April 27, 1908 (Monday)

SHIP COLLISION OFF ISLE OF WIGHT WAS DEADLIER THAN FIRST REPORTED: The latest reports from the
tremendous collision between the British cruiser Gladiator and the steam ship St. Paul on April 24 indicate that more than 30 British sailors are dead or missing. The number of casualties "may go beyond that figure," according to today's New York Times. The St. Paul could sail away from the accident; the Gladiator, however, rolled over (above). The collision took place in a blinding snowstorm. Officials now believe that many sailors became disoriented and lost their bearings when they had to take to the water. Even though the shore was only 500 YARDS away, many swam out to sea. The Times correspondent reported yesterday by telegraph that a bridegroom of three days was among the dead. So, too, was a sailor who swam back to the cruiser to get $150 he had left behind. One sailor reportedly swam "back and forth until he had rescued eleven men."

GLYN GLIMPSES A REASON FOR THE HAPPINESS IN CHICAGO: The provocative writer Elinor Glyn (right) is back in the news. The author of "Three Weeks," yesterday watched the Sunday parade in the Pompeian Room (above) of the Congress Hotel and Annex in Chicago and said, "People are so happy in Chicago."
An interviewer asked, "What is the reason?"
She replied, "Oh, because divorce is so easy, I suppose" (referring to the ease with which Chicagoans are able to slip across the state line into Indiana for a quicker end to a bad marriage".
Remember, Elinor's the one who inspired this anonymous poem (and its variations), inspired by her novel "Three Weeks":
Would you like to sin
With Elinor Glyn
On a tiger skin ?
Or would you prefer
To err with her
On some other fur?

April 26, 1908 (Sunday)

SENATE NOTES A HISTORIC SPEECH -- FOR BREVITY: U.S. Sen. Henry Moore Teller of Colorado might have set some kind of record with his Senate speech yesterday. Under discussion was a bill that "provided for he erection of a monument to Patrick Edward O'Connor." The bill drew some opposition from Sen. Kean. Teller made a speech supporting it. Here it is, as quoted in today's New York Times:
"I knew Pat in the West. He was all right."
The bill passed.
The speech is "regarded as the shortest successful speech in support of a bill in the Senate," according to the Times.
The article, which was a bit longer than the speech, notes that "O'Connor was a soldier who rendered signal service in keeping law and order during the trying times when the Mormons threatened the integrity of the Western Empire."
O'Connor's career is a colorful tale; there's no mention in today's Times of the Bear River Massacre.

A CATCH 22: HUNGRY MAN NEEDS MONEY FOR FOOD, SO HE PAWNS HIS TEETH; NOW, HE CAN AFFORD SOME FOOD, BUT HE CAN'T CHEW IT: Patrick Flynn, a laborer who lives and labors in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, has gotten himself into quite a fix. He was "almost dead from hunger," according to today's New York Times, so on April 24, he pawned his teeth. He raised $1 for his chompers. But now he has a problem that he probably should have anticipated: He can't chew the food he wants to buy. The teeth are now owned by Dr. T.J. Horna. He has offered to return them to Mr. Flynn. But he "declares a bargain is a bargain, and that it would not be honorable in him to take the teeth back."
Looks like he's going to have to drink his lunch.

DEATH TOLL GROWS: Reports in yesterday's paper about the storms of April 24 that raked the South grossly underestimated the death tolls. Now, it looks like mroe than 300 people were killed in eight states; about 1,500 were injured. What hasn't changed is the news that the vast majority of the dead were African Americans. Here's how the Times explained that:
First of all it became known that negroes comprised most of the dead; that the picturesque darky cabins, noted for their flimsy, happy-go-lucky construction, had been converted by the wind into wholesale death traps. It was in the fall of those cabins, which went down almost without warning, that most of the negro deaths occurred. These always overcrowded cabins also furnished most of the badly wounded.
Hmmmmm, "happy-go-lucky construction." Of course, it was neither happy nor lucky.
There's a report that one baby was carried 300 YARDS by the wind and dropped into a swamp... and survived.
Official reports of deaths by tornado in this storm give a smaller number of deaths; the state-by-state tally of the storm system in today's report certainly is gruesome:
Louisiana: 88 dead;
Mississippi: 159 dead;
Alabama: 31 dead;
Georgia: 25 dead.

