Mrs. Andrew Craig's Death

New York, 1895

Two Flushing Negroes Arrested for Being Responsible for It.

Mrs. Andrew Craig left her home in Flushing on Thursday evening to call on her daughter, residing in another part of the village, and returned late in the evening. As she approached her residence two negroes called out to her in an insulting manner. She was frightened and started to run. The negroes pursued her and threw stones at her.

Mrs. Craig was 59 years of age, and when she reached home she was barely able to stagger into the house, where she fell unconscious to the floor. Her husband carried her upstairs to bed, and in a little while she recovered sufficiently to describe the assault and to name Daniel and William Howlett as her assailants.

As she seemed to show signs of improvement, her husband did not call a physician. He was afraid to leave her long enough to notify the police.

Mr. Craig remained awake after Mrs. Craig fell asleep. At 1 o'clock his wife awoke, and after a few minutes' conversation fell asleep again. Mr. Craig noticed nothing alarming in her condition, and decided to retire also. Two hours later he was aroused by sounds from his wife as though she was choking. He spoke to her, but received no reply. She was dead.

Mr. Craig went before Judge Smyth and charged the two negroes with the responsibility for his wife's death. A warrant was issued and they were arrested.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.

Negroes Who Owned Slaves

1895

It may not be generally known, but free negroes in Maryland, and probably in other states, 100 years ago owned negro slaves. The following deed of emancipation, bearing date Dec. 9, 1793, is duly recorded in record book 25, page 312, in the clerk's office of the circuit court at Easton, Talbot county, Md.:

Know all men by these presents that I, Negro Tom, late slave of Christopher Birkhead of Talbot county and state of Maryland, being possessed of a negro girl named Grace, who is now about the age of 18 years old, who is held by me in a state of slavery, and think it in my conscience that all mankind are entitled to equal freedom in this life and being desirous of securing to her liberty and freedom: Now, know ye, that I do hereby declare that the said negro girl Grace shall be free immediately from the date hereof, and I do hereby for myself, my heirs, executors, administrators, renounce all right, title and claim from and after the date hereof.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 9th day of December, anno Domini 1793. NEGRO TOM His [X] Mark

Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of us. PETER WEBB. SARAH TRIPPE.

A similar deed of emancipation was recorded by a free negro, Abraham Gastus, May 17, 1794. There were afterward other deeds of emancipation by free negroes of slaves purchased or otherwise acquired. — Baltimore Sun.

Edward Wilmot Blyden

1895

The most finished negro scholar in the world today, according to the Boston Transcript, is Edward Wilmot Blyden, who represented Liberia at the court of St. James. He is a valued contributor to many English magazines, is a linguist of pronounced ability and is one of the most profound thinkers the negro race has yet produced. He is the author of a work entitled "Christianity, Islam and The Negro Race," which has had two editions in London. Dr. Blyden is a pure negro without a trace of white blood in his veins.


Danger of "First Thoughts"

Miss Verarich (musingly) — I wonder why it is that artists are always poor?
Suitor (awkwardly) — I presume that most of them marry for beauty. — New York Weekly.


Trivia

Lamps were used before written history. Thousands of ancient lamps have been found.

Charlotte, N. C., is a reminder of the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg.

A Native Satirist

1895

The editor of the Pumpkinville Pumpkin was buried in thought and a pile of bills when a visitor entered.
"I've got a funny item for your paper," he said, coming to the point at once.
"Yes," replied the editor wearily. "Yes?"
"What is it?"
"A paid up subscription for a year," and with a dollar the visitor healed the wound of his sarcasm. — Detroit Free Press.


Four Great Men

The manager of a French press clipping agency, who deals in newspapers of the entire world, made a calculation as to who is oftenest mentioned as a public character. Napoleon I stands first. Then comes the emperor of Germany, then Prince Bismarck, and in the fourth place, Mr. Gladstone.


