Sept. 20, 1907 (Friday)

JINGOISTIC AMERICAN GROUP FLIPS OVER COIN DESIGN: The story is going around that Augustus Saint-Gaudens used the face of Mary Cunningham -- referred to as a "pretty Irish waitress" -- as his inspiration for new coins, including the 1907 Double Eagle (shown). A group in Harrisburg, Pa., is upset. The Independent Order of Americans has adopted a formal protest -- wanting instead for coinage to bear the likenesses of American-born models. Today's New York Times reports on the protest and adds to the story with a description of how the sculptor -- who died in August -- allegedly came to choose Cunningham:
He had considerable difficulty in finding a model to meet his requirements, and many beautiful girls were rejected by him before he met the Irish waitress, Mary Cunningham. He was spending the Summer at Cornish [N.H.] when he saw her.
She waited on him at table, and he almost immediately decided that here was the face for the new coins. She demurred, and it was only after great persuasion that he succeeded in getting her to pose.
All of this might be nonsense. An interesting account is on Page 4 of this publication by the Friends of the Saint-Gaudens Memorial in Cornish, N.H.
Wonder what happened when the protesters discovered that the sculptor himself was born in Ireland.

ENGLISH GOLFER WHACKS A RECORD DRIVE: Reports out of London indicate that W.H. Horne has hit the longest drive ever on a golf course. He hit a ball 381 YARDS yesterday at the Beckenham Golf Club, according to a front-page notice in today's New York Times. The shot, which was over level ground, was marked by his playing partner, a Mr. Potter. It cleared on the fly a bunker that's 250 yards from the tee. The longest drive before this was a 366-yard blast hit by Edward Blackwell on the 17th hole at St. Andrews in 1892. (He used using a gutta percha ball.) The best drive recorded in America -- a 374-yarder by Walter J. Travis (shown) -- is not regarded as authentic by golfers in Britain.

Sept. 19, 1907 (Thursday)

WARDEN GOES AFTER A BIG FINANCIAL FISH: Game Protector Joseph Grenon -- who's based near Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks in New York -- recently received a tip about some fishermen who had caught some trout AFTER THE FISHING SEASON HAD ENDED. He dutifully went to the camp to leek for the trout. He found 13 trout in an ice box. Those in possession of fish after the season-ending date of Aug. 31 must pay a $25 fee for violating the law -- plus an additional $10 fee for EACH FISH. The total bill came to $155. The offending party was made up of people staying at the camp of none other than high-flying financier J.P. Morgan (shown). The article sits at the top of a column on the FRONT PAGE of today's New York Times.

SHERLOCK HOLMES' CREATOR MARRIES: Author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle married Joan Leckie (shown) yesterday at St. Margaret's Church in Westminster, London, according to today's New York Times. Somehow, they managed to keep it secret. Only about 30 guests were in attendance. The only members of the general public who were on hand had been attracted merely by the sounds of the bells and sight of the awning over the entrance to the church.
Their courtship wasn't exactly ELEMENTARY; rather, it was long and patient.

CHARITIES OR THE GOVERNMENT DECIDE TO HELP THE PARENTS OF THE MAN WHO ASSASSINATED THE PRESIDENT: Word from norther Ohio is that Mr. and Mrs. M. Czolgosz, the parents of Leon Czolgosz (shown) -- the man who killed President McKinley -- need public assistance. The parents live in two small rooms with four of the assassin's little brothers and sisters. The rent is $4 a month. The father told authorities yesterday in Cleveland that he could not work and that the children could not help him out. Harris R. Cooley, who oversees charities for the Public Service Board, listened to his plea. "They will be treated just as other applicants for help," Cooley said.

Sept. 18, 1907 (Wednesday)

INVESTIGATION CONTINUES: Today's Boston Globe says railroad officials are "staggered" by the task before them: Figure out the cause of the train wreck in Canaan, N.H., on the 15th that killed about two dozen people. It looks as if there was some confusion about train orders that sent a passenger train heading from Canada to Boston into the path of a freight train near the village of Canaan. It looks as though either the night operator at Canaan or the trains dispatcher at Concord are to blame, perhaps due to a misunderstanding about what TRAIN NUMBER was related to certain orders: Was it Train Number 30 or Number 34?
Reports note that many people who live near the wreck helped themselves freely to the large amount of grain -- mostly corn -- that was strewn alongside the track.

