Sept. 25, 1908 (Tuesday)

WIFE OF BRITISH GENERAL IS FOUND MURDERED: Yesterday afternoon, the body of the wife of Major Gen. Charles Edward Luard was found in a remote wooded area near Sevenoaks, near London. This killing is an apparent murder and it's causing quite a sensation. The killing of Mrs. Luard (right) rated a front-page story in today's New York Times. Here's a description:
Mrs. Luard had been shot with a pistol, one bullet entering the temple and another striking her behind the ear. From the position of the body, apparently, she had faced her assailant, and he had shot her at close quarters. This bullet entered just below the left eye. The second shot, seemingly, was fired after the woman fell on her face. Her hand had been pulled back and three rings were wrenched from the fingers. Her dress, also was torn almost from the body.
The illustration above, of course, fails to portray that final point.
NOTE: This remains a very Cold Case, 100 years later.

A CORSET WOULDN'T HAVE HELPED MRS. LUARD, BUT IT SAVED THE LIFE OF MRS. GRAVES: Yesterday afternoon, Mrs. Graves, the wife of a broker, took an automobile ride in Orange, N.J., with her chauffeur, a nurse and her five-month-old child. They passed the house of Harry Folsom of Wildwood Avenue at the same time Mr. Folsom was cleaning a .45-caliber revolver. It discharged, and a bullet tore a hole though the back of the Graves automobile. It hit Mrs. Graves in the side. It hit a STEEL RIB in her corset and left her with only a bruise.

Sept. 24, 1908 (Thursday)

GIANTS LOSE KEY BASEBALL GAME TO CUBS, THANKS TO BASERUNNING BLUNDER: In a game that resonates 100 years later, the New York Giants lost a chance to defeat the defending champion Chicago Cubs yesterday at the Polo Grounds. The goat in this case was 19-year-old Fred Merkle (right). He was on first base and a teammate was on third in the bottom of the last inning. A hit apparently plated the winning run. However, Merkle simply left the field and failed to touch second base. That allowed the Cubs -- after plenty of confusion -- to touch the bag and lead to his being called out. Today's Times calls it a case of "censurable stupidity" on Merkle's part. In fact, those were the first two words of the article.

SINCE HER HUSBAND DIED 19 YEARS AGO, WOMAN TRIES TO GET EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK -- BY DRESSING AS A MAN: Shortly after he husband died 19 years ago, Augusta Seib figured out she needed to do something drastic. She knew she would make better money as a man so she got a job as a waiter at New York's Waldorf-Astoria. She stayed there for several months before moving on similar jobs at the Savoy Hotel and various restaurants -- ever worried that her secret would be discovered. At one point, she severely injured herself while stepping off a street car. To avoid having to go to a hospital, where her secret was sure to be exposed, she left the scene and got another job. Eventually she moved to Baltimore where she set up a fruit stand. She got into a fist fight three weeks ago with a customer who tried to cheat her. That brought the police to the scene. At the stationhouse, the police discovered her gender. She was arrested three more times; now she has shown up in Philadelphia, "clad in men's attire to ask police if they would molest her if she started a fruit stand and conducted it in male attire," according to today's New York Times. The article fails to give the answer she received from the Philadelphia police.

A WOMAN, PRESUMABLY DRESSED LIKE ONE, MAKES HISTORY IN NEW JERSEY: in the primary of Sept. 22, Pamela Eakins became the "regular" nominee of the Republicans for a spot on the board of education in Kearny, N.J. With the win, she becomes, according to today's New York Times, the "first woman elected to run for public office in [New Jersey]." She defeated George McClintock by a 291-211 score. The Times says she "made an interesting campaign, winning on an issue of thorough representation of parents in the School Board."