100 Years Ago Today

Nov. 28, 1909 (Sunday)

2009-11-27T15:53:00.004-05:00

STRIKING WORKERS ARE KICKED TO THE CURB IN LUDLOW: A strike in Ludlow has turned ugly. About 200 striking employees of Ludlow manufacturing plants have been EVICTED from their company-owned tenements. Today's Globe has a story and images on its front page (above). The article says that "many of those evicted are passing tonight [meaning last night] in the street, with little or nothing but their scanty wearing apparel to protect them from the cold winds and the freezing slush and snow of the street."
The Ludlow Manufacturing Associates owns the plants in Ludlow that make jute and hemp goods. A labor dispute has lingered since August when about 20 young boys asked from a raise from $5 to $5.50 a week. That was rejected. That decision created a deadlock. Only about 800 of the 2,700 employees are actually at work at the plants.

GUEST TAKES A LONGSHOT ON A LAST-MINUTE WEDDING GIFT -- A DEER HEAD: George M. Follette of Fall River and Carrie G. Emery of Lakeview, Maine, got married on Thursday. That's nice, but it really isn't -- in and of itself -- worthy of a story in today's Globe. However, the gift that Robert T. Clark of Bangor presented to the couple was newsworthy. He gave the a DEER HEAD. What makes it more intriguing is that the head belonged to a deer that Clark shot while on his way to the wedding -- riding on a buckboard outside of Milo (shown above, in 1905) with a group of wedding guests. Here's the relevant paragraph:
"The party took a buckboard at Milo and was hardly a mile out of town, when a big deer was sighted in a neighboring field. Mr. Clark fired at 500 yards over the shoulder of one of the bridesmaids and wounded the animal in the leg."

A second shot brought the deer down. According to the article, the head will be mounted and will decorate a wall in the Follettes' home in Fall River.
It sure beats getting a toaster.

Nov. 3, 1909 (Wednesday)

2009-11-03T07:58:00.005-05:00

ARMY BURIES FOOTBALL PLAYER WHO DIED FROM INJURIES SUFFERED IN HARVARD GAME:
Lots of bad things can happen in a pileup on the football field. (Exhibit A: Video of eye-gouging in this past weekend's Florida-Georgia game -- 2009.) Cadets at West Point buried Eugene Byrne yesterday, according to today's Boston Globe. Byrne, of Buffalo, N.Y., died on Sunday, the day after he was severely injured in Army's football game against Harvard. [The picture above shows Army playing at home about 1909.) In the game Byrne, a lineman, was buried beneath a pile of players. The weight of the pile twisted and broke his neck. He would have died instantly but artificial respiration kept him alive.
His dad, John A. Byrne, is former chief of police in Buffalo. Today's paper describes why the family chose to have Eugene buried at West Point:
"...cadet Byrne's whole life from boyhood had been devoted to a passionate desire to be a West Pointer and a soldier and that in his case it was particularly fitting that he should sleep in the little God's acre close tot eh school he loved."
The base chapel was filled yesterday for the service. Those attending included the Army football team and 25 members of the Harvard Club of New York. The U.S. Naval Academy sent two seniors to the service. The death has prompted the academies to CANCEL the Army-Navy game.
[This death helped make the 1909 football season one of the deadliest ever.]

Oct. 31, 1909 (Sunday)

2009-10-30T07:56:00.005-05:00

A SCARY NOTION FOR NEWSPAPERS: THE SECOND HUNDRED YEARS MIGHT BE THE TOUGHEST....: Today's Globe celebrates the 82 newspapers in the United States that have been publishing for at least 100 YEARS. [The story about this was NOT published anywhere near the scary-pumpkin illustration above, which adorned the first page of the comic.] The 100-year-club includes 22 in New England.
Here they are:
CONNECTICUT
Bridgeport -- Republican Farmer;
Hartford -- Connecticut Courant;
New Haven -- Connecticut Herald and Weekly Journal;
Norwich -- Courier.
MAINE
Portland -- Advertiser;
Portland -- Eastern Argus.
MASSACHUSETTS
Boston -- Courier;
Greenfield -- Gazette;
Haverhill -- Evening Gazette;
New Bedford -- Morning Mercury;
Northhampton -- Hampshire Gazette;
Pittsfield -- Berkshire County Eagle;
Salem -- Register and Mercury.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord -- New Hampshire Patriot;
Keene -- Cheshire Republican;
Keene -- New Hampshire Sentinel;
Milford -- Cabinet;
Portsmouth -- N.H. Gazette.
RHODE ISLAND
Newport -- Mercury.
VERMONT
Montpelier -- Vermont Watchman;
Rutland -- Herald;
Windsor -- Vermont Journal.
Amazingly, some remain, a century later. I've added links to a couple of those that still publish -- and which are online. But not many remain.
The newspapers themselves aren't the only items on the list that have vanished. Think of the names. Consider Portland's Eastern Argus, named, presumably, for Argus Panoptes from Greek mythology. He was an all-seeing guardian with, reportedly, about a hundred eyes. It's a good name for a newspaper, which tries to catch all the important things going on all around it. Gosh, he died, too.

Oct. 30, 1909 (Saturday)

2009-10-30T07:55:00.000-05:00

A HUNDRED YEARS LATER, THE FEELING IS THE SAME: Today's Globe decorates its front page with the above cartoon, showing the pressures applied by candidates on a typical voter. The same cartoon could be printed today, of course. Actually, one change would be needed, I suppose. A hundred years ago, there was no question that a voter would be a man. For the political world of 1909, women's suffrage lies in the future.

WHY WOMEN NEED STRONG NECKS: Women are pictured in today's Globe, today, of course -- just not as voters. Henry Siegel Co., which sits on the corner of Washington and Essex streets in Boston has a huge ad on page 3 of today's Globe. I loved this image -- of a woman in a beaver hat. Here's the description:
"Beautiful heavy napped beavers, in large and medium shapes -- including the much wanted roll brim sailor; trimmed with velvet bows, flowers or wings. Beavers are very scarce as well as popular this season."
The ad says that "exclusive stores" would put a $12.50 or $15 price tag on these hats (multiply by about 20 for 2009 dollars). Today only, Siegel is selling them for $8.75.

JOHNSON-JEFFRIES MATCH IS INKED: Today's sports page announces that two boxing greats -- Jack Johnson (right) and James Jeffries -- agreed yesterday to have a "fight to the finish" by July 5, 1910. The fight, at a site to be determined, will be at least 45 rounds.
The report tried to duplicate Johnson's accent, making no effort to try and duplicate any accent Jeffries may or may not have had. Some samples:
"No, suh. I has a say where mah money goes."
"No man has moah to say about mah money than I have."

Oct. 29, 1909

2009-10-29T13:10:00.012-05:00

USUALLY, JOURNALISTS ARE TOUGH....: Today's Globe has an interesting observation about the THIN SKIN of some journalists and newspaper practitioners. The editorial deals with criticism levied at a play that deals with "a newspaper and its controllers". The editorial writer says, "This play has been severely criticised on the ground that it misrepresents the newspaper calling." He adds, "The editors who accuse the dramatic collaborateurs of libeling the press are oversensitive."
It points out that lawyers rarely protest about the way that "barristers, attorneys and shysters" are portrayed in plays or on the pages of novels. "We have not heard of any protests from them, not any complaint that the dramatists or romancers have misrepresented their profession." The same is true of doctors, many of whom are portrayed in unflattering ways in the theater and in books.
The conclusion: "To be oversensitive about such matters is to rate the occupation of playmaker and story-teller too highly." So, newspapermen have got to deal with it in a more constructive way. Maybe by ignoring it.
Unfortunately, the paper does not give the title of the play. Nor does it say where it is playing.

Oct. 27, 1909

2009-10-27T07:16:00.008-05:00

WHAT ABOUT MR. LODGE? Last night's (2009) debate brought together four Democrats vying to replace the late Edward Kennedy in the U.S. Senate. The moderator mentioned that the seat at stake has been occupied by a number of famous Senators. He listed four of them: Ed Kennedy, Jack Kennedy, Daniel Webster and John Quincy Adams. That listing failed to mention other seat-occupiers, who are less famous. Fortunately, the whole list is available. The U.S. Senate web site calls it the state's Class 1 seat. So, who was there 100 years ago? Henry Cabot Lodge (shown above in 1916). He served in the so-called Kennedy seat from 1893 to 1924. Not surprising that his name wasn't mentioned. He served for 31 years, second only in longevity to Ed Kennedy. Lodge was, of course, a Republican and therefore was not worthy of mention. But party names really shouldn't have mattered. After all, the 19th-century Senators mentioned were a Whig (Webster) and a Democratic-Republican (Adams).
[For what it's worth, longevity is not necessarily a distinctive feature of the Class 1 seat. Consider the narrow gap between Daniel Webster and Charles Sumner. Webster resigned in 1850 (after 25 years); Sumner took over in 1851 and served for 23 years. Two kept the seat warm between Webster and Sumner, each serving considerably less than a year: Robert Winthrop, who sat from July 30, 1850 to Feb. 1, 1851, and Robert Rantoul Jr., who served from Feb. 1 to March 3. Winthrop is an ancestor of the other Massachusetts senator, John Kerry, who sits in the state's Class 2 seat.]

HESTIA WRECKS OFF THE COAST OF MAINE: The front page of today's Globe reports tragic wreck of the Hestia, of the Donaldson Line. The story says 34 probably drowned and the paper tells a sad tale. The ship was way off course, in its passage from Glasgow to St. Johns. In a fierce storm, the ship hit Proprietors Ledge near Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy (above). The Globe's tale has some harrowing paragraphs, especially those that describe the dying of one of our Scotch boys. Here's an example:
"The [life]boat capsized and the boys and men of the crew were thrown into the water. The boat soon righted and one of the boys was seen clinging to the bottom, holding on with the grasp born of fear of death, but without strength to make other effort. Again the boat was capsized, and disappeared."
The site is visited by divers a century later.

Oct. 21, 1909 (Thursday)

2009-10-20T13:06:00.010-05:00

EXPERTS TRY TO PUT SEX (EDUCATION) ON THE TABLE: The Massachusetts state conference of charities met in Ford Hall last night. Sex hygiene was the topic. the topic was NOT the evils of sex. The concern are "the evils arising from IGNORANCE among the youth of both sexes," according to today's Globe.
Here's how the Globe summarizes the remarks of Charles Eliot (right), former president of Harvard:
"Dr. Eliot said that the policy of this part of the world has been one of complete silence in regard to questions of sex, but that the danger of such a policy has become too great to allow of its continuance."
The story offers a direct quote, which resonates a hundred years later:
"We have been putting our children, uninformed, in contact with danger, but the policy of trusting to ignorance to preserve their integrity has failed."
Dr. Marshall Bailey of Harvard said, "The public prejudice against the necessary instruction must be banished."
Maud E. Miner, a probation officer in the night court in New York City drew applause by saying (in a paraphrase in the Globe) "that there must be a revolution i the teaching of men, as well as of women, and that there should be the same standard of morality for men as for women." The paper says it was "the heartiest applause of the evening."

GOVERNMENT TURNS TO SMUGGLING -- TO SECRETLY DEPORT LEPER: Consider the tale of Antonius Freisa (or Freiss?). According to a story on page 8 of today's Globe, the Greek immigrant was "smuggled aboard" a steamer in New York late on the evening of Oct. 20 and --- by the time Globe readers were learning of it, he was on his way. The article says, "The greatest secrecy was necessary to keep the facts from the passengers."
Freisa was brought to New York from the leper colony on Penikese Island in Massachusetts, which sits on the east coast of Buzzard Bay. That's where Massachusetts set up a treatment center for lepers, which is described here by Ken Hartnett. The first lepers were brought there on Nov. 18, 1905.
The patient was transported on the schooner Andrew J. Pierce, under the eye of New Bedford's Capt. Jesse smith and a surgeon from the U.S. Marine Corps and and immigration officer.
Here's the description of Freisa's situation:
"Freisa is far advanced in the disease. He has been in the leper colony 18 months and in this country less than three years, so that his deportation by the government presented no legal difficulties. The partitions constituting his room in the schooner's hold have been torn down and burned, the vessel disinfected and her captain paid a handsome charter fee."
Not sure what happens to the patient once he gets to Genoa. Genoa? Well, maybe not. The article says he's on his way to Genoa. However, the last thing the government would want to have happen is that readers would let passengers heading on a ship to Genoa know by wireless en route. Remember, the government is interested in secrecy. So. it's not surprising that "Genoa" does not show up in the list of destinations that The New York Times printed on Oct. 20, 1909 (shown at right).
Not sure if the same mechanisms will be used when/if an illegal/undocumented immigrant is found with H1N1 flu.

October 20, 1909 (Wednesday)

2009-10-20T11:20:00.009-05:00

A NEW YORK NEWSPAPER DECIDES NOT TO PRINT THE NAME OF ONE OF THE CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR: After hearing some gripes from the Obama Administration about the political leanings of Fox news, an editorial titled "Anonymous Personalities" in today's Globe helps put some of the dispute in a historical perspective. It summarizes the use of "acrimonious invective" that editors in Dickens' time would draw upon "to maul, claw and scratch" opponents -- both personal and political. The editorial particularly points out the skills that "the elder Bennett" used in this regard.
It adds,
"Editors in those days regarded their newspapers as their big stick wherewith to smite, not alone a hostile political party, but their personal foes."
Some tactics remain, although they are "devoid of the vitriolic diction of ancient times."
The editorial looks at the 1909 election for mayor of New York City. It points to an unidentified newspaper in New York that REFUSES TO PRINT THE NAME of William Randolph Hearst (shown above), one of the major candidates for mayor. When the paper reports about the race, it uses a phrase such as "a certain independent candidate for mayor" even though a speech of the candidate might be printed in full. I like the subtle dig the Globe uses the same tactic in writing the editorial -- NOT NAMING the offending newspaper. But I wish it had.
Think Fox will take the same route and start referring to Obama only as "one of the residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue"? Of course not!
[Incidentally, the winner of the 1909 election -- William Gaynor -- nearly lost his life in 1910, when he was struck in the throat by a bullet in an assassination attempt. The moment (shown at left) was captured by news photographer William Warnecke of the New York World. The shooting took place on Aug. 9, 1910, on board the SS Kaiser Willhelm Grosse, which was docked at Hoboken, N.J. Gaynor died three years later -- with the bullet still lodged in his body.]

HIGH SCHOOL KICKERS THWARTED BY UPRIGHT: The charming illustration above gets right to the heart of the matter, in the wake of yesterday's 5-5 tie football game between Boston Latin and Newton. Each team scored a touchdown (worth five points). And each team's kicker clanged the extra-point attempts off the left upright -- "almost exactly" at the same point on the pole, the Globe reports. The illustration was three columns wide and reveals a welcome attention to high school sports.

Oct. 1, 1909 (Friday)

2009-10-01T14:11:00.005-05:00

THOSE WERE THE DAYS: Today's Globe includes an advertisement for the paper that touts the growing circulation. The amply fed men above -- mascots of a sort for the newspaper -- hold a notice that indicates that both Sunday and daily circulation is rising.
One hundred years later, the numbers look much better. In fact the increase is incredible. In 2007-2008, the daily circulation was 350,605; the Sunday circulation was 525,959 (according to a Globe sgtory from April 2008). The big trouble... The 21st century numbers are high, but FALLING FAST.

THE ISSUE IS STILL ALIVE: A promo in today's Globe promises a raft of stories in the Sunday edition of the paper. One story might be worth reading 100 years later -- in light of ongoing disputes and concerns about immigration. The article is titled (at right) "What Immigrants Are Undesirable?" It is written by Commissioner Williams of New York, described as "a society leader and millionaire who gave up a lucrative law practice for duties on Ellis Island."

Sept. 30, 1909 (Thursday)

2009-09-29T16:43:00.006-05:00

RED SOX FANS WARM UP TO TY COBB: Boston lost two games to the Detroit Tigers yesterday, which puts the Tigers in place as a virtual lock on the American League title. A sportswriter in the Globe noticed a change in attitude that the Red Sox fans showed toward the irascible Tiger star Ty Cobb (left). In the past, Red Sox rooter "have been inclined to roast him at every opportunity, which nettled the southerner." It was different yesterday. Here's how the sportswriter describes it:
The wonderful fielding, batting and base running of Cobb has been noticed by these fans, who know the game if anyone does, and who can tell a ball player when they see one. Yesterday they seemed willing to call off hostility and Ty met them half way. He made several wonderful catches and was hitting up to his best form. The crowd in the bleachers cheered him frequently and he never failed to doff his cap to them. Possibly neither, heretofore, understood the other, and both are now willing to let bygones be bygones.
Until next year?

CREELMAN DESCRIBES WHY EUROPE WON'T STAND UP TO OTTOMAN ATROCITIES: The Globe continues its series of articles by journalist James Creelman in today's paper. Creelman deals with Europe's eagerness to keep relations with the Ottoman Empire smooth -- despite reports of widespread killings of Christians in Turkey and other areas. As an example, he points to a visit Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II made to Damascus in 1898 (shown above), where he made a clear play for the affection of the Ottoman leaders -- just two years after "the sultan had permitted the murder of 6,000 Armenians in the streets of Constantinople, and when his name was a word of horror in Europe," Creelman writes.
Then Creelman describes the "secret" of that visit and his affection for Abdul Hamid. The sultan gave a German syndicate rights to a railway to connect the Bosporus with Baghdad. Here's the reason why that was important, from the point of view of the early 1900s:
"It is estimated that Mesopotamia, Irak[sic], Syria and Anatolia will in time be able to produce more grain than the whole of Russia, and that the vast petroleum lands to be reached by the German line will yield an oil supply 10 times as great as the wells of Baku. This in addition to the immense cotton lands of Cilicia and Mesopotamia, the crying need of German manufacturers.
He spreads the blame but clearly points to the profit-hunger of European commerce as a roadblock to efforts to prevent the killings:
It is this sort of struggle for commercial and political advantage, in which emperor, sultan, statesman and soldier play the cards dealt by millionaire syndicates, that makes it possible for the Moslems of Asia Minor to deliberately murder 30,000 Christians, with every conceivable torture and shame attending the treatment of surviving women and children, without a serious word of protest from the governments of Europe."

HARVARD IS AT 274 YEARS AND COUNTING: Harvard begins its 274th year this week. Freshmen are formally welcomed today. One change that upperclassmen will notice is that the food plan has gone up FIVE PERCENT. A week's worth of "straight American board" will cost $5.25 a week, which is 25 cents more than a year ago. Today's Globe says returning students are shocked by "the dilapidated appearance" of the old elms in Harvard Yard. The trees were cut back severely over the summer in what is expected to be a losing battle to combat the leopard moth. The article says, "The removal of many of the trees is believed to be a matter of only a short time." The inauguration of President Lowell will take place next week.

M.I.T. PRESIDENT EMPHASIZES THE SCHOOL'S MILITARY NATURE: Richard Maclaurin, new president of MIT welcomed the incoming class of more than 300 men in Huntington Hall yesterday. In his message, he stressed the importance of reviving the "military drill" at the school. He said,
The undergraduates have treated it with levity and shirked it wherever possible. Military drill is held at the institute under the act of congress. You come here to be men and no serious, sensible patriotic man would fail to fulfill military duty when called upon.

Sept. 29, 1909 (Wednesday)

2009-09-28T12:24:00.012-05:00

CREELMAN TRIES TO EXPOSE GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED KILLINGS IN TURKEY:
As promised in yesterday's Globe, an article by James Creelman (left) appears in today's paper -- under the headline "Creelman in Damascus: Moslems Not Punished for Their Crime Against Christianity." Creelman -- in one of his typical "journalism that acts" efforts -- describes in great detail -- but without the helpful stamp of quotes from identified witnesses -- the circumstances surrounding recent mass killings of Christians in the Cilician Plain of Turkey. The details of his writing are chilling. I wish they were more convincing. However, his final paragraph is worth noting -- in light of events of the next decade and the next 100 years:
It may be, and probably is, true -- I am myself convinced of it -- that the new constitutional government aims to establish peace and equality between all races and religions. But, unless a conference of the Christian nations insists upon the punishment of the men who are really responsible for the massacre, and warns Turkey against a repetition of such a crime, the murderous Moslem hordes of Asia Minor will probably continue to regard the theories of the constitutionalists as idle sentimentality; and at the first upset of the government there will be another slaughter of Christians.

HEADLINE WAS CORRECT; THE TOWN IN MAINE DID GET FLOODED:
Today's Globe tells of a disaster that's about to strike Katahdin Iron Works in Maine. The village has basically been cleared out because people are sure the dam at the foot of Silver Lake is about to break. In what is perhaps a great understatement, the paper reports, "The fact that the dam burst seven years ago and caused great damage adds terror to the situation."
The flood did strike, later in the day (the 29th). Today's paper reports that water rose one foot every hour in the afternoon of the 28th.