April 25, 1908 (Saturday)

POLITICIAN BLAMES THE MESSENGER -- REALLY, THE WESTERN UNION OPERATOR: The Anti-Race-Track Gambling bill was killed -- at least temporarily -- recently in the New York State Senate. The key No vote was filed by State Senator Owen Cassidy. Evidnetly, he made his vote at the behest of Congressman Jacob Sloat Fassett (above). Reportedly, Cassidy had received last-minute instructions from Fassett, and fellow Congressman John Dwight, in the form of a Western Union telegram, which read:
John and I urge you not to stand by the Governor on the Race Track bill, owing to conditions in your district.
So, Cassidy voted NO.
Then he got this stunning telegram from Fassett:
John and I think you have made a serious, if not fatal, mistake. Get busy. Move to reconsider and pass the bill.
Cassidy was surprised. A few days after the vote, he met with Congressman Fassett and showed him the original telegram. Today's Times said, "Thereupon the Congressman became very angry, and said a fraud had been perpetrated."
Now Fassett and others are saying that the Western Union operator ADDED the word "not" to the telegram, which was originally cast as "John and I urge you to stand by the Governor...."
Western Union officials have evidently acknowledged the error.

104-YEAR-OLD MAN WALKS 15 MILES...TO A FRIEND'S FUNERAL: Word out of Muskegon, Mich., is that "Buckshot Dan" McPhail yesterday walked 15 miles to attend the funeral of Patrick Phillip Bogle. That feat is incredible -- considering that McPhail is 104 years old. Mr. Bogle was 100. Both men/were members of the "Hundred-Year-Old Club" in the county. Each of the six men has vowed to attend the funeral services of anyone in the group, according to today's New York Times.

STORM RAVAGES GULF STATES: Yesterday a "wind of cyclonic proportions" swept through the Gulf States of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and crushed hudreds of homes and plantation cabins, leaving about 100 dead and 200 injured, according to today's New York Times. Damage in Washington Parish was probably typical. Clearly the most vulnerable people were African-Americans. Today's Times says,
The loss of life was chiefly in the quarters of colored persons, wehre the wind destroyed their cabins, burying the occupants in the debris, or in the farming setions of the ocuntry, where trees were uprooted and telegraph and telephone poles torn up.

April 24, 1908 (Friday)

EXASPERATED FRENCH NOBLEMAN COMPLAINS ABOUT THE HORDE OF REPORTERS WHO HOUND HIM: For some reason, Prince Heile de Sagan (aka Le Marquis de Talleyrand Perigord, Duc de Sagan) thought he could court and marry millionairess Anna Gould (right) -- quietly. Not so. Well, he's in Naples, awaiting the arrival of Anna Gould on board the Friedrich der Grosse. The ship was scheduled to arrive by 7 a.m. today. It has been delayed, which has annoyed the Frenchman. According to today's New York Times, he said the ship's arrival would give him "protection from being victimized by the damned reporters of two hemispheres."
He has been hounded by reporters in Europe. And this surprises him. He said, "I thought it impossible to be worse treated than in America."


