July 2, 1906 (Monday)

HUGE TRAIN WRECK IN ENGLAND: A train ferrying passengers from the steamer New York from Plymouth to London left the rails and smashed smashed into a milk train, leaving a couple of dozen dead. Many are from the United States. After picking up passengers from New York, (this was a so-called "boat train"), the train started on the 230-mile run to London and was soon going at least a mile a minute. The train went too fast into the curve in the track at Salisbury, which some consider one of the most dangerous curves in the world. At least 23 Americans were killed in the wreck. New York City Mayor George B. McClellan narrowly escaped death. He had planned to leave the steamer and take the train to London but his wife, with the help of a steward, convinced him to travel with her to Cherbourg (she was on her way to Paris) and then head to London. They assured him he would still keep a certain appointment he had. So, he was not on the train.

MARK TWAIN EXPLAINS HOWELLS' STRENGTHS AS A WRITERMark Twain praises the writing of W.D. Howells in the current issue of Harper's. Here's how he describes the way in which Howells stands out from other writers:
There is plenty of acceptable literature which deals largely in approximations, but it may be likened to a fine landscape seen through the rain. The right word would dismiss the rain, and then you would see it better. It doesn't rain when Howells is at work.

July 1, 1906 (Sunday)

PEOPLE SEEM SYMPATHETIC TO THAW: Articles about the killing of Stanford White continues to fill columns of newspapers. These circular images stretch across the width of a page of today's Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald. Accompanying these is this caption: "Episodes in the life of Evelyn Nesbit, the little Pittsburg (sic) girl whose great misfortune it was to be beautiful." The disc at the right shows a straw-hatted Thaw shooting architect Stanford White, whom many believe contributed greatly to the moral demise of many young women. The headline for the story says "The Street Car Juries have Already Acquitted Thaw." To illustrate the impulsiveness (and wealth) of Thaw, the story repeats the tale that he once wanted a certain kind of cigarette so badly that he did something that was utterly absurd. Here's the story:
"He is perhaps the only man who ever raced to Europe for a box of cigarettes. This is what Harry Thaw did in 1889, while a student in Wooster, O. Thaw had been sent by his mother to that school, and he did not like the brand of cigarette in the Ohio town. He left, saying he had gone to Europe to look up a brand of cigarettes which he had smoked there a year before. Thaw was gone three weeks, and came back with several trunks full of cigarettes and tobacco."

ONE MORE THING ABOUT THIS THAW-WHITE CASE: It just keeps coming and coming. A story in the Washington Post deals with tales that "girls" are telling about how they are treated by "wealthy and influential men" in New York City. These tales, which have been whispered since the shooting, now have the backing of sworn testimony. Young women are telling authorities that Stanford White was a major promoter of orgy-like gatherings. Here's a glimpse of a trick that one of the men would often play with the young women:
He would pack $10 and $20 gold pieces in ice until they were as cold as the ice itself. Then two other men would hold a girl fast while the first man dropped the chilled coins down the back or front of her frock. Her struggles and screams as the icy metal touched her flesh were supposed to be almost as good fun as the sight the victim afforded the company when she proceeded to disrobe to find the money.

CONGRESS GOES OUT ON A HIGH NOTE: As the 59th Congress drew to a close yesterday, the politicians broke into song, and not a few Rebel Yells. At one point, after some renditions of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," Republican whip Jim Watson of Indiana led "Dixie." Southern Democrats punctuated that with "the wildest chorus of "rebel yells" ever heard in the National Capital." Mississippi's John Sharp Williams took the tune of "Everybody Works But Father" and rewrote the lyrics to poke some gentle fun at speaker Cannon:
Everybody works but Cannon,
He sits around all day
Talking in his office,
In his fascinating way;
He's supposed to be our Speaker,
But Hinds really makes things go.
Everybody works in Congress
But good old "Uncle Joe."