"YOU'VE GOT MAIL" -- BUT TO GET IT, WOMEN MUST GIVE THEIR REAL NAMES TO THE POST OFFICE IN CHICAGO: The people at the general delivery window at the Chicago post office have convinced 3,000 women to reveal their TRUE NAMES and TRUE ADDRESSES so they can received mail at the window. The women -- many doing so under great protest -- have been forced to sign "cards of identification," which will be kept on file. The policy -- which was enforced Sept. 27 for the first time -- (according to today's Globe) "tears away part of the veil of secrecy under which many a clandestine correspondence has been carried on through the medium of the general delivery window."
In a paraphrase, the Globe says the main postal inspector thinks the plan "will produce a reform for which urgent demand recently has gone up from ministers, reform leagues and others working for THE CITY'S PURIFICATION" [emphasis added].
So much for the use of the equivalent of bogus screen names.

Sept. 28, 1909 (Tuesday)

2009-09-27T14:28:00.008-05:00

CREELMAN INTERVIEWS SYRIAN GOVERNOR ABOUT ISLAM-CHRISTIAN DIVIDE: There's a story on Page 7 of today's Globe that clearly shows that ADVOCACY JOURNALISM was alive and well among established news organizations. The piece appears under the byline of James Creelman (right). It's based on his interview with Nazin Pasha, governor of Syria. Here's the introductory paragraph:
Continuing his notable investigation into the massacre of 30,000 Christians in Aisa[sic] Minor, Mr. Creelman, who has already explained the causes of that unparelleld [sic] crime, shows the imperative necessity for an international protest, headed by the United States.
In the articles the author describes the cold-blooded struggle between Great Britain and Germany for commercial and political advantages in Turkey which largely explains the cowardly silence of Europe.
In setting the scene for the interview, the reporter related the number of the killings, on the "murder-swept Cilician plain" to the number of those "killed on both sides in the seven greatest battles of the American civil war and the population of Canton, Ohio.
Creelman described the meeting this way:
So the spokesmen of the three great religions given to mankind by one country, the representatives of 680,000,000 worshipers who for centuries have cursed and persecuted each other in the name of God, peacefully met together for the sake of liberty a few weeks ago.
Creelman reports that he asked the governor this tough question: "But how can there be equality, how can there be even safety for Christians in Turkey so long as the sacred Moslem law prevails?"
Here's the response:
Islam as practiced in its earlier days, as conceived and as perfected in its teachings at the time of Moslem greatness, obviously calls for a liberal form of government. Constitutional rule is a logical outgrowth of the principles of a democratic country. The history of Islam -- I need only to refer to the great Caliph Omar [presumably this man] -- proves that the various religious elements can live together, and are required to live together, in harmony and equality. Moslem chivalry and tolerance are proverbial. But we must go back to the pure religion of the days of Omar.
The governor says the massacres are "the result of fanaticism bred by ignorance, not the result of true faith."
There will be another article in tomorrow's paper. The Globe said "Mr. Creelman will describe the Moslem attitude toward the Christian."

WILL YALE PUT HIS HIS PICTURE ON MILK CARTONS? The Yale football coaches are upset at star lineman William Arthur Goebel, according to today's Globe. The paper included the photo (right) with the plea:
"Information Wanted -- If You Know Where This Man Is, Please Send Word to Yale".
Practices have begun. Goebel and two others are nowhere to be found. I presume they have already thought of looking for him IN CLASS. Today's article says"Nothing has been heard from Goebel or Andrus, and the coaches are greatly put out about it, espcially in the case of Goebel, about whom there has not ben even press dispatches."
(NOTE: Don't worry. Goebel will be a guard on the 1909 All-America team, as chosen by Walter Camp.)

Sept. 27, 1909 (Monday)

2009-09-27T12:17:00.009-05:00

THE END OF THE SEASON LOOMS: The Boston Red Sox have improved greatly over last year, but, as the season winds down, they are in third place and unable to catch the first-place Detroit Tigers. However, the Philadelphia Athletics are still alive. Today's Globe has a cartoon that draws upon the imagery of Ancient Rome. Under the watchful gaze of a Emperor Baseball, the nervous A's mascot (elephant) implores the sword-bearing Red Sox to stop the Tigers. Fewer than 10 games remain.

ANTI-SLAVERY PROTESTERS TRY TO REACH U.S. COCOA USERS: A campaign begins in Boston this week that will focus attention on the slave system in the Portuguese islands of Principe and San Thome [as it's spelled in the Globe], which lie in the Gulf of Guinea. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Burtt will arrive today or tomorrow on the steamer Cestrian. In England, the cocoa-making firms have been pressured to refuse to buy cocoa from the islands in protest of the slavery. The trouble is that much of the product has been re-directed to the American market -- at a low price. America is the largest consumer of cocoa. So, the protesters want to bring the anti-slavery message here. The Burtts will be in Boston until Oct. 9. Then they will head to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Pittsburg, Chicago and elsewhere.
The issue is covered extensively in the book "Chocolate on Trial" (shown at right).

Sept. 14, 1909 (Tuesday)

2009-09-13T09:43:00.007-05:00

GLOBE RAILS ON THE PRESIDENT'S WEIGHT: Readers of the Globe were greeted this morning with a large cartoon that dominates the front page. The cartoon is pretty self-explanatory. It deals with Taft's extensive "road trip", which will take him by rail through about 30 states and cover 17,750 miles. This implies that the most-used car will be ... the DINING CAR. A bit of a dig on the president's weight, which is noteworthy.
And worth feasting on, editorially.

Sept. 13, 1909, Monday

2009-09-12T11:45:00.010-05:00

GERMAN ASTRONOMER IS THE FIRST TO SPOT HALLEY'S COMET ON ITS RETURN TRIP: Astronomers can now begin to track the return of Halley's Comet. After being absent from view for about 70 years, the comet has been spotted by "Prof. Wolff of Heidelberg", according to a brief item in today's Globe. This news came to Boston on Sept. 12 via a dispatch received by the observatory at Harvard. The Globe needlessly added an f to the last name of Prof. Max Wolf, the keen-eyed astronomer.
The news is accompanied by information that is sure to confuse most of the globe readers. Here goes:
The sight was obtained Sept. 11 5642, in R.A. 6h 18m 12s; declination 17 (degrees) 11 (minutes) N.
The Globe translate the astronomical time to Sept. 11 5642 to "about 9 p.m. standard time, Sept. 11."
The image above can be found here. The comet's next visit? Don't hold your breath. I think it's in 2061.

TAFT WILL SOON LEAVE BOSTON FOR A HISTORIC TOUR, WHICH INCLUDES A VISIT TO MEXICO: After spending much of the late summer weeks on Boston's north shore, President William H. Taft is getting ready to leave the area. He leaves Wednesday for a train tour that will cover about 17,750 miles and cover 30 states, according to a front-page story in today's Boston Globe. His trip will reach El Paso in mid-October. Preparations are underway for what will be a historic meeting between President Taft of the U.S. and President Diaz of Mexico at that time. Other planned highlights include a trip through Royal Gorge and a night trip across the highest passes of the Rockies, a visit to a huge irrigation project in Montrose, Colo., to smelters in Butte, Mont, a two-day stay at the Alaska-Yukon exposition in Seattle, a three-day visit to California's Yosemite Valley and a day at the rim of the Grand Canyon.

PREP SCHOOL USES ASBESTOS TO PROTECT ITS FOOTBALL PLAYERS: A small item in today's Globe previews the upcoming football season for Phillips Exeter Academy. The team will be playing on a new field. The Globe points out that the goal posts are noteworthy:
The goal posts are of iron, painted white, and at the bottom wrapped with asbestos and duck to prevent injury of players.
There you have it: Asbestos promotes health.
The "duck" is fabric.

Sept. 12, 1909 (Sunday)

2009-09-10T19:45:00.007-05:00

CONTROVERSY ROILS OVER POLAR EXPLORATION: Today's Globe keeps the dispute right in front of the readers. The Cook-Peary controversy has lasted a while. Some insight comes from key information provided by the Library of Congress.

VERMONT TOWN HAS A HUMAN NEWSPAPER: Meet the leather-lunged Morris Green (right). He lives in Ryegate, Vt., (the picture above shows South Ryegate in 1909) and works at the village story. He has a reputation of being the go-to-guy for information. For him, it's apparently too much to bear to live in a town that's too small to have a newspaper. So, according to today's Globe, "He cries the news from the door of the store, and this weekly instruction is expected by the people and enjoyed by them."
He explains:
"I do it for pure love of humanity, and I want to make the place I live in interesting. To do this I feel that it is part of my duty to interest the people and here, where they are so busy with their toil that they get little time to read and study, I find it delightful to condense news and happenings and to cry it for that benefit."
He adds, "So far as I can learn, I am the only HUMAN NEWSPAPER in the world."
That, of course, isn't quite true. It's a tradition that goes way back. But there's something a little BLOGGISH about it, I think.

AT&T HEAD PEEKS INTO THE FUTURE: Today's Globe has a fascinating interview with telephone industrialist (and president of AT&T) Theodore Newton Vail. He makes predicts that coast-to-coast telephone conversations are coming. The reporter asked: "Will it be possible in the future to talk by telephone from Boston to San Francisco?"
Vail's answer:
"I think so. Our engineer told me the other day that he now believed I should have the privilege of talking from my office in New York, over a straight wire, so some one of our representative in San Francisco... I hope to see the serviced established within two or three years. The wire is already up, and we have sent telegrams over it from ocean to ocean."
One of the follow-up questions dealt with WIRELESS conversations.
It's a concept that Vail had a hard time envisioning it. He drew a circle on a pad of yellow paper for the reporter. He explained, "Here is a pond. You drop a stone into the water on one side and a man on the other side, if his vision is good, counts the little ripples as they come to shore. But if a dozen persons were to drop stones into the pond at the same time and at different places there would be great confusion among the ripples, and no one could count them. However, wireless telephony will have its uses."
I'll say!
He also wondered about video-phones, which has captured the imagination of many for years. He said it would be quite difficult. However, he added: "No man is safe in saying that anything is impossible."

Sept. 11, 1909

2009-09-10T15:00:00.006-05:00

EXPLORERS PEARY AND COOK RACE TO NYC TO MAKE THEIR CLAIMS:
In the few days since the news exploded on the world that Robert Peary evidently got to the North Pole -- in April-- Globe readers are being treated to two unfolding stories. One is the tale of Peary's trip, in which he covered the final leg of his trip with his longtime companion Matthew Henson (the "Negro" mentioned in the headline above). The paper also includes stories about the efforts Peary and fellow explorer Frederick Cook are making to describe their respective journeys to the pole to authorities in the United States. This dispute will linger for a century.
The sketchy news report about Peary's trip is based on wireless reports emerging from Canada as Perry makes his laborious return along the Canadian coast.
The reports don't directly say but clearly imply that Henson (right) was with Peary when he made his last dash to the Pole. A caption under a photo of Henson in the Globe identifies him as the "Colored Man Who Appears to Have Been Only English-Speaking Person with Peary on His Final Dash."
An article about Henson quotes from Peary's description of his longtime companion, as contained in his book, "Nearest the Pole," which came out in 1907. Here's the excerpt:
"Matthew Henson, my personal attendant was a colored native of the district of Columbia, 29 years of age, 5 feet 6 1/2 inches high, and weighed 145 pounds. In my employ in one capacity or another most of the time since I took him to Nicaragua with me in 1898 and a member of all of my Arctic expeditions, his qualities and capabilities were fully known."
The map below -- a modern one -- shows the routes of the explorers.

EVIDENCE PINS BLAME FOR HOUSE FIRE ON BIRDS: About $2,000 damage was done to the home of Maj. H.B. Philbrick on Sept. 9 in Harford, Conn. Initially, authorities thought faulty electrical wiring was to blame. Now, the city's building inspector and electrical inspector have a new theory -- which is totally for the birds.
They announced the the trouble is the work of "birds who built their nests under the eaves of [the]house in large numbers and MUST HAVE CARRIED UP A MATCH, WHICH, in the HOT SUN of yesterday, became IGNITED" [emphasis added].

Aug. 25, 1909

2009-08-25T11:17:00.004-05:00

MASSACHUSETTS TOWN WORRIES ABOUT PASTOR'S TALE OF HIS QUADRUPLETS: People in the Western Massachusetts town of Goshen suspect that a new clergyman in town is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the flock.
Recently moved from Chicago, the Rev. Samuel H. Seccombe and his wife say they are the proud parents of quadruplets, who were born in Chicago on May 26. The babies are, in fact, right there in flesh and blood. However the multiple-birth aspect of the story puzzles some. As today's front-page story in the Globe says it, people wonder if they were "born at a quadruple birth, or whether they are babies adopted or otherwise procured for commercial purposes." The Rev. Seccombe had come to Goshen earlier in the spring to teach, being hired at a salary of $600 per year with housing provided. He told parishioners his wife would join him in a few weeks. Then he brought out the big news. The article says, "The last of May he announced that her coming would be delayed as she had just given birth to quadruplets in Chicago."
What better time for some investigative journalism?
The wife arrived -- with the four infants, and four other older children, which the pastor had never mentioned. Goshen residents who showed up at the house to help care for the newcomers "got to gossiping shortly to some effect that there seemed to be some variance in the ages of the children."
An "enterprising correspondent" decided to take the story a bit further. The writer contacted a Chicago newspaper. An investigation began. Robert Zempke, a neighbor of the Seccombes on Fulton Street in Chicago "said the Seccombes had lived in the house next door, separated from his house by not over five feet and he never had heard of Mrs. Seccombe having had quadruplet babies."
In addition to talking to a neighbor, reporters also checked birth records:
"The vital statistics of Chicago revealed no such encouragement as four births to any woman at any time, and none at all, certainly not in May, to Mrs. Seccombe."

Aug. 21, 1909 (Saturday)

2009-08-19T20:28:00.005-05:00

TAFT TO MAKE A HISTORIC TRIP -- SOUTH OF THE BORDER: President Taft, who is still vacationing in nearby Beverly, Mass., has received a steady stream of visitors. Yesterday was no exception, according to today's Globe. The paper reports that Taft has accepted from Mexico's President Porfirio Diaz (right) [spelled with an "s" in the Globe] to visit the town of Juarez, across the Rio Grande, at some point in the near future. The invitation was offered by Mexico's ambassador to the U.S., Francisco L. DeLa Barra, who came to Beverly. The article points out the unusual nature of such a trip -- historic nature, actually:
It used to be considered highly improper for the President of the United States to visit a foreign country, but President Roosevelt broke the ice to some extent when he visited Panama, although it is claimed that by traveling on an American ship, landing and traveling only in the canal zone, Mr. Roosevelt did not break the letter of the unwritten law.

HERE'S WHAT THEY'RE READING IN BOSTON -- ON THE NON-FICTION SIDE: The top five non-fiction sellers in Boston during the past week:
England and the English by Price Collier (Charles Scribner's Sons)
Haremlik by Demetra Vaka (Houton, Mifflin)[with the subtitle of "Lives of Turkish Women"]
Plays, Acting and Music by Arthur Symons (right) (E. P. Dutton)
My African Journey by Winston Churchill (Hodder & Stoughton)
The People at Play by Rollin Lynde Hart (Houghton, Mifflin)

Aug. 20, 1909

2009-08-19T08:00:00.007-05:00

TWO FROM MASSACHUSETTS KILLED IN FIRST DAY OF RACING AT TRACK IN INDIANAPOLIS: Today's Globe reports that the inauguration of the Indianapolis motor speedway yesterday was marred by a crash that took two lives -- Canadian-born driver William A. Bourque of West Springfield, Mass., and Harry Holcomb, his mechanic, of Granville, Mass.
They are the first to die in a crash at the new Indianapolis Motor Speedway. World records were set, also. Barney Oldfield covered a mile in 43.1 seconds and Louis Chevrolet (driving a Buick) covered 10 miles in 8:56.4.
The 250-mile race was won by Robert Burman -- on a track that sprewed dust and was marred with ruts.
Bourque was driving a Knox when he crashed. Here's the description:
He had covered nearly 150 miles when the crash came. Coming down the homestretch the car suddenly swerved and dashed into the fence at the left of the track, turning completely over and pinning its two occupants beneath it.
Both were alive when they were removed from the wreck, but they died soon afterward. The article paraphrases an observation of private Frank Brandoer of the Indiana national guard. He was closest to the accident. He said [these are not presented as a direct quotation from Brnadoer] "something cased both men to suddenly turn and look behind. As they did so the steering wheel slipped from Bourque's hands and he threw his arms helplessly in the air. Then came the crash."
The fatal crash prompted the American Automobile Association to command that the owners of the track make changes to the surface. Otherwise the group plans to remove its sanction from the races.
Eventually, the change will lead to the laying of millions of bricks, leading to the nickname of the track -- The Brickyard.
That tragically famous Aug. 19, 1909, race is viewed as the first stock car race at the track, not the Brickyard 400.

ANOTHER TRAGEDY STRIKES A GLOUCESTER SCHOONER: The front page of the Globe carries the sad tale of the sinking of the Orinoco, a fishing schooner out of Gloucester, Mass. (The deaths are part of a sobering list of "Men Lost Fishing from Gloucester in the 1900s." The photo above, from the Library of Congress, shows a typical Cape Ann fisherman from the early 1900s.)
The ship was in a gale 25 miles off Sambro, Nova Scotia yesterday. Six men of the crew of 17 survived.
Twelve men were sleeping below decks when the ship turned turtle in the face of a stiff south gale. Eleven of those men died. Here's how the dispatch from Nova Scotia described what happened to the ship, which was "bound to the banks" (presumable the Grand Banks off Newfoundland):
The vessel filled and sank so quickly that the men below were caught like rates in a trap and drowned. The inrushing waters kept them from coming up the companionway, and with one exception they were all carried down. The vessel filled withing three minutes after she turned over.
Hard to imagine the terror.
The article lists the names -- and mentions the four who "were married and leave families." It also mentioned one of the dead -- Charles Shaw, of Argyle, N.S. -- was 13 years old.
How did it happen? The article says, "There was a stiff south gale blowing at the time and a high sea running. The helmsman let the vessel up into the wind to clear the jib sheet. She care around the caught the sails aback and capsized."

WELLMAN MAKES ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO FLY TO THE NORTH POLE: Explorer/aeronaut/adventurer/journalist Walter Wellman reportedly took off from Spitzbergen on August 16. (The photo above, from the George Grantham Bain Collection of the Library of Congress, show him on the deck of one of his polar air ships; it was taken between 1907 and 1910.) The story has a Paris dateline and describes the circuitous route the news took. The Italian ship Thalia, which is at Hammerfest, Norway, sent a telegram to Trieste from where a dispatch was sent to Paris. Wellman has four years' worth of preparations behind him in his efforts to make the trip. He tried in 1906 but postponed his departure because the season was getting too late in the year for such a trek. In 1907, he started off in the airship America, but a storm drove him back. He departed from New York this year on May 12. He guessed that he could reach the pole from Spitzbergen in two to five days.
That means, if he left Aug. 16, he might have made it by the time someone read the story in today's Globe.

August 19, 1909 (Thursday)

2009-08-18T14:07:00.009-05:00

IN WAR GAMES, THINGS LOOK BLEAK FOR BOSTON'S DEFENDERS: The front page headline (above) looks alarming.... but it's just dealing with the war games being conducted south of Boston. The Globe appears to be having some fun with this one. I mean, how often do you get to write a headline like that, and not be worried about being blown out of your desk chair? The cartoon at the right is one of a number of comical illustrations dealing with the situation. The characterization of Boston as an older woman seems apt. Her hat is fabulous -- drawn from the dome of the Capitol building that adorns Beacon Hill. The caption at the top reads, "It begins to look as though the old lady will have to fight." It does not indicate what she has used for ammunition. The projectiles do, however, resemble baked beans.
Not surprisingly, Boston is designated as home to the BLUE army, which is under the command of Gen. William A. Pew Jr.
Gen. Tasker Bliss commands the Red army. In one of yesterday's biggest developments, the left flank of the defending Blue army was driven back five miles to South Hanson "in a running fight."
One group that was surprised in an ambush was [in the Globe's words] "the colored heroes of the 10th U.S. cavalry." They were beaten back by the 8th Massachusetts infantry. The Globe quoted one of the "fine, upstanding warriors in bronze." They did it in the journalistic equivalent of blackface (bearing in mind that I have yet to see a quote of a Massachusetts speaker that tries to capture the distinctive Boston accent). Here's how this quotation appears in print:
"Ah tell yo' for a fac' we all nevah got mo' of a suhprize in all ouah lives, even in the islands from the gugus [a nickname used by U.S. troops for Filipino rebels], tha yo' soldiahs gave us yesteda. Three troops of us walk right intuh it and everything's lookin' nice and easy and alto once--o-o-o-mph, o-o-o-o-oop--the unduhbrush jes' break right out with mahchine guns, and the umpiahs says we are all killed or wounded. We wan't nevah a-lookin' for no such trap, but you-ah men are cuhtinly all right."

