May 25, 1908 (Monday)

NEW YORK-TO-PARIS AUTOMOBILE RACERS GET BOGGED DOWN IN SIBERIA: I've been remiss in not keeping readers up to date with the progress of the spectacular auto race from New York to Paris. The remaining autos are having a rugged time trying to make some headway in the muddy roads of Siberia. After being shipped from Japan to Vladivostock, the cars -- the American Thomas auto and the German Protos (shown above) -- headed west across Asia. There's a report from the American car in today's New York Times (a sponsor of the race). Here's a great paragraph that describes the sportsmanship exhibited on the road:
When we had proceeded three miles from Vladivostock we discovered the track of an automobile in the mud before us that set us wondering which of our competitors had stolen a march on us. For thirteen miles more we followed the track in a frenzy of eagerness to overtake the machine. Then we came upon the German Protos car hopelessly stuck in a mudhole.
The Thomas, picking its way, plunged in and through the pool and attained the other side in safety. Then we stopped and passed a rope to our German friends and hauled them out of its predicament. Lieut. Koeppen acknowledged our courtesy by hauling out of a hamper in his tonneau a bottle of wine, and we drank to a successful arrival in Paris, while the Lieutenant pledged the health of the American crew.

SENATOR DEPEW UNCORKS A FLOOD OF ABUSE FOR A STATEMENT HE MADE ABOUT DRINKING IN THE NEWSPAPER: Sen. Chauncey Depew (right) had a quiet day yesterday in his Washington, D.C., home -- after he put his telephone off the hook. Otherwise, he was hounded most of the day because of a statement he made that was quoted in a morning newspaper, according to today's New York Times. What he said was that
"more people die from overeating than from overdrinking."
That uncorked a massive amount of criticism from the anti-alcohol crowd. The Times noted that the senator had calls during breakfast from the WCTU, the Daughters of the Rechabites, the Secretary of the Young Women's Christian Association, a member of the King's Daughters and a local leader of the Prohibition Party.
None were apparently willing to give the great orator a chance to explain himself. They merely bemoaned that Depew had apparently become the latest champion of Demon Rum.
After the meal, he "carefully removed the telephone receiver from its hook," the paper says.
I bet he wished he was safely out of contact -- like in Siberia, where it was safe for the racing automobilists to share some wine.
[NOTE: When Depew died in 1928, Time printed a charming obituary.]

May 24, 1908 (Sunday)

MOB OF 10,000 IN CHICAGO STRUGGLE FOR GLIMPSE OF WOMAN'S BLUE TROUSER: Today's New York Times calls it "a pushing, scrambling mob." It's referring to a throng of about 10,000 in Chicago who filled State Street yesterday afternoon while trying to see "a pretty girl walk by clad in the Directoire gown -- the newest thing in feminine apparel in Paris." (This was part of the 100 Years Ago Today "news" report for April 19, 1908.) Here's the description of the scene and the object of their affection:
A few did catch a glimpse of what all went out to see -- a shapely young woman clad in a gown which fitted tightly about the hips and bust and slit from the hem to the knee on the left side, affording an occasional and fleeting glimpse of a pale blue trouser.
The woman in the gown was a actress named Bertha Carlisle, who is in Joe Weber's "Merry Widow" company. She made the walk in the dress in order to win a $500 bet. The Times says,
She went bravely enough at first, but the crowd became so fierce she was compelled to take refuge in a jeweler's shop, from which she escaped to her hotel.
(NOTE: The drawing above appears to illustrate the dress -- at left -- which features a slit that reveals a LEG.)