June 30, 1906 (Saturday)

MAN CLAIMS TO HAVE MARIE ANTOINETTE'S HARP: The owner of a music store in Syracuse, N.Y., has put on display a harp that was supposedly strummed and plucked by Marie Antoinette (right), the wife of FranceÂ’s ill-fated King Louis XVI. After the revolt in 1789, the harp was lost. Then it ended up in the hands of the queenÂ’s former music teacher. From there it evidently passed to a family with the last name of Kendallbeck, who settled in Ithaca, N.Y. Architect William H. Miller bought it at an estate sale in that city. He did not know the harp's value. If it did belong to MA, it could be worth $12,000 -- unless, of course, he's stringing everyone along

HOW A YOUNG REPORTER CAN GO OUT IN BLAZES: The Washington Post, on its editorial page, offers a humorous look at what might be the first story turned in by an inexperienced reporter. It's called "Work of the Cub Reporter: What the City Editor Got in a Fire Report." It's way too long (perhaps the first problem a reader might notice) to reproduce here. But it's quite literary. Here's the first paragraph:
The angels of night had spread their ebony wings over the vast city, and a stillness as deep and profound as that which envelope the starlit, trackless prairie was brooding over the red-tiled cottages of Kimberly Crescent, wherein the weary workers worn out by their herculean labors, were snatching an all too brief interval of repose on the lotus-scented bread of Morpheus, when from out the void of silence there rang forth, with paralyzing suddenness, a stentorian shout of "Fire!"
And so in goes, and goes and goes. The news is, as they say, buried. A more typical beginning is not offered, but it might go something like: "A firefighter climbed to the second floor of a burning cottage and carried a woman to safety in Kimberly Crescent Friday night."

CONGRESSMAN DRAWS A KNIFE: Rep. George Southwick of New York and Charles Bartlett of Georgia had an argument that got serious in the House. It ended up that Bartlett brandished a pen knife when he thought Southwick was coming at him. The men were separated and no further damage was done. The Washington Post notes that "no arrests were made, nor was it necessary to take from its perch the silver mace,(right) which is the emblem of the majesty and the power of the House of Representatives."

June 29, 1906 (Friday)

STORIES ABOUT THAW CASE BRING A CHILL: The leader of New York City's Society for the Suppression of Vice (Mr. Anthony Comstock, left) plans to meet with accused killer Harry K. Thaw tomorrow morning. About 18 months ago, Thaw had a number of interviews with Comstock regarding the deeds of Stanford White, the architect Thaw shot on Monday night. Comstock and others investigated White. Yesterday, Comstock -- who's known for his hyperventilating -- unloaded on White. Here's a sample of what Comstock said:
During our many interviews Mr. Thaw told me of many young girls and women who had been ruined by the moral perverts who, clothed in respectability, were protected by an armor which was almost impossible to pierce.... Family influence barred our investigation....
Since I have been interested in this work I have found that the blackest mud is to be found behind the trees on which the sun shines brightest. In that shadow the slime lies thick.
Comstock says this case should lead to an investigation that "will cause one of the greatest scandals that New York has known in a generation."
As you probably remember, Comstock was severely criticized by George Bernard Shaw, who called Comstock's urge to censor "Comstockery."

THEY WERE SURELY FLOORED BY CONVICT'S ESCAPE: On June 15, the guards in the penitentiary in Richmond, Va., wondered what had become of a prisoner named Walter Stiars. They were sure he was still in the building and looked all over for him. They never found him. He had accumulated enough provisions and hid under the floor of one of the shoe factories in the penitentiary. Eventually, the guards gave up. The prisoner broke through a wall and escaped last night -- after about 12 days in his own kind of solitary.

THE RACE IS ON: The French steamer La Provence and the steamship Deutschland each left Europe yesterday. That means a race. Those knowledgeable of maritime matters say that this trip will be the supreme test of these "ocean greyhounds." On the last trip, the Deutschland averaged about 22.63 knots; La Provence averaged about 21.46.

June 28, 1906 (Thursday)

RUMOR CHURNS THINGS UP IN NYC: Eighteen New York City schools were closed yesterday thanks to some East Siders who feared for their children's safety. A rumor spread among parents that someone was systematically cutting the throats of children in the schools. Thousands of angry and panicky parents showed up at the schools, fought their way inside and demanded that their children be brought to them. Here's how the rumor got started: It appears that many children in the schools were suffering from adenoids, "a fungus growth which affects the hearing, speech and sight." The Board of Health decided that physicians (with the approval of children and parents) should operate. Yesterday, many children were treated. Here's the key paragraph in the story:
It is supposed that the children told their parents that they had had their throats cut, and that some ignorant person started the rumor among the parents to the effect that the children's throats were being cut in the schools.
Add to that some possible translation problems and the fact that many of the residents -- living in an area bounded my Mulberrry Bend and Astor Place -- were already familiar with the tendency of a government to commit such atrocities. Evidently, many felt there was a plan to massacre all the Jews in New York, "on the Russian plan." (To the right is a picture from last year of some killings in, I think, Ekaterinoslav.) Those who stormed the schools thought that the governmental authorities had decided to simplify that plan and focus the efforts on killing the children in the schools.

