Feb. 15, 1909 (Monday)

CAPTAIN WHO RAIN BRITISH BLOCKADE TO GET FOOD TO THE BOERS DIES IN QUINCY:Capt. Henry J. Howes died yesterday "at the Sailors' snug harbor, Germantown" according to a report with a Quincy dateline in today's Globe. The paper referred to Howes as "one of the best-known, biggest-hearted and most fearless skippers that ever commanded a Yankee ship in the merchant marine service." The article gives an example of Howes' seamanship. In one of his last trips, he took the Sea Witch through a blockade off Delagoa Bay -- now known as Maputo Bay (shown above in 1990) during the Boer War. He was carrying flour for the Boers. He made it through the miles-long blockade even though all British ships were equipped with searchlights.
The Globe article says,
the appearance of the Sea Witch at anchor in the harbor in the morning caused consternation among the British naval officers who had charge of the blockade and the Yankee skipper became an object of ill-feeling on the part of the officers of the British service.
The British were puzzled that a sailing ship could achieve such a feat. A few years after the feat, a British naval officer "good-naturedly" asked Howes how he had done it. Howes, choosing to keep his secret, "laughingly replied that he sank his ship outside the British lines and sailed under water to the wharf in Delagoa bay, where he again came to the surface."
The Globe doesn't say when the blockade-running took place. The New York Times took note of it, briefly, with a mention in its Feb. 17, 1900, edition (which is shown here).

Feb. 14, 1909 (Sunday)

CRITICS SWARM TO BOSTON FOR PREMIERE OF PADEREWSKI SYMPHONY AS INTERPRETED BY FIEDLER -- MAX, THAT IS: Today's Globe makes a clear statement about Ignace Paderewski's new symphony in B minor, which had its WORLD PREMIERE in the rehearsal by the Boston Symphony on Friday and its FIRST PUBLIC PERFORMANCE last night, under the baton of Max Fiedler (above). [Don't think he's related to Arthur Fielder.]
The headline is clear: "Great is Paderewski's New Symphony."
The composer evidently liked what he heard on Saturday night. The Globe said,
The interpretation evidently was satisfactory to the composer, who expressed to Mr. Fiedler his pleasure at the performance under his direction. The audience was quite enthusiastic and Paderewski was obliged to make his peculiar bowing acknowledgements several times before the applause was stilled.
Paderewski also played the C minor concerto by Saint-Saens. He did so "with a dash, velocity and vigor which was fairly dazzling."
More modern renditions of he symphony, called "Polonia," are available, including this one (right)





A KID NAMED HARRY HOOPER MIGHT HELP BOSTON:Word out of Arkansas is that the Boston Red Sox have quite a fast outfielder lined up for the 1909 team. He's Harry Hooper and has the unsurprising nickname of "Hoop." He played with Sacramento and is under contract with the Sox for 1909. He "has just reached his majority" and "was without doubt the fastest outfielder in the league" this past year. According to the article, he can "easily" cover 100 yards in 11 seconds. He played for the Oakland team in 1906. He was bought for the Sacramento team of "a paltry $25", the article adds. No word on how much he cost the Red Sox or how much ends up in his pocket.
For anyone who is curious about how his baseball career ended up, you can peek here.
Of note, he is not limited to baseball. The article ends with this paragraph:


[If you can't read it, it goes:
In private life Hooper is a civil engineer and has had charge of a large corps of survivors at work in the extension of the Western Pacific railroad across the mountains into California. He is a quiet, unassuming young man but when on the field is thinking and playing baseball all the time.

It's great that he has an engineering background. And baseball fans can rest easy, knowing he's not going to be thinking of railroad work while roaming the outfield. I was a bit worried about his safety on the job -- knowing that railroad work can be quite dangerous -- with the reference to the "corps of survivors" he was overseeing when he wasn't playing baseball. Now, I think it's a TYPO. It's got to be a "corps of surveyors."

Feb. 13, 1909

EAGER TO SPOT A MARKET INDICATOR? TRY THE "STEERAGE INDEX": Consider the White Star liner Canopic, which is scheduled to pull away from the Hoosac docks in Charlestown at 4 p.m. today and head to the Azores, Naples and Genoa. Of note to the Globe is that the ship has only 126 passengers in steerage, leaving the U.S. The meaning?
This emphasizes the fact that the Italians and Portuguese, who have been leaving here in large numbers, are now satisfied that the period of depression is past, and they are remaining in this country instead of returning to their old homes.
There you have it: the STEERAGE INDEX.
[A hundred years later, the economy still drives the comings and goings.]