AMONG THE CROOKS ON THE WATERFRONT, THE "MOST HEARTLESS" IS THE FAKE BOAT OFFICIAL: Today's New York Times throws some attention on the types of highly specialized criminals that have begun to populate the city. This is, the article says, "an age of specialists." One specialty is the fake ticket collector who lurks among outgoing steerage passengers on the city's docks. There, people are easily deceived. "They are usually intimidated by the uniform of authority and give him all they have -- he even succeeds in confiscating watches, pins and so on, striping many a poor soul bare of all his or her small treasures." (The picture above shows such a fake boat official trying to confiscate travelers' money, watches or tickets.
The article includes this tale, of such a crook's attempt to fleece passengers on an outgoing liner on Washington's Birthday and the cat-and-mouse nature of law enforcement:
A little boy not more than 8 or 9 years old, had been sent alone on a voyage to join his sister. He had gotten into his bunk before the boat started, and was lying here reading a little prayer book which his mother had put into his hands just before he left her. The confidence man, in his steamship get-up, came around the staterooms with his cry of "tickets." He first tackled the man in the berth above the child. But this emigrant explained by motions of his hand in the direction of mouth and ear that he was deaf and dumb. Then the crook demanded money of the little boy. All the child had was an old silver watch and a $5 bill. The thief took both. It is, however, pleasant to be able to add that the supposed "deaf and dumb man" in the upper berth was Detective Leeson of the water front, and that the fake official was arrested before he left the boat!

May 23, 1908 (Saturday)

CURTISS FLIES 339 YARDS AT HAMMONDSPORT: Aviator Glenn H. Curtiss (left) flew Frederick W. Baldwin's "White Wing" (above) 339 yards yesterday in Hammondsport, N.Y., according to a front-page article in today's New York Times. The paper added:
The machine was under perfect control at all times and was steered first to the right and then to the left before landing. The 339 yards were covered in 19 seconds, or at the rate of 37 miles an hour.
In addition, the paper says, the "Helicopter," described as "an entirely new kind of flying machine, built like a revolving fan, with long, wide inclined planes, propelled by a motor at the foot of a mast" got 18 INCHES off the ground -- carrying ballast that equalled the weight of a man. To increase the height, all that's needed is more power, says inventor J. Newell Williams.

BABY MIXUP AT ST. LOUIS WORLD'S FAIR IN 1904 IS ABOUT TO BE FIXED UP: On Feb. 14, 1904, a little girl was born in a St. Louis hospital to Mrs. Charlotte Thompson Bleakley. As the new mother lay ill, the hospital matron SOLD THE BABY to the "Baby Incubator Company" of the world's fair, according to today's New York Times. The mother was told the baby died. She didn't know that her child was alive and well inside one of the incubators on exhibit at the St. Louis World's Fair. Mrs. James G. Barclay, a wealthy woman from Buffalo, decided to adopt the baby. Somehow Mrs. Bleakley became suspicious of the tale of her daughter's death and the matron confessed. Since then, there's been a tug-of-war in the courts. Mrs. Barclay (the adoptive mother) has spent about $50,000 in an effort to keep the child. Mrs. Bleakley has spent about $5,000 and has been supported by many lawyers working for free.
Courts have been handling this in the following ways:
An Illinois Circuit Court decided the child belonged to the birth mother.
The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the decision and gave the baby to the foster mother.
A District Court in Kansas ruled that the child belonged to the adoptive mother.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the baby should be with the birth mother.
Right now, the baby is living with her birth mother in Sedan, Kansas.
It should all be decided "in a few days" by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Minneapolis, Minn., according to today's Times.

May 22, 1908 (Friday)

"BILL" THE TAPIR FADES FAST AT CENTRAL PARK ZOO: Last Tuesday, a South American tapir named "Bill" took up residence at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, N.Y. The zoo had high hopes, even though previous tapirs have not fared well in the facility. Bill, after all, was "the biggest, lustiest, handsomest tapir that ever went to Central Park," according to today's New York Times. His price tag was pretty lusty, too. The animal cost the zoo $4,000.
Unfortunately, he was "morose and melancholy" from the beginning. Zoo officials moved him from house to house, eventually landing him in the old hippopotamus cage. No good. The paper says, "He grew as gloomy as a trust President."
Then the zoo officials came up with a bright idea, thinking the animal missed the scenery of Brazil. An artist then covered the walls with "reproductions of masterpieces in the way of Brazilian swamps."
They brought Bill into the redecorated suite at 3:10 p.m. yesterday. He was dead within FIVE MINUTES. The Times speculated thusly:
He took one look at the pictures on the wall, rolled over, and died, moaning as if he said: "Fake pictures."

