Oct. 3, 1908 (Saturday)

LURCHING TOWARD A 24/7 NEWS CYCLE, THE NEW YORK TIMES PLANS TO PROVIDE TWICE DAILY NEWS UPDATES VIA WIRELESS BULLETINS DURING ELECTRICAL SHOW: As part of a broad effort to demonstrate some exciting uses of electricity, wireless telephony and wireless telegraphy at the New York Electrical Show at Madison Square Garden. The show opens tonight. The Times will transmit wireless bulletins from the tower of the Times Building to MSG at 2 and 5 p.m. An article on the front page of today's Times says,
Each bulletin will be a condensation of the news of the day up to the hour of transmission. The news will be received on an instrument in the main exhibit room of the building and later it will be put in type and printed in the daily paper which the managers of the exhibition will publish.
Other exhibits will show other ways that electricity is used: milking cows, hatching chickens and combing horses.
Proceeds from next Thursday's events at the show will go to the Loomis Sanitarium for Poor Consumptives.
You can hear the voice of Thomas Edison speaking at the opening of the electrical show by going here.

Oct. 2, 1908 (Friday)

MAYBE SHE DIDN'T SAY IT: Ethel Barrymore has not wasted any time repudiating comments attributed to her in yesterday's New York Times. Yesterday's paper carried extensive quotations from Barrymore, who trashed high society. Today's New York Times prints a telegram that Barrymore sent to her Charles Frohman. Here are the first two paragraphs:
Last week in Detroit I received a telegram from our advance agent asking if I would give an interview to The St. Louis Republic. I wired him that I would do so, and on my arrival here I arranged to see a young lade of The Republic after the matinee performance yesterday.
I was horrified to read in the morning issue of The Republic that I was cruelly and wrongfully quoted. The American society women were never touched upon. Those who know me realize too well my love and admiration for my American sisters. Not for worlds would I utter or make a statement that is so absolutely false and low as quoted in The St. Louis Republic of this day.
She closes with this plea: "I feel terribly about it. Do your utmost and place me right before my friends and public."

ESCAPEE SWIMS HELL GATE BUT THEN -- SEEKING SHELTER -- WALKS INTO A POLICEMAN'S HOME: Manuella Prato stood in a row of prisoners yesterday morning on Blackwell's Island in the East River. At one point, he spotted an opportunity to escape. When the guards were not looking, he jumped into the East River and somehow survived a swim through the Hell Gate waters (above). He reached the shore of Astoria, Queens. Prato, who lost his shirt in the swim, ran about a half mile inland, looking for shelter. At Grand and Fourth avenues, he spotted a hospitable looking house and knocked on the door. He asked for a coat and some food and was invited inside. Little did he know that sitting at the table was Policeman Keating, who was off duty.
Today's New York Times says, "Keating ran his experience eye over the fugitive." Then he asked his wife to go to the Astoria Police Station. A policeman returned and escorted Prato to the station house, where a deputy warden and prison keeper were waiting for him.

Oct. 1, 1908 (Thursday)

ACTRESS BLASTS U.S. SOCIETY: After a performance of "Lady Frederick in the Olympic Theater in St. Louis, actress Ethel Barrymore (shown above in 1896) went off script and unleashed some harsh words for those in high society in the United States. Here's a snippet from the article, which appears at the TOP of the fifth column of the FRONT PAGE (right) of today's New York Times (for those who think that infatuation with celebrity is a modern phenomenon):
"...the most useless, brainless, selfish, and purposeless order of beings in the world constitutes the society of this country."
"Society men and women are merely selfish, priggish, and contented with creature comforts. If a plague were to wipe out the entire society element of New York, neither the city nor the country at large would be the worse for the loss, for it would not be missed."

