Whole Family Found Victims of Gas Leak

1920

Seven Die When Pipe Breaks Under Canadian Home

OTTAWA, Ont., Canada, Jan. 1. — Gas escaping from a pipe which broke underneath their home during the night destroyed all seven members of the family of Pierre Cardinal, a well-known riding-master. When the house was found locked and the horses in Cardinal's livery and boarding stable unfed about noon of the day following, an investigation was instituted and five of the family, Cardinal, a daughter aged 17, and three younger children, were found already dead.

The mother died on the way to the hospital, but a boy of 15 years lingered until twenty-four hours later when he died from pleuro-pneumonia developed shortly after he reached the hospital.

The gas company alleged that the accident had been caused by sills of the house sagging and straining the gas pipe, after Cardinal had made some alterations to the foundation. The carpenter, Louis Barthiaume, who helped Cardinal do the work, declares that the pipe was discovered in a dangerous condition before the house was disturbed.

Saved by a Cat

1900

Sir Edward Osborne, Lord Mayor of London in his time, bought an ancient house in Yorkshire, and sent his wife and children thither. There were two boys among them. The Pall Mall Gazette tells of a tragedy which occurred at the house soon after.

One of the boys, the elder, dutifully obeyed when summoned to his lessons one morning in a turret, but the younger, loitering, "happened to light upon a cat which he delighted to play with, and crept after her to catch her under a table in the room which was covered over with a carpet hanging down to the floor."

Thus he disappeared, and the next instant a terrible rush of wind overthrew the turret, in which his brother and the tutor sat at work, crushing them to death.

Supposing that both her sons were there, the mother fell into convulsions. One of the maids, running in a distracted manner from room to room, caught sight of the small boy peeping from under the table, with the cat in his arms, snatched him up and bore him in ecstasy to his mother, he only crying:

"I pray thee, I pray thee, do not whip me!" — Youth's Companion.

President Garfield's Assassin — A "Stuffed" Human Head

1896

All that remains above earth of the irresponsible crank who fired the shot which ended the life of President James A. Garfield is the skeleton, brain and stuffed head, which are now preserved among other ghastly relics in the Army Medical Museum at the city of Washington.

The skeleton was cleaned by the museum workmen immediately after the execution, and has since been kept in a glass case in an out-of-the-way corner of the great National repository of ghastly curios. Each bone is carefully lettered with indelible ink, probably as a means of identification should the skeleton or a portion of it be stolen.

The brain is kept in a large glass jar of alcohol, and, like the skeleton, its presence in the building is known to but few outside of the employes.

The most grewsome memento of the great tragedy of 1881 kept by the museum authorities is the mounted head of Guiteau. Before putting the body in the boiler for the purpose of removing the flesh from the the bones, the head was cut off and the skull denuded of its skin and flesh. After this had been done, the skin was sewed up and stuffed, so that it would look as lifelike as possible, and then pickled in alcohol.

After this ghoulish work had all been completed the flesh was cremated by those having the work in charge, this last act taking place on the night of November 27, 1882. — New York Advertiser.

Froze To Death Before A Crowd

Printed Jan. 1908

Friends Unable To Give Aid

Providence, Rhode Island — In view of 200 persons who were powerless to extend aid, Alfred Jackson, aged 22, a Providence clerk, was frozen to death while his right foot was imprisoned by a rock on which he was standing under the falls of the Pawtucket river, in Pawtucket, the other afternoon.

Jackson, his brother Arthur, aged 20, and Earl T. Mathewson, aged 19, of East Providence, left the Pawtucket Canoe clubhouse about three o'clock and paddled slowly down stream. When just above the falls they allowed the canoe to drift too near the edge and were carried over. All were thrown into the water. Alfred Jackson was able to reach a half-submerged rock at the foot of the falls, grasped his brother Arthur, and kept him from drowning, although the water from the falls fell on them.

Finally persons on shore threw a line. Alfred caught it and fastened it around his brother, Arthur, who, shorter than himself, was gasping in water that was up to his chin. Arthur was pulled ashore and so was Mathewson, who had floated down stream.

They were removed to the Rhode Island hospital in a critical condition from exposure.

Alfred Jackson in the meanwhile remained standing up to his waist in water close under the falls, and when the rescuers threw a line to him expecting to pull him to a place of safety, they found they were unable to move him.

In the roar of the cataract his shouts could not be heard, but it was evident that his feet had been caught under water.

Several attempts were made to rescue him. Adelard Potvin, the strongest man in the village, popularly known as "Nervy Nat," risked his own life by climbing out hand over hand on a slender rope to the side of the drowning man. When he reached Alfred Jackson's side he used all of his great strength in a useless attempt to release the captive foot from the treacherous crevice, but, chilled to the marrow, he was forced to give up the attempt, crying like a baby when he realized that his work had resulted in nothing.

Dr. Clinton Westcott attempted to reach the perishing lad, and almost lost his life by a boat upsetting.

For two hours the rescuers worked hard and valiantly, Jackson standing calmly under the fall up to his armpits in water and the spray breaking over him, awaiting his doom bravely and uncomplainingly.

Finally, frozen stiff, the unconscious body sunk in the foamy waters, only a white life-buoy bobbing up and down in the water marking the place where he had gone down.

Mark Twain In Serious Mood on Marriage and Life

1909

MARK TWAIN IN SERIOUS MOOD.

Mark Twain, who can be serious when occasion requires, gave out a serious interview on the occasion of the recent marriage of his daughter. Twain didn't jest over the event. To him the union of two lives, the institution of a new family, was too sacred a thing to be made a subject for pun and jest. If marriages were more generally viewed in such a sacred light there might be fewer cases for the divorce court, fewer scandals, and fewer family "jars."

Twain declared a happy marriage is one of the tragical things of life. That, at first glance, appears like a contradiction. But it isn't. The happiest marriage is a tragedy, because, as Twain says, the future is filled to the brim with uncertainties. The very uncertainty of life is in itself a tragedy.

—The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA, Oct. 9, 1909, p. 4

Sleepwalking Tragedy Inspired Bellini Opera

1914

TRAGIC SLEEPWALKING.

Incident Upon Which Bellini Based His Celebrated Opera.

Somnambulists can maintain their footing in the most perilous places so long as they remain in a state of somnambulism, but if suddenly awakened they instantly lose their self possession and balance.

On one occasion a young woman living in Dresden was seen at midnight walking on the edge of the roof of her house. Her family were immediately told of her plight, but were afraid to go near her. The neighbors gathered about the house and placed mattresses and blankets along the street in hopes that they might save her in case she fell.

She danced for over an hour on the slanting roof, apparently retaining in balance without difficulty, and every now and then she would advance to the edge and bow to the silent crowd standing many feet below her.

At last she climbed down on to the wide gutter which ran in front of the window through which she had come, with the evident intention of re-entering the house. The crowd watching her so intently drew a sigh of relief. But, unfortunately, her terrified relatives, thinking to assist her, had placed two lighted candles in the room near the window, and as she approached the light fell directly in her eyes.

Instantly the shock awakened her. and she swayed back and forth in her perilous position: then, with a frightful scream, she fell headlong to the ground. She was fatally hurt and died in a few hours. It was on this tragedy that Bellini wrote his celebrated opera "La Sonnambula."