Sept. 2, 1907 (Monday)

FORTUNATELY, THE SOUVENIR HUNTERS DIDN'T TAKE THE GUNS OR THE SMOKESTACKS: It's hard to believe, but the Swedish naval vessel Fylgia (shown here)barely survived the throng of visitors that tramped through the ship yesterday as it floated in New York harbor. The captain, Henry Lindberg, was eager to have people tour the ship, in conjunction with Prince Wilhelm's visit to the United States. By the end of the day, however, the crew was still tallying the items that visitor swiped from the ship as souvenirs. Today's Times reports, "In one instance it was said the sword scabbard of one of the senior officers was stolen, while wine glasses, spoons and other small articles are missing by the dozens."
Today's Boston Globe reports that "one enthusiastic souvenir hunter even carried away the breech block latch of the big gun in the forward barbette."
On Saturday and Sunday, about 10,000 people visited the ship. He is scheduled to sail to Sweden from Boston on Sept. 5 -- provided visitors didn't dismantle the engine.

MEMO TO ANGRY PARENTS: LOOK BEFORE YOU SPANK: Recently, a 7-year-old boy was playing in a field near his home at Bear Point, near Crooked Lake, in Michigan. For a while, he watched as his dad, Fred Williams, used some dynamite to blow tree stumps out of the ground. When the boy got back home, his mother decided that was the time to discipline him for a recent "childish misdemeanor," according to an article on the front page of today's New York Times. Mrs. Williams grabbed a SHINGLE to administer the punishment. When the shingle connected with the boy's rear end, a explosion tore a hole in the boy's backside and destroyed two fingers on the mother's hand.
It so happens that the boy had slipped a DYNAMITE CAP into his HIP POCKET when he was with his dad. The mom is left with severe injuries; the boy will likely die.

Sept. 1, 1907 (Sunday)

N.Y. TIMES SUMS UP A DANGEROUS SUMMER ON THE ROAD: The past three months have seen more auto accidents, and more fatal accidents, than any previous year, according to today's New York Times. To make the point, a page designer put this together, using facsimiles of headlines from the newspaper, placed around a fairly grim faced driver whose head comes dangerously close to resembling a skull. The end of the article raises a point about drunk driving. Here's how part of the final paragraph reads:
One automobilist recently made the sage remark that there would be fewer accident if the principle were recognized that COCKTAILS and GASOLINE did not mix. How may fatalities may have been due to more or less generous mixing of fiery fluids probably will never be known.

CADILLAC OWNERS COUNT THE COST: The makers of Cadillac surveyed many Cadillac owners to find out how much it costs to operate their vehicles. (The picture here shows a 1905 Cadillac in operation.) The company sent questionnaires to hundreds of drivers. Many were willing to make educated guesses as to the costs of maintenance and operation, but Cadillac wanted to use responses it deemed more reliable, so, according to today's New York Times, the company came up with numbers based on costs that were CAREFULLY TABULATED and SWORN TO before a Notary Public. That narrowed the respondents to 164 car owners in 30 states. Here are the numbers:
Miles driven: 9,661 average (range from 850 to 32,000)
Miles per gallon: 18.3 average (range from 9.6 to 32)
Cost of gas: About 18 cents a gallon (inflation brings that to $3.60 per gallon in 2007 dollars.)
Total cost of repairs to date: $42.74 average.
Average time car has been owned by driver: 1 year, 7 months, 20 days.

CHICAGO IS ABOUT TO LOSE ONE OF ITS PIONEERS: Henry Graves, the oldest remaining settler in Chicago came to that location in 1831, when he was 10 years old. Today's New York Times calls him "a living link between the cluster of backwoodsmen's huts about old Fort Dearborn and the magnificent city of to-day." How small was the community in 1831? The Times says, "He used to tell people he could have THROWN A STONE OVER CHICAGO when he first arrived." He now lies dying -- old age is the culprit -- in the frame house that he built in 1845. (The house shown here could be his, according to the Library of Congress.) Graves, a noted horseman, is expected to leave a fortune of about $500,000. (Henry Graves can be found on this site devoted to Chicago history.)