IF THEY ONLY KNEW THAT 100 YEARS LATER, WE WOULD ENJOY MONDAY HOLIDAYS: Today's Times has a letter from someone who signed it "A Sympathizer." The topic is the cruel trick that the Calendar of 1908 will play upon WORKERS in the U.S. The letter writer points out that Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July all fall on SATURDAY in 1908. That day, he or she writes, is already "a half holiday with many wage earners." The trouble is, they write, that, "It seems rather hard that this class of the employed, many of whom get few holidays throughout the year, should thus virtually be deprived of half a day's holiday."
The letter-writer has a humble request:
It would be a great benefit to them if some arrangement might be made whereby this class of employee could have a whole day's holiday given to them to represent Memorial Day and Fourth of July apart from the regular Saturday half holiday."
It's a good idea, but it will have to wait about 60 years, until the Uniform Monday Holidays Act.

May 21, 1908 (Thursday)

DOCTORS FIND OUT WHY SHE IS OBSESSED WITH FOOTBALL -- A 3-INCH CYST ON THE BRAIN: An unidentified woman woman recently caused a stir when her enthusiasm for FOOTBALL became "an actual mania," according to today's New York Times. The paper quotes Dr. Charles Mills of the University of Pennsylvania, who described the case at the 34th annual meeting of the American Neurological Association yesterday in Philadelphia:
"She couldn't get enough of football. She attended games here; then she went to New York for more. She went to the Harvard-Indian [Carlisle] game in Boston and rushed back here again for the Army and Navy game. Every time she went, however, she would become very nauseated and dizzy, and partially disorientated."
This called for an operation.
Doctors found a 3-inch wide CYST in her brain..
The article concludes, "After her operation her recovery was rapid and virtually complete."
Wonder what she would have done if she had had a big-screen plasma TV during football season.
[NOTE: The photo shows the Yale football team practicing in the fall of 1908. It's unclear exactly what they are practicing. The man at the right is practicing his grimace.]

FEARS SPIN WILDLY IN PARIS WHEN IT COMES TO REVOLVING DOORS: As dozens of patrons dined recently at a popular restaurant in Paris, the revolving door at the entrance became jammed. For a full hour nobody could get in or out, according to today's New York Times. Clear thinking people recognize that disaster would have been inescapable if a fire had broken out. On another occasion, a fire alarm in another establishment sent patrons to the door so fast that it became jammed with people and could not be opened. So, M. Lepine, the prefect of the Paris police, has ordered yesterday that revolving doors must be dismantled in "all cafes, restaurants, hotels and other places capable of containing more than 100 persons at one time."
The Times adds the obvious: "The Prefect's decree is a serious blow to all who are engaged in the revolving door business, which has soundly established itself in France."

May 20, 1908 (Wednesday)

CONGRESSMAN IN A SLOW BURN OVER THE HIGH NUMBER OF DEATHS IN PENNSYLVANIA COAL MINES: Allen Foster Cooper, who represents Uniontown, Pa., in the U.S. Congress, has put some sobering facts in the Congressional Record, according to today's New York Times. He added some statistics showing the staggering human cost of digging coal in Pennsylvania into the discussion of a bill that calls for $150,000 for investigations of mining disasters. He reminds the nation that 1,514 people were killed in coal-mining accidents and disasters in 1907. (The photo above was taken in Pennsylvania by Lewis Hine in 1908-1912.)

A TALE THAT WILL MAKE ANY DOG-LOVER WEEP: On Saturday the 4-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. J.W. McAlister of Quinton, Va., was playing with the family dog when he tumbled into a creek. The dog, a setter, was able to drag the boy out of the creek. Then, the dog "sped home," according to today's New York Times.
In an effort to coax Mrs. McAlister to follow him to the boy, the dog leaped on her and tugged at her clothing. She thought the dog had gone mad. Mr. McAlister rushed in with a club and smacked the dog on the head, likely cracking his skull.
The final sentence says it all:
The dog, even with a broken head, succeeded in leading McAllister to the side of the half-drowned boy, after which he crawled off into the woods and died.