Oct. 16, 1906 (Tuesday)

NUDES IN THE NEWS: The fuss over this summer's raid on the offices of the Art League is in the news in today's paper.
Anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock (left)appeared yesterday in Jefferson Market Court (right) in Manhattan to pursue his case against the Art Students League and its use of the mails to distribute its magazine, which includes some (gasp) nudes. When Comstock entered the courtroom numerous art students pulled out their sketch pads and did renderings. For their health, I assume they drew him with his clothes ON. At one point a reporter happened to notice some of the magazines that were on the evidence table. The reporter glanced at it. Comstock snatched it out of his hand.
"Don't you look at it," he said. "I'll let no one see it." Comstock told the judge that during his visit to the league headquarters, he saw young people looking at the art, which included nudes. Here's how he described his HORROR: " There were a number of young people looking at those pictures. Were they studying those pictures from motives of art? No, Sir; they were not. They were actually enjoying them; young people enjoying the picture of two unclothed human beings!"
Another good reason, I guess, NOT to have Michelangelo's David (left) on display anywhere near the eyes of young people, huh?

LYNCHING CASE COMES TO THE SUPREME COURT: The Supreme Court continues its looking into the lynching in March of Ed Johnson in Chattanooga. More than 20 people from that city were in Washington, D.C., yesterday to face contempt-of-court charges related to the lynching, which took place after a judge had granted Johnson a stay of execution. (This is the scene of the lynching in Chattanooga.) The case is U.S. v. Sheriff Shipp.

Oct. 15, 1906 (Monday)

WHITE SOX CLEAN UP: The Chicago White Sox defeated the cross-town Cubs, 8-3. Now, the Sox are the world champions. (The picture above is from the game.) There was some controversy. The Sox scored their first run on a double. Cubs right fielder Frank Schulte (right), however, had a beef. He said he was under the ball -- ready to catch it -- when someone in the crowd pushed him. Umpire McLaughlin stood by his ruling that the hit was a double. Based on receipts, the winning Sox will split $25,051,53 -- among 21 PLAYERS. The 19 players of the Cubs will split about $8,350. (To get 2006 dollars, multiply it by about 20.

TEENAGER MAKES SOME (AIR)WAVES IN NEW HAVEN: A 13-year-old named Malcolm Doolittle has attracted the attention of The New York Times. Evidently, he has rigged up a transmitter in his house in New Haven, Conn., and can speak -- by wireless -- with people up to 100 miles away. He got started by sending messages from one part of the house to another. Then, the Times says, he talked his dad into spending $100 to set up a 75-feet-tall receiving mast. Now, some ships in Long Island Sound are in touch with him. He will stick with this and have a wonderful career in broadcasting.

Oct. 14, 1906 (Sunday)

IT SOUNDS LIKE BUTCH AND SUNDANCE DID IT, BUT THIS TRAIN ROBBERY WAS IN RUSSIA: Passengers of the Trans-Siberian Railroad who arrive recently in St. Petersburg tell a tale of a robbery that happened on Oct. 4 near the city of Ufa. The robbers got away with about a quarter of a million rubles. As the train approached an aqueduct bridge, it slowed to a stop. Some soldiers entered the train. Passengers thought they were there to escort the train across the bridge. Instead, they were among a group of 30 men who proceeded to overcome the government guards and take off with money bags. The leader communicated with the men by yelling through a speaking trumpet. One government messenger complained that some of his own money -- 400 rubles -- was mixed with the rest of the government's money. The leader told him to leave his name and address with the robbers, who would send him his money. Before they left, the robbers left bandages and surgical dressings alongside the guards and messengers who were wounded on the train.

WHITE SOX EDGE CLOSER TO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: The one-time "hitless wonders," Chicago White Sox, pounded the ball hard and often enough to edge the Cubs, 8-6, and take a 3-2 led in games in the "world's championship series" yesterday at the White Sox' ball park. (The picture above was taken during the game, I'm pretty sure.)The game lasted longer than most. The box score lists 2 hours 4 minutes; one game story says it lasted quite a bit longer, adding the game "ran till gloaming without a pause. It took so long to play it, nearly three hours of performing time, because of the long hits that kept bubbling and bubbling into the eager throng." Four of those hits, all doubles, were by Frank Isbell. One trouble for the White Sox was that their fielding was lousy. They committed five errors. Evidently, throwing to the first baseman was a problem: "The Sox did not seem to locate Donohue (sic) although Jiggs is a tall man. (He's 6 feet 1 inch tall.) They kept hurling the ball astray and shunting it far out into the public." The Sox can wrap it all up today.

THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU BREAK OFF AN ENGAGEMENT WITH A MAN FROM BAVARIA: According to a report in the Pittsburg Dispatch (That's how the city's name was spelled in 1906) -- via a cablegram from Munich -- a jilted lover received quite a "payback" from the woman who left him. The man had showered his fiancee with baubles and jewels and had often treated her to feasts nearly every evening. However, she ended up with another man. So the abandoned man sued to recover the property -- the pins and brooches and rings and bracelets. He added to the suit a demand for repayment for the thousands of glasses of beer and links of sausages that she had consumed. The judge ordered the fraulein to return the gifts. Also, to her amazement, she had to pay him $100 for the beer and sausages she had consumed.

Oct. 13, 1906 (Saturday)

FOOTBALL STOMPS BASEBALL: Those who think the transition from baseball to football seasons has been gentle might get a kick out of this cartoon from today's Fort Wayne Times, "Base Ball Gets Its '23'." Even with the new 1906 rules that apparently usher in a less brutal game of football, the notion here clearly is that football retains its gangbuster ways and baseball is powerless to stand in its way. This, even though the "world's championship series" continued in Chicago on the 12th. The Cubs won 1-0, thanks to the two-hit pitching of Mordechai Brown. The Cubs' run scored in the seventh, when, according to one article, "the strong rays of the sun were just a little partial to the Cubs." Evidently, the White Sox right fielder Ed Hahn was temporarily blinded by the sun, allowing Frank Chance to reach first base on a single. He eventually scored the game's only run. Now it's square, two games apiece.

MEMORIES OF STEPHEN CRANE: Today's editions of The Post-Standard includes an article by Lew Collings that reflects on the writing career of Stephen Crane (left) and his brief stint as a "student" at Syracuse University. The tale mentions something that's carved in the wood of a cupola atop his fraternity house at 310 Ostrom Ave. It reads: "Sunset, May, 1891 -- Stephen Crane." That evidently contains more information than his academic record at the university, which is blank. Collings wrote:

"Many are the stories of the brief career of Crane as a student at Syracuse University, but most of them agree in the fact that he found more of interest in the doings of men in the city about him than he did in the cut and dried courses prescribed by the curriculum.
"He neglected the classroom to haunt the newspaper office.... His genius, aptly characterized as 'chaotic,' despised precedent. Like many another of greater talents he deliberately shunned the academy to learn his lessons in the school of experience."

That approach to education certainly cuts tuition costs considerably.

THEY'RE GETTING WORRIED ABOUT VOLCANO IN MARTINIQUE: Communication seems to be cut between Martinique after an eruption of the volcano Mt. Pelee. The extent of the damage is not known but the news prompted the editors of the New York Times to include a lengthy recap of the eruption of 1902, which caused an incredible amount of damage. Reports out of Guadeloupe and St. Thomas sound disturbingly similar to reports linked to the early stages of the 1902 disaster.

Oct. 12, 1906 (Friday)

RUSSELL TUSSLES WITH NOTION OF FALSE, HYPED PUBLICITY: Actress Annie Russell (right) has apparently decided to tear up any script churned out by an overzealous press agent. She wrote a letter to the New York Times, and the paper printed it today. Whether the person is called a "press agent," a "promoter of publicity" or "idea engineer," they are a "modern evil," she writes. Why, she wonders, would someone want "an officious individual who considers it his duty to PRY into the PRIVATE LIFE of players, to RECORD their every action, to EXAGGERATE and INVENT where realities do not exist, and to label the output 'NEWS' she wonders. Remember, she's not talking about the journalists, necessarily. It's the publicists. She knows that there's a legitimate news story when it comes to her appearance as Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." But she decries the efforts of some to tell lies about her exploits. One tale she mentions: that she has been hunting bears in the Maine woods. Not true. She closes with a thought, which puts the "blame" where it really belongs: "I enter my protest against the vivid minded, hysterical press agent as one who wonders whether the newspapers consider this plague a necessity."

A CALL FOR A BATTLE FOR (YAWN) THIRD PLACE: As everyone knows (right?) two teams from Chicago are playing for the world's championship series. Some people in New York are pleading with the two New York teams to get together and play each other. Each finished in second place, so why not play for bragging rights. The latest to weigh in is writer Henry Chadwick (right), whom the New York Times compares to the eloquent Nestor of Greek mythology. Cold weather is no excuse, the Times says. After all, more than 12,000 turned out for the first game of the championship series in Chicago, when it was 43 degrees. The paper asks, "are not the partisans of the two New York teams not made of as stern stuff as the local partisans of the two Chicago teams?" Looks like Chadwick and the paper are stirring up a massive case of "Who Cares?" Who in New York cares about third place, anyway?