THE NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION HAS YET TO BE FORMULATED, BUT THE NAACP'S BIRTH IS DULY NOTED: A story in today's Boston Globe -- on page 14, under the headline of "To Discuss the Negroes" -- describes a get-together that is now viewed as the beginning of the NAACP. The group chose Lincoln's 100th birthday as an appropriate time to call for a national "Lincoln conference on the negro question." The article says:
The question is put in the call, "How far has the nation lived up to the obligation imposed upon it by the emancipation proclamation?" It deprecates "the spread of lawless attacks upon the negro , north, south and west," and says, "silence under these conditions means tacit approval."
[For a look at the entire document, go here.]
Sixty people signed the pact, seven of whom were African American. The article lists some of the signers, including Jane Addams, Ida Wells, W.E.B. DuBois. One signer not mentioned in the list at the end of the article was Hamilton Holt.
Actually he was one of a number of journalists who signed the document but whose names were not listed in the article. Among them were William Dean Howells, Lincoln Steffens, Charles Edward Russell, Stannard Baker, and Oswald Garrison Villard.

Feb. 12, 1909 (Friday)

LINCOLN'S 100th BIRTHDAY NOTED BY THE GLOBE:Noah Brooks described the taking of the photograph in his book "Washington in Lincoln's Time" and his description appears below the photo in today's paper. The session was on the Sunday before the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. He wrote:
"Just as we were going down the stairs of the White House the President suddenly remembered that he needed a paper, and, after hurrying back to his office, soon rejoined me with a long envelope in his hand. When we were fairly started he said that in the envelope was an advance copy of Edward Everett's address to be delivered at the Gettysburg dedication...Drawing it out I saw that it was a one-page supplement to a Boston paper and that Mr. Everett's address nearly covered both sides of the sheet....In the picture which the President gave me, the envelope containing Mr. Everett's oration is seen on the table by the side of the sitter."
Lincoln's address -- given on Nov. 19, 1863 -- was considerably shorter than Everett's, which was very well received and an incredible 13,607 words long. If you can find the time, you can read it here.
Lincoln's death was only about 45 years before 1909, so it's not surprising that there are many people who have personal recollections of the president. Today's Globe devoted a page (right) to some of the New Englanders who chose to share their memories. The Globe also included a tale about Lincoln's expertise as a whittler of wood.
Copies of the portrait pictured above were framed in oak and presented to the 28 branches and reading rooms of the Boston Public Library.

ADVERTISEMENT RAISES A FEW QUESTIONS: I have no idea about the meaning of this ad for the George G. Fox Company of Charlestown. With the dates 1459-1909, the leading copy says "Four Hundred and Fifty Years to Make a Pie."
Any idea what that means?
What happened in 1459?
Serbs fell under Turkish rule, with the fall of Smederevo.
Yorkists defeated Lancasterians in the Battle of Blore Heath [Don't miss the reenactment on the 550th anniversary!].
Wonder why 1459 might be significant -- to bakers of pies. The text comes right out and says, "The first pie -- a very crude affair was made 450 years ago." Doubt it.

Feb. 11, 1909 (Thursday)

WINDS WHIP THROUGH BOSTON: Yesterday's weather included an 82 miles per hour reading atop Blue Hill. Noplace in the vicinity matched that velocity, but the wind was strong enough to inspire a Globe artist to portray the gusts in a piece of art that sits at the top and center of the front page.

COULD THIS BE AN AWARD-WINNING HEADLINE: "BABES, MATCHES, FIRE":
Terseness ruled with the headline on this tiny article on the front page of today's Globe, stating the obvious in unmistakable terms. Fortunately the winds never got ahold of the flames.

Feb. 10, 1909 (Wednesday)

MAIL ERUPTS LIKE VESUVIUS NEAR STATE HOUSE: An artist at the Boston Globe had some fun portraying the eruption of a pneumatic tube that blew out a manhole cover and sent mail into the air at Beacon and Bowdoin streets in Boston. The burst happened about 11:30 a.m. yesterday. The manhole cover blew into the air, and, according to the Globe, pieces of paper "flew up like snow driven before a gale."
The pneumatic tube blew just as mail was being sent through it from the central post office to North Station and the awaiting trains.
Bostonians must be an honest group. The Globe reported "no pieces of mail were reported missing."
This was NOT an early form of air mail.

Feb. 9, 1909 (Tuesday)

GLOBE TRIES TO ENLIGHTEN PEOPLE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF HEADLAMPS ON THE ROAD: Officials in the state of Massachusetts are trying to pass legislation that would REQUIRE moving vehicles to have HEADLAMPS for NIGHT-TIME DRIVING.
The Globe weighs in today, with a nod to history:
When all vehicles were of about the same speed, such a requirement was little thought of.
Now, automobiles are beginning to fill the road. [The picture above, taken about 1909, shows the Baker family of Osnabrock, N.D.] Because of their speed, they are becoming a menace to slow-moving wagons.
The automobiles driver, "whatever his shortcomings," the Globe continues, "is not remiss in the matter of lights. However, many wagon drivers do not carry lights.
The driver of a horse-drawn vehicle is only protecting himself in like manner when he hangs a lantern from his tailboard or rear axle.
Turn signals apparently lie in the distant future.