An Explanation

The Boston Transcript tells a story of a large mission school for negroes in Georgia. Every day some laughable incident takes place, particularly in the primary room. One which occurred recently must be related. The teacher is a bright, wide awake, down east Yankee girl. She had a class of dozen or more little black skinned urchins out on the floor, whom for several days she had been teaching the words "dog" and "cat." She had written the words on the board, and had used them in connection with the picture of a house, and had had the children write the words and draw houses. This day, to vary the exercise, she drew the picture of a tree. In the top of the tree she placed the cat, and at the foot the dog. Then at the bottom she wrote, "The dog has run the cat up a tree." "Now," she said, "can any one tell me any word that they know here?" Up went a little black hand, shaking with excitement, in the air. "Well, Sidney," said the teacher, "you may tell me." At the top of his voice the little fellow shouted out, "The dog's done treed a possum!"

Peculiar Quashie Dialect

1895

Odd Lingo That Is Spoken by the Natives of Jamaica.

A thing that fills you with amazement is the queer gibberish that is spoken here, writes Fannie B. Ward from Kingston, Jamaica. In this old English colony you expected to hear the English language, and they call it English and would feel greatly insulted if you intimated that it was not of the best.

We got a fair and easy sample of the "Quashie" dialect, as it is called, of the Jamaica negroes the moment we set foot on shore. Among the crowd clamoring to carry our things we singled out a big coal black fellow in a white linen suit, because he looked the most intelligent. In reply to the question how much he would charge to carry one trunk and two satchels to the custom house he yelled: "Hi Buckrah! I dat quick, quick fe quattie fe de lil tings an tanner fe tunk," which, as translated by our consul, who has grown familar with their murdering of the king's English, meant that he would do the job very quickly and would charge "quattie," or one quarter of an English sixpence (3 cents in our money), for each of the small packages and "tanner," a sixpence, for the trunk.

All the negro sentences appear to be constructed on the "baby talk" plan, and it rolls out in an oily stream from their thick lips, wholly unintelligible to the newcomer. The poorest of them are very polite to one another as well as to strangers, and it is amusing to hear a half naked wretch, hatless and shoeless, bowing low to another in the same condition and saying: "How do dis morn, marm? Hope um do be well, marm," and the response invariably is, "Quite well um dis morn, sar, thank um, sar." The use of "um" is not understood, but is constant, and it is always "sar" instead of "massa," as in slavery days.

A Florida Picture

1895

Pen Sketch of Southern Scenes and Surroundings by Paul Bourget.

A town of quite small houses, with streets, and all along their wooden side walks trees of magic and overflowing verdure, a bursting into leaf which the dust has been unable to sully, writes Paul Bourget from Jacksonville, Fla., in the Boston Herald. Persian lilacs, like those whose perfume I breathed in the east, stand in the street itself, gigantic, in full bloom, and perfuming the already burning air. There are, moreover, overladen orange trees, Japanese medlars, also yellow with fruit, bananas, palm trees, all of which foreshadow still another world than that of Georgia. A penetrating aroma seems to pass through the sun which shines in the too intense blue like the sky which overhung the Dead sea last year, when, on leaving the grim convent of Mar Saba, I perceived that still water and the soft line of the mountains of Moab. But yonder history and legend were for me mixed with the sensation of nature. Here it is nature alone with which I come in contact, nature with its murderous fauna, its violent flora, its atmospheric phenomena, rather its cataclysms, charm and danger, at once perceptible in the very air one breathes, in every small detail which we meet at the corner of the street, in the sudden jumps of temperature — in fact, in the entire life of this small town, so peaceful on this Easter morning.

Negroes and still more negroes. It seems as if the town belongs to them entirely, so densely do they throng on the sidewalks, the men in Prince Albert coats, with flowers in their buttonholes, and wearing trousers of bright shades, the women clothed in outrageously light colored dresses, among which those of apple green, poppy red and light pink predominate. Their bodices are cut in figaro fashion, their hats are decorated with ribbons and enormous flowers, and their hair is plaited in plaits which are very thin and very tight, the object being to diminish or destroy the natural crinkling. They smile, showing their white teeth between their thick lips. The white teeth of the men are displayed in a similar smile, and they all salute and approach one another with that ceremonious familiarity, that species of natural affectation, which is peculiar to this strange race.

Recent Events

1916

What is believed to be first shipment of wood pulp to this country from Europe came in Boston last week in Danish steamship Dania. It consisted of 15,000 bales. Shipment is first of a series to be sent over to relieve paper situation.