SPORTSWRITER CONTINUES TO WAX ELOQUENT ABOUT GIANTS BASEBALL: Once again (in other words, after yesterday) W.J. Lampton's byline appears atop the report of yesterday's game between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Superbas. Yesterday's article made an impression on at least one 1908 reader. The man, Hiram Ward, wrote a letter to the Times in praise of Lampton's work from yesterday's paper. Ward wrote, "During all those years I have been a baseball lunatic, and I am hungry to tell you that nothing in the line of baseball reporting has caught my fancy like the very witty work of Mr. Lampton."
Lampton continued his work in today's paper. The Giants lost yesterday, 4-1, but that didn't blunt Lampton's prose. Once again, he included a poem. Furthermore, he spent some precious space describing a HAT someone wore in the stands.
Here's how he did it:
There were plenty of Merry Widow hats along the upper front row, and one in particular was a width of brim and a bunch of lingerie on top, that if a hot cigarette had been dropped into it would have called for four alarms and the Chief's gasoline go-kart.
OK. Enough already. This sent me scurrying to see if there was an obituary somewhere for Mr. Lampton. It ran in The New York Times on May 31, 1917. His name was William James Lampton. He called himself "the poet of the people."
The obituary said,
He was best known in this city as a contributor of satirical verse on current topics to the daily newspapers, including The New York Times, The New York Tribune, The New York Sun and The New York World, though many of his articles and verse appeared in the monthly magazine.
The photo here is from that obituary.

April 23, 1908 (Thursday)

A LIGHTNING-QUICK BASEBALL GAME ENDS WITH A BOLT FROM DONLIN: It's hard to believe, but it's right there in print. The box score for yesterday's game between the New York Giants and Brooklyn Superbas said the contest lasted 40 MINUTES. Could that be? In any case, the game ended quickly enough when the flamboyant Mike Donlin (above) knocked the ball into the seats with a man on and two outs in the bottom of the ninth to win the game for the Giants in their home opener at the Polo Grounds. The phrase "walk-off home run" is not used in the article, but lots of colorful phrases were used by New York Times writer W.J. Lampton.
Some samples:
"...wonderful wielders of the willow...[batters]"
"Cameras were clicking faster than pistols in a Texas peace conference."
"Lewis hit the atmosphere instead of the other sphere..."
He evidently went so far as to compose some doggerel:
"Donlin, Donlin, he is it;
Donlin, Donlin made THE hit;
Though some others made a run,
Donlin's was the only one."
Take that, ESPN.

STRAUS DRAWS ATTENTION TO THE DANGERS OF PADDING CITIZENSHIP TOTALS DURING A PRESIDENTIAL-ELECTION YEAR: Today's New York Times speaks out editorially in support of Cabinet member Oscar Straus (left), who recently warned about the temptation of "carelessly" and "improperly" giving citizenship in a way that coincides with VOTE-GETTING. The Times points out that Straus spoke at a conference that was called "to consider the bearing of the new citizenship law upon the coming Federal election."
According to the law, naturalization will cease during the THREE MONTHS preceding November 3 and the government requires three months' notice in addition to that.
According to the paper, this means
An unnaturalized foreigner, therefore, who has resided here five years, who shall be able to speak and understand our language, and can show an elementary knowledge of our Constitution and form of Government, may not become a voting citizen next Fall if he shall fail to apply for the privilege before May 3.
This measure, the Times says, is designed to "forestall the extensive fraudulent naturalizations of the Presidential campaign." The Times calls this the "quadrennial trafficking in American citizenship, which has long debased the electorate."

TWO HUGE SHIPS WILL BE GIVEN APPROPRIATE NAMES, ONE OF WHICH WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY: White Star Line has made it official. Two massive ocean steamers will be laid down at Belfast, Northern Ireland, next June. The ships will, amazingly, be more than 840 feet long. Their engines will have minimum speed of 21 knots. One, as noted earlier, will be the Olympic. According to a three-paragraph story on the front page of today's New York Times, the other will be called.... the TITANIC. Wonder how many dreamed of taking that April 1912 maiden -- and only -- voyage when they read this small announcement? (NOTE: One of those who will be on the ship will the gallant Isidor Straus, the brother of Oscar, who is pictured in the item above.)

April 22, 1908 (Wednesday)

A DEBATE RAGES IN OMAHA OVER STATUE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN:A statue of former President Abraham Lincoln was erected recently in Omaha, Neb., thanks to donations from local school students. The statue shows a BEARDLESS Lincoln (above). Some don't think Lincoln was ever beardless while he was president. Others think he had a beard when he first became president. Today's Times says the "beardless" supporters have come up short, thanks to evidence that takes the form of an exchange of letters between Lincoln and Grace Bedell, who was 11 years old at the time of the letter exchange in 1860. (That's a photo of Grace at right, taken when she was 14.) Now, she is Mrs. Billings, and she lives in Delphos, Kansas. A copy of Lincoln's response has been sent to Omaha to help settle the dispute. She had suggested he grow a beard; he told her he thought it was a good idea. According to today's Times, Lincoln passed through Grace's hometown on his way to the inauguration and "told her he had decided to follow her advice and thereupon stroked the beard which he had raised at her suggestion." For the complete story, you can go here.

