Hotel Keeper Hahn Hurt

New York, 1895

G. Hahn, a hotel keeper of Winfield, met with an accident which, it is thought, will prove fatal while jumping from a trolley car of the Newtown and Flushing road Monday morning. Hahn was on his way home from New York, where he had been visiting friends. When the car got to Fisk avenue he asked the conductor if they had reached Winfield, and upon being informed that they were passing through the village Hahn rushed to the platform and jumped off. The car was going at a rapid rate, and before the conductor had time to stop it Hahn jumped and landed on his head on the frozen ground.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, N.Y., Jan. 18, 1895, unknown page number.

Frog Jumps Inside Woman's Bathing Suit

1910

Interrupts Lesson, Causes Commotion

New York. — It is written in the philosophy of Capt. James Fitzgerald, instructor at Piasa Pool, that there is always a way — that is, nearly always. But there was no way that he could suggest when a bullfrog jumped inside of a woman's bathing suit.

Captain Fitzgerald was giving a swimming lesson when a bullfrog sat in a crevice at the edge of the pool and watched the proceedings with interest. "One, two, three," chanted Captain Fitzgerald, and just as he said "three," a boy running by on the brink of the pool, startled the frog and he leaped wildly into the pool.

The woman pupil wore a low-cut bathing suit, a trifle loose at the neck. The frog landed inside and both tried to get out. While Fitzgerald hesitated and stammered, another woman swam to the one in need of help, reached inside of her bathing suit and caught the frog and withdrew it and thereby earned the gratitude of the woman — and the frog.


Made Sure of Death

A student of a school in Shinshu, Japan, recently committed suicide by jumping into the crater of Asamayama. The tragedy was not discovered until three days afterward, when some documents left by the suicide near the crater were picked up.

Crazed With Grief for Husband's Death, Woman Jumps from Train

1878

A Lady Jumping from a Train

A lady who was accompanying the remains of her husband from Florida to her home in Akron, Ohio, jumped from a rapidly moving express train on Friday night, just before she reached the end of her journey.

She was crazed with grief and a morbid apprehension that she would be blamed by his friends for having taken him away to die. When the train left Cincinnati she seemed to be calm, and the family physician, who accompanied her, thought she would sleep after so much exhaustion. Worn out with watching and anxiety he went to sleep himself in a berth opposite to her. When the train neared Akron, early in the morning, the physician arose, and, to his horror, found her berth empty and the window open.

Search was made all through the train, but she was nowhere to be found. When the train stopped the poor physician was almost speechless. How could he give to the sorrowing friends the dead body of Mr. Phillips, and tell them that his wife had committed suicide? The telegraph was used at once to get tidings of the missing woman, but it was several hours before any response came, and then it was announced that the woman was lying at a house in a little village some distance off the railroad, not far from Mansfield.

A train was chartered and friends hastened to bring her home. They found her in bed, conscious, but almost exhausted. The people said that she knocked at their door a little while before daylight, and when they opened the door they found her all covered with mud, and unable to tell her name or anything about herself. She explained that after she went to her berth she could not sleep. She finally opened the window and looked out. It was raining, and the feeling that she was rapidly approaching her home brought an indefinable dread and a powerful impulse to escape it. With this feeling she threw herself out of the window while the train was in full motion. She fortunately struck upon a sandbank, and was thus saved from immediate death, as well as from severe injury.

Mexican Jumping Beans Once Known as "Devil Beans"

1878

"Devil Beans"

In some of the mountainous regions of Mexico, there is a shrub which bears a triangular fruit, composed of three seeds, or beans. Into these seeds, when young a little moth deposits eggs, which hatch into larvae resembling the worms often found in the chestnut.

These beans, we are informed by a correspondent, are collected by Mexican children and brought to the sea coast to sell to sailors and passengers in steamers, which may chance to stop on the trip up or down the coast.

If one of these beans is placed in the hand, or near a stove, or even in the rays of the sun, the little inhabitants will soon begin to twist and turn in his cell, and the greenish, coffee-shaped bean will begin to roll around, sometimes skipping to quite a distance in successive jumps.

If kept in a cool place these beans can be kept several months, but when placed where it is warm for several days, there emerges a little light brown, satin-winged moth. After several months, when the beans are kept cool, the larvae die.

From the fact that these little inanimate berries will become so lively and active when held in the hand for a few moments, the Mexicans and Indians call them "devil beans."

Hunter Finds Penny Inside a Duck

Pennsylvania, 1915

COIN IN CRAW

Find Lincoln Penny inside of a Duck

Charles Kuhn, of Cashtown, killed a duck on Thursday and in cleaning the craw found a Lincoln penny that must have been there for some time. The edge of the coin was much worn and it was very thin and as bright as a new piece of money.


BOY PAINFULLY HURT

Little Son of Mr. and Mrs. Rummel Has Leg Broken.