Secretary Lane of the Interior announces that during August, 1916, more than 1,124,000 acres of land were designated as non-irrigable and subject to entry under the enlarged homestead act.

In New York City the Mothers' Pension department established by law — with funds collected by taxation — reports that it cost 5 per cent for administration of Pensions to Mothers.

New world's record in naval gunnery has been made by new United States superdreadnought Pennsylvania. Twelve 14-inch rifles, mounted as a main battery in four turrets, on a simultaneous discharge in a recent trial registered five hits on a small target 11 miles away. At that distance a target is not visible to gunners.

Major General Albert L. Mills, chief of the Bureau of Affairs, died at Washington on September 18.

The Montgomery, Alabama, Board of Education announced on September 13 that a tuition fee will hereafter be charged all pupils entering the public schools. The action is caused by deficiency in income.

The estate of James J. Hill, the railroad financier, according to a preliminary inventory by the Probate Court in St. Paul, Minn., approximates $40,000,000, upon which the State will receive $1,250,000 as inheritance tax.

The Province of Ontario closed all bars and liquor shops on the 16th. This is in compliance with a war measure that is to remain in force three years unless repealed. Liquor dealers will be permitted to sell "soft drinks," including beer with two and a half per cent alcohol.

A protest against the presence of four Negro officers as members of a court martial composed of twelve officers trying white soldiers at San Antonio was filed at Washington on September 13. The protest alleges that this is the first time that enlisted white men were compelled to stand trial before Negroes.

Queer Compact of Osprey and Eagle

1916

WHY FISH HAWK FEEDS KING OF THE AIR.

Bird of Freedom Watches Fisher's Nest While It Dives for Prey for Both.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania. — Everybody who summers on the Jersey coast has seen the fish hawk at work, tho of late years the number of such birds seems to be decreasing.

The negroes down in Charles County, Maryland, in that faraway region of Rock Point, on the lower Potomac where the river broadens out like a sea and where the fish hawk is common, have a story about it and the eagle which is interesting. While the fish hawk, or osprey, dives into the water for its food, which consists of fish and eels, the eagle is a "landlubber" and would starve is he had to undertake a livelihood by braving the watery depths.

The story that has its place in the folklore of the "Black Belt" of Maryland is that one day the eagle was very hungry and meeting the fish hawk as he was flying home with a fine fat fish in his claws, said:

"Mr. Fish Hawk, you and I might as well be friends and join together and work for our mutual advantage."

"I am willing," said the fish hawk, soaring along with the eagle by his side, but keeping a tighter grip on the fish.

Fish Hawk Feeds Eagle.

"As you agree with me, I'll tell you what we can do," said the eagle. "If you will catch all the fish you can and give me half of what you get, I'll keep watch in the old pine tree next to your nest and protect your wife and children from the sparrow hawks and your other enemies while you are at work fishing."

"All right," said the fish hawk, "I will do it."

From that day on, the story goes, the fish hawk has fed the eagle. He does this in an odd and interesting manner. His eyes are very keen and he can see to a considerable depth in the water, and as he skims along over the surface of the deep he picks out the fat fish he wants. Quick as lightning he plunges down, extends his claws, and in the next instant rises with the wriggling prey in his talons. After taking a firmer hold on his victim he ascends by a spiral flight into the heavens. The eagle has been watching from a tall tree or crag, and, as the fish hawk rises, the eagle also darts into the sky above him. This is notice for all the fish hawk's enemies among the feathered tribe to retreat.

"Throw and Catch" in Air.

Just as the fish hawk gets to a point on a plane that is level with that of the eagle, he relaxes his grip on the fish and it begins to fall. It is then the eagle's time for quick action. Like a shot from a rapid-fire gun he dives and in a second or two has the fish in his claws.

The aerial "throw and catch" game between the two great birds goes on continually over the broad waters of the Potomac, much to the edification of the onlookers. Of course there must be times when the eagle fails to catch the fish as he swoops down thru the air after it, but it cannot be proved by any one who has witnessed this particular aerial feat on the part of the "bird of freedom." Nobody seems to have ever seen the eagle miss and nobody seems to have ever known the fish hawk to fail to catch a fish when he dived for it.

