April 24, 1907 (Wednesday)

QUAKER DONATES $1 MILLION FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG BLACKS: A Philadelphia Quaker named Anna T. Jeanes (right) has donated $1 million to set up an endowment to help southern states educate young black students. According to the front-page article in today's New York Times, this gift "is said to be by far the largest single gift for public elementary school purposes ever donated by any philanthropist in this country." Miss Jeanes is older than 80 and is the last member of a long-established Quaker family.

YALE STUDENTS ARE TOO ROWDY: For about a month, an orchestra has played music in the Yale University dining hall, presumably as an aid to digestion. However, the students' method of showing their appreciation has caused a problem at the university. According to today's New York Times, the students have BROKEN hundreds of dollars' worth of furniture and glassware. Each student has received a notice to "hereafter confine their applause to handclapping and yelling."

JACK LONDON BEGINS HIS CRUISE: A brief article on the front page of today's Washington Post notes that author Jack London left San Francisco yesterday on what he hopes to be a 6-year trip around the world. He's doing it on board the "Snark" (shown above at Honolulu in August of 1907). The cruise will become a a wonderful book.

April 23, 1907 (Tuesday)

ITALIAN CHURCH REBUFFS KING AND QUEEN OF ENGLAND: England's King Edward VII and his wife spent some time sightseeing in Naples, Italy. They went to the Church of Santa Ciara. They found it closed because the monks running the place were enjoying their midday meal. Someone with the royal party knocked on the door. Someone inside, presumably a monk, thought a beggar had come to the door. The monk said, "Begone in peace; there is nothing for you here."
King Edward thought this was funny and gave a royal chuckle.
The visitors knocked again. The voice inside said, "Don't bother me; this is no time for sightseeing. The brothers are at lunch."
At this point, an Italian general passed by. He recognized the king and ordered the porter to open the door. Once the porter knew whom he had tried to turn away, according to The New York Times, "his consternation and embarrassment knew no bounds."

U.S. IMMIGRATION OFFICERS BAN IMMIGRANT BECAUSE OF HIS "LAZY BUG": A couple of days ago, Deili Valentia arrived in Boston from Italy aboard the S.S. Canopic (above). According to one news report, "Passengers from the steerage on the way over noticed that he was about the laziest person they had ever sen. He yawned continually and would fall asleep an hour after breakfast." He is being detained at Carney Hospital in Boston because officials say he is afflicted with the "lazy bug." According to one article, Immigration authorities are detaining him for fear that he may spread the disease in this country."
Of course, if his "lazy bug" is really contagious wouldn't everyone on steerage have it?

April 22, 1907 (Monday)

LONGBOAT DESCRIBES HIS MARATHON WIN -- AND NOTES THAT HE WAS HAPPY THAT HE DIDN'T GET CAUGHT BEHIND THE FREIGHT TRAIN: Today's Washington Post has a lengthy description in by Thomas Longboat, the Onondaga Indian from Canada, of his recent victory in the Boston Marathon. Longboat, whose life story is both heart warming and heart wrenching (that's him on the right of the photo at the right -- during World War I, when he was a runner for the Canadian army.) His first-person account of the race is interesting. Here's my favorite section:
The fact that others started out ahead of me did not bother me in the least, but you bet I was glad when I got by that freight train in South Framingham. I heard it roaring behind me and I had to chuckle when I thought of the others getting shut off.
Second place went to Bob Fowler, from the U.S. He was one of the runners who had to WAIT FOR THE TRAIN. Longboat is pretty sure he would have won anyway. He set a course record, after all.

BASEBALL ATTENDANCE REMAINS A BIG MYSTERY: Today's Washington Post includes an interesting note from J. Ed Grillo in his "Sporting Comment" column. He explains why the Post no longer prints the attendance figures with its box scores:
The Post has not and will not publish the attendance as it is given out by the club owners, for the reason than such figures are very unreliable.
He writes that the Post became wary of the numbers after the first world's championship games were played a couple of years ago. Because the championship was run by a national group, the attendance figures were accurate. That prompted doubts about regular-season numbers because the attendance at the championship games was no more than 25,000 -- and the stadiums were full. That provides sportswriters with the clear indication that regular-season reports of 30,000 or 40,000 people attending a game in New York or Chicago were likely greatly inflated. Grillo concludes:
Club owners do not want to give out the correct attendance because they do not believe that it is anybody's business but their own, and for this reason The Post refuses to accept the inflated figures which are given out.
Wonder if newspaper circulation figures are handled the same way.

