Police Chief Puts Ban on Ogling Women

1910

Ft. Wayne Chief of Police Orders Arrest of All Offenders

FT. WAYNE, Ind. -- Chief of Police W. F. Borgman has issued a stringent order against ogling women and audibly commenting on them on the streets by young idlers of the city. Borgman declares that this practice has reached alarming proportions. The police are to arrest all offenders.

—Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, Jan. 8, 1910, p. 9.


1936

Anti-Ogling Ordinance Goes Goo-Goo

LOS ANGELES, March 18. -- It sounds simple enough, to come up with an anti-ogling ordinance to shield the women of this city from the ogling eyes of men, but one such proposed law collapsed tonight due to a technicality.

The ordinance as proposed would have made it a crime for "two or more men or boys 14 years of age or over to ogle women in public places," but it was revealed to have no provision for protecting men and boys from women who also might ogle.

A legal opinion from City Attorney Ray Chesebro declared the law to be "rank discrimination," and added that it would be hard to enforce, and there would be "the virtual impossibility of getting a jury of men who have not themselves ogled at one time or another."

The city council dropped the law. It had been designed as the cornerstone of a set of municipal "blue laws," offered by Councilman G. Vernon Bennett, in an effort to make Los Angeles "a fit place to live in."

The language defining legal ogling went like this: "To view with amorous or inviting glance." The city attorney's opinion said that an anti-ogling law would not be illegal in itself, were it not discriminatory. "Ogling is ogling. If it is reprehensible for men and boys, it is also reprehensible for the female. There should be no sex in an anti-ogling law."

Other difficulties were noted. The city attorney's opinion raised the question, "Who is to judge when ogling is indecent? A policeman who does not himself ogle, may make arrests readily. One who ogles may be more tolerant." There was also this practical difficulty in enforcement: What if a man gets a bug in his eye? If he ogling or simply digging out the bug?

Despite this setback, Councilman Bennett intends to carry on his campaign to render Los Angeles more moral.

—Written 2007 from original article of 1936.

Siamese Twins in Hospital; One Has Pneumonia

1936

NEW YORK, Nov, 18. — One Siamese twin has lobar pneumonia, while the other remains in perfect health in the New York hospital. They are occupying the same bed as they have done of necessity since they were born joined together, 26 years ago, in the Philippines.

The condition of Lucio Codina, who has pneumonia, was described here at the hospital as "critical" as a result of an eleven-day struggle with a developing chill which caused him — with his brother, Simplicio — to be brought to the hospital when they finally called in Dr. Benjamin Fabricant, who lives in the same house.

Since the brothers are joined only by a thick muscular coupling at the base of their spines, they do not share their ailments as do joined twins who have vital organs or blood circulation in common. They have spent their lives back to back, and it is in this position that they are confronting the present emergency.

They are attended by their wives, Natividad and Victorina, who are sisters. The Codino twins married them in Manila in 1929. To obtain the marriage license they had to appeal from the judgment of the license clerk who held that since the twins were not single they could not marry. The Philippine department of justice overruled the clerk.

Immediately thereafter, the quadruple newlyweds started on their honeymoon with a tour of appearances in theaters, vaudeville and motion picture houses through the United States and Canada.

—The Hammond Times, Hammond, IN, Nov. 18, 1936, p. 7.

Dry Weather Boosts Demand For Water Witch's Service

1936

Old Columbus Tetherow Is Kept Busy with His Divining Rod

[INTERNATIONAL NEWS SERVICE]

MONMOUTH, Ore., Nov. 18.— The continued dry weather in this section has worked to the advantage of at least one person — the water witch.

With wells going dry almost daily, causing a serious problem for livestock owners and housewives alike, the magic wand of Columbus Tetherow, the "Water Witch," has grown constantly in demand.

Livestock owners are beseeching Tetherow to use his "divining rod" to locate wells from which their cattle can drink. Housewives want water with which to do the dishes and other household chores.

The aged Tetherow — he's 77 — is fully qualified for his water-witching duties. He has been at it since shortly after his tenth birthday and claims to be the son of a son of a famous water-witcher of old.