As the fish hawk rises in the air oftentimes, especially on a sunny day, the sheen of the fish can be seen like a piece of silver in his claws, and sometimes the "silver" can he seen wriggling, impressing one strangely as his eyes witness this tragedy in the air in which the victim can have no hope of rescue.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 7.

Filthiest Place In the World

1901

Port-au-Prince, the capital, is by consent of all who have had opportunity of comparing it with other cities — the filthiest place in the world. The town was laid out by the French, and the streets are wide. It is only their great width that makes them passable, for the roadway before his dwelling is every householder's rubbish shoot, and slab sided pigs and starveling dogs perform all the sanitary offices for the town of Port-au-Prince save in the rainy season, when a heavier storm than usual comes to flush the open drains. In consequence the populace live in an atmosphere of combined cesspool and ash pit, which by all the laws of hygiene should produce chronic plague.

The free and independent negro leads the life that most nearly approaches his ideal. They have a proverb in the country that "only white men, black women and asses work," and there is truth in it. The black man lies around all day sleeping in the sun. His utmost effort is to play dice or watch a cockfight, but sleep is his favorite occupation, and he can do that better than anything else. In the country districts the old plantations have long since slipped back into the luxuriant overgrowth of the forest. In town any trading done is by the women and by foreigners. Undisturbed by the white man, to whom he is insolent, the town bred negro is pacific enough. The only exertion demanded of him is to avoid the attentions of the police. — Chambers' Journal.

Taken For a Negro

1901

Experience of a Filipino Boy In the South.

Estiban Glori, a Filipino boy who has been in Atlanta a short time, was the cause of an excited discussion at a local soda fount the other morning, says the New Orleans Times-Democrat. Glori was taken to the fount by W. M. Pendleton, in whose charge he had been placed.

The clerk stubbornly refused to sell the boy the drink, declaring that be was a negro and as such could not be served at that particular fountain. Glori's protector and others standing around indignantly protested that Glori was a Malay and not a negro. The clerk was obdurate and resolutely refused to let Glori drink at the fountain. The Filipino, while angry at the imputation that he was a negro, was exceedingly courteous and walked away quietly.

Much interest is being shown in the course which the board of education will take when the boy applies for admission to the public schools. Glori is the son of a Filipino general and was sent to the United States by an American army officer to be educated.

A Salute Wasted — Was Old Negro Cook, Not the General

1900

The flag-ship Monongahela was anchored off the navy-yard at Pensacola Bay in 186—, and Admiral Farragut, who was then in command, was on board. He had been very busy the week before paying official calls on the mainland, and among those who had entertained him was General Canby. When, therefore, word was received that the general would visit the ship the next day, the admiral was determined to have everything ready to receive him in a style becoming his rank.

The old boat was scrubbed and holystoned from stem to stern, the bright work was given an extra rub, and things generally were put into the best of order. Captain Heywood, now brigadier-general commandant of the marine corps, had a special inspection of his company of marines, and not a spot of rust or a dull helmet spike escaped his notice. When night closed in, darkness settled down over a very clean ship and a very tired ship's company.

Bright and early the next morning the admiral's launch was sent off to bring the general aboard. At the last moment it was discovered that there was no fruit for luncheon, and Pompey, the admiral's cook, was sent in the dingy to get some.

Pompey was a character in his way, and had been with the admiral for many years. He was very proud of what he called his military bearing, and wore his beard carefully trimmed to a point. His hair and beard were nearly white, and although he was sixty years old, he ruled the other negroes with a rod of iron.

By ten o'clock every one was standing by in full dress, when the quartermaster came aft and reported that the admiral's launch was returning.

The officer of the deck walked to the rail and took a squint at the boat through his glasses. A man clad in a blue uniform was seated in the admiral's cane chair in the stern, but as the gunwale struck him just below the shoulder and the awning hid his head, the officer of the deck was not certain that it was General Canby until, as the wind lifted the edge of the awning, he caught a glimpse of a gray beard.

Word was passed that the general was coming off. The crew were beat to quarters, the marine guard paraded, and the gun squad, detailed to fire the salutes took their stations.

Everything was in readiness, and the admiral and his staff stood at the head of the gangway to receive the guest. A hush of expectancy settled over the ship.

The boat drew nearer. Just as the launch scraped alongside, boom! boom!! came the salute from the guns.