SOCIETY WOMAN OBTAINS A PILOT'S LICENSE: A woman who is prominent in Boston society has joined the very limited ranks of females who are qualified to pilot a boat in American waters. The accomplishment is worthy of a front-page article in today's New York Times. However, it's not quite worthy enough for the article to give the first name of the woman. She is the current Mrs. William Starling Burgess, whose husband is an accomplished ship designers. The article also mentions that she is the former Mrs. Henry Higginson.
I THINK it's Rosamond Tudor, a fairly widely known artist. She and Burgess had a daughter, Tasha, who was to become an accomplished artist.

HER HOUSE IS ON WHEELS, BUT I WOULDN'T EXACTLY CALL HER 'TRAILER TRASH': Today's Washington Post casts an ogling eye at the private Pullman car used by actress Olga Nethersole (right). She rolled into Washington about 6:20 p.m. yesterday, for a performance tonight in the nation's capital. Her private car is nearly 80 feet long. It includes a drawing room, a dining room, two bed rooms, a library, bathroom and kitchen... plus a little conservatory where she is cultivating some California plants. Her bed room is paneled in pale blue silk, with cream-colored wainscoting. There's a BABY GRAND PIANO in the drawing room. The Post adds,
The domestic details of Miss Nethersole's car are as precise as the most exacting Washington home, the meals being served at stated times.

April 21, 1907 (Sunday)

YES, VIRGINIA, SOMETIMES NEWSBOYS OVERSELL A STORY: A small item in today's New York Times indicates that some newsboys are "faking" big news stories so they can sell "extras" of their papers. This hawking of "fake extras" has generated some loud complaints from people on the quiet residential streets of Manhattan's west side. Here's a paragraph about the problem caused by newsboys (similar to the ones shown above, in Chicago, in 1904):
A man in upper Broadway last night bought one of these alleged "extras" and, finding it only the regular night edition, with big headlines built on nothing, remonstrated. But the newsboy gleefully pocketed the penny and in response to the remonstrances heaped abuse upon the purchaser.
Also generating complaints are the pre-breakfast and post-bedtime yelling of the newsboys. The paper reports,
The hoarse cries of the newsboys reach the deafest ears, and measures are being discussed for stopping the ill-timed cries.

THE STRANGE TALE OF A WAIF FOUND IN A SNOWSTORM: A couple of weeks ago, a policeman in Jersey City, came across a snow-covered bundle lying on the street. He poked it. It stirred. He found a young girl inside -- maybe 3 years old. No parent has claimed her. Now she is in the care of Jersey City's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. An official at the society decided it was time to take some steps to see about arranging for an adoption.
According to today's New York Times, "A newspaper in which he asked some responsible person to do that fell into the hands of Mrs. John Singleton at the Ansonia (right)." (Mrs. Singleton's husband was one of the founders of the Yellow Aster or Rand mine in California.) Now, the Singletons have set in motion the process for adopting the child. The rich couple, childless until now, have offered the girl some red shoes, a doll that's bigger than herself and a trip to Europe. The society likes the idea but wants to keep the lost girls a little longer, to allow the parents a little more time to claim her. There's a competing request for adoption, though. It's from a woman who is a cleaner in the Salvation Army Headquarters on Fourteenth Street. Hmmmm.... the Ansonia or the Salvation Army....?

MOB OF WOMEN TAKE THE LAW -- AND SOME BUGGY WHIPS -- INTO THEIR OWN HANDS: At a farm near Roscoe in Madison County, Ohio, Mrs. George H. Ward died. A little while before that, she had filed a petition for divorce -- alleging that her husband was cruel to her. The day after her death, the husband buried his wife at his farm -- digging the grave himself so he could save some money. When he was finished, a group of 16 women descended upon him and beat him with buggy whips, according to a small article in today's New York Times. As they whipped him, they cried "Beast," "Brute" and "Dog."