A CHINESE JUDGE COMES UP WITH A VARIATION ON THE DEATH PENALTY: In news out of Tientsin, viceroy Yuan Shin Kai put an interesting spin on a death-penalty sentence that five men faced. He thought about the extreme drought gripping the land and decided the men should pray for rain. He told them they would be set free if their prayers were answered -- by rainfall within three days. If it stayed dry, they were to die. Well, there was a small rainfall. Because of that success, five other men have received a similar chance. I guess the legal term would be that they faced an a-rain-ment.

HOW TO PROLONG YOUR LIFE, TIP No. 247 -- NEVER SHOOT A BULLET AT A SHACK FULL OF EXPLOSIVES: An Explosion at the mouth of the Detroit River blew Theodore Perry and Harry Rogers out of their sailboat. The blast turned the boat into kindling. Perry's clothes were stripped off his body; Rogers lost some of his clothing. The blast was felt as far as Amherstburg. So what happened? The two men were sailing along, shooting at objects along the shore of Fox Island. They did not know that the shack one of them targeted was filled with explosives used in dredging and blasting.

WHAT'S UP WITH HARRY K. THAW? Authorities are gathering evidence in the Sanford White killing. Harry K. Thaw is in custody. Plenty of stories are circulating about his life as people try to figure out why he shot the architect and try to discover the nature of the relationship between Mrs. Thaw (the actress Evelyn Nesbit) and the dead man. One article describes an ocean trip Thaw took in April and May -- to England -- without his wife. He evidently told his sister (the Countess of Yarmouth), who made the trip with him to England, that he had left his wife "for good." Evidently, he drank constantly on the way over, and gamblers fleeced him of $14,000. He came back on the steamer Kaiserin Auguste Victoria (right)on its maiden voyage, landing in New York on May 19.

June 27, 1906 (Wednesday)

I CAME, I THAW, I CONQUERED: If you think the shooting of architect Stanford White didn't amount to much news, here are the front pages from yesterday (left) and today's (right) Oakland Tribune newspaper. This is clearly something that will grip most newspaper readers during these days and weeks. An item from the article in today's Oakland paper mentions that yesterday morning's mail brought 17 letters to Thaw, who by then was in jail. "Most of them were from women," the article says. Some are wondering how to get word to Thaw's mother, who is on her way to England on the Minneapolis. The ship was about a third of the way to England at the time of the shooting and was probably out of range of the wireless at Sable Island yesterday. Authorities are trying to get word to her via cable to London and then by wireless transmission from he White Star Liner Majestic, which leaves Liverpool at 5 p.m. today. That ship should be within wireless distance from the Minneapolis on Friday. Wouldn't really want to be the steward delivering that message to her. For those who want more information about this case, there's plenty on hand.

A STORY OF HOW A PENNILESS AMERICAN TRIED TO DAZZLE SOME EUROPEANS: Some papers have reprinted an item from Ladies' Home Journal under the headline "A Clever American." I won't quote it all, but it describes what happened when a Frenchman, a German, and Englishman and an American got carried away bragging about their respective countries. To make a point, the Frenchman rolled up a dollar bill, held it to the coals of a fire and lit his cigar. That impressed the others, each of whom sought to outdo the Frenchman. The German lit his cigar with a $10 bill. The Englishman, despite thinking that the whole exercise was foolish, knew he couldn't afford to have the others think England wasn't the richest company in the world. So, he took a deep breath, rolled up a $100 bill and lit his cigar. Then they all looked at the American. The trouble was, he had NO MONEY in his pocket. How could he outwit them? His solution:
He quietly drew forth a check book, wrote a check for $10,000 on a prominent New York bank, duly signed it, rolled it up, touched it to the coals and lighted his cigar with it, while his confreres watched him curiously and intently.