WHITE SOX SLIP BY CUBS THANKS TO 'SPITBALL': The underdog White Sox beat the Cubs, 3-0, yesterday to take a 2-1 lead in the "world's championship series." An article in the Decatur, Ill., paper said today that White Sox pitcher Eddie Walsh (right -- that's a White Sock, not a stripper's leg, in the upper left hand corner of the picture) had his best pitch working well. It said, "Walsh's 'spitball' was working to perfection and he fanned twelve of the Cubs, some of their best batters falling victims to his elusive twisters." George Rohe drove in the White Sox' three runs with a two-out triple. It was controversial because it bounded into the "overflow seats" in left field. The Cubs thought it should have been called a double. But the rules, as explained to readers, is that the runner gets a double if the ball goes into the crowd in foul territory, after landing in fair territory. If the ball goes into the crowd and never enters foul territory, it's a three-bagger.

Oct. 11, 1906 (Thursday)

JILTING LEADS TO MURDER IN A SCHOOL HALLWAY: About 60 pupils watched or listened in horror as Harry Smith, 25, put a pistol to the head of teacher Mary Shepard, 22, and shot her dead in the hallway of South Euclid School in the Cleveland area yesterday afternoon. Students ran out of the school screaming. The shooter then boarded a trolley car for Warrensville and told the conductor what he had done. He added, "They'll have to kill me to get me." At home he told his father of the crime. When officials arrived, he hid behind a barn. Two hours after he had pulled the trigger and killed Mary, he turned the gun on himself and did the same. It turns out that Smith and Shepard were fourth cousins. He had wooed her for quite a while. She had recently rejected him.

CUBS BOUNCE BACK, THANKS TO REULBACH: The National League champion Chicago Cubs, heavily favored to win the world's championship series, bounced back from the opening-game defeat by trouncing the White Sox, 7-1. The temperature hovered around the freezing mark throughout the game. In summarizing the game, the Times said, "[Harry] Steinfeldt's batting and [Ed] Reulbach's (left) pitching were easily the features of the game, always excepting the blue fingers and vapory breath of the players."
Note: Reulbach is credited historically with pitching a one-hitter in the game. But today's box score in the Times notes two hits -- one by Jones and one by Donohue.

Oct. 10, 1906 (Wednesday)

HEARST TARGETS UPSTATE NEW YORK WITH SOME CIRCULAR ARGUMENTS: William Randolph Hearst (right), who's in the midst of a robust campaign for governor of New York, has come up with a distinctive way of reaching voters in the remoter regions of the state.
An article in today's New York Times says Hearst made some recordings recently at a "talking machine place on Broadway." A mechanic was on hand who kept the cylinders moving -- in pace with the flood of Heart's oratory. As he spoke into the graphophone, someone rolled a camera to record images of him talking. Now he has a dozen cylinders full of his "greatest hits" of the campaign trail. The New York Times calls it a "12-cylinder harangue." The film and cylinders will be distributed around the state so he can try and make some inroad in Charles Hughes' base. If the Hearst campaign can make enough copies, these cylinders might be distributed the same way some vaudeville music gets around. The Times describes the distribution this way: "Cylinders containing the music are circulated much as books from a circulating library, from a central exchange in the nearest town. By utilizing these agencies Mr. Hearst will be able to reach the very fireside with his speeches."

COULD ENGLAND POSSIBLY SELL ITS SOUL? A for-sale sign on Glastonbury Abbey -- one of Britain's most treasured ruins -- has attracted the attention of one or more people from (horrors!) the United States. The principals are not named in a short article on the front page of today's New York Times. Nor is the selling price for the abbey, which is shown at right, with the ventilation system. But someone has made an offer. And the owners, whoever they may be, are considering it. The place is, indeed, special. Legend has it that the founder of the English Christian Church, Joseph of Arimathea, stopped at the place and stuck his staff in the ground. It supposedly took root and flowered and that generally got the attention of many. This also is reputed to be the site of the grave of King Arthur. The buildings, or what remains of them, were begun in the reign of Henry II. It's certainly a place that's worthy of someone's attention. But, sell it to someone from the U.S.???????