THE ROCK STARS OF THE DAY: NEWSPAPERS KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON THE FINANCIERS, SUCH AS THE AILING E.H.HARRIMAN: Today's Globe has an update on Page 9 on the health of railroad tycoon E.H. Harriman (right). He's on his way back from Europe, weeks ahead of his scheduled Sept. 4 east-to-west trip on board the Mauretania. Instead, he and his entourage left Cherbourg yesterday on the Kaiser Wilhelm II. Before boarding the tender that was to take him to the liner, he said, "Now I am better. My cure is finishing, and I am very glad I am going to see the soil of America again. My only hope is that the voyage back will be as good as that coming over." All eyes were on the financier as he left the train from Paris and headed for the tender. The Globe story says, "Dr. Lyle offered the financier his arm, but although he was pale and appeared feeble he declined assistance and slowly descended to the platform. He also declined to use the rolling chair and walked without assistance aboard the tender."
Before leaving Paris, Harriman's secretary told representatives of the press that Harriman was going to go to his family's summer home at Arden "to rest and complete the cure begun in Europe."
A little foreknowledge indicates that Mr. Harriman has little time left. He will die on Sept. 9, 1909. But the public utterances don't let on how serious his health is.

RIVER INDUS IS READY TO SWEEP AWAY A CITY: The city of Dera Ghazi Khan, on the banks of the Indus River, is about to be abandoned. Today's Globe reports, in a story with a Bombay dateline, that the Punjabi city has for months been slipping into the river. It says, "The process of erosion is going on very rapidly. From 50 to 100 feet of the river front is being swept away every day, and one by one mosques, mansions and hovels are disappearing in the swift stream. Every effort of competent engineers to devise a way to protect the city has been futile." [It will be replaced by a new Dera Ghazi Khan, about 10 miles away.]

Aug. 18, 1909 (Wednesday)

2009-08-18T12:47:00.016-05:00

CHICAGO WOMAN FALLS FOR IDAHO SENATOR -- BECAUSE OF A PHOTOGRAPH: Today's Globe carries an intriguing story about the power of the photograph. This is a bit complicated... But here goes.
In Chicago, there was a "charming young widow" named Grace Hartman. She is described in the Globe as having "big dark eyes, masses of waving brown hair and superbly graceful figure."
She evidently was totally smitten by Sen. William Borah when she saw a photograph of him in a magazine.

Fortunately the Globe, unlike a number of other papers, included a photo of the senator, who was at the beginning of a long and distinguished career. Let the beholder decide: Is he good looking?
[For reference, I have included (in a column at right) a
sequence of photos of Borah. The top three of the photos stacked on the right date from 1912, 1916 and 1920. The bottom two show his appearances on the cover of Time magazine, on Jan. 26, 1931, and March 30, 1936.]
After seeing the photograph, she wrote Sen. Borah on Aug. 1 and asked him if he knew anybody in Idaho who might be a suitable romantic match for her. Among the qualifications she sought: "He must be a working man and wear overalls."
Well, here it is two weeks later and lots has happened. For one thing, the Globe says, the widow now maintains that the real object of her affection is Sen. Borah.
When interviewed on Aug. 16, she admitted, "I didn't really want him to get me a husband. i wanted Senator Borah himself. I thought that if in the manner I adopted his attention was called to me his soul must tell him of the yearning I felt. I thought there must be a response in the senator's soul... I will always love this photograph. How noble, how handsome, how full of divine love he looks."
It turns out that Borah actually put the word out in Idaho to let men know that a widow was looking for an Idahoan. She has received "scores of letters." The Globe quotes from some of them, with their names and hometowns:
William Horst, Nampa: "From the tone of your letter it seems that you must have loved some one desperately. Are you sure that love is obliterated and that you could honestly be devoted to another?" [The Globe rendered the home town as "Mampa."]
Oscar Johnson, Pocatello: "I will marry you if you are a working woman -- but ef you be an of these sossity dames I don't. Good by, write soon." [as it appears in the Globe.]
Edward J. Cornovan, Long Lake: "I am the man in the overalls. I am 'baching' on a 240-acre farm. If you really think a woman can love and labor at once, let us try it."
William Dittman, Taylor: "I have not much of a life to offer a woman. It is on the farm here. I rise at 2 a.m. and go harvesting. I don't get home until dark, and then I work two hours. I want a wife, but I can't see why any woman would want to share this life."
It's unclear what Ms. Harman will do. On the one hand, she says she "shall make a selection from among them." On the other hand, she says, "My little ruse has failed. I shall fall back upon my original love, the old picture in my writing desk. It's Senator Borah or no one."
By the way, the good senator was already married at the time.

Aug. 14, 1909 (Saturday)

2009-08-14T05:27:00.006-05:00

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO READ MORE THAN THE HEADLINE: Not to worry. This headline from today's paper must be taken in context. The subhead, which I have artfully omitted, reads, "Great War Game to Test Adequacy of Coast Defences Has Begun." War games begin today that are designed to show whether or not Massachusetts, and especially Boston, is "sufficiently protected against a foreign foe." The Globe devotes plenty of space to this, including cartoons. The one at right shows a woman telling her temporary soldier-husband, "Don't get killed any more times than necessary, will you dear."
Authorities are already certain that no hostile navy could "successfully run the gauntlet of the forts defending Boston harbor." Today's war games will demonstrate whether or not the city can survive an invasion from a foreign foe that lands on the southern coast and makes an attack from the rear. To the great comfort of all, this exercise will likely settle the additional question of whether or not there's a real threat in case Rhode Island rises up.

ALABAMA TRIES TO KEEP LIQUOR UNDER CONTROL -- EVEN WANTS TO CURTAIL THE USE OF THE WORD "SALOON": The Alabama house yesterday "made violent assault on the sale of intoxicants of all kinds," according to today's Globe. The members passed the Fuller Bill, which is considered "beyond question the most drastic ever offered in the south."
Among the provisions:
No liquors can be sold;
No advertisements for liquor may appear in any newspaper or on any billboard;
No train can leave a car on a track that contains liquor;
No place of business may be called a "saloon".
Nobody can use the word "saloon";
Any place where there is "frequent assembling may be raided on suspicion;
All corporations, when a charter is issued, must vow not to bring in liquors of any kind;
The article adds that "a hard but losing fight was made to exclude the newspapers from the bill."
Google Books has a copy of the Acts of the General Assembly of Alabama (1909, page 63 ff).
Here's what the text says about the advertising:
Any such advertisement containing the picture of a brewery or a distillery or bottles, jugs, keys, barrels or boxes, represented as containing whiskey, beer, or other prohibited liquors and beverages shall be within the inhibition of this section.

IN PAINFUL CIRCUMSTANCES, SOMETIMES LIQUOR IS WELCOME: Despite the ban in Alabama, some in the South see a positive use for alcohol. Consider this touching scene after a train wreck in Bristol, Va., on the evening of Aug. 12, 1909 -- and as reported in today's Globe, based on the reports of passengers who arrived in Atlanta yesterday. They talked about the bravery of engineer Samuel Bush of Knoxville, who died the day after the wreck from his injuries.
Passengers described how Bush tried to extricate himself from the wrecked engine -- scalded and "frightfully bruised." Some passengers began to hunt for whisky to stimulate him and broke into suitcases looking for some liquor. They offered some to him. He, in turn, asked them to look after any passengers who were injured. When told that none of the passengers were hurt, he said,
"That's good. but before I take this whisky I want you men to smell my breath and testify if need be that I had not been drinking when this happened."
Although suffering horrible agonies, the brave engineer would not touch the stimulant until four of the men had smelled his breath and promised to bear witness to his sobriety.

Aug. 13, 1909 (Friday)

2009-08-13T05:54:00.004-05:00

FARMER IS CAPTIVATED BY NEW PENNY -- OFFERS $1 APIECE: The new Lincoln cents have really gotten the attention of a farmer named Ephraim Baldwin of South Egremont in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. According to today's Globe, Baldwin told local youngsters that he would give them one dollar for each new Lincoln cent (right) they could get ahold of. The penny-hunters scoured the village and came up with 28 cents, for which Baldwin paid the handsome price of $28.

In Pittsfield, Mass. -- also in the western part of the state -- a business took the opposite approach. In an attempt to build traffice, it sold two Lincoln pennies for one cent as part of an advertising scheme.

The Baldwin price of $1 for each coin was, of course, quite high. Today that dollar would be worth about $20. The coins? Well it looks as though they have jumped in value far faster than inflation. I think many of the 1909 issues (not, of course, the VDB minted in San Francisco) can be bought for between $6 and $10. However, the Baldwin price looks very good 100 years down the road when you look at this offer from Home Shopping Network.

Aug. 12, 1909 (Thursday)

2009-08-12T06:21:00.005-05:00

N.Y. YACHT CLUB RUNS INTO A "SNORTER": Sailing craft from the New York Yacht Club left Newport, R.I., on Monday for a run to Bar Harbor, Maine. The ships, however, ran into some trouble on Tuesday, according to today's Globe (right). The problem was the weather. The article calls it a "SNORTER," one of the more descriptive weather terms that we wish was still used by forecasters on television. For context, the article says, referring to the ships of the New York Yacht Club, Not all of those now at anchor sought refuge in time from the cape [sic] Cod "snorter" that took possession of the seas Tuesday night.

One yacht, the schooner Corona, collided with the Pollock rip lightship and was towed into Boston harbor. At least two 57-footers are not accounted for. One captain who found refuge in Portland called the waves "little mountains." The arrival of the yachts from New York is a high point of the summer in many coastal towns. The scene above shows a crowd at Marblehead admiring the fleet probably around 1906.

Aug. 11, 1909 (Wednesday)

2009-08-11T08:14:00.008-05:00

GLOBE PRINTS DEEPLY PERSONAL INFORMATION ON PRESIDENT TAFT.... HIS GOLF RESULTS: The Globe's sports page featured a big story about President Taft's golf game yesterday at the Myopia course in Beverly. Taft complete the round in about 90 minutes. But, as you can see from the chart above, he averaged more than a stroke a minute. That's a pretty fast pace.
He insisted that no photos be taken of him playing golf.
The secret service man was very nice about it, too, except that he thought that Boston was like a certain place in the south where photographers lurked in the long grass and did all the things with the camera that they had been asked not to do. The secret service man sat on the camera of the Globe man...."
Unlike yesterday, Taft evidently allowed himself to be quoted. At the 11th, according to the Globe writer, Taft "putted strangely on the sloping green." Then the writer added a quote from the president: "Pshaw! I did not hit the ball right."
The Globe printed his score for the 18 holes. He shot a 107 and logged three 8's (e.g., "snowmen").
The article was written by Ralph Cracknell, the golf editor of the Globe. His picture is at right. The photo appeared with his obituary; he died June 24, 1913. The obituary had this to sayt about him:
He was a fine "desk man," an excellent reporter and a specialist of the highest order in sports. He was practically the dean of the newspaper men of America who interested themselves in golf when the game was new and young, and he could play the game proficiently. He knew it, "root and branch," and those who love the game had the greatest respect for Ralph Cracknell.

BOSTON PREPARES FOR WAR GAMES AND APPLAUDS THE 10TH U.S. CAVALRY: There's a big war game scheduled in Plymouth County next week and the widely known 10th U.S. Cavalry (shown above) was honored as it marched through various Massachusetts towns on its way to the "front." The Globe's headline described the reception with this front-page headline: "Negro Cavalry Is Welcomed." The article described the reception for the 10th, which historically was part of the famous "Buffalo Soldiers." The soldiers will camp in Milford.

FAMILY IN MAINE KEEPS GROWING; NOW IT INCLUDES 21 CHILDREN: Today's Globe has an article about the Dickey family of Canaan, Maine. Why are they in the news? Well, Mrs. Dickey recently gave birth to the couple's 21st child. The children range in age from 27 years to 2 weeks.
Mr Dickey had some statistics ready for the Globe reporter:
How many potatoes does it take to feed the family a year? 115 bushels.
How much wood does the family burn in a year? 23 cords of hard wood.
How much flour does it take to feed the family each year: 14 barrels.
Mr. Dickey isn't as rich as some people but he doesn't seem to mind.
He told the Globe: "The only difference between me and John D. Rockefeller is that John D. Rockefeller has all the money and I have all the babies."

Aug. 10, 1909

2009-08-09T19:02:00.006-05:00

PRESIDENT SETTLES IN AT SUMMER WHITE HOUSE ON BOSTON'S NORTH SHORE; AMONG THE WEIGHTY ISSUES HE TACKLES IS GOLF: Today's Globe reports that Taft, who just arrived in Beverly for a vacation, will be spending much of his time on the golf course (He's pictured above in 1908 at Hot Springs.) The Globe unabashedly refers to Taft's girth and weight. Some examples, in the first four paragraphs of the front-page story:
One of the President's chief sources of worry is his avoirdupois. To keep down his weight he denies himself many things he likes in the food line. Liquors are also debarred by him because they have a tendency to put on flesh....
The President says that playing golf does not reduce one's weight, but that it helps keep one down to normal condition.....
The secret of keeping down one's flesh, he says, is to know what to eat and when to stop eating. The President's friends here say that he has mastered all the details and knows all the secrets of the art of reducing flesh.
One odd sequence in the article demonstrates the reluctance of news reporters to QUOTE the PRESIDENT DIRECTLY. The section is sub-titled "Talked with Reporters". It goes in this way:
The President sent word through Sec. Carpenter that he would see the newspaper men at his cottage at 3 p.m. Promptly at that hour the President was on hand to keep his appointment, having returned from the golf links a few minutes before. He shook hands with the score or more reporters who are assigned to "cover" him while he is here.
He hadn't any news, but he chatted pleasantly for 15 minutes with them, called those whom he knew personally by their first names, patted on the back others who sought to get him to talk politics and laughed off their questions and "jollied" one of the Washington correspondents about the lack of harmony between the shade of his hosiery and necktie.
Fifteen minutes of conversation... and... no direct quotation.

GLOBE DESIGNATES CROOK AS WORLD'S MEANEST MAN: The back page of today's Globe has a stunning headline. It reads:
MEANEST MAN ON
EARTH, THIS THIEF
That's making quite a claim. The label is NOT attached to a named person. Instead, it goes to the unknown thief who yesterday stole the clothing of David Faye Whitcomb, who had drowned in Brookside Pond, which is in or near Great Barrington, Mass.
Whitcomb's clothes and effects had been taken to the home of Frank Eisner, who lives near the pond. The dead man's belongings -- and about $250 worth of jewelry belonging to the Eisners -- were taken from the home. For this act, the perpetrator "has earned for himself the distinction of the meanest man on earth."
Not surprisingly, the article says, "a clew [sic] points to the perpetrator having been with a circus." What did he leave behind? A clown's wig?
But the MEANEST MAN????? What about King Leopold?

TARBELL'S OIL FIGHT PAYS OFF: I thought one of the brief editorial statements in the Globe was pretty clever. It reads, "Miss Ida M. Tarbell has been made a doctor of literature, an honor which is thoroughly deserved. It pays to burn the midnight oil." [Emphasis added.]
Her "The History of the Standard Oil Company" (published in McClure's Magazine in 1902-1904) is considered by many to be among the top five works of journalism in the 20th Century.

Aug. 6, 1909 (Friday)

2009-08-05T09:00:00.009-05:00

A TIP OF THE HAT TO TENNYSON: Today's Globe notes the 100th anniversary of the birth of poet Alfred Lord Tennyson with a photo, words of praise and brief quotations from some of the poet's works. The list of "some of the most commonly read and heard quotations from the works of Tennyson" does NOT include anything from his "Charge of the Light Brigade." It includes three snippets from his "Locksley Hall", including:
In the spring, a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;
In the spring a young man's fance lightly turns to thoughts of love.
The final quotation is most appropriate, from "The Brook":
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

THE ANNIVERSARY PROBABLY PASSED QUIETLY AT HARVARD SQUARE: Aug. 5, 2009 marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the DIGGING of the subway entrance at Harvard Square, Cambridge. The Globe of Aug. 6, 1909 noted the event with a photograph (above). The Globe explains that the picture shows "the scene when the first actual work of excavating at the Harvard Sq. section, Cambridge for the new subway." The work began Aug. 5, 1909. It points out that the work is being done "near the statue of Charles Sumner" (visible to the right).

THANKS TO HIS MATTRESS, HE SURELY RESTED EASY DURING THE PANIC OF 1907: Today's Globe has a three-paragraph story about the estate of the "eccentric old policeman" named Daniel Appelgate (or Applegate?), who died recently in New Jersey. Relatives were at his house in Brooklyn the other day, going through his effects so they could settle the estate. They thought the man's mattress was unusually heavy. They ripped it open and found $17,000 in double eagles (above) stored in the bottom of the mattress. (The coin was worth, I think, $20; this means there were about 850 of the coins in the bed.)
The story explained:
" 'Dan' Appelgate [sic] had no faith in savings banks and changed his pay into double eagles every month. Nobody lived in his home with him, and he did his own housework. The money found will be divided among his sons and daughters."
[For a hint at the value of that money in 2009, it comes to about $340,000.]

Aug. 5, 1909 (Thursday)

2009-08-03T09:08:00.006-05:00

FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO BE NOTICED WHILE AT THE OCEAN'S EDGE: With August in full swing, it's time to consider what to wear to the beach. Here are a couple of examples in today's Globe. There's plenty of protection from the rays of the sun and the droppings of the gulls. And it leaves plenty to the viewer's imagination.

LINCOLN CENTS DISTURB SOME SENSIBILITIES: The U.S. Treasury Dept. says it will continue to churn out the new Lincoln cents despite objections to the appearance of the initials of the designer (V.D.B.) on the coins. No recalls are planned. Meanwhile people besieged the treasury yesterday in Washington, D.C., to get their hands on the coins, according to an article in today's Globe. People generally wanted to pick up anywhere from 5 to 500, which it appears was the limit places on purchases.
Why the big demand?
Apparently a morning newspaper reported that the issue would likely be halted and withdrawn from circulation (because of the VDB controversy). The Philadelphia mint is "grinding them out at a rate of 1,800 a minute," the article says. Some of the biggest profit-takers are the newsboys. The article says, "Within the shadow of the treasury building today, the coins are being sold at two for five cents and the young merchants seem to have no difficulty in finding purchasers."
For some history of the penny, go here. That's the source of the image above.

HISTORIC MARRIAGE LICENSE GRANTED IN PROVIDENCE: For the first time ever, the city of Providence, R.I., yesterday granted a marriage license to a Chinese-American. The recipient is Goon Yute, a chef at a restaurant on Mathewson Street in the city. He will marry Lillian Ling Lee of New York City. She is 20. Mr. Goon is 34 and a native of China. He says the marriage will take place today.

Aug. 4, 1909 (Wednesday)

2009-08-02T10:37:00.015-05:00

HUGE CROWD PUTS THE SQUEEZE ON RED SOX AND TIGERS: We know there are strict rules about "fan interference" in the Major Leagues these days. Today's Globe has a front-page picture (above) that puts this in a great historical context. Yesterday's doubleheader between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers drew "the largest crowd that ever attended a ball game in New England" yesterday at the Red Sox' pre-Fenway Park field. The Globe said the crowd numbered more than 30,000 -- many of whom were evidently wearing straw hats.
The crowd was part of the story because they filled a good part of the field of play, including areas in the outfield. The Globe said,
"There was little chance for any great ball playing in the outfield, as the crowd surged in too close for any long range action."
Evidently many flyballs were simply ruled doubles because the fielders could not get close.
The Red Sox won both games, the second one on in a "walk-off" (modern term) hit by Pat Donahue (right) (spelled Donohue in the Globe). The run probably shouldn't have counted because Pat Donahue never made it to first base -- "the crowd rushed at him, and throwing him on their shoulders carried him to the dressing room, while the immense crowd swarmed over the field to have one last look at the boys who were responsible for taking the Tiger's measure twice in one afternoon."
A cartoonist captured the image, below:

HMMM, INSTEAD OF WRITING A LETTER TO THE EDITOR, WHY NOT JUST BASH HIS HEAD? Apparently Kentucky's Adj. Gen. Philip P. Johnston (above, left) has VERY THIN SKIN. He makes up for it with a THICK CANE. (He also has one of those distinctive beards so often linked to Kentucky and its colonels -- such as chicken-meister Harlan Sanders, above, right). Johnston was upset that Denny Goode, a Louisville editor, had mocked him in print. He called Johnston "Gen. Peacock P. Johnston" and hurled an insult that any typographer and type-setter would love:

He said Johnston "spells 'me' in capitals and 'you' in agate type."

Johnston visited Goode at his office and, once he confirmed that Goode was the one who wrote the offending words, "laid over Mr. Goode's head and ears with a thick black cane."

Johnson faces criminal charges.
For more on Johnston, there's a little bit of biographical information under No. 24 on this page.
I found a page of the "The Bourbon News" of Paris, Kentucky from Aug. 6, 1909, which says Goode is the editor of "The Focus" -- described simply as a weekly publication. In its summary of the matter, The Bourbon News does not repeat what Goode printed, apparently fearing a caning from the representative of Old Kentucky.