WILD WEST SHOW DRAWS A HUGE CROWD IN NYC AND FEATURES FOOTBALL -- ON HORSEBACK: William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody and his Wild West Show filled Madison Square Garden "from top to bottom" last night, according to today's New York Times. Two new features in the show were "The Mighty Avalanche" and "Prairie Fire" But the hit was "a game of FOOTBALL on horseback." Here's how the Times described it:
An immense ball is placed in the centre of the arena and two opposing teams of horsemen endeavor to push it to either end of the inclosure. To score a point it is necessary to push the ball between goal posts. Last night the game was between a team of cowboys and a team of Indians, who didn't come from Carlisle, but played the game with real Carlisle grit and audacity.
The Indians won that one.
The show also did a reenactment of the Battle at Summit Springs, which featured the destruction of an Indian village, at the hands of an "avenging cavalry."
The Indians lost that one.

April 21, 1908 (Tuesday)

HISTORIC SACRILEGE ROCKS THE VATICAN: The Roman Catholic Pope was on the front page of The New York Times today, just as in 2008. However, this time the news concerned an enormous sacrilege. The Times article sets up the sacrilege in this way:
From the time of St. Peter to that of Pius X (ABOVE), the history of Papacy fails to record such a grave sacrilege is [sic] that which was committed yesterday [April 19] inside the Vatican, under the eyes of the Pontiff himself.
What on earth happened?
Evidently three NON-CATHOLICS received the communion from the hands of the Pope and afterwards removed the consecrated wafers from their mouths. One of the wafers was found on the floor.
At the time the actress Mary Anderson (left) and the sisters and a niece of the pope were kneeling close by. A sister of the pope noticed what happened and people saw her "raise both her hands in horror."
Members of the Papal court removed the offenders, who claimed ignorance of Catholic procedure.


BERLIN IS HOAXED BY REPORT OF MILLIONAIRE'S VISIT: German newspapers on Saturday announced that American millionaire William K. Vanderbilt II and his wife and daughter had checked into the city's Hotel Bristol (above) to spend Easter in the German city. Today's New York Times says that "one or two papers printed what purported to be interviews with the distinguished visitor."
On the strength of those reports, "the hotel became within twenty-four hours the Mecca of scores of persons anxious to meet the distinguished guest."
Among those who showed up were bankers, picture dealers, motorcar, airplane, yacht and motorboat salesmen, representatives of various charities, and many letters, including one from someone in Saxony who said he had "two unknown Rembrandts and a Van Dyck to sell."
BUT, Mr. Vanderbilt is not in Berlin. His wife and her daughter and a son by her first marriage were there.
The reports especially helped the Hotel Bristol in Berlin. The Times notes that "many persons are engaging tables in hope of rubbing shoulders with an American Croesus."

TRAIN WRECK KILLS MORE THAN 40 IN AUSTRALIA: Today's New York Times includes the grim news of a massive train collision at "Braybrook Junction," which is eight miles from Melbourne, Australia. Reports indicate that 41 are dead and another 60 were injured in the wreck (shown above). The report says that "many of the bodies were unrecognizable when removed," thanks mostly to the fire that consumed some cars. Here's the final paragraph:
Terrible scenes followed the collision. Many of the injured, being caught in the wreckage were rescued with difficulty. It was a long time before doctors and nurses arrived on the scene, and as a consequence intense suffering prevailed among the injured.
Here's a full report from The Age newspaper.
A close look at this picture reveals that the town's name really isn't "Braybrook Junction." I think the name was changed to Sunshine in 1907.