A MOVIE STUNT GOES HORRIBLY WRONG: You've heard of movies in which someone -- usually a heroine -- is tied to railroad tracks by someone -- usually a villain. A similar scene was enacted recently near Croydon in Great Britain. An actor named William Zeitz, while portraying a signalman for a railroad, was tied to a railroad track by some men, portraying robbers. It was all done, according to an article in today's Times, for "a moving picture representation of a train wrecking scene." When a train came along, it was supposed to stop. But it kept on going, killing Zeitz -- "owing to an error in the signalling."

April 20, 1907 (Saturday)

FAMINE DRIVES MILLIONS TOWARD DEATH IN RUSSIA: Word from Russia is bleak. A Dr. Kennard (probably Howard Percy Kennard) was sent to that nation by the Society of Friends to investigate the conditions during the current famine.
Today's New York Times carries his report about the conditions of peasants (a fairly well-fed group is shown above, probably about seven years after these events). Here's an excerpt:
This is the worst famine Russia has known. No fewer than 20,000,000 people, distributed throughout the southeastern provinces, cannot live, without aid, to see another harvest, and I may say that this figure has been not only approved by the Zemstvo organization but also by the government itself.
He writes that money will be needed to feed these millions by the end of July. As an example of the desperation, he writes, from all over the southeastern provinces reports are coming in of young women and girls having to sell themselves to obtain food.
He adds that the zemstvo workers can be trusted with donations. "The most is made out of every farthing," he writes.

IT'S ABOUT TIME FOR ... CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM: Evidently, President Theodore Roosevelt has had it with campaign spending. Today's Washington Post explains his position:
The (New York) Tribune reports that the President is convinced that the raising of campaign funds by popular subscription is an evil since a large share of the money is paid by individuals and corporations who expect favors in return.
Today's Washington Post worries that legislation won't do it. One problem is that the states control the elections. However, the Post says the public can clean things up, without the need for laws:
When the public reaches the point where it demands of campaign committees that they shall reveal the source of all contributions and account for every dollar of disbursements, there will be little need of legislation.

LONGBOAT MAKES SHORT WORK OF BOSTON MARATHON: Thomas Longboat, an Onondaga runner from near Toronto, breezed through the Boston Marathon (25 miles according to today's Washington Post) and finished first in 2 hours, 24 minutes and 20.8 seconds. He defeated about 115 others in what's considered the closest finish ever in the race. Robert Fowler finished about three minutes behind. According to the Post,
Longboat's performance this afternoon stamps him as one of the most notable distance runners the world has ever known.
As he approached the finish, running along Commonwealth Avenue and Exeter Street, he was cheered by "fully 100,000 people who, despite the rain, had waited on the streets for hours."

April 19, 1907 (Friday)

CHINESE STUDENT WINS DEBATING PRIZE AT COLUMBIA: V.K. Wellington Koo (shown at left, later in his life) took the top prize in the annual Philolexian Literary Society debate at Columbia yesterday, according to a story on the front page of today's New York Times. The article says that Koo has made a big impact on the university because, "unlike the rest of his countrymen there, he takes part in every form of student activity." He is popular. His victory was "applauded by all the undergraduates." Koo is regarded as a leader among Chinese students in the U.S. He runs The Monthly Chinese Bulletin, which is circulated among about 500 Chinese students in this country. The article says Koo "is fitting himself for the diplomatic service of China." And, this happens.