Aug. 3, 1909

2009-08-02T09:14:00.012-05:00

MINT ROLLS OUT NEW LINCOLN CENTS: Today's Globe has a brief item about yesterday's release of the new Lincoln one-cent coin, which is being released in honor of the 100th anniversary of the year of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln. The article (right) notes that the coins are extremely popular. As the article says, this is "the first coin to bear the image of the head of one of our great statesmen." The parsimonious nature of the federal government is evident in the fact that the banks who wanted a supply of the coins had to "pay the transportation charges from the mint."
Some controversies will surface regarding the coin and the use of the initials of the designer, V.D.B. (for Victor David Brenner).
At 100 years and counting, the longevity of the front of the coin is noteworthy. Also noteworthy is the fact that some in the South were very upset (in 1909) they had to use a coin honoring Lincoln.
The coin replaces the Indian Head Cent, which was minted from 1859-1909.

CHICAGO JUDGE TRIES TO THROW SOME COLD WATER ON THE "SUMMER DANGER": Judge Albert C. Barnes (above) of Chicago is tackling something he calls the "summer danger." It's not sunburn. It's not a shark attack. It's not going swimming too soon after eating a meal. According to a news report, the judge says too many single persons who go on "excursions or short vacations together" plunge too quickly into marrage. He calls this the "summer danger." The article mentions that such marriages are "rushed into at the end of a steamboat excursion or a suburban street-car ride." Too many judges are "continually being called upon to undo them in divorce courts," the article says.
He asks, "Is marriage too easy under the present laws?" The judge was asked what could be done to prevent this. His response:
"A statute requiring the license to be issued two weeks previous to the amrriage ceremony would perhaps do something."

SOME CHURCH MEMBERS SAY PRIEST LIVES UP TO HIS NAME: One article deals with a dispute raging in a Catholic Church in Utica, N.Y. The priest says some members of the congregation attempted to kidnap him. The plot unfolded when he was asked to rush to the death bed of a parisioner. He headed to the church to grab "the blessed sacrament and holy oils." When he emerged, he was greeted by about a dozen members of the church who offered to give him a ride -- in a "closed carriage." When the door was opened, he noticed four more men inside. He balked, sensing a trick. Some of the others attempted to force him inside, but he outsmarted them. According to the article, he pulled out of his pocket a PYX that contained the sacraments and warned them not to commit a sacrilege. They backed off, and the priest has sought help from Bishop Ludden in Syracuse and the police in Utica. The last paragraph adds an exotic dimension to the efforts of some church goers to oust the priest:
"His friends charge that a recent attempt was made to POISON THE WINE used in celebrating mass."
Oh, yes, the SURNAME. The priest is referred to as the "Rev. Fr. SUCK."

April 18, 1909 (Sunday)

2009-04-17T12:25:00.008-05:00

RED SOX PREPARE TO OPEN THE 1909 SEASON AT HOME: The Boston Red Sox will open its home portion of the American League season on Wednesday at the Huntington Avenue grounds (above, 1904). Gates for the game (against Philadelphia) will open at 1 p.m. The game will begin at 3 p.m.
Music will help fill the interlude, with a concert presented by Teel's Band to take place between 2 and 3 p.m.
Today's Globe presents the program (shown here), which is a FAR CRY from the "stadium anthems" of 100 years later.
Here is a closer look at the pieces and composers, with links gleaned quickly from the Web. I wish I could find an example of "The Red Sox March," which opens the program. Perhaps others can find it. That said, here's the line-up with some links to the music and the composers:
The Red Sox March (Teel)
Excerpts from Marcelle (Luders)
Take Your Girl to the Ball Game (Waltz by Cohan and Schwartz)
Idylle, The Glow Worm (Linke)
Gems from Little Nemo (Herbert)
Shine on Harvest Moon (Remick)
Make a Noise Like a Hoop and Roll Away (Helf and Hager)
I Wish I had a Girl (Remick) [NOTE: Not Henry Lee Summer's song of the same title!]
Don't Take Me Home (Van Tilzer)
Custer's Last Charge (Descriptive fantasia by Luders)
National Emblem, Finale (Bagley)

RECORD NUMBER OF RUNNERS EXPECTED AT TOMORROW'S MARATHON: More than 180 runners have indicated they will be at the starting line tomorrow at noon for the Boston Marathon. It's a large number, according to the Globe. The first race (in 1897) attracted 15 starters. Last year had 120 starters, and that seems to be the record. Three former winners are expected: Sammy Mellor 91902), Freddy Lorz (1904) and Tom Morrissey (1908). Lorz's winning time of 2:25:43 1-5 was about 1 minute, 18 4-5 seconds slower than Thomas Longboat's record time from 1907.

PALM READER TRIES HIS HAND AT POLITICAL PUNDITRY: For some reason, today's Globe presents a feature written by palmist S. Daoud. The piece is devoted to the PALM of President Taft. The reader makes some bold predictions. For one thing, Taft will be involved in a war toward the end of his first term. (That clearly didn't happen, unless you count a political war with his former mentor Theodore Roosevelt.) Daoud says Taft will not win a second term -- in 1912. Instead, he will lie low and then run again in 1916 -- and WIN.

April 17, 1909 (Saturday)

2009-04-17T10:10:00.012-05:00

TAFT'S PRESENCE AT THE NORTH SHORE SENDS COST OF HOME RENTALS THROUGH THE ROOF: Word that President Taft will spend much of the summer in Beverly, north of Boston, has led home owners to raise the rents on homes in the neighborhood. According to today's Globe, "nearly all of the summer houses are taken." The paper adds "there has been a great demand for summer houses along the North shore by the wealthy people from all sections of the United States."
As demand rises, of course, prices follow. People offering $2,000 for a cottage for the season are having a very hard time finding something. (That's about $40,000 in 2009 DOLLARS.)The photo above shows a sweeping view of the house Taft will live in. For a closer look, go here.
A story surfaced yesterday that souvenir hunters had descended on the Woodberry point property that Taft has leased and have walked off with various items, including pieces of the fence at the property. Further investigation show that these stories are not true.
The secretary to the president, Fred Carpenter, has been looking for an office location near the railroad station. One in Beverly might fit the bill, at the corner of Broadway and Rantoul Street, which will become known also as Route 1A (see map at right).

ANTI-CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE ERUPTS IN TURKEY: Two missionaries from the U.S. might have been killed in Turkey this week, according to today's Globe. They might have been caught up in "anti-Armenian riots" in Adana, but information is limited. What seems to be certain, according to the Globe, is that:
There seems to be little doubt that the Moslem fanaticism against Christians has taken a new lease of life under the present conditions of unrest in Turkey.
Reports are contradictory. One story says 60 Armenians were killed in the streets. Another report puts the number at 10. District missionaries are in Adana for a regular meeting. The U.S. ambassador has ordered John Deddas, American vice consul in Mersina, to go to Adana to find out what's going on.

HERE'S WHAT BOSTON IS READING: The weekly top-ten fiction bestsellers is in today's paper. At the top is one by Boston's own Robert Grant. Some information about him is here and here. The book in this list is "The Chippendales," which has nothing to do with these guys. One descriptions says it is a "saga of a Boston family coping with change at the turn of the century."
[Note: He will write one called "The High Priestess," which is about "the complications that result when a woman leaves her domain at home and her duties as a homemaker."]
The list also include "The Man in the Lower 10" by the prolific Mary Robert Rinehart (right).

AND YOU'RE WILLING TO MERELY CALL IT A 'STRAW HAT': At first glance, the hats in this ad might look identical. However, each style is a little different. Consider the names: Mozart, Erie, Norfolk, Knox. Frugal ones, of course, wear the Knox.

April 16, 1909 (Friday)

2009-04-15T15:45:00.005-05:00

HEADLINE TELLS ONLY PART OF THE STORY OF WOMAN'S EFFORTS TO FREE THE MAN SHE LOVES: A curious case in Providence, R.I., made the front page of today's Globe, with the multi-deck headline shown above. The top deck ("Love Unlocks the Jail Door") is appropriate enough. And all the other elements are, indeed, true. The prisoner, Camillo Destino, has married the woman, teenager Christina Palmieri. He was in jail for shooting and wounding someone on March 8. After a quarrel, he fired three shots at the person. One hit that person in the BACK. That someone was Christina, who is now his WIFE.
The bottom headline -- "Providence Man Charged with Intent to Kill" -- neglects to mention WHOM he intended to kill. She has forgiven him, and it looks as though prosecutors will have to drop the case. Christina was the only witness to the shooting. As the Globe points out, "since her marriage to the defendent [sic], she cannot be compelled to testify against him."

IT'S ONE THING FOR A LAWYER TO BE THE BUTT OF JOKES, QUITE ANOTHER TO BE PUBLICLY WHIPPED: Jessie McClellan is expected to be arraigned today in Superior Court on charges of HORSEWHIPPED lawyer George Sweetser -- TWICE. The first time was on January 12. The second time was on March 8. What makes the recent one most interesting is that she mistook Llewellyn Pulsifer, a selectman of Natick, for Sweetser and whipped him on a train. She has pleaded guilty to three charges of assault and battery.
The Globe adds:
She has promised or will promise today that she will whip no more lawyers.

April 15, 1909 (Thursday)

2009-04-14T08:55:00.008-05:00

'SUMMER WHITE HOUSE' WILL BE IN BEVERLY: Preparations are underway to get the Stetson cottage at Woodberry point ready for a lengthy visit in June by President William H. Taft. (That's the "cottage" in the postcard image above.) Today's Globe tells the story in a front page article in today's paper with the headline "PUTTING SUMMER CAPITOL IN SHAPE." The White House announced yesterday that the Tafts had leased the property for a lengthy stay. One of the big attractions is the nearby golf course at the Myopia Hunt Club.
Regarding Taft's enjoyment of golf (He's shown at left in Hot Springs, Ark., in 1908.), the Globe says:
The President is looking forward with pleasure to playing a great deal of golf on the fine links of the Myopia Hunt club at Hamilton. The praise he has heard of this course undoubtedly had something to do with the final selection of the cottage at Beverly.
It's expected that the Tafts will arrive sometime after the first of June.

THERE'S MORE NEWS OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE ON THE NORTH SHORE, TOO: Noted Theosophist Katherine Tingley (left) recently bought "one of the finest estates on High st." in Newburyport. Today's Globe says she yesterday revealed her plan to establish a school for Raja Yoga [which the headline of the article renders "Raja Yaga"]. In addition,
In the fall she will go abroad and visit the schools of Theosophy in England, Ireland, Wales, Germany, France, Sweden and Denmark. She will also go to Constantinople, where she will be the guest of Edward H. Ozmun, the American consul general at Turkey.

April 10, 1909

2009-04-10T14:16:00.006-05:00

FIVE ESCAPE JAIL AT CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD: Police in Boston and elsewhere are hunting down five U.S. Navy prisoners who escaped the prison at the Navy yard in Charlestown sometime between 6:30 and 7 p.m. yesterday. What police do know is that the prisoners left by way of "the old smelter route." They "scaled the navy yard wall near Chelsea bridge by climbing over the roof of an old furnace building and jumping the wall at the incline near the bridge," according to a story on the front page of today's Globe.
Officials say the escape "was in many details ONE OF THE MOST DARING PLANS executed at any prison in this vicinity in years" [emphasis added]. The prisoners cut through the one-inch soft-iron bars. They bent the bars, tied a 12-foot rope to the bars and squeezed through the opening, and slid down the rope.
The escapees were wearing the white duck working uniforms of the Navy, allowing them to blend into the surrounding area. They were seen running through the yard at a "dog trot," but suspicions were not raised because of their uniforms.
One of the prisoners, George Ross, is reported to have been charged with desertion SIX TIMES from various branches of the U.S., service

A POSSE HAS BEEN FORMED ... IN MAINE: A young woman was shot to death in Bingham, Maine, yesterday and about 40 citizens and sheriffs are looking for her husband, Herbert Nottage. They are serious. According to today's Globe, they are "armed with revolvers, rifles, axes and other weapons." No trace of the fugitive had turned up as of late last night.

TOWN TREASURER PLAYS A LITTLE JOKE ON FIRE FIGHTERS ON THEIR ANNUAL PAYDAY: The 40 firefighters in the 40-man Fire King engine company in East Douglas were paid their annual salaries recently.The pay came in the form of 32,000 copper one-cent pieces from Town Treasurer Walter Schuster. That covers the pay of each, who are paid $8 A YEAR for their work. Each man received 800 pennies in a bag -- weighing about 5.5 pounds. Some enjoyed the joke. Others, however, "did not take kindly" to it, according to today's Globe. The ones who really made out the best, evidently, were the children because the pay was tailor made for the penny-candy trade in the town -- a trade which, the Globe says, took "a decidedly 'bullish' turn.

April 9, 1909 (Friday)

2009-04-09T07:59:00.005-05:00

GLOBE TEMPTS READERS WITH ART, MUSIC and FASHION: Today's Globe has a self-promotion that indicates that the paper was, indeed, flush but needed to scramble to promote itself. The ad above tries to inspire readers to "order the Easter Sunday Globe from [their] newsdealer at once." The pitch tells customers that the Easter issue will include a "Beautiful Art Print" of a work by Raphael (called "Madonna of the Chair") dating from 1510. It also includes an Easter song ("Hosanna"), a description of cotton mills of Japan and a piercing looks at women's fashion trends.
The ad notes that the Globe is the biggest Sunday newspaper published in New England.
It still is in 2009, but, as is well known, the circumstances are worlds (or globes) apart. Today, the Globe is, sadly, spinning toward trouble.
NOTE: A reader directed me to the painting, which can be found here.

WINDS WHIP THROUGH BOSTON: Today's Globe told readers what they already knew -- that a huge wind roared through Eastern Massachusetts on Wednesday night and during the day Thursday. What the readers might not have known was that the gusts reached 92 MPH on Blue Hill, the second highest reading in the 25-year history of the observatory. (It hit 100 in 1893.) The front page included this illustration, showing a woman struggling to keep her clothes from being whipped off her body. She says, "Oh! Dear! And I don't approve of Salome dances." The reference is to the provocative work by Strauss, based on a German translation of Oscar Wilde's story.

CHURCH GIVES MAN OR WOMAN A CHANCE TO CHANGE THEIR WAYS -- AND BE LESS GENEROUS: Globe readers likely got a kick out of a notice in today's paper with a Washington, Pa., dateline. The Rescoe [sic; likely meant Roscoe] Methodist Episcopal Church bought an advertisement that appeared in today's paper to let the community know that someone had dropped a $1000 BILL in the COLLECTION PLATE. The church wasn't bragging. Rather, church officials worried that someone had done this BY MISTAKE. After all that amount of money (about $20,000 in 2009 dollars) was about the same as an average year's worth of collections. The church offers to return the money if the owner wants it back and "can prove that he inadvertently dropped it on the plate."

April 8, 1909 (Thursday)

2009-04-08T08:07:00.002-05:00

CARTOONIST TAKES HAT OBSESSIONS TO A NEW LEVEL: If you're wondering how important big hats are to women in 1909, this cartoon from today's front page reveals something. Their big enough to provide ammunition for a cartoonist who wants to show just how this naval arms race between Germany and Great Britain is getting out of hand. The "dreadnought race" will propel Europe and the world in an ugly direction.

April 7, 1909 (Wednesday)

2009-04-06T12:07:00.003-05:00

THEY COULDN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE WOMAN WAS SCREAMING ABOUT AS SHE POINTED INSIDE HER BURNING HOUSE; SO TWO DORCHESTER BOYS HEROICALLY RAN INSIDE....: About 11 a.m. yesterday, Mrs. Karalikas was working in the kitchen of her house on Melbourne Street in Dorchester. She noticed a fire. The flames became so aggressive that she barely managed to get out of the kitchen. When she got out on the street, "she made loud outcries," according to today's Globe. Two boys -- Edwin Farley of Mallet Street and Paul Benson of Roseland Street -- heard her screams. All they could tell was that somebody or something had been left behind in the dining room of the burning house. Understandably, they thought a child was in danger. They "rushed into the flame- and smoke-filled building," according to the paper. A few minutes later, they emerged -- with the only thing of value they could find in the dining room -- a pricey CANARY.

April 3, 1909 (Saturday)

2009-04-02T16:11:00.005-05:00

POLICE MIGHT HAVE CRACKED A COLD CASE (from 1908): The lead story in today's Globe is distinctive for many reasons. First, it carries a byline (Edwin J. Park, who also had one on March 11). Second, it features a "flashlight photograph," which was taken last night at Police Station 4 in Cambridge. The two men being flashed are Dionisios Spiropoulos (Anglicized to James Mantir) and Peter C. Delorey. They have been connected with the stunning 1908 killing of a domestic servant named Annie Mullins.
Police say Mantir came to the U.S. a few years ago "on a mission of blood" -- meaning he was sent to take the life of another Greek. He is a little less than 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 145 pounds.
When Mantir was arrested yesterday about 2 p.m., he was initially told he was wanted on a charge of cruelty to animals.
The killing evidently took place along Marathon Street, which runs from Massachusetts Avenue to Broadway in Arlington (see map). The confession extracted from Delorey might be a bit suspect, but it's likely nobody will care. The article says he was put through "the third degree." Police questioned him from 4 to 6:45 in the evening, when "he suddenly weakened and, according to the officers, said that he would make a full breast of the story, whereupon his confession followed." Later, when referring to this questioning, the reporter wrote that Delorey spent "two hours and three-quarters on the gridiron."
Both men are charged with murder.
Evidently the two became the focus of suspicion because they had talked about the killing (in Squire's field in Arlington on March 27, 1908) BEFORE the body was found.
This was a particularly vicious killing, evidently. Her head was nearly severed. The crime was "looked upon as one of the most brutal murders ever committed in the vicinity" of Boston, the Globe reports.

April 2, 1909 (Friday)

2009-04-01T10:53:00.010-05:00

NO, IT'S NOT AN UPSIDE DOWN WASTEBASKET; IT'S A FASHIONABLE HAT: Henry Siegel is selling at its store on Washington and Essex streets some $10 trimmed hats like the one above. A number of "exclusive styles" will be shown Saturday for the first time. Included will be 25 Leghorn hats. Those would be hats made from Italian wheat straw that's often shipped from Leghorn, the English name for Livorno.

THE RUSH OF IMMIGRANTS TO BOSTON CONTINUES: The month of April might establish a new record for immigrant arrivals, according to today's Globe. The past few weeks have seen a "marked increase in the number of aliens arriving"; future bookings are "heavy." For an example, the Globe offers the incoming Romanic, of the White Star Line. It left Naples Wednesday night with about 1,200 steerage passengers. At the Azores, she is likely to pick up 200 to 300 additional passengers. It carries about 175 passengers in saloon and second class and is expected to arrive in Boston on April 12.

IN OKLAHOMA, A WARRIOR PROVES ELUSIVE: Military authorities are still looking for Crazy Snake, the rough translation into English of Chitto Harjo. Even though he has apparently escaped it looks like a simmering uprising is winding down, according to an article in today's Globe. Many have called this the Crazy Snake Rebellion . The Globe notes that a Muskogee paper calls the "smoke beef rebellion." According to this source, that name surfaced because someone stole a thousand pounds of smoked bacon.

READS LIKE A SCENE RIPPED FROM "CSI" OR "LAW AND ORDER" or "NCIS" or....: At about 3 a.m. yesterday (April 1), the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ludwig Krueger burned down. It was about a mile west of Toledo, Ohio. A search of the debris puzzled investigators, according to today's Globe. They found no sign of the couple, who were in their 60s. Authorities left the property unguarded, so a couple of boys poked their way through the rubble. One lifted a brick in the floor and came face to face with... THE FACE OF MRS. KRUEGER. More of the floor was then removed, exposing both bodies. They had been stabbed numerous times. The couple was last seen alive Tuesday evening. Police suspect robbery. It turns out that someone had recently paid the couple $2,000 as part payment for purchase of a farm.

April 1, 1909 (Wednesday) [3rd anniversary]

2009-03-31T20:58:00.007-05:00

BOSTON MARATHON ORGANIZERS ARE WORRIED ABOUT ... DOPING; THEY ALSO DON'T WANT RUNNERS TO WEAR SHORTS THAT ARE ... TOO SHORT: Today's Globe reveals that organizers of the Boston Marathon intend to crack down on runners who use stimulants to boost their performance at the race, which will be held on Patriots Day. [The photo above shows a runner surrounded by bicyclists in the 1904 Boston Marathon.]
Here's the relevant passage in the article:
The officials of the race will exert more vigilance this year than ever before to see that competitors do not partake of drugs either before or during the running of the race, and a breach of this rule will operate as an absolute disqualification.
In years past there have been allegations made that runners consumed considerable "dope" during the race, notwithstanding the efforts made by the management to prohibit the use of drugs. However, no serious results have ever resulted from this practice, but it is with a view of putting an absolute stop to the use of stimulants that the athletic committee has taken the step.
In addition, the organizers won't accept any runner younger than 18.
And then there's the concern about "shocking" outfits. Each competitor will be required to wear "complete clothing from the shoulders to the knees" according to manager George V. Brown. According to the Globe, this rule is "intended to dispense with the so-called 'SHOCKING' appearance of some athletes who wear SHORT trousers" [emphasis added].