June 26, 1906 (Tuesday)

A SHOCKER IN NEW YORK: Today's front pages drip with news of a stunning killing in New York City. Noted architect Stanford White (right)was shot on the roof garden of the Madison Square Garden last night. The shooter was Harry Thaw, (left) a Pittsburgh clubman. The killing took place during a performance of "Mamzelle Champagne." Many in the crowd thought the shooting was part of the performance. It wasn't. Thaw was arrested. This is likely to generate LOTS of interest throughout the country. Thaw shocked "society" about 14 months ago when he married actress Evelyn Nesbit (above). Thaw said White deserved to die because of the way he treated Nesbit. Witnesses aren't clear about exactly what Thaw told the policeman who arrested him. It was either "He ruined my LIFE and then deserted the girl" or "He ruined my WIFE and deserted the girl." Thaw also evidently handed the arresting police officer a $10 bill and asked him to let Andrew Carnegie know about the shooting. Thaw's father, a railroad magnate, left an estate of $40 million. Looks like Thaw could spare the $10. There's likely to be more news about this one. Wish I had space to tell you more. Something tells me this crime will interest people for a long time. Maybe a book. Maybe a film.

WHY PEOPLE GET A KICK OUT OF FOOTBALL: One paper reprinted an editorial in The Reader that points out why Americans like the game of football -- and why it will survive: "Destructive as football has been to life, limb and scholarship, it remains one of the chief baits of the colleges." People need something to yell for, the editorial says. It closes this way:
And the real reason that the public hangs on to football the way it does, in spite of the fearful tragedies associated with it, is because for the moment, every mother's son, on the grandstand or bleachers, feels the heart of youth leaping in him as he watches, breathless, the hotly contested game.

June 25, 1906 (Monday)

A NOVEL LOOK AT WRITING: There was a delightful item in yesterday's New York Times that I didn't have time to get to. That's why I'm mentioning it today. It's a very funny "expose" of the production of Dime Novels in New York. The writer, whose byline here is "The Author of 'Slick Parker'," compares the styles of a novice writer with a veteran. It's worth a look:
The Novice Dime-Novel Writer:
"We were pursued by Broncho Bill," Red Dave suddenly gasped.
"Broncho Bill!" hissed Shang Martin. "I'll get squar' with that man yet."
Still fleeing for their lives, they suddenly came upon a strange hut, through the door of which they unceremoniously burst. Inside a strange sight awaited them.
The Veteran Dime-Novel Writer:
"Curse!" gasped Red Dave suddenly.
"What is it?" Shang Martin asked quickly.
"We are pursued."
"What! Pursued?"
"Yes, curse the luck."
"Who is it?"
"I know him."
"You do?"
"Yes. Broncho Bill!"
"Broncho Bill!" Shang Martin almost shrieked. His face turned pale, even beneath the tanned skin.
"Ay, curse him!" hissed Red Dave (note: actually, I think the writer meant "Shang Martin"), with mighty oath. "But I'll squar' him yet."
Suddenly there burst upon their view a low log cabin, built in an open glade, under a cliff covered with furze brush and pines.
"What is that?" Shang asked quickly.
"A hut," answered Red Dave.
"Whose is it?"
"I do not know, but there is no time to lose."
"What shall we do?"
"We must go in. Broncho Bill is closing in on us. We must make a stand in yon hut and fight till the last drop."
Without stopping to inquire if any one lived in the hut Red Dave and his companion burst open the door with the stocks of their rifles.
Red Dave stepped inside.
Suddenly he started back with a hoarse cry of horror.
"What is it?" asked Shang Martin.
Inside the hut a horrible sight awaited their gaze.

A NEW METHOD FOR CATCHING SPEEDERS: Here's a headline that will stun you: "Police Using Autos to Catch Speeders." Why not? Bicycles have done the trick so far, but this might do the trick. The four-wheeled police officers nabbed 16 on the city's West Side. In most cases, the chauffeurs thought the police were simply fellow speeders. And, in a total disruption to High Society, a New Rochelle judge kept some speeders waiting so long that they had to miss their high class dinners. The article says, "The Judge was out for a spin on the police motor cycle, and the fact that several of the offenders were wealthy did not hurry him a bit.'
One of those detained with the implausibly named Witherbee Black of Black, Starr & Frost, jewelers on Fifth Avenue (see the firm's silver mark). Another, E.M. Willer of the New York Yacht Club was so upset that his chauffeur had been detained that he said he would spend $10,000 to contest the arrest. When Judge Van Auken returned at about 7 p.m., he heard the prisoner grumbling about the delay and the loss of their dinners. He said:
"What did you expect me to do to get back -- violate the speed laws?"