May 10, 1908 (Sunday)

BIG HATS REMAIN IN THE NEWS: Today's New York Times includes an illustration that offers another benefit of the large hats (also known as Merry Widow Hats) that some women wear. The illustration above, with the caption "Leave Us Alone", shows how such a hat can keep unwanted suitors at more than arm's reach from a woman. The paper also included a front-page story on the remarkable PROTECTION offered by such a hat. Evidently a hail storm swirled around Hampton Junction, N.J., on May 8 and caught Anna and May Omick exposed as they rode in an uncovered buggy from the village to the family's farm. The hail left numerous scars and bruises on the buggy and the left the horse stunned. The mare, according to reports, dropped in her tracks when she got to the farmhouse. It turns out that Anna was wearing what the Times calls a "M.W. hat." She was dry and unhurt. It was big enough to provide some protection for her sister, too.

A SOBERING BUDGET: Today's Times has a feature article with the headline of "How to Live on Thirty-Five Dollars a Week". The article includes the chart shown above. According to each category, rent should amount to either one-eighth, one-sixth, or one-fifth of monthly expenses. Food, clothing and the mysterious "help" should account for the same amount as rent. (The article explains that "help" is the equivalent of "contingencies" and lists some examples: car fare, holidays, insurance, fuel, repairs, illness, books and help.) Clearly a major part of each budget is SAVINGS, something it appears we have lost sight of. It appears that the guideline here covers a household of two. For comparison to 2008, multiply the dollar amount by about 20 (e.g., "How to Live on $700 a Week"). Hmmm, taxes don't seem to be mentioned much in the article. Maybe that's one reason why savings are often overlooked in budgets.

May 9, 1908 (Saturday)

TALE OF THE TAPE INDICATES THAT MRS. GUNNESS MIGHT STILL BE ALIVE: Most people think that Belle Gunness -- whose property is yielding numerous bodies to law enforcement officials -- might still be alive. That thinking is due in part to the discrepancies between the body thought to be that of the robust Mrs. Gunness and the body found in the ruins of her burned out house in La Port, Indiana. The measurements are printed in today's New York Times, and the differences seem clear (see above). Mrs. Gunness is bigger by far: by 8 inches in the bicep; by 10 inches in the bust; by 11 inches in the waist; by 14 inches in the hips; and 3 inches in the wrist (among other things).
Police departments around the country have been on the lookout. Today's morning papers scream that someone fitting Gunness' description was arrested on a train in Utica, N.Y., and hauled off to jail in Syracuse, N.Y. She claims to be "Mrs. Herron" (that hurts!) from Chicago. Police aren't so sure.
Meanwhile, back at her house in La Porte, Indiana, officials found one more body yesterday, bringing the count to 10. The digging has drawn quite a crowd, according to the Times:
A great throng stood around the grave as the excavators plied their shovels. As the first bone was uncovered a shout went up: "Another! They've found another!" It was with difficulty that the Sheriff and his men could crowd back the morbidly curious that the excavators might continue their work.

GOOD NEWS FLOATS ASHORE FROM STRICKEN SHIP: The most recent news about the German four-master Peter Rickmers was not good. However, today's New York Times says all 73 men on board the ship have been taken off. The first sentence of today's article gives a pretty good idea of the grim night the men spent on board the ship:
After facing death in darkness and cold for ten hours, amid the crash of falling spars, the shrieking of a northeast gale, and the dull pounding of the green seas as they swept the vessel fore and aft...."
The ship remains stuck on sand out in the ocean and will likely break apart soon. Some are trying to salvage her cargo of kerosene and oil, destined for Burma.