"Present arms!" came the command to the guard, and at a sign from the flag officer the band struck up "Hail to the Chief."

Amid all this military pomp and splendor the occupant of the launch was slowly clambering out, feet foremost, and just as the last gun was fired he stood erect at the top of the gangway.

Merciful heavens! It was Pompey, with a bag of fruit in each hand!

Confusion! The honors intended for a general had been rendered a negro cook! As the situation dawned on the men, even discipline could not check a general shout of laughter. The old admiral himself laughed until he could laugh no more.

It seemed that in some way the dingy had gone off and left the old negro, and that he had managed to convince the coxswain that "Marse Farragut was jes' bound to have dat fruit befo' the general came."

Pompey wanted to land at the port gangway, but the coxswain insisted that the admiral's launch never went to the port side, and that the old man would have to land on the starboard side, aft.

Had the awning been a little higher, the mistake in identification would not have occurred. As things were, no one could be blamed, and the affair was treated as a joke, while Pompey was nicknamed the "General."

When, an hour later, General Canby did come off, he was received with all due ceremony, and on being told the story, laughed till the tears rolled down his cheek; and demanded to see the man who had stolen his salute. — Youth's Companion.

Haiti Worships at Voodoo Shrine

1920

"As no accurate history of Haiti can be written without a reference to Voodooism, the story of this strange cult, which some authorities say still is in practice in its most violent form among the people of this island and others of the West Indies, may be interesting in connection with the recent investigation of American occupation in Haiti," says a bulletin from the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the National Geographic Society.

"Voodooism could scarcely be called a religion, but so strong is its influence upon the superstitions of the negroes, that despite efforts to eradicate it, every year or two dispatches report that there has been a sudden outbreak of cannibalistic practices in connection with a revival of devotional enthusiasm.

"It is said that no white man would be allowed to live long after he had given testimony leading to the conviction of a culprit charged with sacrificing a child to his god. As a consequence, authentic information is difficult to get, and proof of a human sacrifice almost impossible. Many teachers and inhabitants of the islands deny the existence of the cult, though many stories of the horrors perpetrated at a meeting of the Voodoos are recorded by naval officers who have visited the islands and by other men of integrity.

"The general belief is that Voodooism was brought to the Western Hemisphere from West Africa by the negroes imported as laborers, especially to Haiti, and it may probably be traced back to the serpent worship of Egypt. Many of the characteristics of the worship also were attributed to the French witches of the Fifteenth century, the most violent phases of the practice, perhaps, being an outgrowth of the African superstitions of the black and of the French imagination of the white inhabitants of Haiti.

"The God Obeah or Vaudoux, of which Voodoo is an American corruption, is supposed to know, to see and to do all things, but he manifests himself to his worshippers only in the form of a nonpoisonous snake and communicates with them only through a priest and priestess, known as papa-loi and maman-loi, who are held in great veneration by their followers.

"The ceremony is always held at night, usually in the fastness of some deep wood, where there will be no interruption of the rites. The devotees take off their shoes and bind about their bodies handkerchiefs, the predominating note of which is red, and the priest and priestess wear red bands about their heads in the form of crowns. Then they pray to the snake, which is exhibited for the purpose of arousing their emotions. Maman-loi mounts the box in which the god is usually kept and emits groans, shrieks and wild gesticulations as she utters her prophetic sentences.

"A dance closes the ceremony. The king puts his hand on the box and a shudder somewhat similar to the effect produced by the most recent kind of 'jazz' seizes him, and from him it passes to all the rest. Then the devotional exercises evolve into a wild debauchery and indecency under the cover of drunkenness and night.

"The initiation of a convert to the faith is enough to inspire him with terror. He pledges himself, when his lips are touched with warm goat's blood, never under any circumstances to reveal the secrets of the fraternity and to kill any member who proves a traitor to the brotherhood. This is the point at which the cannibalism is supposed to occur, but investigation has shown that many of the shocking phases of the worship have been eliminated, and the worshippers usually satisfy themselves with a cock or a goat which is afterwards cooked and eaten.

