July 22, 1906 (Sunday)

LOOKING UP IN NYC: Today's New York Times' picture section includes this series of drawings that show plans for some remarkable buildings in New York City. Clockwise from the left, the images show the proposed Singer Building, something called the West Street Building, The Trinity and United States Realty Buildings, Building Number 1 Wall Street and two pictures (inside and outside) of the City Investing Co. Building. The little feature includes some interesting facts. For example the rent on EACH FLOOR of the 1 Wall Street building is expected to be $5,000 PER YEAR! The 23-story West Street Building could cost $2 million to build.

SPREADING THE NEWS FAST IN ARGENTINA: I'm not sure any of those buildings will be as stunning as the building that houses La Prensa, (left) one of the great papers in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today's Times has a little story about the tower on that building, which is crowned by a statue of a woman representing the Spirit of the Press. Evidently the tower has a 5,000 horse power steam-operated siren. Whenever there's a huge disaster or death of a head of state, the siren blasts. The sound can be heard throughout the city. In addition to running the siren, the operator drapes the young woman's torch with red velvet in the case of a catastrophe and with black cloth in the event of a death. The article says, "All this causes the most extraordinary sensation." As soon as someone is ordered to run the siren and drape the torch, another employee is given the equivalent of $200 and rushes off to the courts. That happens because the government levies a fine for such a blast -- $100 a minute, with a minimum charge of $200.

WIRELESS COMMUNICATION: Civil War veteran Levi Fox has long been a character in Syracuse. Before the war, he was a crewman on one of the last slave ships to come to the United States. After the war, he was on duty in the Dry Tortugas where he helped guard some of the people who helped John Wilkes Booth assassinate President Lincoln. He's in his 70s. A couple of weeks ago he left town without telling his family exactly where he was going. From New York, he sent a post card to his family telling them he was heading for Brazil. Shortly thereafter, a friend in town received a parrot in the mail. It opened its mouth and said "Fox is in Brazil.." The next message, sent to Fox's wife, also came in the form of a parrot. When she opened the package, it said, "Fox is coming soon." (This is how a cartoonist in The Post-Standard in Syracuse envisioned it in today's paper.) He has since arrived. The family is with him in Boston.

July 21, 1906 (Saturday)

DRAMA AT THE EAST 22ND STREET PIER: As the steamship Bridgeport (right) approached a pier in New York City yesterday morning, a carpenter named Bernard Bailey of Fairfield, Conn., fell from the pier. The odds were high that he would either drown (he couldn't swim) or be crushed by the ship as it hove into the pier. That['s when two longshoremen stepped in. Martin Buckley wrapped his legs around an iron hawser bit and, holding Jeremiah McCarthy by the legs lowered him so he could grab the drowning carpenter. The carpenter, seeing that the steamer was only 15 feet away and closing in, didn't wait to be grabbed and hauled up. Instead he used the longshoremen as a ladder and scrambled up the length of their bodies. A patrolman showed up, reached over the side and grabbed Bailey's collar and hauled him up to safety. Just after all three men scrambled to the top of the pier, the bow of the Bridgeport smacked into the side of the pier where Bailey had clung for his life moments earlier. The Washington Post adds, "The passengers on the Bridgeport cheered the rescue."

HE'LL TAKE A DO-IT-YOURSELF APPROACH TO PRISON: Louis A. Gourdain is back in the news. He's the one who was convicted of mail fraud but refuses to be incarcerated in the Cook County Jail. The warden at the penitentiary in Joliet refused to take him in. So, Gourdain tried to convince Supreme Court Justice Edward D. White (right) to help him out. That was fruitless. He's in New York. He says he will approach the Supremes one more time. If that fails, he says he will return to Illinois and build his own prison, next to the Joliet facility. He will have his own warden, assistant warden and six guards.

LONG ISLAND JUDGE TAKES A STAND: Magistrate Connorton got upset in Long Island City Police Court yesterday after officers of the Sanitary Squad arraigned three train engineers on a charge of using soft coal for fuel. Connorton wants the big, big, big bosses of the Long Island Railroad Company and similar enterprises to face the charges, not just the lowly engineers. Here's what he's reported to have said:
Go and arrest half a dozen of the directors and bring them here. Stop arresting engineers and employees and get at those who are really responsible if the law is being violated....Why not go over to Manhattan and arrest August Belmont (left)? Take the millionaires into custody, not the workingmen, and bring them here and let the law deal with them.

