friday)

EVERYTHING'S NOT QUITE OK WITH OKLAHOMA STATEHOOD BILL: The Statehood bill passed the House yesterday, but the debate got heated. The New York Times called the session "the bitterest fight that Congress has known in many a day." The bill, which would make a state of Oklahoma (combining the Oklahoma and Indian territories, right) and, pending some voting, would lay the groundwork for Arizona and New Mexico to enter the union as one state, prompted the delegate from Arizona to imply that House Speaker Joe Cannon had handled the proceedings in such a way that he would have been thrown in jail in Arizona. He implied that Cannon had made a deal that would link Arizona to New Mexico. The Arizonan hinted at a $5 million bribe and vowed that Arizona and New Mexico would never enter the union as one, unified state.

JUST DON"T ASK US OVER TO EAT AT YOUR HOUSE: A committee from the National Association of Manufacturers has filed its own report about the cleanliness of the packinghouses in Chicago. Not surprisingly, the group finds very little wrong in the conditions in the big Chicago plants. A news story quotes from the group's statement, a portion of which says that the conditions,
"were far better than the average hotel kitchen or even the kitchens of a large percentage of private residences."
One newspaper calls this the "Whitewashing Committee."

WAITRESSES HAVE A TIP FOR RESTAURANT OWNERS: Waitresses are fed up in Chicago -- not with the meat packing plants, rather with rudeness. They seem to be getting it from their bosses. The Waitresses Union put a sheet with typewritten demands on the desk of the manager of every restaurant in the downtown area on Wednesday. It read:
"Employers shall ot use profane language to waitresses.
Waitresses shall not be reprimanded in the presence of guests."

June 14, 1906 (Thursday)

BRYANT TAKES A TUMBLE, BUT WHAT DID HE REALLY SAY: William Jennings Bryant, who's looking to run for president as a Democrat in 1908, continues his world tour. He is in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he will remain until tomorrow. He will give a Fourth of July speech in London. Meanwhile, his son has discontinued his travels with his dad and arrived yesterday in New York, aboard the steamer Kaiser Wilhelm II. Junior told fellow passengers some stories about his father, including a tale of the elder Bryant's encounter with a donkey in Manila. Evidently, Bryant fell off the beast. Passengers emerged with three versions of what the golden-tongued Bryant said after he smacked the ground -- and bear in mind that the donkey is emblematic of the Democratic party, and that he has already lost two strong bids for the presidency:
Version 1: "This is the third time I've been thrown by a donkey."
Version 2: "I hope this is not prophetic."
Version 3: "I think I won't ride the donkey again until I have clothes of a different color."


HE IS WHAT HE EATS: The sideshow act of the "Human Ostrich" has caught up with him. A performer who's also known as E. Wallace was operated on at City Hospital in Minneapolis -- to find some relief for a stomach ailment. Surgeons removed 57 nails, three or four pieces of glass and five pieces of wire. Wallace has said that he's been doing his I'll-eat-anything ostrich act for years and never felt any ill effects until recently. He's expected to recover, and there's no report that he asked a surgeon to leave the scalpel inside the stomach. The news item raises questions about the habits of ostriches (right). I also wish I knew more about how these glass-chewers do it.

THIS CIRCUS HAS A DISTINCTIVE SIDESHOW: Speaking of circuses, the mayor of Haverhill, Mass., has curried favor from school kids in his community by saying the schools should be closed tomorrow -- because the CIRCUS is COMING TO TOWN. The city's school board has asked the state's Supreme Court to prevent Mayor Wood from making such a move.

June 13, 1906 (Wednesday)

CIVIL WAR VETERAN MYSTERY No. 1: The Civil War keeps surfacing in the news. When the New York State Battlefields Commission visited the site of the Antietam battlefield recently, members got ahold of a badge that was dug up about four years ago. (That's the Antietam cemetery at right.) The badge is inscribed "S. Zielle, Company F, Forty-fourth New York Volunteers." State officials are hoping to locate Zielle or his heirs. They do know that Zielle was wounded at Fredericksburg about three months after Antietam.

CIVIL WAR VETERAN MYSTERY No. 2: While it might be tough to track down Zielle, authorities had little trouble finding R.D. Thomas of Rensselaer County in New York. He was drafted during the Civil War and hired a substitute. A couple of years ago, he found out that his substitute had died and that his own name was still on the rolls of the army. So, being a good patriot, he obtained a pension. He's been found out and he pleaded guilty to fraud in federal court yesterday.

FAMOUS DETECTIVE DIES: Canada has lost one of its great crime fighters, John W. Murray, chief detective for Ontario. He died suddenly yesterday. He wrote a very interesting memoir. The most noteworthy crime he dealt with was the killing of Benwell a young Englishman. Reginald Birchall was hanged for the crime. He also helped solve the Luke Dillon case. He dynamited the Welland Canal.


TRAFFIC STOP LEADS TO NEWS ABOUT WHEREABOUTS OF COMPOSER: Chauffeur August Pin was stopped by a police officer for speeding on New York City's Riverside Drive on the evening of June 11. The arraignment has revealed that he was driving Mrs. Reginald de Koven and others to a sanitarium in Yonkers to see composer Reginald de Koven (left), who's widely known for his light operas such as "Robin Hood," "Rob Roy" and "Happyland." Patrolman Goldman caught the speeders -- while riding his bicycle. He said they were going 20 mph. The chauffeur contended he never drives faster than 18. The judge, however, said he recalled a previous appearance by Mr. Pin in his courtroom for a similar charge. The judge held Pin for $500.

June 12, 1906 (Tuesday)

DID THEY 'DRINK LIKE A FISH'? More than 18,000 gallons of whisky leaked Sunday from a distillery near Frankfort, Ky. Much of it ended up in Benson Creek. Soon, farmers living at the creek noticed many fish “floating lazily on the surface or leaping playfully on the surface,” according to The Washington Post. The farmers harvested bushels of the fish and were puzzled about what they'd seen. Then they learned what had happened upstream at the distillery. They concluded the fish were drunk. It happened on a Sunday, but presumably no liquor ban was violated. I wonder what a drunken fish might taste like.

UP, UP AND AWAY, ALMOST: Aeronaut Walter Wellman expects to lead his expedition from Paris on Thursday or Friday. The group will go to Spitzbergen for final preparation for the dash to the North Pole. Test firings of the balloon’s engine went well on Saturday. The balloon, however, has not yet been inflated. This is one trip to keep an eye on, but don't hold your breath. It's getting late in the season for such an expedition.

TRY, TRY AGAIN: Despite efforts to convince Gov. Curtis Guild (right) to intervene, the state of Massachusetts successfully electrocuted Charles Louis Tucker at 12:12 a.m. today. Well, that's when they shot the first current through him. Prison doctors pronounced the convicted murderer dead at 12:19. One article says, "Three applications of the current were made." Here's a more detailed description:
After the first application of the electricity, Dr. Joseph McLaughlin, the prison surgeon, made an examination and announced that the pulse was still beating. After a current had been applied a second time, the surgeon detected a movement of the heart, but when the current was applied a third time Tucker was prounounced dead.
Tucker was convicted in the murder of Mabel Page in her home in Weston on March 31, 1904.