TIMES OBJECTS TO CRITICISM OF NEWSPAPERS: Today's New York Times includes an editorial titled "Newspapers Are Not So Bad". The piece is in response to a comment by James Bryce, (right) Britain's ambassador to the U.S., that newspapers have contributed greatly to the ill feeling between nations that often leads to war. In summary, "The papers, according to him, report back and forth across the order or across the sea every spiteful utterance that tends to stir up passion and they omit the utterances that make for good-will."
The Times begs to differ, politely, by saying (with emphasis added):
It is a fact, of course, that the newspapers do much, perhaps too much, in the way of giving publicity to STATEMENTS WHICH WISE MEN WOULD NOT UTTER, but, unless they invent the unkind things they print, we do not see that they can be severely -- and fairly -- blamed for what they reveal of this nature, since it is their business to keep their readers informed about what is going on everywhere, and the state of public feeling in foreign lands is surely a legitimate matter of news.
The Times takes the argument further:
Heaven knows -- and the other place, too, probably -- that the newspapers are not perfect yet, but it could be successfully maintained, we think, that they PREVENT FAR MORE QUARRELS OF EVERY SORT THAN THEY CAUSE...."
It's an interesting point. Wonder if it could be demonstrated.

April 18, 1907 (Thursday)

FLORIDA POLITICIANS VOTE TO TAKE THE VOTE AWAY FROM BLACKS: Members of Florida's State Senate yesterday took a big swipe at the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by voting to disenfranchise blacks in Florida. The man behind the resolution is John Beard of Pensacola. According to today's New York Times, he spoke at length and said the amendments were, in a paraphrase, "irregularly adopted and hence illegal." The Senate backed it by a 23 to 5 vote. The House is expected to approve the resolution without a dissenting vote. It looks like this will head toward the U.S. Supreme Court. A "great crowd" heard the debate in the capitol (right) and responded to the Senate's action with applause, according to the Times. The story ran on the FRONT PAGE of the Times and on PAGE 4 of The Washington Post.

WORDS ATTRIBUTED TO ROOSEVELT SEND A SHOCK THROUGH WALL STREET: Former Iowa Gov. William Larrabee (right) had a conversation at the White House with President Theodore Roosevelt and came out talking. The trouble is that at least one newspaper in New York passed on a SECOND-HAND QUOTE that was attributed to the president. According to today's Washington Post, here's how this appeared in the New York Globe:
the President was quoted in dispatches in New York as saying that "if he had any trust funds to invest he should not invest in railroad stocks."
When this came out, numerous financiers sent telegrams to the White House for clarification. The White House denied yesterday that Roosevelt had said anything of the kind to Gov. Larrabee.
An explanation is in today's Post:
Mr. Larrabee, it was said, was either misunderstood or his remarks misquoted, the reporters gathering from what he did say that the President agreed with him thoroughly in his views regarding railroad regulation and railroad securities.

April 17, 1907 (Wednesday)

WEST POINT CADETS GO ON TRIAL FOR GALLANTRY: During a dress parade on a chilly April 7 at West Point (seen from the river, above, in 1907) a number of cadets offered their coats to girlfriends who were in attendance. At the time, the commandant, Col. Robert Lee Howze (left) ordered that the coats be taken from the young women ruling that the official uniform can only be worn by the cadets. Of the 22 women who appeared on the parade grounds wearing the overcoats, five left campus so quickly that they -- and the cadets -- have not been identified. The problem is that the cadets have collided with Section 183, I think, of the regulations, which prohibit the SELLING or LOANING of any of their U.S.-issued clothing. Howze was forced to push this because of the large number of cadets who loaned their coats, according to today's New York Times. In fact, he had no reaction when he saw five women in the coats. However, he knew he had to do something when he saw 17 more, some wearing the hats.

THIS SPEAKER CAN COME BACK TO ITHACA ANYTIME -- AS COULD ANYONE WHO SAYS CORNELL IS BETTER THAN OXFORD: Peter Chalmers Mitchell, the secretary of Britain's Royal Zoological Society, told the students at Cornell yesterday that their university provides, in general, a BETTER EDUCATION than Oxford. The New York Times summed up Mitchell's words in this way: "In the latter institution, the doctor thought that a man could be too much 'dry nursed.' A soft man might leave it even worse than when he entered, so much of his work being done by his tutors and his college. Being thrown on one's own resources as at Cornell, was of tremendous value." He didn't trash Oxford entirely. He said that an honors student at Oxford was the best equipped student in the world.
Two other points:
1. No English campus could compare with Cornell when it comes to the physical environment.
2. Cornell was much more "alive" than Oxford.