CORSET SAVES LIFE OF WOMAN: Mrs. William Morrison was riding in an automobile yesterday with a friend near Oxford, N.J. At one point, the women heard the sharp crack of a rifle going off. At the same time, Mrs. Morrison doubled over in pain. When she straightened up, she heard something fall to the floor of the carriage. It was a FLATTENED BULLET. A couple of boys playing in a field had fired the rifle. The bullet HIT ONE OF THE STEEL STAYS in Mrs. Morrison's CORSET, according to today's New York Times.

Aug. 31, 1907 (Saturday)

POTEMKIN REVOLUTIONARY EXECUTED IN RUSSIA: Word out of Odessa in Russia is that Afanasy Matiushenko the leader of the mutiny on the Potemkin (right) in 1905, was hanged at Sevastopol. It happened yesterday, according to an article in today's New York Times. After leaving the battleship in Romania, the leader, whose last name is usually spelled Matuchenko or Matushenko or Matiuchenko or Matyuchenko, went to New York for two years, where he worked in a foundry, the Times reports. But he got homesick and returned to Odessa, where an informant turned him in. Matuchenko was taken to Sevastopol after he was arrested in Odessa on Aug. 25. Matuchenko wrote a description of the event.

'SPANISH PRISONER' SCAM NEARLY WORKS: One of those "Spanish prisoner" scams has focused on Cannon Burton, a wealthy New Haven horse breeder -- who nearly fell for it, according to today's New York Times. But some quick action led to the arrest of a group of men in Madrid. The scam, which generally asks an unsuspecting wealthy person, for some upfront money to help an imprisoned wealthy person, who is expected to handsomely reward the wealthy American. Burton thought he was on the verge of a good deal when he mentioned to a banker in New York that he was doing good business with a man who was in prison in Madrid. When the banker heard those words mention together -- prisoner and Madrid and business -- he became alarmed and immediately contacted the authorities. Burton showed them the letter -- in which the prisoner said once he was freed from prison, he would give Burton a third of the money that is in a valise hidden in a railway station in London. With the name of the letter-writer in hand, authorities in Spain arrested a "Spanish Prisoner" gang in Madrid.
Here's what Arturo Baldasano, Spanish consul in New York, told the Times:
"I am constantly deluged by correspondent who receive these letters and am kept busy warning them of the old swindling game. I am glad that the arrests have been made.
The Times noted that "many victims have been found in New York, and good American money has been flowing to Madrid for many years."

AS AUTOMOBILING GROWS IN LONDON, SO, TOO DOES POLLUTION: The highly esteemed medical journal "The Lancet" observes that the air on busy city streets -- when the wind is not blowing -- is becoming too dangerous for pedestrians. An item in the London Mirror (reprinted in today's Boston Globe) sums it up:
The reason is that motor drivers allow their exhaust to emit so much carbonic monoxide, through neglecting to minimize the petrol consumption, that the atmosphere in low-lying areas like Ludgate-circus, becomes at times poisonous.
The Mirror has a suggestion for pedestrians. First, they should HOLD THEIR BREATH when crossing busy thoroughfares. And, when feebleness surfaces, they should take time to "TAKE A GLASS OF HOT MILK or other suitable refreshment."

Aug. 30, 1907 (Friday)

BRIDGE AT QUEBEC COLLAPSES, KILLING DOZENS: More than 80 construction workers were killed yesterday in the collapse of the huge bridge being built at Quebec. Today's Boston Globe says, "the vast mass of steel work lies a tangled wreck across the St. Lawrence channel. The accident happened just as men were ending their shift. Some families in the area lost five or six men in the disaster. Many of the dead men were Mohawk workers
Today, it certainly looks beautiful, belying the tragedy in its history. The story of the building of it makes for interesting reading.

WAS THE ORCHARD BEACH FIRE CAUSED BY A WOMAN CURLING HER HAIR? A fire investigator from Maine is in Boston trying to find the name of a woman who might have started the massive fire that destroyed much of the resort of Old Orchard Beach, Maine. The story is that she "was curling her hair in the annex of the Emerson [hotel], when the lamp ignited a curtain and started the fire which wiped out one-third of the town. Nobody has been able to locate, or name, the woman, who was getting ready to attend a party at one of the big hotels. Today's Globe says the investigator has a challenge, adding that "unless he gets some trace of her while in Boston, her identity may never be learned."