SOPRANO WOWS CROWD AT BOSTON THEATER: Luisa Tetrazzini had operagoers in the palm of her hand last night during the production of Verdi's "La Traviata." The reviewer in today's Globe called it "another Tetrazzini night." The writer compared her singing with that of other recent performers in this way:
Tetrazzini has thrilled Boston opera lovers as has no singer since Patti was in her prime. Neither Melba with her more golden voice nor Sembrich with her finer artistry ever stirred an audience here to such frenzied demonstrations of delight.
How different was the behavior of last night's audience from that of the equally large gathering of the previous evening when beautiful Mary Garden sang the brilliant music of Massenet's opera! There was appreciative applause for the latter, but not once an outburst of real enthusiasm. Last night every aria was instantly followed by a hurricane of applause, and each time the curtain fell Tetrazzini was recalled a dozen times or more.
I guess they liked her.

BOYLSTON STREET CLOGGED BY A 1909-STYLE TRAFFIC JAM: About 30 horse-drawn carriages and automobiles were caught in a traffic jam for about 30 minutes yesterday afternoon on Boylston Street, near the intersection with Tremont Street. The cause? Two horses attached to a "heavy dray" refused to keep moving forward when confronted by a strange-looking "black spot" in the middle of the street. The "black spot" was there because a large section of pavement had been filled in with asphalt, which, today's Globe explained, "before being pressed down is black." There was no way to move around the spot because half the street is being taken up by repair work. The reluctant horses had no room to walk around the spot and the backed-up traffic had nowhere to go. Eventually the horses moved. The article does not say what was done to budge them.

March 21, 1909 (Sunday)

2009-03-21T14:02:00.004-05:00

SOME PEOPLE WANT AN ALL-WHITE VERSION OF BASKETBALL: The Wellesley YMCA basketball team was not allowed to start a left forward whose last name was Gray in its game yesterday against Rock Ridge School of Wellesley Hills. The reason: his color. His presence was "protested" by Rock Ridge Hall "because he is colored," an article says in today's Globe (above). As it turned out the YMCA team won 19-16. The substitute, Webster, scored two goals "from the floor" -- enough to provide the margin of victory.

March 20, 1909 (Saturday)

2009-03-19T11:05:00.012-05:00

HARVARD PROFESSOR'S DEVICE COULD CAUSE SOME REAL PROBLEMS: Today's Globe includes a front-page cartoon that illustrates some of the imagined consequences of the lie-detecting research of Harvard's Hugo Munsterberg. It calls a device the professor claims to be developing "the Newest Terror." The cartoon ignores the possibilities in the area of crime-solving. Instead it looks at the consequences of lie-detection in everyday conversation.
They might be hard to read above, so here are some of the comments that might be called into question:
"Yes, Mildred; you are the only girl I have ever loved."
"Yes, I'm in favor of tariff reform."
"I've got an important lodge meeting tonight. Don't sit up for me."
"I'll pay you that ten next week old man."
Hmmmmm. Have times changed much?

WHAT ARE THEY READING IN BOSTON? HERE'S THE TOP-10 LIST FOR THE WEEK: Today's Globe includes a list of the city's best-sellers for the present week. It's shown at right. The top one is the work of one of the most interesting writers produced by the city. It's "Loaded Dice" by Ellery H. Clark. The author was a former Olympic athlete and is in the track and field hall of fame.
It also includes "54-40 or Fight" by Emerson Hough, who has an elementary school named after him in Newton, Iowa.
Another interesting author, who wrote "Peter," which is on the list, is F. Hopkinson Smith. Then again, there's "Perfume of the Lady in Black" by none other than Gaston Leroux, who will soon have another important book published -- "Phantom of the Opera."

"STEERAGE INDEX" INDICATES THE ECONOMY IS TURNING AROUND IN THE U.S.: Today's Globe notes that six steamers brought in 9,403 passengers to the port of New York yesterday. That number is significant because it is probably the biggest one-day influx since "the record-breaking days of 1906." Italians were the most numerous, followed by Russians, Germans and Austrians. As has been noted before, this could mean that confidence is growing overseas that the U.S. economy is bouncing back. The number might actually be a record, according to the article. Here's the last paragraph:
Immigration officials say that today may be the biggest single day in the history of the office, although they are inclined to think one day in 1906 surpassed it by a small margin.

March 19, 1909 (Friday)

2009-03-18T09:21:00.011-05:00

SOMERVILLE JUDGE IS AT THE END OF HIS ROPE AND LONGS FOR THE DAY OF THE WHIPPING POST: For the seventh time in the past three years, Roger Sherlock has appeared in court. And for the SIXTH time, he has been charged with assault upon his wife, Nora. Yesterday, Roger Sherlock was sentenced in Somerville police court to three months in the house of correction. Judge L. Roger Wentworth is evidently sick of the accused's behavior and longs for the day of public punishment and public humiliation. He said, according to today's Globe, "It seems too bad that there is not a whipping post in Massachusetts."
[NOTE: The photo above shows a whipping post being used in Delaware in 1907.]

POLITICIANS FINALLY GIVE A NOD TO THE MAN WHO GAVE THE COD: Today's Globe takes a bit of a swipe at the state legislature with one of its brief "editorial points." Evidently, the august body has finally thanked John Rowe who made the motion to hang the state's famous sacred cod in the state house. The gift was evidently made in 1784. The formal thanks was evidently offered in 1909.
Here's the item in full:
John Rowe, who gave the sacred codfish to the state of Massachusetts, is taken out of the John Doe class by the resolution of thanks just adopted after 125 years of deliberation by the legislature.

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVES TRY TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO "BOOST" BOSTON AND NEW ENGLAND: The Ad Men's Club of Boston gathered last night for its monthly meeting at the Boston City Club. The members focused on trying to figure out how to best promote Boston. Here's what James T. Wetherald said:
"We need more boosting in Boston and less kicking about our limitations, for we have no limitations. We must down the western idea that Boston is a back number, living only on its glorious past. With its harbor and its great railroad facilities Boston should be at least the second largest American city."
Not there yet.

March 18, 1909 (Thursday)

2009-03-17T16:41:00.010-05:00

AUTOMOBILE WILL BE PUT TO THE TEST -- 10,000 MILES WITHOUT STOPPING, OR BUST: At 10 a.m. today, someone will fire up a Maxwell automobile (30 horsepower; four-cylinder) and drive off from the Bay State Automobile Association headquarters. The car will be driven continuously for about 25 DAYS, 24 HOURS A DAY -- long enough so it can make a 10,000-mile nonstop run. The first week, the car will run between Boston and Worcester (back and forth and back and forth); the second week it will do the same between Boston and Providence; the third week it will travel between Newburyport and Boston. Speed is of NO INTEREST to the sponsors. The Globe says today,
There will be no effort made at speed, as such a thing would prove fatal to the chances of the car. The machine will just jog along day and night, if all goes well, until the run ends.
Interest in this is high, the paper says. "No car has ever made any such attempt in this part of the country," it adds.

BOSTON-MONTREAL EXPRESS TRAIN RAMS INTO MONTREAL'S WINDSOR STREET STATION, KILLING AT LEAST FOUR: A steam pipe evidently broke in the cab of the express train running from Boston to Montreal yesterday when the train was barreling along, five miles out of the Windsor Street Station in Montreal. The explosion threw the engineer out of the locomotive and forced the fireman to jump to safety. That left the train with nobody in control. The train plunged into the station, killing four and injuring several others. One of those, the engineer, is likely to die. The names are listed above. You'll notice that three of the dead are named Nixon. Consider these sad paragraphs near the end of the story. (The brevity of the passage is inversely related to the magnitude of the tragedy.):
The husband of Mrs. W.J. Nixon is a train dispatcher on the Canadian Pacific at Medicine Hat, Alberta. He had got leave of absence to come to Montreal to get his family and they were all at the station to greet him after six months' separation.
Nixon's train arrived a short time after the accident. The mangled bodies of his wife and children were lying on the platform when he stepped from the train.

March 17, 1909 (Wednesday)

2009-03-16T10:01:00.012-05:00

CITY PLANNERS TRY TO UNSNARL BOSTON'S TRANSIT PROBLEMS: To help deal with its "transit problems," Boston has turned an ear to George S. Rice (right), chief engineer of the subway work in New York City. He submitted a report yesterday to the committee on metropolitan affairs of the legislature.
"On account of the location of Boston harbor and the Charles river the delivery of these passengers is confined to very narrow limits. These conditions require the adoption of some system by which the suburbs would be better accommodated and at the same time diminish the crowding in the congested district caused by the narrow streets peculiar to the city of Boston."

LEGISLATOR INVOKES NAME OF KILLER CHESTER GILLETTE IN DEBATE OVER DEATH PENALTY: The legislature of Massachusetts yesterday rejected a bill that would allow juries to qualify their verdicts of "guilty by murder in the first degree" by adding the phrase "without capital punishment". The debate lasted "several hours" in the legislature, according to a report in today's Globe. The vote was 154 to 62.
Mr. Pope of Leominster invoked the name of Chester Gillette, who was executed for the 1906 murder of Grace Brown. The Globe reported,
Speaking of Gillett's [sic] bearing going to the chair with a smile in the belief that he had arranged all with his Creator, he [Pope] said: "Capital punishment certainly did not punish him. While his minister says his soul will go to heaven, the state declares he is not fit to continue on the earth." He suggested that a more effective law would be our providing for life imprisonment at hard labor, with his leisure hours to be spent in solitary confinement.
Mr. Hobson of Palmer insisted that "he believed from the bottom of his heart, however, that the life of many a young girl has been saved because Gillett [sic] died."

SOME NEW ENGLAND REPRESENTATIVES MUST SIT IN CONGRESS' SO-CALLED "CHEROKEE STRIP": The biennial lottery of seats took place yesterday, and representatives to Congress from New England "fared well" according to today's Globe. It noted, however, that there were a few exceptions because several were "obliged to go to the Cherokee strip, as that most undesirable section of seats in the extreme southeast corner of the house is called." There's some confusion about about the real Cherokee Strip or Cherokee Outlet. There's also a Cherokee Strip connected to a two-mile wide stretch along to Oklahoma/Kansas border (above).

March 16, 1909 (Tuesday)

2009-03-15T13:10:00.010-05:00

GLOBE IS PLEASED TO REPORT.... THAT IT'S "EXCLUSIVE" IN YESTERDAY'S PAPER IS, INDEED, TRUE: Celebrity-watchers can be pleased to know that, according to today's Globe, actress Ethel Barrymore, and Russell Griswold Colt were married on Sunday. The fact was confirmed last night, and the story appears on the front page of today's Globe (right). It turns out that the couple "was whisked away after the performance Saturday night" to the home of the John Fairchild family in Dedham. They spent the night there. AT 9:30 Sunday morning, Ethel and Russell and others were married in Hyde Park by the pastor of the Church of the Most Precious Blood. Yesterday, the couple returned to the Bellevue Hotel in Boston. In the wake of the article in yesterday's Globe, Ethel's manager acknowledged yesterday night that the marriage had, in fact, taken place.
The couple had taken out a license last week. One reason this escaped detection from reporters was that the bride used the name of "Miss Blythe," the last name under which she was born. The Globe says the family asked Town Clerk Henry Terry of Hyde Park to not make the plans public until after the ceremony. The Globe explains, "This, of course, he could not do, as the entry was a public record, but he agreed not to advertise the matter and he kept his agreement."
[NOTE: The picture above shows the couple and children, as they appeared in 1914.]

GLOBE POKES FUN AT A BRITISHER'S PEEK AT THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE: Even though the book was published in 1889, the Boston Globe tees off today on a British book called "Americansisms Old and New" by John S. Farmer. I guess it's newsworthy because it "has turned up in a Boston book collector's library." The article (which is quite long) mocks the Britisher's attempts to get a handle on American words and phrases. Among the "B" words, he gives "bum squabbled," "boneyard," "bull nigger," "bum," "bellybutton," "begosh" and, the Globe says, "a large number of words which cannot be printed in even an American newspaper, however much general and respectable usage employs them."
The Globe questions the man's method, saying he overemphasizes random expressions. For example,
"It's plum lucky for this country's reputation that he didn't happen to be around when some gum chewing high school freshman asked a friend, "Goin' t' grind 's'aft?" and the other answered, "Nit not til 's eve."

March 15, 1909

2009-03-14T14:13:00.006-05:00

GLOBE FEATURES YOUNG BALLOONIST: Today's Globe has a photograph and short story featuring Natalie Forbes, who, at 12 years old, is the "youngest balloonist in America." She is shown seated in the basket of the balloon named "The Conqueror." She is the daughter of noted balloonist A. Holland Forbes, who was taught about ballooning in Pittsfield and North Adams, Mass., by Leo Stevens. Natalie is scheduled to take part in June's balloon race that will begin in Indianapolis. About 20 starters are expected in that race. Some of the balloons will be "operated by pilots known all over the world for their daring," according to the paper.

CELEBRITY CHASERS TRY TO TRACK ETHEL BARRYMORE AMID TALK OF A SECRET MARRIAGE: The front page of today’s Globe indicates that infatuation with the private lives of celebrities is alive and well in 1909. In this case, the focus of attention is actress Ethel Barrymore (shown above in 1896, at the age of 17). She and her fiancé Russell Griswold Colt “disappeared yesterday from the throng of the merry world.” This has led to some guesses that the two are planning to get married – secretly and soon. However, the Globe seems to be downplaying that notion, saying that a section of Saturday’s midnight train to New York was reserved for her, as usual. This indicates that her absence is simply part of her normal weekly routine. Her agent claims that the two plan to get married during Holy Week, and no sooner. She is expected back in time for a performance in Boston tonight. That said, the paper devotes quite a bit of space to some healthy speculation about the possibility that Barrymore and Colt were, indeed, married on Saturday. The Globe points out that a secret wedding is easier to pull off in Providence than in Boston.
The Globe reports that “a gentleman who professed to be a confident of some of Miss Barrymore’s friends… said there is NOT THE SLIGHTEST TRUTH in, or excuse for, the rumors which FLOATED THROUGH THE COUNTRY yesterday that the marriage was secretly performed during the day.”
This “gentleman” says a NEW YORK CITY WOMAN is being blamed for spreading the rumor. Colt is the son of Col. Samuel P. Colt. Barrymore -- of the famous acting family -- is the daughter of Maurice Barrymore and the sister of Lionel and “Jack” Barrymore. [Eventually, Ethel will be known as the great aunt of actress Drew Barrymore.]

NOT ALL ROMANCE ENDS HAPPILY; BASEBALL PLAYER FORCES WIFE’S LOVER TO CONFESS TO HIS DEED, THEN HE KILLS HIM: A story, with a dateline of March 14 and Fort Worth, Texas, briefly tells a story of love gone wrong and of a fatal encounter between a baseball-playing husband and vaudeville singer. The article, as many news stories do, presents the facts pretty clearly right in the beginning. Here goes:
Fred Morris, a baseball player, last night shot and instantly killed Otto H. Meyer, a vaudeville singer, in a room at a local hotel, after having secured a written confession that his relations with Mrs. Morris were improper.
There you have it in all its simplicity: who, what, when, where and even why.
The HOW comes four short paragraphs later, quoting what Morris told police:
”Meyer extended his arms and told me to shoot him through the heart so that all would be over at once. I did as he suggested, and would have followed him beyond the grave except for the fact that I have a little boy who I think needs me to look out for him.”

March 14, 1909 (Sunday)

2009-03-13T20:02:00.004-05:00

IS THIS THE WIRELESS EQUIVALENT OF SPAM, VIRUS or HACKING? Today's Globe features this cartoon on its from page, titled "Troubles of the Wireless Oeprator." This shows how some amateur wireless operators (clockwise from the upper left, a young boy, a sewing machine operator, a poker player and a cook) get their messages in the way of the work of a professional who is handling a message from someon on a ship that has been involved in a collision at sea.

'STEERAGE INDEX' POINTS TO HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR THE U.S. ECONOMY: The White Star's Romanic left Pier 44 in the Hoosac docks at 2:30 p.m. yesterday and headed for the Azores and the Mediterranean. The ship had 200 passengers. The Globe points out that this "was a noticeable decrease in the number of steerage" compared with the totals on outgoing steamers leaving Boston for Southern Europe during the past year. The Globe says [emphasis added] this "clearly indicates that the Italians and Portuguese are not remaining in this country IN EXPECTATION OF BETTER TIMES."

March 13, 1909 (Saturday)

2009-03-11T19:24:00.009-05:00

QUESTION FROM "A TALL COLORED YOUTH" LEADS TO A HUGE HEADLINE ABOUT TR's FUTURE: Today's Globe includes a huge headline on an inside page that Theodore Roosevelt -- less than a month into his life as a private citizen -- might, indeed, run for president again.
The comment sprang from a question that came NOT from a reporter but from a "tall colored youth" who was part of a group of New Yorkers who were greeting Roosevelt. If you can't read the exchange (shown at right), it went:
A tall colored youth was one of the first to come along. He remarked to Mr. Roosevelt:
"I've carried the Roosevelt banner in two campaigns and I hope I shall have the honor of doing so again."
To this Mr. Roosevelt replied, smilingly: "Time alone will tell whether you are to be afforded that opportunity."
As it turns out, time did tell.

MARBLEHEAD ADOPTS A NEW SEAL: Today's paper includes the news that Marblehead has adopted a new seal for the town. The seal (shown above as it appeared in the Globe today) has lasted.
A paint-by-number version (right) appears in the left column of the town's home page. According to the Globe, the designer was William J. Bixbee, "a local artist." Some complained that the image shows a dory "is of too recent model" to accurately portray the time when Marblehead fishermen were fishing from such craft on the Grand Bank. Others thought the seal should show the word "Mass." on the boat and should include the date on which the town was incorporated (May 2).

March 12, 1909

2009-03-11T16:28:00.007-05:00

OH OH! IT LOOKS LIKE THE SLIDE TOWARD THE PAPARAZZI HAS BEGUN: Today's Globe (published on a Friday) offers a photograph showing the recently-replaced-as-President Theodore Roosevelt glad-handing a well wisher on the streets of New York City. The photo was taken WEDNESDAY, when Roosevelt commuted to an office in Manhattan from his Oyster Bay, Long Island, home. An article about his trip to town was printed THURSDAY in the Globe. And now -- a day later than that -- a photograph catches up with the news. The people identified in the caption are (from left) Douglas Robinson, TR, L.F. Abbott and "The Friend Whom He Greeted."
This sent me scurrying to the Web.
Douglas was TR's brother=in-law (the husband of his sister Corinne Roosevelt -- and, by extension, grandfather of columnists Joseph and Stewart Alsop). L.F. Abbott was Lawrence F. Abbott, an author and editor. Alas, "the Friend Whom he Greeted" is unidentified, but the grammar -- proper use of "whom" -- is correct.
The article in yesterday's Globe that described TR's trip to the city said he visited the Robinsons' home and then spent about three hours in the editorial offices of the The Outlook, which is edited by Abbott's father, Lyman Abbott. For the record, he used public transportation. That's why yesterday's article carried the headline, "Literary Man, Strap Hanger."
[NOTE: Many pin the beginnings of the paparazzi to the 1950s. The use of the word with this connection is usually linked to a certain film.]

March 11, 1908 (Thursday)

2009-03-10T19:30:00.005-05:00

TOP GLOBE WRITER MERITS A BYLINE FOR STORY ON SHIP COLLISION: Early in the morning yesterday [March 10] the coastal steamer Horatio Hall (right) was heading on its way from Portland, Maine, to New York, running through thick fog in the Pollock Rip Slue off Chatham on Cape Cod. Meanwhile, the steamship H.F. Dimock of the Metropolitan steamship company was heading in the other direction -- through the same thick fog -- on its way from New York to Boston.
The Dimock rammed the Hall in its midships, and the story and photos filled much of the front page of today's Globe.
The story credited the captain of the Dimock with his decision to refrain from backing his ship out of the guts of the Hall, which would have led to its sinking. Instead, he threw his ship in forward and drove it into shallow water to beach it.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the coverage (which led to no deaths among the passengers -- five on each ship -- and crew is that the story has a BYLINE. This is rare for the Globe. The credit goest to "Edwin J. Park."
I checked the Globe's archives and found more than 280 references with his name, beginning in 1886. Also, I found his obituary (from July 1912). I loved the description of this man, who worked 13 years as a reporter and editor for the Globe. One of his great accomplishments was securing an interview for the Globe with Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy in her home in Concord, N.H., in 1907.
Here's a section of the obituary, which included the photo at right:
Mr. Park had, too, the art of writing "human interest" stories -- stories in which he would work out the happenings in some little every-day incident in such sympathetic, truthful way that a little news incident became more interesting than a piece of clear-cut fiction.
Then he had a vein of peculiar humor with which he could fairly saturate a story with laughs. His was good-natured, inoffensive and thoroughly enjoyable humor. His "cross-section" stories of events in Reno before and during the Jeffries-Johnson fight two years ago [meaning 1910]were admirable specimens of another style of newspaper writing of which he was a past master.