WHITE SOX NIP THE CUBS, 2-1: The underdog White Sox beat the Cubs in the opening game of the world's championship series yesterday afternoon, in a game that consumed all of 1 hour and 45 minutes. About 12,000 saw the game. One headline in The Post-Standard said "Jack Frost Helps Americans to Winning Run." Frost is, of course, not to be found on the roster. The cold weather affected play, with snow falling several times. The cold weather was partially to blame for a miscue by Cubs catcher Johnny Kling (right) that allowed the Sox to score the first run of the game. On a bunt play in the top of the fifth inning, pitcher Mordecai "Three-Fingered" Brown tried to flip the ball to Kling -- one of the best defensive catchers in the game -- to nail a runner coming home from third base. The article says, "Kling's frost-bitten fingers refused to close around the ball." In other words, Kling lacked cling.

Oct. 9, 1906 (Tuesday)

IT'S NOT NICE TO MAKE THE KAISER MAD: Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II (right) has found out something that's enough to make his mustache curl. He's upset about the recently published "Memoirs" by Prince Hohenlohe. He's especially disgruntled about the references to the kaiser's dismissal of Bismarck. The kaiser immediately contacted one of the sons of the late chancellor, thinking that son was behind the publication. He accused the son, Philip, of showing "gross tactlessness'' -- something the often-blundering kaiser should know something about. Evidently, Philip ratted out his younger brother, Prince Alexander -- who would be well advised to keep his telephone off the hook.

SEEING IS BELIEVING:The New York Times has an editorial that deals with the intriguing work of a couple of American inventors. J.B. Fowler and William H. Thompson have, independently, come up with a device that allows someone to SEE the person they are talking with over the TELEPHONE. Their work is described in the October edition of Cassler's Magazine. They have applied for patents and are not eager to describe their invention in detail. Coincidentally, each man has come up with the same name for their device: "Televue."

A SPEEDER BY ANY OTHER NAME.... In the West Side Court of Manhattan yesterday, Magistrate Steinert got a chance to expand his automobile-related glossary thanks to Bicycle Patrolman Haggerty. Here's the exchange, according to an item in The New York Times:
Judge: "What is the case?"
Policeman: "He's a speed merchant, your Honor."
Judge: "A what?"
Policeman: "A speed merchant -- a shadow chaser -- a Long Island hummingbird."
Judge: "Stop! Stop! You'll have me blowing a horn in a minute... Well, what was this er -- Standard Oil consumer doing, officer?"
Policeman: "I was standing at 105th Street and Central Park West when a heavy gust of wind hit my face and I followed the atmospheric disturbance and arrested James Walsh of 555 West Forty-fourth Street for exceeding the trolley car speed."
Judge: (to prisoner) "I'll have to hold you in $100 bail, (to policeman) and officer, you have missed your calling. You had better go into the newspaper business or be a George Ade."

Oct. 8, 1906 (Monday)

HEARST CARTOONIST BRINGS ARABIAN HORSES INTO THE FOLD: The first Arabian mares ever imported to America are now at the estate of cartoonist Homer Davenport (right) in Morris Plains, N.J. Davenport's humor is no confined to his pen. He speaks with humor, too, as he did with a writer from the New York Times who visited the estate to see the horses. Davenport said, "The experiment of trying to bred Arabian horses in New Jersey, which in spite of Hoboken, isn't any desert, will be watched by horsemen all over the world." In addition, he pointed out a slave whom he had been given by a tribal leader. The young lad is to serve Davenport until the death of one of the horses to whom the seller was particularly attached. "Of course, I pay him New Jersey wages, now," Davenport said. All things going well, the imports will add to Davenport's remarkable legacy in the Arabian horse field.

CHICAGO TAKES CENTER STAGE IN BASEBALL'S GRAND FINALE: An all-Chicago world series is ready to begin, with the White Sox and Cubs preparing to square off. Many predict that the hard-hitting Cubs with overpower the White Sox, known as the "hitless wonders." But Fred Barber, writing in yesterday's New York Press thinks otherwise. He thinks the Sox, led by Fielder Jones, will put up a fight: "Jones' men have a lower team batting average than any other club in their league, but they are FOXY FIELDERS, and they have developed to a fine art the faculty of netting a winning total of runs on a minimum of bingles." He adds, "The American League standard-bearers are might apt to upset calculations." If you want to keep yourself in suspense and wait to find out what happened in the series, don't click here. The first game is Oct. 9.