MOURNERS GET THE SURPRISE OF THEIR LIVES WHEN THEY PEEK INTO THE COFFIN OF MRS. ELIZABETH JOHNSON: The wife of a formerly wealthy farmer died about two weeks ago at a county home near Pittsburgh. When relatives of the woman, Mrs. Elizabeth Johnston, showed up to retrieve her body, they were told that it had already been sent to the STATE ANATOMICAL SOCIETY in Philadelphia. The relatives demanded the body be returned, and it arrived at Belle Vernon on the 16th.
Funeral services were held accordingly. Before the burial, some members of the family asked for a LAST LOOK at the woman.
The coffin was opened.
The viewers FAILED TO RECOGNIZE the face of the woman. Upon further review, their concerns were justified. According to today's New York Times, they found out the body was "MADE UP OF PORTIONS OF SEVERAL DEAD PERSONS, WHICH HAD BEEN CLEVERLY SEWED TOGETHER."
And they found -- a DEAD GIVEAWAY of the fraud: The body had TWO LEFT FEET!
The relatives have threatened to make some serious charges against the Anatomical Society.

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN TOUGHER TO BURY 'WANDA,' IF SHE HAD SUCCEEDED IN HER PLAN -- TO BE A WALKING BOMB IN ST. PETERSBURG: A woman's plan to blow up the headquarters of Russia's Secret Police in St. Petersburg by wrapping herself in explosives has unraveled, if the Secret Police are right, and very few people likely want to tell them they aren't. The police have arrested a woman named "Wanda" saying she planned to become a "walking bomb" so she could blow up the police headquarters on the Moika Canal -- a site that has become a flashpoint of hatred among Revolutionists because of the torture chambers housed in the building. Police say "Wanda" planned to walk into the headquarters in the middle of the day, dressed like an officer. Her uniform was to be lined with wads of gun cotton and with pouches for powerful bombs.
The plot was betrayed, according to an article in today's New York Times, and police tracked down Wanda and a tailor, "in whose shop they seized a half-ready uniform which, they say, was intended for the girl prisoner." They add that the tailor happened to be Jewish.
The plot has prompted the Secret Police to move their headquarters. It will be in a stone building on Kamenny Island.

Sept. 17, 1907 (Tuesday)

EVEN THE TIMES FOLLOWS ROYALTY -- EVEN THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SAXONY: Today's New York Times couldn't resist letting readers know about the status of the attention-grabbing former Crown Princess of Saxony (shown). The front page includes a one-column story that fills virtually the entire length of the front page. (It's parallel to, and as long as, the story that Democrats might nominate Woodrow Wilson, president of Princeton University, for the presidency of the United States.) Apparently the woman who is now known as Countess Montignoso has set up her apartment in a large hotel in London with a pianist named Enrico Toselli. (The Times spells it Tonselli.) Part of the article gave some background about the woman's departure from the palace - and from her marriage to the man who would become the King of Saxony. The former crown princess surfaced in the news in 1902 when she fled the court in Dresden and headed to Geneva with her three children -- and THEIR TUTOR. Here's how the Times described her attitude at the time:
The Princess in her defense said that she had been badly treated by her husband, and that the life in the palace of Dresden was so DEADLY DULL that she had nearly DIED FROM ENNUI. Her husband's royal rank, she said, did not make up for his STUPIDITY.
Now, she and the pianist plan to get married.

YALE PROFESSOR MAKES NEWS WITH ROMANCE: The romance between a Yale professor and a dressmaker was newsworthy enough to rate a front-page article in today's New York Times. That's because the professor is Ichi Asakawa, who's Japanese -- a rarity on college campuses in the United States. It's unclear from the article WHEN he and Mirima Dingwall got married. The news surfaced recently when the bride's brother, Murdock Dingwall, received a letter from her yesterday. In it, she said she had become the professor's wife in Washington and had gone to D.C. last week to meet Asakawa upon his return from Japan. The two met when Asakawa was a student at Yale in 1902.

DOCTOR WAS STUNNED WHEN HE SAW THE PATIENT HE WAS ABOUT TO OPERATE ON -- IT WAS HIS 6-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER: Yesterday, Pauline Reardon was in front of her home in Springfield, Mass., when she was severely injured by an automobile owned by Dr. Charles Hooker and driven by his chauffeur, Ernest Southard. Dr. Hooker -- who was unaware of the child's identity -- picked up Pauline and rushed her into the home of Dr. Thomas Reardon, who was unaware of the accident. Today's New York Times says the FIRST HINT Dr. Reardon had of the accident was when he saw the child's body on his operating table. She died soon after.
The chauffeur has been arrested and charged with manslaughter.