IS IT AN AD OR IS IT NEWS? Here's an interesting layout in today's Boston Globe, with this advertisement (with the headline "Monster Is Forced from Little Girl") that tells an tale about a 40-FOOT TAPEWORM emerging from the innards of a young. It's virtually indistinguishable from the other news stories (one of which is a follow-up of yesterday's news of a doctor's "criminal operation" on a woman from Lowell and the hunt for a young man supposed to be involved in the woman's life). The girl's story promotes something called "Mr. Cooper's medicine" which was available through Jaynes Drug Stores in Chicago. The advertisement includes a statement from Lillian West's sister:
She took it for two weeks, when one morning a tapworm measuring forty feet passed from her system.
No word on where the worm went after it left Lillian.

Aug. 29, 1907 (Thursday)

WE'RE PRETTY SURE THIS WOULD GET MORE COVERAGE TODAY: A black man named John Lipsey was lynched last night in Columbus, Miss. The killing merited a one-paragraph story on the second page of today's Boston Globe. If you can't read the clipping (above), here's the entire story, under the headline of "MOB LAW INVOKED":
COLUMBUS, Miss. Aug 28 -- A mob tonight lynched John Lipsey, a negro, who, it was alleged, assaulted Mrs. Ed Windham at her home near Pickensville, Ala. Mrs Windham is in critical condition.
The mob killing in Mississippi was deemed much less newsworthy than the death reported on the front page...

DOCTOR IS ARRESTED AFTER "CRIMINAL OPERATION": It's not specifically said what Dr. Harry Stackpole did but the death of Miss Katherine Ryan of Lowell at the doctor's office in Dover, N.H., has led to his arrest. Today's Boston Globe, which has the story as its lead (right) says the death came "as the result of a criminal operation." She reportedly died last Friday night or Saturday. The doctor was arrested yesterday afternoon, after the body was identified. Through interviews with family and friends, police have "much valuable information concerning Miss Ryan and her life in Lowell." Now they are looking for "a Lowell young man said to be a commercial traveler who has paid much attention to Miss Ryan in the recent past." Sounds like they just can't use the word "pregnant" in the newspaper.





THAT'S HIS STORY, AND HE'S STICKING TO IT: New York sculptor Jugo Accetta was arrested in Boston's North End yesterday and is being extradited to his home, based on a charge of desertion filed by his wife. She says he left her three weeks ago. This is the second time a New York man has been arrested in Boston since desertion became an extraditable offense.
For his part, Jugo is puzzled He told police he was so engrossed in his search for a MODEL for his current sculpture project that he lost track of time. Here's how today's Boston Globe sums it up (with emphasis added):
About three months ago he started upon his masterpiece, which was to be a group of figures. He made good progress until he reached one figure which was to represent a PARTICULAR TYPE OF ITALIAN BEAUTY. He put aside his mallet and chisel and searched the New York studios for a subject, but could not find one worthy of his art. Then he decided to try Boston, which he had heard was FAMOUS FOR ITS PRETTY WOMEN, and came to the North End. Here he was seen by an acquaintance, who tipped his wife off as to his whereabouts, with the result that he will make the trip back home under police escort.
He better keep the hammer and chisel away from Mrs. Accetta.

ARE THERE ANY WOMEN IN THIS POSSE?: The normally sleepy community of Willimansett in western Massachusetts -- is astir with reports that a man has been riding his bicycle through the streets STARK NAKED at "terrific speed" late at night. Today's Globe reports, "The sight of a bicyclist clad in nothing but nature's garb, frisking along the streets close to or after midnight, is vouched for by reliable persons including street car men."
Chicopee police officer Jere Corocoran, a former baseball player, has been charged with trying to nab the mysterious night rider. He and a group of others chased the man recently, but lost in "in the section known as 'Lover's Lane'," the Globe says.
The same "mob rule" that's mentioned in the lynching story above might come into play in this one because, the Globe says,
There is talk in Willimansett of hunting the man with revolvers if he persists. There is at present no clew to his identity.