March 10, 1909 (Wednesday)

2009-03-07T14:34:00.016-05:00

BOYS SAY THEY LEARNED FROM A MOVIE HOW TO BREAK INTO A HOUSE IN WEST QUINCY; COULD THIS BE AN EARLY EXAMPLE OF THE COPYCAT EFFECT? Yesterday, some boys broke into James Wastson's house at 4 West Street, West Quincy, and stole $60 [about $1,200 in 2009 money]. Police apparently found the guilty boys fairly easily. Here's how the Globe described the thought process:
... police were notified. They learned that a boy who had been before the court recently on a larceny charge had been seen going to Boston on a train with two other boys. Acting inspector Goodhue got hold of this boy, and he admitted going into the house.
The boys told police they had KNOCKED on the DOORS of the house and discovered that NOBODY WAS HOME. They then FORCED OPEN a BULKHEAD DOOR and entered the basement. Then they climbed to the upper floors and found the money.
Police say the boys had a "novel excuse" for breaking the law.
Here it is, as described by the Globe (with emphasis added):
They said they had seen a house entered in a moving picture exhibition by men who first KNOCKED AT THE DOORS and then TRIED THE CELLAR BULKHEAD with success. They followed the line suggested by the pictures, also with success.
The headline writer tried to capture this by writing: "Taught by Picture Machine".
It's not as creative as the "Twinkie Defense" that was recently -- and somewhat erroneously -- emphasized in "Milk." But you have to give the boys credit for bringing attention to the great powers of suggestion offered by this new medium of the moving pictures.

DEFENSE LAWYER SAYS 'UNWRITTEN LAW' CAN PROTECT SOMEONE WHO KILLS A JOURNALIST .... WHO HAS OFFENDED HIM IN PRINT: General M.H. Meeks spent about FIVE HOURS in a Nashville courtroom yesterday claiming that the "unwritten law" protects the three men accused of killing former U.S. Sen. E.W. Carmack (right) in
the shooting of Carmack on Nov. 10, 1908.
Today's Globe says Meeks' "invocation was sprung during Gen. Mills' speech to the jury. The article quoted him at length:
You talk of the liberty of the press. Why, gentlemen, no man lives who believes more firmly in the liberty of the press than I do. But, when a man in an editorial position turns the liberty of the press into license and undertakes to defame and defile you and your family, what are you going to do? The prosecution will tell you you have your recourse in the courts. Yes, and you get a judgment for $25,000 against a man not worth the price of a plug of tobacco. Is that satisfaction?
O, gentlemen, I tell you that the streets of this, our city, have run red before with the blood of men who improperly used other men's names in public prints."

March 9, 1909 (Tuesday)

2009-03-07T08:08:00.008-05:00

NUNS HELP 345 STUDENTS FLEE FIRE IN BROCKTON SCHOOL: Thanks to the iron discipline of some nuns and the unquestioning obedience of the students, everyone escaped alive from the blaze that ripped through the French Catholic school on Court Street in Brockton yesterday [March 8, 1909]. Chillingly, this blaze erupted almost exactly a year after the horrible fire in Ohio in the Collinwood school (infamous for its inward-swinging doors). [That fire was covered in papers on March 5, 1908, and March 6, 1908.]
People were, obviously, more fortunate in Brockton. The fire was spotted in the basement by a student named Albert Bilodeau, who was down there getting some water. Here's how the Globe describes the CALM way he and others handled the situation:
Bilodeau hurried back to the classroom and gave the alarm to sister St. Catherine. Charles Simoneau was dispatched upstairs to notify the teachers in that part of the building. The little fellow kept his head remarkably well. Going to sister St. Sallet, a teacher, he whispered, "The school is on fire downstairs; sister St. Catherine says get the children out at once."
Somehow, the nuns got all 345 children (ages 5 to 17) out of the building by the time firefighters had arrived. The building was gutted.
The students were clearly geared to OBEY, and that likely helped a lot. Here's what a "little girl of about 5 years" said:
"I heard the sister say to climb out the window, and I did. I shouldn't have gone out that way, only we are taught to do as we are told without asking questions."
The Globe reporter added, "The little girl's words revealed how well the sisters had the school in hand."
The reporter also described a heroic act by 17-year-old Albert Deschamps ("whose father is one of the prominent men of the parish"). One of the nuns asked Albert to retrieve money and "valuable papers" on the third floor of the building. The Globe says, "The boy was almost overcome in so doing, having to crawl along a corridor that was filled with smoke. He made his way out safely and brought the money and papers with him."

"STEERAGE INDEX" POINTS TO A BETTER ECONOMY, THANKS TO A BULGING ROMANIC: The White Star liner Romanic (above) arrived yesterday [March 8, 1909]in Boston Harbor, ending a snappy run from Naples that took 11 days, 8 hours and 53 minutes. It carried 1,500 passengers, which was the LARGEST number of one-ship arrivals in Boston since November 1907. The steerage was filled with Italians who were returning to this country. I call this the STEERAGE INDEX for the nation's economy. The Globe explains the significance of the number, saying that the returnees are:
principally men who returned to their old homes a year ago on account of hard times. Reports in Italy of a big business boom in this country is sending thousands of Italians back to America.
The ship brought 1,120 Italians, 267 Portuguese, 20 Greeks and 11 Spanish in steerage.
Capt. Hugh F David now commands the Romanic.

March 8, 1909 (Monday)

2009-03-06T08:22:00.010-05:00

COULD THIS BE A "SEPARATED AT BIRTH" THING? The Globe appears to be quite attracted to the new president, William Howard Taft. The paper's mascot and the president certainly seem to share a rotund body type. And they both evidently share OPTIMISM about the future, as this promo shows in today's paper.

WONDER WHAT THE GLOBE MASCOT AND TAFT THINK ABOUT THIS REPLACEMENT FOR LARD?: Today's Globe includes this tasteful advertisement for Cottolene (shown at right) The stuff sat at the intersection of two waste products -- cotton seeds and beef tallow. This advertisement raises the great questions about LARD. (For example, "If you knew that lard was unhealthy, would you still eat lard-soaked food?") This product, supposedly, "contains no hog fat." And it asks, "Why take chances with swine fat?" Why, indeed.

March 7, 1909 (Sunday)

2009-03-04T19:33:00.005-05:00

HARVARD PROFESSOR WORRIES ABOUT THE DAY WHEN COAL AND OIL ARE USED UP: I loved the first paragraph of a story headlined "Alcohol for Oil and Coal" in today's Globe. The article reports on a lecture made last evening at Harvard Medical School by a prominent scientist. It goes:
Those who are afraid the coal supply will give out and that John D. Rockefeller's oil wells will run dry should have heard Dr. Lawrence J[oseph]. Henderson's lecture on "Glucose" in the Harvard medical school course last evening.
Glucose is a good source of alcohol, Henderson (right) says and, in words paraphrased by the Globe, he says "the use of this alcohol s a force for light, heat and energy is in its infancy. When the use of this alcohol is better understood, he said, we can grow our fuel every year with a crop of starch or glucose. The article ends with this quote from Henderson:
"With this in sight, no one need fear about the supply of coal giving out, nor the supply of petroleum. This alcohol will take the place of both."
[No mention of Saudi Arabia, of course; that oil source awaits.]
Someday, maybe. There's been progress in this area, as illustrated in the chart above from this site.

FOR THOSE TO BUSY TO READ AN ENTIRE BOOK...: Today's Globe devotes a full page to "The Water Witch" by James Fenimore Cooper. The urge to save time and money is nothing new. I have no idea how good a job they did in the condensing the book -- squeezing 34 chapters into one newspaper page. Sorry, but the image above is not readable. You can read the entire text here. If you don't have time for that, this appears to be a summary of the story.

March 6, 1909 (Saturday)

2009-03-04T18:44:00.008-05:00

THERE'S PLENTY OF REASON TO THINK THINGS HAVE CALMED DOWN IN THE WHITE HOUSE: This two-panel cartoon printed in today's Globe sums up the likely change from chaos-to-calm in the White House -- thanks to the transition on March 4 from a frenetic Theodore Roosevelt (bottom) to the sedentary William Howard Taft (top).

IF YOU THINK YOUNGSTERS ARE CRAZY IN 2009, TRY CONVINCING ONE TO RUN A "BENDIE": Ten-year-old John Sexton (who goes to the McKinley School in Revere) nearly drowned yesterday afternoon in the ice-covered pond at Paul Revere Park.
He and his family can thank a trio of ninth graders -- William Leonardt, Robert Ignico and Charles Finley -- for plucking him from the water after he broke through. The older boys -- risking their own safety -- helped pull him out thanks to a life preserver and a plank.The headline (above) says John was "running bendies." The term is explained in the article:
The boys were playing on the thin ice. The Sexton Boy tempted fate by running across a spot where the ICE BENT UNDER HIM, forming a "BENDIE." After a few tests the ice gave way and threw him into water over his head in depth.
The term shows up in the Dictionary of American Regional English:

March 5, 1909 (Friday)

2009-03-04T08:24:00.007-05:00

TAFT COMES IN ON THE HEELS OF A MARCH BLIZZARD: Meteorologists predicted that the weather Inauguration Day on March 4 in Washington, D.C., would be "fair and somewhat cooler." Well, a massive blizzard struck the city overnight, leaving a huge amount of snow -- disrupting many of the plans for the swearing-in of William Howard Taft. The storm was so big, that it "seemed to threaten a repetition of the great blizzard of March 12, 1888," according to a story on the front page of today's Globe. The bad weather forced the authorities to move the ceremony from the east wing of the Capitol to the Senate chamber, where the Hefty One weighed in with his inauguration speech. [The photo above shows the president-elect and his wife, Helen Herron Taft -- a distant relative, on the way to the swearing-in.] Today's Globe included this weather-related exchange in the breakfast room between the incoming Taft and the outgoing Theodore Roosevelt:
"Mr. President, even the elements protest."
"Mr. President-elect," quickly rejoined Mr. Roosevelt, "I knew there would be a blizzard clear up to the minute I went out of office."
"I always knew it would be a cold day when I was made President of the United States," was the laughing remark of Mr. Taft.

A HEADLINE THAT SOME SEE ONLY IN THEIR DREAMS: The Globe's headline for the weather story (shown above -- "Washington is Wiped Off Map") clearly overstates the situation. But it's a vision that appeals to many, right?
In any case, it means that the city was "wiped off" the communications map for quite a time during the storm. The story says
For eight hours Washington, the central point in America for the time being, was completely isolated, and at a late hour tonight [March 4] the only means of communication between the capital and the outside world was over three crippled telegraph wires -- one to New York, one to Atlanta and a third to Charlottesville, Va.

FIRST BASEMAN SAYS BASEBALL WILL CONTINUE TO GROW IN JAPAN: With the opening of the 2009 World Baseball Classic at hand, some 100-year-old comments by Red Sox player Harold Danzig, quoted in the Globe of March 5, 1909, are intriguing. Over the winter, Danzig had visited China and Japan. Globe sportswriter T.H. Murnane writes that Danzig's "experience with the Chinese and Japanese are worth listening to." Then comes the relevant point:
He was delighted at the deep interest the foreigners took in baseball, and predicted they will soon be playing up-to-date ball in Japan.
[Note: Despite having the nickname of "Babe," Danzig's career was quite brief.]

March 4, 1909 (Thursday)

2009-03-02T20:07:00.012-05:00

REMARKABLE PHOTO COLLAGE SUMS UP 11 YEARS OF ROOSEVELT'S PUBLIC LIFE: It's a bit hard to read in this reproduction, but this six-column photograph includes dozens and dozens of small images of Theodore Roosevelt, who leaves office as president today. The Globe calls this "the most remarkable combination photograph in the world." The image has a copyright of 1908 by Underwood & Underwood.

CARTOON FROM SPRING TRAINING PORTRAYS SEGREGATION IN HOT SPRINGS, ARK.: Today's Globe printed another large cartoon sent in from the Red Sox spring training camp in Hot Springs, Ark. One portion of it gives a long-range view of the ball park. Watching the action -- from the outside and from afar -- are three small animals and three people. All three are black, with the tall one saying "Golly".

SPORTSWRITER FINDS SOMEONE WITH A GOOD EYE FOR TALENT: The Globe's T.H. Murnane, who is with the Red Sox in Hot Springs writes in today's paper came across someone who is very impressed with a youngster named Joe Wood (right), who turns 20 in October. Here's Murnane's analysis:
Joe Wood, the Kansas City pitcher, reminds me very much of Charley Nichols, who by the way picked up the business in Kansas City. Wood is a rather slight, tall young fellow, already down to weight....As good a judge as George Tebeau says that young Wood will become one of the real major league stars, as he has speed and a fast raise ball that will bother the big stickers in major league company.
As it turns out, the prediction turned out to be pretty sound, given Wood's career statistics.

March 3, 1909 (Wednesday)

2009-03-02T10:19:00.007-05:00

"CORSET NIGHT" DRAWS A CROWD TO HORTICULTURAL HALL: Nearly 1,000 women showed up last night at Horticultural Hall to hear "Madame White" talk about the best use of corsets. One highlight was furnished by "very stout model" who provided an opportunity to show the proper method of getting into corset (as illustrated above). Here's a description:
After accomplishing the bewildering task of pulling up 15 yards of string behind her back, she was given a gown with [sic] Mme. White wore last year. The struggle with the strings was nothing compared with the hunt for matching hooks and eyes, but the difficult labor was finally accomplished, and the woman stood before the admiring spectators, a really beautiful figure, with heavy tawny hair, and the fine gown of old-blue silk, which fitted her in an amazing way.
Mme White offered this advice: "To be well dressed one must not look dressed." She also thinks women should have two or three corsets and should change them every second day, which enables the woman to be "an entire new person."
The article was illustrated with a handful of drawings, including the humorous one at right, which showed "men reporters" trying to catch a peek of the proceedings through a window. The caption says, "The men reporters were 'in bad'." The words in the cartoon bubble -- spoken by the reporter who is bent over and providing support for the window-peeper -- are "Gee, but this is a tough job."

CABINET MEMBER (WITH THE MIDDLE NAME OF "ACHILLES") DESCRIBES HOW HE LEARNED LATIN AND GREEK: Today's Globe includes a charming notice about the new Secretary of the Interior, Richard A. Ballinger (right). He describes how he came to learn classical languages (Latin and Greek) while living in Kansas. He said:
"When I was 15 years old -- in 1872 -- my father removed from Virden, Ill., to Larned, Kan., and as that was in the center of the cattle country I soon was a cowboy.
"While I was on the range I rode SEVEN MILES every Sunday to recite Latin to the steward at Fort Larned, where several companies of soldiers were stationed. I was grateful for this assistance and also for the interest taken in my by a minister who lived THREE MILES or more from our ranch and who was willing to impart to me his smattering of Greek."
Ballinger went to college at the University of Kansas and Washburn College, eventually getting a degree from Williams College, where he was part of the same class as President James A. Garfield, graduating in 1884.
This was a benign way for him to get in the news. More publicity awaits, thanks to the so-called Pinchot-Ballinger Controversy. Maybe as a youngster, Ballinger should have ridden his horse seven miles for instruction in ETHICS.

Feb. 28, 1909 (Sunday)

2009-02-28T16:29:00.005-05:00

GLOBE LOOKS BACK AT PREVIOUS INAUGURATIONS: The Globe devotes plenty of space to the upcoming inauguration of William Howard Taft (which is scheduled for Thursday). One page (shown at right) reviews past inaugurals. The page includes a chart (below) that includes facts about the presidents:

Perhaps it's noteworthy to point out that nine of the 25 have "None" listed for college. Also, look at the number of living former presidents.... Well, as of Feb. 28, 1909, there are NONE -- because Roosevelt is still in office. I haven't looked, but that really can't have happened too often in this nation's history.

DOCTOR PASSES ON SOME BEAUTY TIPS FROM DAYS GONE BY: The magazine section of today's Globe includes an article with the headline of "TOILET TRICKS WOMEN USED YEARS AGO" The article quotes extensively a "well-known doctor" but neglects to reveal his name. He rattled off numerous techniques women have used over the years to maintain their good looks. Among the recipes for beauty: "the eating of herring brains."
My favorite section of the article is shown at right and quoted below (with emphasis added):
"In the old days it was quite generally believed that the eating of HARE'S FLESH would cause the eater to LOOK FAIR, LOVELY and GRACIOUS for a week together afterward, while the ENTRAILS of CROCODILES were considered EXCELLENT TO WHITEN THE SKIN. The same was true of the GREASE OF LION, mixed with OIL OF ROSES.
"The ASHES OF AN OYSTER SHELL calcined and then mixed with honey, WILL REMOVE WRINKLES and MAKES A WOMAN'S SKIN SMOOTH AND SOFT."
I hope Cosmopolitan is paying attention.

Feb. 27, 1909 (Saturday)

2009-02-28T15:40:00.005-05:00

WESLEYAN TRUSTEES BOLDLY DECIDE TO END COEDUCATION AT THE SCHOOL, BUT THEY CAN'T FACE THE THORNY ISSUE OF HOLDING DANCES IN THE GYMNASIUM: Today's Globe indicates that Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., has decided that coeducation must be abandoned at the school. Thirty of the school's 50 trustees voted on the measure yesterday in New York City. The females who will enter in the fall of 1909 will be the last ones, if this decision remains in force.
It's not totally clear in the article, but it appears that the male students have pushed for this decision. Here's the relevant sentence:
The action was taken after a prolonged discussion, and is the result of the long-continued opposition of the male undergraduates of the institution.
The trustees were also to discuss another matter: "the question of dancing in the gymnasium." They weren't up to the task, so they tabled it. It's presented in the Globe as a "subject on which the undergraduates are anxious," but it doesn't say what the issue is and which side the undergraduates favor. Well, they DID make a decision about the dancing. They decided to refer the matter to a special committee.
The school will greet a new president in the fall, William Shankin.
Don't know what happened with the dancin-in-the-gym issue, but the plan to end oeducation did not last.

Feb. 26, 1909 (Friday)

2009-02-26T20:00:00.006-05:00

CANAL ENGINEER WORRIES ABOUT PANAMA'S GATUN DAM:Members of Boston's Commercial club got an earful yesterday from French engineer Philippe Bunau-Varilla (right) who told listeners he fears that the massive Gatun Dam could give way and lead to "one of the greatest disasters of modern times." In addition, he condemned the idea of building the canal in Panama with locks, saying that eventually the designers will see the error of their ways and remove enough dirt to make a sea-level canal between the Atlantic and Pacific. The Globe explained why the Frenchman is being so candid in his criticism of the dam (shown above in 1908):
His reason for speaking so plainly on the subject he said was similar to Col. Picquart's reason for reopening the Dreyfus case -- he did not wish to die with the knowledge of the thing on his conscience.... already a section of the dam 200 feet long and 80 feet high had sunk 20 feet, and he did not care to think what would happen when the full weight of the dam and the water behind it was brought to bear on such an unstable foundation.

GLOBE MASCOT LOOKS LIKE HE SWALLOWED A ... GLOBE: You have to love this top-hatted, cheery mascot of the Globe. The portly gentleman is obviously happy to be promoting a color photo of someone who would rival him in girth -- the massive Taft, whose inauguration is imminent.

Feb. 25, 1909

2009-02-24T20:25:00.005-05:00

SO THAT'S HOW A NEWSPAPER IS MADE... IN 1909: The Red Sox are about to begin spring training in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The Globe is sending its veteran baseball writer, T.H. Murname to the "southern training camp." From his perch there, he "will tell daily through the Globe what the players are doing, individually and as a whole; how the new men are shaping up and everything that the baseball public of New England will find of interest as the spring practice progresses."
The Globe also sends cartoonist Wallace Goldsmith. His work appears in today's paper, on the front page. Part of his panel (above) shows the high-wire connection between Hot Springs and the Globe's readership. The headline on the paper hanging from the telegraph wires reads "Base Ball Training Trip."

ANTI-NOISE ADVOCATE LIKES THE QUIET OF BOSTON: Mrs. Isaac L. Rice of New York spoke at the Women's municipal league yesterday. Rice, who has made quite a name for herself in her efforts to banish "unnecessary noise" managed to be heard at the meeting. Her focus yesterday was the problem of the hoodlum spirit that has marred national holidays: "the little boy has been replaced by the big tough, the original small firecrackers by the giant cannon crackers of today." She said celebrations linked to the "last six holidays" have led to 1,300 deaths and more than 25,000 injuries. In Boston, Fourth of July accidents jumped from 50 in 1907 to 190 in 1908.
Rice is widely known for her efforts to establish quiet zones around hospitals drew the support of Mark Twain. She has also targeted TUG BOAT WHISTLES on the East River near her home in New York.(She said she counted 2,750 toots in ONE NIGHT.)
The Globe says,
Mrs. Rice is now going against the automobile horns, the use of which she believes has been carried to a fiendish extent.
And she has her eye (or ear) on churches, being quoted in today's Globe as saying:
"Neither do I believe in the ringing of church bells. I do think if our school children can get to school without a call our grownups could get to church on time without tolling bells to call them there. Some of the large church bells in our city are tolled 150 times before each service."
Someone asked her about her audio impressions of Boston, she said,
"Why, Boston is a perfect paradise; it is to me very quiet here. But of course this impression is only a relative one, for New York is so very loud."