"The Voodoo women are thought to possess supernatural power, and by working on the superstitions of the natives attain a potent influence over them. Many strong men have pined away merely because they thought an enemy had 'put Obeah' on them, just as the Southern negro believed in the 'conjure' doctor who cast a 'spell' on him by leaving in his path a bottle containing horse hairs, snake's teeth, lizard claws, a piece of dried rat and a frog's foot. Objects which have been used in the practice of the black art may be seen in the museum of the Petit Seminaire at Port au Prince.

"So deeply have the people of Haiti become imbued with the cult that an empty bottle, which probably would entice a reminiscent grin from an American assembly, will throw a Haitian group into consternation, and educated Haitian girls have been known to faint at the sight of the shivers of spilled mercury."

—Reno Evening Gazette, Reno, NV, Dec. 20, 1920, p. 5.

Decatur Doctor Caught Digging Up Negro Cadaver

Illinois, 1879

BODY SNATCHING.

A Decatur Doctor After a Negro Cadaver

His Operations Brought to a Sudden Conclusion.

The Decaturites are all worked up over a body snatching affair that occurred last Friday night. A prominent Decatur physician is implicated in the affair, and if he shows up the Decatur folks promise him an anti-cordial reception.

It seems that the above mentioned physician wanted to increase his knowledge of the human frame, and with this end in view he climbed the fence of a Decatur graveyard, having in his possession those necessary grave-robbing instruments, a pick and shovel. Strange to say this son of Esculapius seems to have a horror for the Caucasians. The reason of this is not known, but it is thought that Caucasian "stiffs" do not "pan out" as well as those of other races, therefore he concluded to get a "subject" of the African persuasion.

Having arrived at this conclusion he wended his way toward the "last resting place" of a recently "planted" negro. As soon as the grave was reached he unslung his pick and immediately began to delve into the newly made grave. He worked away with a will, and he was just stooping to raise the lid of the coffin when the deep stillness of the night was broken by the loud report of what seemed to him about seventeen cannons. The bullets flew past his cranium and buried themselves in the earth a few feet beyond him. The perspiration started in great beads to his forehead, and dropping his pick and shovel he precipitately fled. Scaling the graveyard fence, he took a short cut for his stable. Arriving there he immediately hitched his horse to a buggy, and in less time than it takes to "blow up a safe" he was driving across the country at a "Sleepy Tom" gait, and no tidings of his whereabouts have been received up to this writing.

The names of all parties are reserved, as it is thought that there will be further developments made.

—Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, Aug. 19, 1879, p. 4.

Fried Chicken Too Much for Negro Hunger Strike

1913

Elizabeth, N. J., July 18. — The manner in which Warden Charles W. Dodd of the county jail broke up a hunger strike today may set a useful example, he thinks, to keepers of English prisons who become custodians of suffragettes.

William Turner, a negro prisoner incarcerated last Sunday, sought to gain his liberty by refusing to eat. This morning the negro had been forty-eight hours without food, when Warden Dodd appeared at the cell with a steaming plate of fried chicken and a large section of a juicy watermelon. One sniff and Turner's hunger strike came to an abrupt end.

—The Evening News, Ada, Oklahoma, July 18, 1913, p. 1.

Some of The Genuinely Odd Things That Happen in Life

1893

OF GENERAL INTEREST.

—Dr. McBride, of Orange, Va., uses a flock of geese as a team of horses, which draw him over the ice in a specially prepared vehicle at the rate of one and a quarter miles a minute. He is now making a balloon in which he proposes to ride drawn by the same team.

—The man who orders plain butter in a New York restaurant and discovers it to be oleomargarine, or other kind of substitute, can have the proprietor arrested and fined, and the informer receives half the fine. The way in which the proprietor can protect himself is to print on his bills of fare the confession that his butter is not genuine.

—Uncle Joe Ardle, an old Georgia darky living on the Savannah river, thinks it about time to take to the woods. After the earthquake of 1886 he was afraid to live on the ground, so he built a hut in the branches of a huge oak tree, where he lived contentedly until the storm of a few weeks ago blew him and his hut clear out of the trees and almost into the river.

—The keeper of a cheap but clean restaurant in the French quarter in New York has hit upon the plan of advertising his wares by means of pictures on the flags of the sidewalk. He hires a chalk artist for this work, and you may see upon the flags just within the stoop line well-drawn fish in groups of three, and other lifelike representations of the viands that the place affords.