Jumping from a pile of straw to the ground, a distance of scarcely more than four feet, John Rummel, the five-year old son of Mr. and Mrs. I. H. T. Rummel, sustained a broken ankle. The little fellow was playing with his sister, Florence, on Thursday afternoon when the accident occurred. It is believed the fracture was caused by the ankle turning, which threw the full weight of the boy on the side of his foot. The family live along the Bonneauville Road about two miles from town.

—Adams County News, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, January 2, 1915.

Night Watchman Wants Vacation, Kills Himself

Waukesha, Wisconsin, 1915

AN EVERLASTING VACATION

Watchman at Walworth Almshouse Jumps From Water Tower at Night

On last Sunday evening, says The Elkhorn Independent, August Belk, employed at the county farm as night watch jumped to his death from a window in the fourth story of the water tower. He has been an employee of the county, working at the county farm for the past five years. For several years he has been in poor health and lately has been speaking of taking a vacation.


PATIENT LEAPS TO HIS DEATH

Wm. Blessing of Milwaukee a Suicide at Oconomowoc Resort

William A. Blessing of Milwaukee was drowned in a pond on the Tweeden farm near Okauchee last Wednesday afternoon, says the Oconomowoc Enterprise.

Mr. Blessing went to a sanitarium here a few weeks ago as a mental patient. On Wednesday while out for a walk, accompanied by a nurse, Miss Margaret Bauer, he broke away, through a fence and into this pond. Miss Bauer was almost as quick as her patient and ran into the water after him, and her calls for assistance brought Melvin Tweeden to her aid, but Mr. Blessing had drowned before they could get him out.

He was 48 years of age and leaves a wife. The remains were taken to Milwaukee on Thursday.


AUTO WRECKS HORSE RIG

Pitches Wagon From Road and Driver Refuses to Lend Aid

Charles Flemming, while returning to his home from Menomonee Falls last Tuesday evening, narrowly escaped serious injury. His horse became frightened at an oncoming auto and threw the rig and the four occupants into the ditch. No one was seriously injured though the buggy was wrecked. The auto stopped but it is said, refused to convey the people in the wreck to their home. The accident happened near the home of W. P. Connell on the county line and aid was given by members of that family.


JITNEY SMASH AT MENOMONEE

Glaring Headlight Causes Bus Driver To Leave Road and Wreck Car

Menomonee Falls News—Last Sunday night, with seven passengers in his jitney, Milton A. Perrin, had a serious accident, resulting in the total wreck of his car.

According to the best accounts the accident which happened near Muensberg's, Fond du Lac road, was due to the glare of an oncoming automobile and a dog crossing the road. The car with its load hit the dog and was ditched.

The first reports that the machine struck a telephone pole were untrue. The pipe connections to the gasoline tank were broken, and it is thought the tail light set the gasoline on fire and soon the machine was a mass of flames. The tank contained about eight gallons of gas.

None of the passengers in the car sustained serious injuries, though some received slight scratches and a bad scare. Dr. Rohr of North Milwaukee was promptly summoned and the passengers were taken to Muensberg's saloon. All of the occupants were later taken to Milwaukee by R. A. German, who also operates a jitney between Menomonee Falls and Milwaukee.

-The Waukesha Freeman, Waukesha, Wisconsin, August 19, 1915, page 6.

Dog Steals Woman's Purse

1920

Five Boarding-house Suspects Are Freed With Apologies

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Mrs. John Cato, proprietor of a boarding house here, discovered that her purse, containing $59, was missing from her bedroom. Three boarders, and two guests of the boarders, were arrested.

Later the purse, with the money inside, was found on the doorstep of Harry Gaddis, a neighbor, where it apparently had been dragged by the woman's dog. The boarders and their guests were released with apologies.


Ambulance for Horses

The body of an ambulance invented by an Englishman for horses is mounted on a pivot so it can be turned around to enable an animal patient to walk out head first.


Leaps From Bridge to Her Death

FALLS CITY, Neb. - Myrtle Smith, 28, daughter of Louis Smith of Salem, committed suicide here by jumping from the C., B. & Q. Railroad bridge. Fishermen on the bank of the river witnessed her act, but were too far away to prevent it. Her body has not been recovered. No reason is known for her suicide.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 3.

Suicide by Poison, Cutting Throat, and Jumping; All One Guy!

1911--

MAKES CERTAIN OF DEATH.

LOS ANGELES, Cal., March 24.— After swallowing poison and cutting his throat, Wesley Churchill, 40 years old, leaped today from the top of the 11-story Storey building. He landed in an alley and was mangled into a shapeless mass. Churchill, who had a large family, had lost his position as foreman in a factory because of failing health.

--The Billings Gazette, Billings, Montana, March 28, 1911, page 2.