Feb. 21, 1909 (Monday)

2009-02-20T13:52:00.005-05:00

SHIPS ARE ABOUT TO ARRIVE SAFELY HOME: The large fleet of "Admiral Sperry's fighting machines" are just about done with their spectacular 14-month voyage around the world. (That's Admiral Sperry at right.) The fleet, known in history as the Great White Fleet, has arrived off the shore of Virginia and is expected to enter Hampton Roads sometime tomorrow. To mark the event, today's Globe devoted a number of pages to the expedition and included this page-wide map (above) showing the general route of the ships. The front-page article is written by Winfield M. Thompson, (who would later report on the sinking of the Titanic -- partly while as a "Globe correspondent on the SS Franconia). He noted that the excitement is keen for the return of the fleet. That's a big change, he added, from the attitude among residents of Hampton Roads when the ships departed:
The departure of the ships 14 months ago was regarded almost with indifference in the country around the confluence of the Potomac and the James, the national naval rendezvous. Doubts of the wisdom of sending a fleet so far and political prejudices combined to affect the public mind.
Now that the cruise has proven to be a naval achievement without parallel, the fires of patriotism are blown into a blaze of enthusiasm. Politics and policies are no longer discussed here in connection with the fleet.
Once again, nothing succeeds like success.

STATE LOSES A LEADING EDUCATOR, SCHOLAR: Today's Globe also marked on its front page the death yesterday of Carroll Davidson Wright, a widely known sociologist and economist. He was president of Clark College in Worcester at the time of his death. Unabashed in its praise, the paper said "the output of his life, the sum of his activities, was enormous."

Feb. 20, 1909 (Friday)

2009-02-19T20:03:00.007-05:00

MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE PRESIDENT WANTS TO -- GASP! -- KEEP THE COST OF COLLEGE LOW: Alumni of Middlebury College of Vermont gathered last night to hear the school's president John Martin Thomas call for help in making college affordable for youths from "modest homes." (That's Pearsons Hall above; it was built in 1911.)
Today's Globe quotes him:
"One of our New England institutions recently defended its democracy by the statement that 10 percent of its students spend less than $600 a year. That means that 90 percent spend $600 or over, and that means that an education at that college is almost impossible to the youth of the average New England home. It is only the favored families of our common villages and hamlets that can afford even $500 a year for the boy or the girl.
"Now it will be a tragedy, a public calamity, if New England college education of high grade is placed beyond the reach of youth of modest homes."
He says he wants to build a "Mt. Hermon among colleges."
He claims that students at Middlebury "get through on about $300 a year each, and are the better for their economy."
Wonder what he would think 100 years later when he sees where Middlebury sits on the list of the nation's most expensive colleges.

FORMER MISSOURI GOVERNOR DRAWS A HUGE CROWD AT THE BOSTON CITY CLUB: More than 700 people filled the seats and aisles at the Boston City Club last night to hear former Gov. Joseph W. Folk (left) of Missouri. Today's Globe quotes extensively from his speech, which touted reform and civic involvement. He was particularly upset with the fact that "criminal wealth, when assailed, always tries to hide behind the skirts of legitimate business, and claims that business is being attacked. According to their argument, grafters should never be assailed, lest some assume that all in that city are grafters and lawlessness in business should not be fought, lest it be suspected that all business is lawless." He wants citizens to go on the offensive and push for greater enforcement of the law.
No city can be injured by the enforcement of the people's laws. To do otherwise is to substitute the will of the official for the laws of the people, and that is tyranny. No state can be hurt by exposing grafting; to do otherwise is to connive at it. There is no secret remedy known for evils of this character. They cannot be cured by hiding them. The disgrace is not in their correction, but in submission to them with supine indifference.

Feb. 19, 1909 (Friday)

2009-02-18T15:45:00.007-05:00

A PUNCH TO THE CHEST LEAVES 14-YEAR-OLD DEAD IN WATERTOWN: The death of a ninth grader, Frank Crossland, has "created a sensation" in Watertown, according to today's paper. The boy got into a fistfight with classmate John Scanlon and was felled permanently by a punch near the heart. The sequence, according to the article, went something like this, beginning on the steps of the Marshall Spring school:
The story as told by companions of the two lads, and also by Scanlon, is that while the boys were leaving the schoolhouse, shortly after 1 o'clock, Crossland, who was in line directly behind Scanlon, tapped the later on the ear with the end of his book strap.
Scanlon resented this and the pair renewed the argument when they reached the street. They kept it up until they reached a spot opposite the home of William O'Brien, 17 Waverly av. Here they exchanged blows for a couple of minutes. Scanlon dealt Crossland a blow which landed under the heart.
The Crossland lad dropped to the ground.
Scanlon, distraught, tried to lift Crossland up, but he was unconscious. He then ran home and told his mother he had hit another boy and thought he was injured. The next sentence raises some questions:
His mother told him to eat his dinner and go back and see how badly the boy had been injured.
He couldn't eat so he left the house and returned to the scene, where he was taken into custody by police.
Here's the analysis of the principal and the boys' teacher, Miss Mary H. Moynihan:
They were both of the opinion that the tragedy of today was the result of carrying fooling too far.
Sounds like an understatement.

COULD THIS BE THE BEGINNING OF THE BOSTON-TO-NEW YORK SHUTTLE? Charles Jasper Glidden, the widely known Massachusetts automobilist announced in New York yesterday that his Aerial Navigation Company of Massachusetts has ended enough spots of land in and around Boston to allow it to build "airship stations." All this is in preparation for setting up THE FIRST REGULAR AIRSHIP SERVICE between Boston and New York, according to a front-page article in today's Globe (right). [The photo above shows an airship above Chicago in 1906.]
He wants this operation, the "first airship line in the world" can operate on a regular schedule for four months of the year, "with timetables of arrivals and departures." The line will feature stations at about 25-mile intervals between the two cities. Glidden said,
"We will begin by starting a regular schedule of runs from a place we have leased as a starting station, a short distance from Boston. We have also arranged for another station at Harvard bridge, a half-mile from the state house in Boston."
He sees a future in this kind of air travel:
"...the time is coming when it will be possible to run airships in all kinds of weather. In my opinion the dirigible will be the first kind of flying machine that will be of full practical utility. The aeroplane will come later."

Feb. 18, 1909 (Thursday)

2009-02-18T12:45:00.008-05:00

UPON FURTHER REVIEW.... GLOBE TAKES STOCK OF CY YOUNG'S DEPARTURE: With more time and space available to cover the news (broken yesterday on short notice), the Globe takes a more thorough look at the departure of pitcher Cy Young to the Cleveland team, which was called the "Naps," but linked to the Indian image (as illustrated on the front page above).
Most of the complaining from fans appears to be muted, largely, it seems, because this is a deal that Young is happy with, and he commands lots of respect. The Globe quotes this analysis from the Record:
Cy Young is 41 years of age and his years as a ball player are numbered. He is strong and good yet, but he will not be much longer.
Pres Taylor and manager Lake have a bunch of aggressive young players of the style that make pennant winning teams. The old timber is being taken out, plank by plank, and the new men are fitting in nicely.
But not everyone's happy, according to The Traveler newspaper. The Globe says that publication "said that 90 percent of Boston's fans will disapprove of the deal" and were quite surprised by it -- among them the legendary "Nuff Ced McGreevey," whose name endures in "Tessie".

GLOBE NOTES THE PASSING OF AN ARIZONA LEGEND -- GERONIMO: The famous chief of the Apaches Geronimo died yesterday according to the report (above) in today's Globe. The article says he died at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, "where he had been confined as a prisoner of war for years." He surrendered about 22 years ago. The article says Geronimo surrendered to Gen. Nelson Miles after a 3,000-mile chase. The Globe does not mention that Miles had a Massachusetts background, but it does quote his with this description of Geronimo:
"Geronimo rode into our camp and dismounted. He was one of the brightest, most resolute, determined-looking men that I had ever encountered. He had the clearest, sharpest dark eye I think I have ever seen.
The Globe also notes that Miles "once said that Geronimo was the worst Indian that ever lived and his cruelty knew no bounds."

IT TOOK ABOUT 25 DAYS, BUT NOW SCIENTISTS KNOW WHERE THE EARTHQUAKE STRUCK: On Jan. 23, seismograph readers around the world noticed there had been a violent earthquake. Until Feb. 17, conjecture was that the disturbance had happened in western Asia, Asiatic Russia or, perhaps, in the waters of the Indian Ocean. Well, the horrible news has reached Tehran that the quake struck Luristan in western Persia (shown in bright green in the map of Iran at left). It wholly or partially destroyed 60 villages. Authorities fear that between 5,000 and 6,000 were killed. In addition, up to 12,000 head of cattle might have been killed as well. Survivors are flocking into Burnjurd [the way it's spelled in the Globe; it might be Borujerd].
The article notes that the province of Luristan is sparsely settled and mountainous and about 300 miles southwest of Tehran. Communication with the capital is limited to courier.

February 17, 1909 (Wednesday)

2009-02-17T16:28:00.005-05:00

RED SOX SELL..... THE GREAT CY YOUNG: Pitcher Denton "Cy" Young, who was with the Boston team since 1901 has been sold to the Cleveland team for cash and two players. The news merited a large photo and presence on the front page of today's paper (above). The deal was made shortly before midnight and "caused considerable interest among the magnates who had not gone to bed" at the owners' meeting in Chicago.
The Globe received the news about Young "early this morning" in a report from Hugh McBreen (left), treasurer of the Boston team.
Here's the entire dispatch:
Cy Young has been sold to the Cleveland club for a money consideration and pitchers [Charley] Chech and [Jack] Ryan.
Boston has closed a deal for a left-handed pitcher, whom we cannot name at present but who won 27 and lost 2 games in the season of 1908.
What? He "CANNOT NAME" the pitcher, but he CAN say that he had a 27-2 record in 1908? Doesn't that narrow it down a bit? For some reason, nobody at the Globe looked it up. I have no idea who McBreen refered to.

Feb. 16, 1909 (Tuesday)

2009-02-15T13:32:00.008-05:00

GLOBE PEEKS UNDER THE WAISTCOAT AT THE MYSTERIOUS LIFE OF HANNAH SNELL: Today's Globe includes, as usual, "A Daily Lesson in History." The focus is on Hannah Snell (above and at right), who is labeled as "a unique character of the British Navy in the eighteenth century." To say the least. She disguised herself as a man and served England in the army and marines. It wasn't all that easy for her to keep her secret. Here's a description of some of what happened at the siege of Pondicherri in 1748:
...the marines were called upon to participate in a move by land. Hannah bore herself as a veteran soldier and was several times wounded. One was a dangerous gunshot wound, but so determined was she to keep her secret that she extracted the ball by her own skill and bore her suffering in silence during the healing process, which well nigh cost her life by reason of the absence of the application of proper remedies.
Her secret was revealed after her discharge and she was retired on a government pension of 20 pounds sterling. She died before she was 40.

AMATEUR WIRELESS OPERATORS GET A JUMP ON THE NEWS: Today's Globe carries an editorial (right) pointing out in its first sentence that "a large majority of the bright boys on New England who have installed wireless telegraph apparatus in their homes do not intentionally interfere with the sending or receiving of messages of the navy department."
A statement like that leads one to believe that there's at least a small minority of those bright boys who DO intentionally interfere with communications with the U.S. Navy. This has caused disruption because some are sending false CQD wireless distress signal. Evidently one Washington teenager sent messages that were supposed to come from the Navy ship the Dolphin. Investigators found that the perpetrator had "a fondness for playing practical jokes."
The article in yesterday's paper included a quotation from a young wireless operator in Washington named John Hillers (not sure if it's the same one who pretended his messages were from the Dolphin). The student described how his device -- using an antenna at his parent's house -- helps him stay ahead of the news as reported by newspapers:
"The Cape Cod station gets busy every night between 10 and 12 o'clock, and sends out press messages to ships at sea. I isn't necessary to read the papers. From these messages I can get a line on the news of the day. When a certain ambassador's wife was thrown from her carriage and injured, I head it two days before there was anything about it in the newspapers."

Feb. 15, 1909 (Monday)

2009-02-14T10:21:00.007-05:00

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)

2009-02-13T15:27:00.009-05:00

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

2009-02-12T17:42:00.012-05:00

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)

2009-02-11T15:35:00.006-05:00

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)

2009-02-10T17:03:00.003-05:00

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)

2009-02-09T19:17:00.002-05:00

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)

2009-02-09T17:26:00.004-05:00

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.

Feb. 8, 1909 (Monday)

2009-02-07T22:45:00.008-05:00

SURVIVING WHITE HOUSE AIDE DESCRIBES WHERE TAD WAS WHEN HIS DAD WAS ASSASSINATED IN 1865: With the 100th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln looming, there's lots of news about the former president. Today's Globe has an item that describes what son Tad Lincoln was doing when his father was assassinated. {The photo above shows the boy with his dad in 1864.] Tad, who was 12 at the time, was watching a performance at Grover's Theater. The source of information here is Jacob A. Chase, a park policeman. Chase was a 14-year-old messenger boy at the White House in 1865. Evidently his comments shed some light on Tad's whereabouts. Here's how he said it:
So the history makers have lost sight of the whereabouts on the night of the assassination of little Tad, President Lincoln's favorite son, have they? Well I can help on this.
Chase, Tad and doorkeeper Alphonso Donn were together at Grover's for about an hour when someone ran into the theater during the performance of "Aladdin." Chase describes what happened:
"[He] yelled out so you could hear him all over the house, 'President Lincoln's just been shot in his private box at the opera house,' immediately the audience sprang to its feet and the wildest excitement followed.
"Mr. Dunn and I then took Tad -- each of us had\him by the hand -- and we went straight to the White House. He was crying as if his heart would break....
"But O! When they brought his father's body home in the morning. Poor little Tad. I never saw such grief in a child before or since; it was heartbreaking."

IT LOOKS LIKE THE AUTO ACCIDENT WASN'T REALLY THAT BAD, IF IT HAPPENED AT ALL: The Globe of Feb. 7 included a confidently written item (left) about an auto accident involving William Jennings Bryant (above). Clearly, his life was in danger. Today's Globe has an article that refutes yesterday's report (right).

Feb. 7, 1909 (Sunday)

2009-02-07T08:12:00.010-05:00

THE PATIENT LIKELY HAD NO INSURANCE, BUT THE DOCTORS HELPED HIM ANYWAY: Around 7:30 last night the head surgeon at Cambridge Relief Hospital heard some whining at the front door. The noise became so annoying and so persistent, that Dr. George V. Buehler opened to door to check it out. He found a 200-pound St. Bernard "lying on his side, his head against the door, and his right foreleg badly torn and bleeding." Upon closer examination, Dr. Buehler found out the leg was broken. Nobody was with the dog. The doctor realized that the dog had come to the hospital on its own. The article in today's Globe continues, "The thought flashed into the surgeon's mind that any creature displaying such intelligence as to come to the hospital, when in need, should not have his confidence destroyed by neglect."
The doctors -- a Dr. Ogden assisted -- took the dog through the hospital to the operating room in the back of the building. They guessed that the animal had been hit by an automobile. Once a splint had been applied, Dr. Buehler got the attention of an "expressman" -- or deliveryman -- who was at the hospital. He immediately identified the dog as "Jerry" and knew it belonged to the family of Albert E. Lynch, a well-known Cambridge businessman. Joseph Lynch and a friend came and picked up the dog and took him to their home.

KANSAS SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF SUNDAY BASEBALL: Yesterday, the judges of the supreme court of Kansas ruled that baseball can, indeed, be played in Kansas (see article at right). Ernest Prather had appealed for further review because he had been convicted in Olathe of violating the "no-baseball-on-Sunday" rule. Justice Porter ordered him release, in the words of the newspaper report, "on the ground that baseball is a national sport and has no immoral tendencies." [The headline indicates that these are the words of the court, but the words are NOT in quotation marks in the article.]
In 2009, one can only wonder if the "no immoral tendencies" applies to baseball....
For more details about the Ernest Prather case, here are a couple of paragraphs from an article called "Baseball in Kansas, 1867-1940" from the Kansas Historical Society:

Kansas clergymen and other advocates of strict Sabbath observance conducted a stout fight against Sunday baseball but to little avail. A Kansas statute provided that persons "convicted of horse-racing, cock-fighting or playing cards or games of any kind on Sunday shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." The strict enforcement crowd invoked this statute against Ernest Prather who was arrested in Johnson county on July 14, 1907, for promoting a baseball game on the Sabbath. He was convicted in the district court but the case was appealed and the decision was reversed by the Supreme Court of Kansas.
Justice Silas Porter, in presenting the opinion of the court, said in part, "This construction would make the statute apply to every game-to authors, whist, chess, checkers, backgammon and cribbage, even when played within the privacy of one's home, and to croquet, basketball, tennis and golf, whether played in public or on private grounds." Subsequent efforts to enact legislation specifically prohibiting Sunday baseball have been unsuccessful. A law passed in 1907, however, prohibits baseball games on Memorial Day.

GLOBE FIGURES OUT HOW TO PUT A BOOKLET DEVOTED TO A. LINCOLN INSIDE THE PAPER: I think the Globe had a great idea to honor President Abraham Lincoln's 100th birthday, which looms. The shot above shows how the paper organized a series of "pages" of a booklet about Lincoln's life on one newspaper page so people could use a little nipping and tucking to "bind" their own booklet. I think the paper devoted four newspaper pages to the project. Each of the "chapters" had appeared in the paper during recent weeks.

Feb. 6, 1909 (Saturday)

2009-02-06T21:41:00.006-05:00

LONGBOAT PULLS AWAY IN DRAMATIC RACE IN NYC: Thomas Longboat, a Canadian runner from the Onondaga Nation, grabbed a massive headline on the front page of today's Globe. He outran Britisher Alfred Shrubb in a much-anticipated two-runner marathon race before at least 15,000 spectators at New York's Madison Square Garden yesterday.
The Globe thought it was important enough to make it the lead story of the paper (right). Shrubb made a major miscalculation, misjudging the distance. He was nine laps ahead at the 19 mile mark, but he couldn't maintain the lead and dropped out in the 25th mile, when Longboat caught him. After the race, Shrubb called Longboat, "the greatest Marathon runner alive, in my opinion."
The Globe included this very interesting chart (below) which tracks the race mile by mile. Shrubb started very quickly, with a 4:52 mile. His last mile? It took him almost twice as long.

STUDENTS REALLY HOPE THE CANDY HE SOLD WAS WRAPPED VERY, VERY WELL: For the past year, a gentleman named Samuel Bernick has been selling candy to children in a high school in Los Angeles, Calif. According to a small article on the front page of today's Globe, police arrested Bernick and sent him to the county hospital. The reason? He suffers from LEPROSY. And he's been selling CANDY to students in a HIGH SCHOOL.

Feb. 5, 1909 (Friday)

2009-02-05T21:59:00.005-05:00

FIRE STRIKES DORCHESTER HOME OF ONE OF P.T. BARNUM'S FAMOUS MIDGETS: Major Nutt, who with his brother, was once known as "the smallest man int he world" yesterday decided he had recovered enough from a recent illness to get out of bed and leave his home -- for the first time in nearly a year. While at the Post Office, he heard the fire trucks, so he hustled to his home on Norfolk Street in Dorchester. He was greeted at t he door by his wife, whom the Globe says is about 200 pounds and, therefore, "would make three of the major." It turns out that his wife's room had gone up in flames, evidently because the daughter of the housekeeper had overturned a stove.
The Major, who was born Rodney Nutt, was the brother of Commodore Nutt (shown at right with his wife, Minnie Warren). Major Nutt is now a fairly successful real estate seller. The Globe says that for about 20 years, he performed as a Lilliputian for P.T. Barnum and is evidently the only surviving male member of the troupe of little performers. When a reporter called the house to ask about the fire, Nutt apologized for making the caller wait. He had to climb up on a chair to get to the telephone. He explained, "The telephone was built for my wife not me."
It appears that many of his souvenirs survived the fire.

Feb. 3, 1909 (Wednesday)

2009-02-04T16:25:00.004-05:00

PROBLEM WITH FINGER NAIL PROBABLY WON'T KEEP PIANIST PADEREWSKI AWAY FROM BOSTON: Yesterday afternoon, pianist Ignace Paderewski attacked a Beethoven sonata at Carnegie Hall. Evidently, the piano bit back. Paderewski (shown above in 1922) emerged with a split nail on the first finger of his right hand. He was scheduled to play in Philadelphia on Feb. 3, and that concert has been canceled. Philadelphia's loss might be Paderewski's gain. The article points out that the pianist has $5,000 insurance on each of his eight fingers and two thumbs. The pianist's American manager Charles Ellis is expected to "collect from the insurance companies a round sum in solid cash in recompense for the concert which Paderewski cannot give in Philadelphia because his forefinger is somewhat sore and needs a rest."
Ellis announced that Paderewski is expected to be ready for his Saturday concert in Boston.