—An alligator eight feet two inches in length and weighing two hundred and twenty pounds was lately caught in the Mississippi. Alligators are quite plentiful in southwestern rivers, but they rarely attain a length of more than four feet. So far as known, this one is by far the largest ever taken from the Mississippi. Some of its teeth are over two inches long and very like the teeth of a shark.

—The Evening Democrat, Warren, PA, Oct. 17, 1893, p. 3.

Note: I've never heard of the French quarter in New York. Probably make that New Orleans.
—Towns county, Ga., boasts of a novel specimen of the "white" negro. This one has been "turning" for several years, until the left side of his face is perfectly white while the right side remains almost jet black. Negroes whose skin changes from black to a light brown or reddish white are not uncommon in the south, but the change mostly shows in blotches, giving them a mottled appearance.

—Stock raising is a business beset with many risks which do not cease until the flocks and herds are safely marketed. A flock of sheep was being driven through Grant county, Ore., to market at Baker City a few days ago, when, in passing through a narrow ravine, the sheep stampeded, and after the scare was over the stockman counted over sixty head of dead sheep that had been smothered in the crush.

—It may distract the attention of those who suffer from headache to learn that in early English days there were remedies "for headache, and for old headache, and for the ache of half the head." "Eye work and the fiend's temptations" are also mentioned in this catalogue. Ache of half the head, or hermicrania, from which George Eliot suffered so much, has been considered a distinctively modern disease, but there is nothing new.

—A strange fatality hangs over the Weeks family of Albion, Ind. Sherman was killed recently while climbing a tree. His brother entered the army during the war and died of lockjaw. Cornelius lost his life by swallowing a copper cent. Thomas jumped from a train and was killed, while Charles, still another brother, committed suicide by swallowing poison. Edward Weeks, also a brother, moved west some years ago and has never been heard of.

—Miss Minnie Rush, of Lakeville, Indiana, has discovered for herself and, perhaps for her sisters a new field of employment. For the past three years she has had charge of the passenger, freight and telegraph offices of the Vandalia line in her town, the receipts for which are fully ten thousand dollars a month. Miss Rush is only twenty-one years old, but she has organized railroad excursions which have netted handsome profits to her employers the past year, besides conducting the ordinary affairs of the office with skill and success.

—An ingenious mechanic in the Catskills has long manufactured small articles of use and ornament from the excrescences that grow upon the maple and other trees of the mountain region. He travels far in search of these nodules, seasons them for many years, and then fashions them into polished jewel boxes and many other beautiful things. He is especially careful that his material shall be well seasoned, a fact that means a good deal when one knows that the wood that goes to form some parts of thoroughly well made pianos should be seasoned thirty or forty years.

The First Rubber Boots: Standing in Water Like a Heron

1916

RUBBER AND HUMOR.

A Closely Clinging Garment and a Laughable Request.

Once Professor Emmet of the University of Virginia visited in New York with his family and while there received from abroad a pair of india rubber cloth boots. His son, Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, in his book, "Incidents of My Life," says that his distinguished father was happier in his new possessions than a child with a new toy and spent most of his time standing like a heron in the water to test them.

Their shape was not such as would have fascinated Packelan, the famous bootmaker. They were made like a long stocking of coarse canvas, with a leather sole, and over all was smeared a paste of rubber which might have answered in cold weather, but which was sticky and ill smelling under a moderately hot sun. In very few articles has there been more improvement than in rubber goods since they first came into use.

My father took back with him a "raincoat" as a present to our old negro coachman, but he could never be induced to wear it in the rain, and when expostulated with his answer was, "Does you t'ink I's gwine wear dis new coat in de rain?" He never wore it except in the bright sunshine and on a warm day, so that when he got off the box at the stable it was necessary to take with him the cushion and remove his trousers before he could get his coat off.

I recollect as a child the first "gum shoes" in use, which were hideous to look at and most uncomfortable over a shoe, but which to the bare feet of the old negroes were a joy and a comfort. The first rubber shoe was shaped like a large sausage, and from one end along the side a piece was removed to permit the introduction of the foot. After the foot was inserted the elastic substance shaped itself about it.