Tetherow's first witching took place when he ridiculed his grandfather's ability. Greatly incensed, the grandfather insisted Columbus do a bit of witching on his own hook — and much to his own surprise the boy found himself unable to prevent the divining rod from pointing out water, he said.

"You can walk miles following a water vein's course," Tetherow explained, "and the stick won't turn. But if you angle across the course of a vein the prong at once turns down. That is where to locate a well, particularly if you have been able to trace two veins to a confluence."

Tetherow does his witching with any sort of wand — even putting a riding whip into successful use on one occasion when no other wand was available, he declared.

He admits the principle of water-witching sounds silly but his record bears proof that it works. The aged diviner has located hundreds of wells along the Willamette valley and has been called to make trips of more than 100 miles in order to witch a prospective well site.

The depth of a prospective well is measured by the distance from the point where his wand first starts to turn to the point where it extends straight down. On one occasion, Tetherow related, he located a well for a friend in total darkness just by the turning of the divining rod. He also told his friend to go down 40 feet, and a later check revealed he missed the exact distance by less than six inches.

—The Hammond Times, Hammond, IN, Nov. 18, 1936, p. 12.

Yale Physiologist Talks on Medicine

New York, 1936

Scientists can no longer expect to make progress only behind the closed doors of the laboratory, stated Dr. Howard W. Haggard, of the Yale Medical Faculty, in a talk at McMillin Theatre last Tuesday evening. Speaking on "Medicine in the Headlines," Dr. Haggard talked briefly of the changing problems of science, and of contemporary newspaper comments on medical discoveries in the last few centuries.

"The prolongation of life by stamping out infectious diseases has brought about a new problem entirely," the Yale physiologist said. Medical attention today is centered chiefly on diseases of old-age, the so-called degenerate diseases, since the average life span at present is over 60 years, as against the 20 years of two centuries ago, he said.

Dr. Haggard pictured health conditions prevalent in the time of Louis XIV — epidemics of typhoid, small-pox, and diphtheria, of dysentery and tuberculosis. "Only one infectious disease was that time under control — leprosy — and that by the Biblical method of segregation," he stated. One-half of all deaths were those of children under two years of age; the mortality rate in some foundling homes and shelters being as high as 99%. Dr. Haggard commented that a possible relationship between cleanliness and health was never considered. "The discovery of the bacterial causes of disease is probably one of the few medical findings which can be compared with the discovery of fire and the invention of wheels as a primary factor in man's lasting supremacy," he continued.

Until recent years, newspapers were exceedingly haphazard and nonchalant about their reporting of scientific events, he stated. "The discovery of anaesthesia, which was not only a great but spectacular step forward, received no favorable newspaper comment until 1846," Dr. Haggard said. Previous to that time, only three items on the subject appeared in the papers: an advertisement and two protests. The former concerned itself with a demonstration of "the actions of persons under the influence of nitrous oxide; volunteers from the audience will be requested," and twelve brawny men provided to keep the situation under control. The demonstration, moreover, was guaranteed to be entertaining.

There were many advertisements for patent medicines — in 1850, for example, sarsaparilla, "the now lowly flavoring for pop," was proclaimed a panacea for all ills. Macassar oil was widely advertised and used as a hair tonic, and it was to combat the ravages of this upon upholstery that antimacassars were invented. Following the press announcements in 1895 of Roentgen's X-ray findings, bills were introduced into the legislature to forbid the manufacture of X-ray glasses for the theatre, and X-ray proof garments for women were immediately advertised.

Science as quoted in the press is frequently misinterpreted, Dr. Haggard stated, but the importance of medical items in the papers to educate the layman and to create an aroused public opinion cannot be overestimated.

Dr. Haggard is Associate Professor of Applied Physiology at Yale University, and is an eminent author and popular lecturer. His book, "Devils, Drugs and Doctors," was a national best-seller, and his talks over the radio and from the lecture platform have received wide acclaim.

—Bayard Bulletin, New York, NY, Jan. 1, 1936, page 3.