CHICAGO JUDGE PUTS A DOLLAR AMOUNT ON A STOLEN KISS: The front page of today's Globe includes a story about a fine levied by Judge John R. Newcomer of Chicago (shown in 1907). Before announcing the fine, he told the accused, John Fallon, "To steal a kiss from one's landlady is a serious offence, especially when the woman happens to have a husband." He added up the kisses, multiplied it by $10 per kiss and fined Fallon a grand total of $30.
The woman described the love-scene this way:
"My husband was away Sunday and after I had talked with Mr. Fallon he attempted to embrace me. Finally he overpowered me and kissed me three times. I tried to stick him with a needle. He got mad and called me names. Then I slapped his face and he struck me. I fainted."
So, no fine for striking her but there was a fine for kissing her.

Feb. 2, 1909 (Tuesday)

2009-02-02T13:43:00.008-05:00

GROUNDHOG GETS HIS DUE: Today's front page tells the tale of the tape of a brutally cold Feb. 1. The lowest temperature yesterday was 3 degrees above zero -- at 9 a.m. It was nearly the coldest Feb. 1 on record in the Boston weather bureau. The only colder Feb. 1 was in 1871, when the reading was 2 degrees. That chill likely turned much attention on the fate of the groundhog. The cartoon above appears on Page 16 today.
They're worried about the animal seeing his shadow, which would mean there's six more weeks of winter left. The Globe ends its piece:
Though we have barely had half a winter yet, we can hardly afford to have a winter and a half to come.

WILL HELEN KELLER MOVE TO MAINE? Helen Keller might move from her home in Wrentham, Mass. Today's Globe says she and her companions, John and Anne (Sullivan) Macy, are planning to move to a spot near Portland, Maine, on Casco Bay. It's in Brunswick, has 17 rooms and sits on 10 acres. Helen Keller has been quite busy lately, the article says, and "needs leisure and seclusion." Evidently, that's hard to come by these days. "Living near Boston entailed a great many social engagements," the article says. [The picture above shows Helen, left, with Anne, in 1898.]

Feb. 1, 1909 (Monday)

2009-02-01T13:13:00.003-05:00

COULD IT BE TRUE? BASEBALL WITHOUT HONUS WAGNER? Today's Globe includes a blockbuster article for baseball fans. The headline says "Wagner Declares He Is Out of Baseball." Pittsburgh's star Hans Wagner (above) says he plans to switch his attention to automobiles. The article is a bit hard to read, but it looks as though Wagner, considered by many to be one of the best infielders in the game, is done. Here are a couple of quotes from him in the article:
"I can make more money outside of baseball than I can in it."
"I'm a 'has-been' so far as baseball in concerned."
"I have no more time for baseball."
[Fortunately, he's got a lot of years on the diamond ahead of him.

Jan. 31, 1909 (Sunday)

2009-01-31T11:24:00.012-05:00

GLOBE PASSES ON TALL TALE OF "LAST LIVING MEMBER OF THE BOSTON TEA PARTY": Today's Globe continues the strange tale of David Kennison, a man who was buried with honors in Chicago in 1852 -- with mourners impressed that they had known someone who had tossed tea into Boston Harbor in 1773. The story of Kennison, which many accepted unquestioningly, has been effectively debunked, according to these pages devoted to Kennison.
The picture above, taken in 1903, shows the boulder in Chicago honoring Kennison.
The Globe printed a story because Horace Hayden was visiting Boston (where he was born about 82 years ago) and took a moment to talk about his acquaintance with Kennison. Hayden was convinced that the man he saw buried in 1852 -- at the age of 112 -- had been part of the Tea Party. And nobody raised issue with Hayden's story in the Globe. Some think that Kennison was NOT an imposter.
The Encyclopedia of Chicago says this was a hoax. Another Chicago history site refers to the plaque and its inscription but says nothing of the dispute over the truth of Kennison's tale.

HARVARD HOPES ATHLETIC SUCCESS WILL BOOST ENROLLMENT: Today's Globe says there's a clear "reason why Harvard needs to advertise." Enrollment is flat. Pickings are getting slim in Massachusetts, which has traditionally been Harvard's primary pool.
The paper says
the New England field was long ago divided up into its fixed groups of supporters of Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Williams etc. and these groups vary little from generation to generation.
Now, Harvard is being forced to look elsewhere -- especially in the West -- for students. President Eliot is getting involved in February by making a swing through the Midwest and South.
Why the emphasis on the West and South? The Globe explains:
Those are the sections that are growing in population and in the wealth that can afford college education.
As part of the promotion efforts, athletics is playing a role, the article adds.
A series of winning years, it is thought, would bring a larger enrollment. Pres. Tucker and winning football teams have been instrumental in bringing Dartmouth out of the small-college [ranks?]
Eliot might not appreciate the point made about the importance of athletics. He thought rowing and tennis were appropriate sports for college students. The other sports? Less so.
[That's the 1904 Harvard baseball team above.]

Jan. 30, 1909 (Saturday)

2009-01-30T08:22:00.007-05:00

CHARLESTOWN, NORTH SIDE ELECTRIFIED BY POLICE CHASE IN WAKE OF "HANDKERCHIEF GAME" SWINDLE: Granted, this is not exactly as riveting as the police chase in "The French Connection," but a pursuit stirred up the people of Charlestown and Boston's North End yesterday, according to today's Globe. [The photo above shows Charlestown in the early 1900s.] Evidently some swindlers were plying their trade yesterday in Boston's North End, trying to rip off some trusted people with the so-called "handkerchief game". [Basically, I think, this means someone makes friends quickly with someone, builds some trust, concocts a plan to pool their money so they can make MORE money with some kind of deal. They key to this is that the swindlers tell the victim that he can be the one who keeps the pooled money -- which has supposedly been folded into a handkerchief. The swindlers hand the wad to the victim and then look for an excuse to leave the room. The victim finds that the handkerchief contains merely scraps of paper or rags.]
Yesterday the trusting Tansi Catalo of Somerville was waiting on the Charlestown docks to make sure his trunk was ready for departure today on a liner for Italy. He met a man who said he, too, was going to be sailing to Italy -- to settle affairs of relatives who had died in the recent earthquake. Anticipating that they would sail together, they struck up a friendship and headed to Boston for a drink or two. A third man joined them in a saloon. Once the swindle was complete, Catalo realized he had been duped. He raised the alarm.
Two police officers joined the chase. The Globe says, "the two patrolmen with hundreds of men, women and children, ran through different streets to the North End, where they entered a house on Prince St., still looking for the men who were the supposed culprits."
Eventually, one of the officers spotted the alleged swindler rush out of a toilet in the building and jump on an electric car heading to Charlestown. One of the patrolmen, named Donovan, then jumped into a BAKERY WAGON and followed the car. Dozens of people ran after them. Donovan eventually caught the man. The Globe says,
The crowd cheered the patrolman when he came out with his prisoner and put him into the patrol wagon. The return of the patrol wagon was like a triumphal march for the officers. Hundreds who had joined in the chase to Charlestown followed the wagon until it reached station 1.
The prisoner, who said his name was Luigi Negra, was charged with larceny of $50 in cash and a check for $100. [That totals about $3,000 in 2009 money.]

U.S.FELINES COME TO JAPAN'S AID: America's balance of trade got a boost recently, by helping Japan fight a massive plague. The sickness is being spread by RATS. What has America sent to Japan to help deal with the problem? Medicine? Needles? Hospital beds?
No.
Five thousand CATS werre sent from Chicago, according to an item on the front page of today's Globe. The American consul at Kobe, Japan, has tol the bureau of manufacturers in Washington, D.C., that additional shipments of cats will likely be needed.
Some advice for the Japanese: If you want the rat eradicators to focus on the rodents, DON'T SHOW THEM THE SUSHI!!!

Jan. 29, 1909 (Friday)

2009-01-30T08:21:00.006-05:00

WAR VETERANS ARE STILL AT IT: Evidently the bowlers in the "Spanish War Veterans League" hit the lanes last night, and a Boston Globe cartoonist captured the action. They are evidently basking in the glow of that war, and the headline-writer complies -- with "Toppled Pins Over As If They Were Spaniards". What's really true is that most of the "toppling" during the Spanish American War was carried out NOT by military action but by disease.

ONE WAY TO GET A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW: Today's Globe has this intriguing photograph, showing "a pigeon photographer." The picture comes with an article which mentions some of the most remarkable accomplishments of homing pigeons as media marvels. One notable event mentioned in the Globe article: A homing pigeon reached London with word of the defeat of France at Waterloo -- THREE DAYS before the English government learned of it. This is courtesy of German Jules Neubronner. He has devised a way to attach a tiny camera to the breast of a homing pigeon. The shutter snaps at regular intervals, allowing the flying bird to capture numerous views during a flight. Neubronner hopes to set it up so a pigeon flying 10 miles can return with about 30 pictures.
The military application seems to appeal to the German authorities. In a recent lecture, he showed images taken by a pigeon of the park of the chateau of Friedrichshof, which is closed to the public.
The writer of the article in the Globe closed the piece wiht an observation, evidently with someone like the Wright Brothers in mind:
But whatever happens, it seems natural enough to see the birds become photographers, at the moment when men begin to transform themselves into birds.

Jan. 25, 1909 (Monday)

2009-01-25T14:41:00.003-05:00

ROXBURY WOMAN KILLED IN SATURDAY'S REPUBLIC DISASTER: For hours, people thought nobody was killed in the collision of the Florida and Republic. Until early on the morning of the 24th, that's what people thought everyone on the two ships was safe. However, it turns out six people were killed. Four unidentified people were killed on the Florida. Another two died on the Republic. One of the Republic passengers who was killed was Mrs. Eugene Lynch of Roxbury.
Today's Globe includes this illustration, showing how passengers were transferred from the Republic and Florida to the Baltic. The caption says the drawing was based on "descriptions by wireless."
One of the key wireless locations involved in alerting other ships of the disaster was the Siasconset station in Nantucket.
The Republic was the first ship to issue an emergency CDQ message from sea.
The flurry of wireless communication and the responses to it was called "one of the most remarkable ocean mishaps on record" in today's Globe. Seven ocean liners responded to the distress signals.

Jan. 24, 1909 (Sunday)

2009-01-24T09:08:00.016-05:00

LUXURY LINER REPUBLIC IS RAMMED; WIRELESS SAVES THE DAY FOR PASSENGERS: Today's Globe trumpets the stunning collision of the RMS Republic and the Lloyds Italian liner Florida south of Nantucket. The Republic was, fortunately, equipped with wireless radio communications, and the remarkable rescue operation, which transferred hundreds of passengers first to the Florida, then to the Baltic was able to be done because the Republic was able to send distress signals by wireless. This proved the absolute value of wireless radio. The disaster spawned plenty of tales about the possibility of gold being on board.
The Globe devoted lots of the front page and all of Page 13 and Page 14 to the disaster, which happened about 6:20 a.m. -- in the fog -- on Jan. 23. The coverage included the image at right, which shows the transfer of passengers from the Republic to the Florida. No indication of whether or not is was an actual photograph (doubtful) or an artist's rendering of the remarkable rescue. Adding to the graphic presentation, the Globe included the large map shown below.

SPRING TRAINING LOOMS; BATHS AT HOT SPRINGS AWAIT THE RED SOX: The Globe's great sportswriter Tim Murnane wrote a roundup of baseball news for today's paper. [In 1978, Murnane was honored with baseball's Spink Award.] Lots dealt with the financial difficulties of Cap Anson. Here's the sequence, in which Anson and Murnane were approached in Hyde Park, London, in 1874 and asked if they would like to join the British army!

Other items:
Manager Fred Lake will bring 27 players to Hot Springs, Ark. There, the Globe points out, "the boys will play on their own ball field." In addition each player will take 21 baths in the springs. They should head North "in the pink of condition" (which, presumably, is close enough to red).
The Boston Nationals, on the other hand, will be in Augusta, Ga. About 25 are expected, many of whom will be new to the team, referred to as the Boston Doves. That name comes from President Dovey, who liked the results from the training at Augusta last year.
Harry Clay Pulliam, president of the National League, gave a "crisp interview" to New York papers before heading to a vacation in Canada. He said, in Murnane's words, "ball players as a rule were ungrateful" and that "not one National League magnate knew the rules."

Jan. 23, 1909 (Saturday)

2009-01-23T22:24:00.006-05:00

SERIOUSLY, HER HAT????? The real problem for the mini-riot at the Mechanics Building in Boston seems to be that too many tickets were sold and the place was really crowded. The large hat, which a woman refused to remove, seems to have provided the spark for the riot. (For an idea of the dimensions, here's a picture at the right of a multi-plumed hat, taken from a fashion article in the Globe on Jan. 24, 1909.)
The headline and lead point clearly to the hat. Here's the beginning of the article:
An enormous hat on the head of a woman who refused to remove the headpiece started a disturbance among a crowd of five thousand Jewish people at the Mechanics Building last night, and before peace was restored the performance of "The Abnormal Man" had been brought to a sudden and unscheduled close, after which the actors, managers and attaches were chased through the streets by a throng of screaming men, women and children.
The key paragraphs, far down in the story, follow:
A woman who sat in one of the front seats persisted in wearing a large picture hat which was decked with several plumes. Those about he could not see the stage and they shoutsd "Take of the hat!" She refused, some of the audience state, and finally those back of her began to stand up in the effort to see the stage.
"then the shouting became general and almost everybody stood up. The throng now could not see nor hear the perrmance and the bedlam broke loose. many in the rear rushed into the aisles and some filled he space bten the first row of seats and the stage.
This was the move which stampeded the entire audience....
The woman with the hat is not named in the article.

Jan. 22, 1909 (Friday)

2009-01-21T13:54:00.007-05:00

QUAKE REFUGEES GET PHOTOGRAPHED EVEN THOUGH IT HAS TURNED DARK:
About 1,100 people arrived last night in Boston Harbor aboard the White Star's Romanic (right).
Included were 30 survivors of December's massive earthquake in Southern Italy. Unfortunately the ship arrived about 10 hours behind scheduled, and an hour too late to allow officials to move the ship from quarantine to the Hoosac Tunnel dock in Charlestown. The late hour of arrival forced the Globe to send a towboat out to the ship so a reporter could interview passengers and a photographer could take "flashlight pictures" of them. The photograph with the story includes a caption that says the photo was "from a Flashlight Photograph taken by a Globe Photographer While the Steamer Lay at Quarantine Last Night." Call it intrepid newsgathering -- in the face of the late arrival and gathering gloom.
The reporter talked with Alezio Bellamacina, a barber living on Staniford Street in Boston. He was caught in the quake in Messina. The Globe reporter, in keeping with the style of the day, allowed Bellamacina to speak at some length about his experience (without paraphrasing):
"I was suddenly awakened by the noise, and the rocking of the building threw me out of bed. I struggled out through the ruins in the dark.
"The whole city of Messina was smashed up and nothing was left to tell it from a big stone quarry.
"Those who escaped were like maniacs. We were like a lot of children or crazy people, who did not know whether the world had come to an end, nor what to do or where to go.
"O, that terrific sea that swept over the city was awful to behold, and I am sure that caused quite as many deaths if not more than the shocks. I lost everything I had in the world over there, but I am thankful to be alive and back safely in the United States and Boston again."

SOME IN SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY REPORT SEEING A BEAST THAT'S A CROSS BETWEEN A KANGAROO, BAT AND DOG -- OR A HORSE: Many are whipped up in a frenzy in Southern New Jersey, according to today's Globe. Evidently, there have been numerous reports of a so-called "South Jersey Terror" or "flying kangaroo devil" in the area. In Burlington, a Mrs. Michael Ryan says she heard a commotion early in the day on Jan. 21 and poked her head out a window to look into an alley. An article in today's Globe says she thought "it had a peculiar shaped body and long bird-like legs, while its head looked like that of a horse." The mayor of the town has ordered police to shoot the beast on sight.
The story has taken hold. The article says:
The efforts of some amateur humorists to cast discredit upon the uncanny visitor are not all appreciated by the sober people of south Jersey. Those who have beheld the imprints of the terror's feet, and they are legion now, are among the best and most pious home-loving, churchgoing residents of the United States.

Jan. 21, 1909

2009-01-20T18:18:00.010-05:00

BEN TILLMAN WOULD BE STUNNED IF HE KNEW WHO WOULD BE INAUGURATED AS PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. IN 2009 ....Today's Globe sums up the position of U.S. Sen. Ben Tillman (left), who's called "Pitchfork Ben Tillman" by some. The headline shown above is with an article on Page 9 which sums up the senator's reaction to a speech by president-elect William Howard Taft, which said Tillman did not support wider education plans for blacks. Taft was correct in his estimation of Tillman's position. The statement by Tillman which inspired the headline shown is, "WE NEVER INTEND TO BE GOVERNED BY NEGROES, WHETHER EDUCATED OR UNEDUCATED."

Jan. 17, 1909

2009-01-16T09:47:00.004-05:00

BASKETBALL CERTAINLY USED TO BE A CONTACT SPORT: Today's Globe featured this fun look at yesterday's basketball game between Yale and Dartmouth. Yes, basketball.

Jan. 11, 1909 (Monday)

2009-01-10T16:33:00.009-05:00

GLOBE RECOGNIZES DEATH OF WOMAN WHO DIED AT 108 -- HAVING LIVED UNDER ALL U.S. PRESIDENTS EXCEPT WASHINGTON: Mrs. Salome Sellers died Jan. 9 while eating supper in her home in Deer Isle, Maine. She was born on Oct. 15, 1800 -- late in the presidency of John Adams. She was alive during the administrations of Presidents No. 2 to 26. She almost made it to the administration of William Howard Taft, who will be inaugurated later in 1909. The article ends with her "rules" of living:
Never worry, and never miss a chance for a good laugh.
Breathe plenty of pure air.
Do plenty of good muscular work.
Be temperate in your habits.
Take as much sleep as nature demands.
They're still relevant! Now, there's a museum that honors her.

A BROKEN RIB MERITS A HUGE HEADLINE ON PAGE ONE: For some reason, editors at the Globe thought a man's broken rib merited a HUGE HEADLINE on the front page today. The rib's owner was Harry Nelson Day, who also goes by H. Nelson Gay. He was on board the U.S.S. Bayern, which arrive at Messina under the Red Cross flag, as part of efforts to assist victims of the Dec. 28 earthquake. Gay, a graduate of Amherst who earned a masters degree from Harvard just before the turn of the century, is from Boston and has been very active in Italy since the disaster. A year ago he "was made a knight of the crown of Italy for the services he had rendered that country through historic writings and the discovery of many original documents relating to the insurrection, which are held to be of great value by the crown." It's not mentioned in the article today, but he helped in saving the Keats-Shelley House.

January 10, 1909 (Sunday)

2009-01-09T17:39:00.005-05:00

FINALLY, PHOTOS ARRIVE OF DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE IN ITALY: The quake struck Sicily and the rest of southern Italy on Dec. 28. Today -- nearly two weeks after the destruction -- newspaper readers in Boston saw the first "genuine" photographs of the destruction. One photo fills the front page (above). The picture above, which spans six of the front page's eight columns, shows ruins of Bagnara, a village north of Reggio on Italy's homeland. About half of the village's 4,000 residents were killed by the earthquake and, the paper says, "in the panic that followed." Another four photos appear on Page 10.
>This is considered somewhat of a journalistic achievement. The photographs came to the U.S. through the Pictorial News Co. The method used to transmit the photos was ... the Cunard liner the Carpathia (right), which, in 1912, will assist the survivors of the Titanic sinking. The ship apparently left Liverpool England on January 2 and arrived in Manhattan early yesterday morning.

Jan. 9, 1909 (Saturday)

2009-01-08T15:55:00.006-05:00

GLOBE IS GOING RETRO WITH NEW ADVERTISING PLAN: Evidently the Boston Globe of 2009, suffering from a widespread decline in advertising, has decided to place advertisements on its front page. As the paper acknowledges in today's 2009 paper, this is nothing new. The paper of Jan. 9, 1909, had an ad on the front page. It's reproduced above. Don't hold your breath waiting for a cigar ad in 2009, though.

WHERE IS INSANITY-DEFENSE HEADING? An editorialist at the Globe describes today some of the worries people have about some recent high-profile murder trials which have been based on "insanity" defenses. Today's Globe refers to the recent acquittal of T.J. Hains in the famous "Regatta Murder" case. (That's Peter and Thornton Hains in the photo above. Likely the younger looking one on the right is Peter)
The brief editorial refers to the Harry Thaw defense of a "brainstorm" and Hains' "impulsive insanity." Then comes the conclusion:
The day can't be very far off when some expert for the defence [sic] will explain that the unfortunate murderer "took a sudden notion to kill" and was therefore not responsible for his act.