IN DIVORCE HEARING, MARRIAGE BROKER SAYS HIS MARRIAGE HAS GONE TO THE DOGS: Samuel Yudkin has evidently made a good living as marriage broker (or schatchen) in Newark over the years. So, people were surprised yesterday in court when it became known that his wife is suing him for divorce -- pointing to desertion as a cause. In court, Yudkin said his wife had, in the words of the New York Times, "chased him with a knife, and the five Yudkin children were wont to pursue him around the house until he fled to the street."
Then the Times offers this exchange:
"She threw a candlestick and a dog at me," said the marriage negotiator to Judge Howell.
"A fire dog?" asked the Judge.
"A poodle dog that hit me," said Yudkin.

Sept. 30, 1908 (Wednesday)

UPON FURTHER REVIEW, TIMES QUESTIONS VALIDITY OF LETTER ALLEGEDLY WRITTEN BY GROVER CLEVELAND AND PRINTED LAST AUGUST IN THE PAPER: Questions have arisen lately about the authenticity of an article printed in The New York Times in late August (above) and put under the byline of former Gov. Grover Cleveland. In the piece, Cleveland (a Democrat) gives his reasons for supporting the candidacy of Republican William Howard Taft. Times includes excerpts from three other newspapers applauding the Times for not sweeping the controversy under the rug and vigorously seeking evidence that deals with the authenticity of the article. The Portland (Maine) Press says:
The Times has clearly played fair with its readers, and until Mr. Hastings produces his 'evidence' and satisfies the people that it settles the question, a great majority of the American public are going to believe that the grim old Sage of Princeton did write the letter that has caused such a sensation.
This looks like it could be one of the great campaign shenanigans. A letter writer in today's Times puts it in perspective:
If the article is a fake, it is one of the most audacious attempts at deception in American politics since the forged Morey letter imputed to Gen. Garfield in 1880. If the article is genuine, the attempt to disprove it is equally reprehensible, and will realize for he political cause that it is probably intended to serve far more harm than benefit.
The Morey letter is explained here and here and reproduced here and below.

Sept. 29, 1908 (Tuesday)

TIMES EXPLAINS OKLAHOMA GOVERNOR'S "FOUR FLUSHER" NICKNAME FOR ROOSEVELT: The front page of the New York Times yesterday (Sept. 28) included the article above. It describes the way Oklahoma Gov. Haskell (left) criticized President Roosevelt, calling him a "four-flusher". Today's Times -- on its editorial page -- gives an explanation of the term, noting the governor "has enriched the flamboyant glossary of a Presidential campaign. It offers one possibility:
A flush, in the game of poker, is composed of five cards of one suit. A four flush is incomplete, and therefore worthless.
Then, the Times concludes, "A 'four flusher' must be a person without luck. We leave it to the whole Nation to decide if Mr. Haskell has applied the term appropriately."

EVEN THOUGH EACH WOMAN DID THE RIGHT THING, A BABY DIES: A woman visited the home of Mrs. Mary Storti in Brooklyn yesterday. The visitor offered to hold little George Sroti, 2-months-old, while his mother attended to some household chores. George fell asleep in the visitor's arms. She stood up and took the sleeping baby into an "inner bedroom" in the house and laid him on a folding bed. A few minutes later, the busy mother walked into the room and closed up the folding bed. Then she swept the room a bit and returned to the sitting room. She noticed that her visitor no longer held baby George. According to today's New York Times, the very brief conversation went this way:
"Where is George?"
"Why, I laid him down on the folding bed."
The mother let out a scream and ran into the inner bedroom and opened up the bed.
The little baby was dead.

Sept. 28, 1908 (Monday)

TEN-YEAR-OLD PASSES ENTRANCE EXAMS FOR M.I.T.: Today's New York Times has a two-paragraph item on the front page about a pre-teen named William Sidis. He has evidently already outgrown the course offerings at Brookline High School in Massachusetts. He has evidently just passed the entrance exams for Massachusetts Institute of Technology. If he attends, he will be about 10 years younger than the average entering student at the school. Reportedly, he has spent only about 11 months of his life to date "under the instruction of teachers." The Times adds this:
At the age of 2 years he could read and write, and two or three years later he could speak four languages. His parents are Russians, and both are physicians.
Not surprisingly, much remains to be said about Willliam Sidis. His is life worth exploring. Here's another site worth looking at.