They were always called "gum shoes." While a medical student I was present at the opening of the Girard House in Philadelphia, and I remember that there were printed notices at each entrance with the request, "Please wipe your gums on the mat."

How Joel Chandler Harris Came to Write "Uncle Remus"

1909

JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS.

The Way He Came to Write His "Uncle Remus" Stories.

Many great works of genius, as is well known, have been produced by accident, and an author is seldom the best judge of his own work. When Joel Chandler Harris wrote the first of his "Uncle Remus" stories and presented it for publication he did so with a hundred misgivings. He was not sure that his venture in negro folklore would prove successful. He could not know that they would bring him worldwide fame.

At the time described Mr. Harris was a young man of twenty-eight, employed on the Atlanta Constitution. Sam W. Small, afterward a revivalist, who had been writing for the same paper a popular column of negro story and dialect, had just resigned from the staff. The managing editor of the Constitution, wishing to continue the feature, said to Harris one day: "Joel, it seems to me you could do that sort of thing to a tee. See if you can't turn in something tonight."

The young writer's memory flitted back to his early days on a plantation. All the quaint settings of negro life — the little cabins, the fiddling darkies, the wrinkled story teller, the black "mammies," the noisy corn shuckings, the bobtailed rabbits disappearing along the road — came hurrying from the past. Late that afternoon he turned in his copy. The next day his reputation was made. — Current Literature.

'Healers' Swindle Aged Norfolk Man

1939

NORFOLK, Va., April 23.—(U.P.) Police Sunday night were seeking two negro men and a white woman "healer" who swindled a 100-year-old negro out of $1000 life savings by promising to cure his many ills with a "money poultice."

Charles Gandy, the victim, said they made a huge poultice from the bills, put it in a sheet and applied it to his side. Later, when no improvement came, he opened the sheet to find only paper.

War Envelopes Used In Civil War Correspondence

1907

War Envelopes

The story of the civil war has been told and retold from platform and press, particularly on Memorial day, until the shelves of our libraries teem with the volumes of records of that epoch of our country's history.

In many a garret or family cabinet may be found some cap or portion of a garment worn during the strife by the soldier boy of the family; possibly the battered, bullet-pierced canteen may have its place.

To each or to all of these the grayhaired veteran may point his children at this memorial season, while telling them of the part he took in the struggle. But there is still another reminder of those years of national trial, simple though it may be, that serves to recall the spirit that prevailed before hostilities began, as well as to remind us of the progress of events during the development of those four years of bloody conflict. It is the stationery used in the correspondence between camp and fireside and between home and battlefield.

One envelope shows Gen. Scott to be the bulldog, with Jeff Davis as the smoking car, and the bone of contention as the city of Washington. The gamecock and shanghai envelope has no significance only as one turns to an issue of the Richmond Examiner of that period and reads, "The capture of Washington is perfectly within the power of Virginia and Maryland. The entire population pant for the onset. Our people can take it. They will take it, and Scott, the archtraitor, and Lincoln, the beast, combined, cannot prevent it. The just indignation of an outraged and deeply injured people will teach the Illinois ape to repeat his race and retrace his journey across the border of the free negro state still more rapidly than he came. And Scott, the traitor, will be given the opportunity at the same time to try the difference between Scott's tactics and the shanghai drill for quick movements."

The Ellsworth envelope was popular throughout the union, as was the "young man of 24 years" and his Chicago zouaves. His genuine energy and self-confidence had won the attention and admiration of the whole country.

Man's Head For Sale, Twice Normal Size

1903

Personal and Otherwise

Arthur Jennings, aged 27, a resident of Florence, 0., has negotiated with an Eastern medical institute for the purchase of his head. Jenning's head is almost twice the normal size. According to the informant the price is $1,000 down and an additional $1,000 to be paid to his relatives at the time of his death. His head measures 36 inches in circumference.

After having been lost 33 years, Dr. J. H. Lenow, of Little Rock, is on the eve of recovering a medal which he won in his boyhood at the Kentucky Military institute. The doctor has received a letter from a jeweler in Brownsville, Tenn., Dr. Lenow's former home, saying that the medal had been brought to him by a negro who had plowed it up in a field near town.

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 4, 1903, page 4.