April 16, 1907 (Tuesday)

ON SUNDAY, BASEBALL TAKES A BACK SEAT TO "EVIL INFLUENCES": Once again, legislators in Albany are considering whether or not to allow baseball to be played on Sundays. Things look bleak because Republicans sent a proposal back to the Codes Committee. A plea was made for passage, by "Mr. Smith and Mr. Mooney," presumably a couple of members of the State Assembly. A quote attributed to them appears in today's New York Times:
We tolerate such places as Coney Island (above) and Rockaway Beach but when it comes to allowing an innocent game of baseball on Sunday, then there is a howl. We are willing to allow the youths to go where there are evil influences but keep from them things which cannot possibly harm. Then why not allow Sunday baseball?

WHEN WILL LYNCHERS LEARN TO LET JUSTICE TAKE ITS COURSE? A group of about 20 men tried to lynch a black man in Bunkie, La., on the night of April 14. At one point, after the mob had plucked the accused man from the local jail, the captive broke free. In the confusion, members of the mob began firing their guns. When the smoke cleared, three men in the mob had been hit by bullets. For one the injuries were fatal. Not surprisingly, another mob was formed to try and find the escaped prisoner. I wonder if they tracked him down with loaded guns.

LOTS OF DEAD FEARED IN MEXICO: A massive earthquake damaged much of Chilpancingo in the state of Guerrero in Mexico. The first movement was registered about 11:50 p.m. on the night of April 14. About 500 are feared dead overall. The population of Chilpancingo is about 7,500. "The earth continues to rock at half-hour intervals," according to today's New York Times.

April 15, 1907 (Monday)

SPITBALL ARTIST'S FUTURE IS IN DOUBT: Jack Chesbro (right) may be at the end of the line, according to a report in today's Washington Post. As mentioned earlier, he contacted the New York Highlanders (e.g., Yankees) and said he could make more money on the farm than on the diamond. Chesbro is particularly worried about the wear and tear the spitball has put on his arm. Manager Clark Griffith's comments put an interesting spin on the notion that starters in the "old days" had "rubber arms" and that managers expected them to pitch deep into ballgames. Here's what Griffith is quoted as saying:
He is a wonder for four or five innings, and if he came to me I would use him exclusively for finishing games some of the youngsters had started in which we are ahead in the fifth inning, or which we have a chance to win out. He is simply in a class by himself for a few innings, and no one can hit him. But that spit ball has made it impossible for him to go the entire route.

HERE'S WHY THOMAS QUINN IS WEARING A SMILE AS HE SAILS BACK TO IRELAND: Thomas H. Quinn left on Saturday for Ireland aboard the Cunard steamship Umbria. Today's New York Times says, "It is doubtful if there was a happier man aboard." Here's his story, according to today's paper.
A few years ago, Quinn was a clerk in the post office at Dundrum, Ireland. He fell in love with Lucy Shannon, daughter of a locally prominent man and owner of an inn. She and Tom got engaged. However, her father worried about Tom's prospects. He told Tom that he didn't want to stand between him and Lucy, but he wanted Tom to prove himself by earning 500 pounds honestly. If Tom did that, Mr. Shannon would make him a partner in his business and gladly give him Lucy's hand in marriage.
Tom and Lucy decided that the best place the young man should go to make such money is America. He came here and got a job as a clerk in Paterson, N.J. However, it became clear that he would never earn the amount of money he needed -- after paying his own bills and sending $10 a month to his own mother.
One day, he passed by a horse auction. Knowing a little about horses, he stopped in. He spotted a good one going for a cheap price, so he bought it. The next day, he sold the horse at a good profit. He repeated the move, and soon, contractors in the surrounding towns hired him to buy horses for them. He saved his money, and now he has a check (worth $2,500) payable to John Shannon of Dundrum, Ireland. (In 2007 terms, we're talking about $50,000.)