May 8, 1908 (Friday)

ABOUT 100 MEN IN DANGER AS RESCUERS HAVE TO TURN BACK: A dramatic tale is unfolding off Long Island. About 100 crewmen and would-be rescuers have lashed themselves to masts and deckhouses and rigging on the German steel ship Peter Rickmers (shown above, in its wrecked state) which ran aground a week ago and is being broken apart by a vicious coastal storm. The ship had just left Perth Amboy, N.J., for Burma -- carrying a big load of kerosene and crude oil. The men on the ship are waiting for rescuers. Many were trapped by the storm as they were trying to salvage some of the cargo. Some of the cans of oil were thrown overboard. The paper says,
the residents along the south shore reaped a harvest by gathering up the cans and selling the oil for what they could get.
As the ship is breaking apart, the men hope rescuers can find an opening in the storm to get to the wreck and take them ashore. The Times says, "Hope Wanes for Those on the Peter Rickmers, Pounding on Fire Island Sands."

BIG RAIN STORM MAKES BASEBALL HISTORY: A massive storm front hovered over much of the eastern half of the United States yesterday and caused rainouts in EVERY major league game scheduled. The seven games were scheduled to be played in Boston, Washington and Chicago (in the American League) and New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Pittsburgh (in the National League). According to today's New York Times, this marks "the first time a complete suspension of play has been necessary since the two major baseball organizations became rivals."

DESPITE THE STORM, GOLFERS HIT THE LINKS: Yesterday's massive rains couldn't stop the golfers competing in the tournament at the Garden City Golf Club. Despite the conditions, Walter Travis (above), playing on his home course, startled observers by carding an 84. The next highest scores were 99s. The Times noted that the day was characterized by "many ludicrous scenes." Here's one:
One little caddie after following his player for three holes threw down the bag of clubs and refused to continue in the storm and ran to the caddie house for shelter as fast as his legs could carry him.
The Times said players were "drenched to the skin, chilled to the bone" but the scene was "a powerful demonstration of the strong hold that the famous Scotch game has upon its ardent devotees."

May 7, 1908 (Thursday)

MORE BODIES FOUND ON INDIANA FARM: The story of Belle Gunness (right) that burst into yesterday's news has made a grisly turn. More bodies have been found on her farm (by workers digging around her property, shown above) and some are wondering if Belle was not, in fact, killed in the fire that destroyed her farmhouse in April 1908 (in a blaze that was commemorated recently). Now, according to today's article in the New York Times, some think Belle actually received SHIPMENTS OF BODIES from Chicago.
She might be on the run, perhaps heading back to Norway. The article says,
The Chicago authorities have also been asked to look for Mrs. Gunness, and her photographs are being sent out to all the police departments of the principal cities.

PUSHCART VENDORS LEARN THAT INNOCENCE CAN BE COSTLY: Sixty-four peddlers were arrested on Tuesday night and taken to the Mercer Street Police Station in New York (shown at left in the 1800s). All but seven were found guilty and fined $1. The seven whom the judge considered innocent were thrilled when they headed to the Street Cleaning Department to claim their carts. That's when they ran into trouble. They were asked for a receipt from the judge, proving they had paid a fine. They had no receipt because there was no fine. So, they had to pay $5 to get their carts back. The peddlers who were found guilty had to merely show their receipts to regain access to their carts -- for free.

May 5, 1908 (Wednesday)

MOTHERS GONE WILD PART I: DIGGING CONTINUES AT INDIANA FARMHOUSE AFTER FIVE BODIES ARE UNEARTHED: The first stirrings of the story of one of the most notorious killers in U.S. history appear on the front page of today's New York Times. More information is needed, but the preliminary reports of the discovery of at least five bodies at an Indiana farmhouse brings plenty of attention on Belle Gunness (shown above with some of her children). Among the victims are her many suitors, according to police. The tale fills a column of today's Times and jumps to Page 2. More can be read about it here and here and here.
The initial discovery was prompted by the visit to La Porte, Indiana, of a man from South Dakota who was trying to find his brother -- who had made a mail-order matrimonial match with Belle. Her home had burned down a week ago, supposedly killing her and her three children.
A handyman is being held in that case. However, the property now holds many more untold tales. About 20 men will be digging at the site today.
Belle had drawn plenty of attention to herself in the past -- especially with various schemes to collect on fire and life insurance policies. She was not charged in the death of one of her husbands shortly after she arrived at her farmhouse, six miles from La Porte. She had a strange explanation for his death:
She said that a meat cleaver had fallen from a shelf in the kitchen and killed him and a deep gash in his head corroborated the story, so far as the cleaver was concerned. There was no evidence to the contrary, and a verdict of accidental death was returned by the Coroner.
At that point, she began advertising for a husband. Numerous men answered the queries. There's talk now that many of her visitors have not been seen....
The Times coverage reminds readers of a couple of other terrible tales originating in the Midwest: the notorious Bender murders in Kansas and the killings of Herman Mudgett (aka Henry Holmes).

MOTHERS GONE WILD PART II: WOMAN USES BABY AS A CLUB IN A COURTROOM: Agnes Pashkut showed up in Criminal Court yesterday in Pittsburg, sat down in a courtroom and cradled her four-month-old baby on her lap. Her neighbor, Vincent Bialsky, sat behind here. Apparently, he made a quiet comment that really got Agnes upset. She jumped up, grabbed her baby by an ankle and "swung it twice around her head and tried to hit Bialsky," according to today's New York Times. He avoided contact by falling over backwards in his chair. A court interpreter, with great effort, prevented further damage to the baby, but it appears that "the child was badly hurt."

ANOTHER ROMANTIC TALE: YOUNG GIRL'S GET-OUT-OF-JAIL CARD IS A MARRIAGE LICENSE: Miss Elsie Rosenquest was recently arrested in Chicago and brought back to Pittsburg's Central Police Station where she was put in a cell, having been charged with larceny. William Shubert, a vaudeville actor from New York, has come to her rescue, according to today's New York Times. He made a deal with police: If they withdrew all charges, he would marry Elsie. They agreed, and the couple was joined in matrimony at the police station. She is 17.

May 5, 1908 (Tuesday)

STRAUS SAYS THERE SHOULD BE NO ALARM OVER IMMIGRATION NUMBERS: Cabinet member Oscar S. Straus (Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor) (above) said yesterday that people need not be overly concerned about the increases in immigration. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Presbyterian Union at the Hotel Savoy in New York, he reminded listeners of the impact immigrants have had on the armed forces, according to today's New York Times.
"Americans were alarmed at the invasion of the Germans after the revolution of 1848, but six of the Generals in the Federal Army during the civil war were Germans. Then we got scared over the Irish, but we have got used to them, and now the people are getting worried over the immigration of the Italians, Hungarians, Armenians, and others who are coming to America to supply us with the labor we need."
He said that in 1864, about 159,000 of the half million men in the Army and Navy were foreign-born. In 1905, there were 500,000 foreign-born men among the 2.21 million in the Army or Navy.
Regarding the overall population, he said, the percentage of foreign-born remained pretty level from 1860 to 1900. In 1860 the population of the U.S. was about 31 million, and 13.2 percent were born in other countries; in 1900, the population of the U.S. was about 80 million, and 13.7 percent were born in other countries.
He did not provide a guess at what might have happened between 1900 and 1908.

VILLAGE IN ILLINOIS HAS DISCOVERED FORMULA FOR WEALTH -- SELL LIQUOR: A place called Benbow City has grown up around a new refinery belonging to Standard Oil -- about eight miles south of Alton, Illinois. It began its corporate life on Monday as a village -- with 18 registered voters. It is the "wettest" town in Illinois. It has 23 saloons. There are 300 people living in the corporate limits. This means there's one saloon for every 13 residents. There are also seven "brewery agencies." Each saloon and agency will pay $500 a year for a license. This means the village has a nice nest egg of $15,000 for the coming year. This adds up to about $50 for each man, woman and child, which gives the place a "per capita wealth" that is "greater than that of any town or city in the United States," according to today's New York Times.
[Note: The village was annexed by Wood River in 1917.]