PEACE IN CENTRAL AMERICA: Representatives from Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras met on board the U.S.S. Marblehead and signed an agreement that ends their war in Central America. Mexico, represented by Senor Gambon, was helpful in pulling this one off.

July 20, 1906 (Thursday)

UP, UP, AND AWAY: The high-flying Alberto Santos-Dumont (right) began experiments yesterday in Paris with a new flying machine. This one is large. It's 300 feet long and weighs about 320 pounds and is powered by a 24-horsepower motor. It's called the 14-bis, and it's similar to a box kite. Yesterday, he made flights with it as it was suspended from a balloon -- perhaps looking like the photo above. At a time approved by the Aero Club, he will try and fly his heavier-than-air machine without the aid of a balloon. As it happens, he is the perfect size for a flyer. I think he stands about 5 feet tall and weighs about 90 pounds.

HE'S SUFFERING FROM THIRD-DEGREE EMBARRASSMENT, TOO: William Stirling is probably quicker with the saw than he is with his brain. He is recovering at Philadelphia's Samaritan Hospital with bruises on the head, shoulders and legs. He fell from a tree. But there's more to it than that. Here's how the front-page story in The Washington Post describes it:
He forgot on which end of the limb of a tree to sit while sawing it off. Instead of taking his place next to the trunk he sat on the far side of the amputation.

SHE HOPES THERE'S SOME TRUTH TO THE "MAN-EATING" LABEL: A Miss Killner is hoping there's some truth in the fact that the lions in the Bostock's exhibit at Dreamland (above) are "man-eaters" -- and that, only. While responding to an advertisement for lion tamers, she told someone, "I guess it would be safe for me to take a job as a trainer. I'm a woman, you see." She was one of about 50 women who showed up to see if they could stomach the training task. The Times article said, "A trial of snapping the whip narrowed the competition down until only Miss Killner was left. She will be employed in a new act."

July 19, 1906 (Thursday)

LADY CURZON DIES: Lady Curzon, who was born as Mary Victoria Leiter (daughter of a Chicago merchant), died yesterday after sudden worsening of her health. I think she was about 36 years old. She died at her home, Kedleston Hall. Lady Curzon, who suffered a serious illness two years ago, was the wife of the former Viceroy of India. As vicerine, she was second on the social ladder to the Queen of England. In the picture at the right, taken in India, she's with her husband and a formerly living beast. To some, she's known for a soup recipe and her fashion sense. The New York Times described her standing in this manner:
of all the American women who have married members of the British aristocracy, it fell to the lot of Lady Curzon to fill the position of greatest prominence and real power.

THE LADY IN GREEN: Some are worried about the verdigris that has appeared on the surface of the Statue of Liberty (shown, at right, from the top) in New York Harbor. plan to get rid of the green hue. One would think there's not much one can do to improve the statue. Congress has appropriated about $60,000 for the inside-and-out paint job. The Times notes that some artists are aghast, saying that such "patina" has always been a chief attraction of bronze statues. Authorities also plan to increase the number of lights in the torch from five to 10.

NEW YORKER RESISTS THE "SPANISH SWINDLE": Businessman Charles H. Keys received letters recently -- one from a "Luis Ramos" and another from a "Antonio Garcia." Luis spoke of his beautiful and needy daughter named Mari. Antonio spoke of Elizabeth. Both had served in Cuba and deserted leaving $185,000 in banks -- Luis' money was in London; Antonio's was in New York. Each one was in prison at Fort Barcelona in Spain. Each one promised Keys a quarter of the amount if he would send a few hundred dollars so their beautiful daughters could redeem some baggage, get ahold of the certificate of deposit, withdraw the money, free their father from prison and make everybody happy ever after. Keys -- wondering why he would be considered a "mark" by two people at the same time -- didn't bite on the bait. He turned the letters over to the State Department in Washington. Wonder if someone will ever try this kind of thing from a place like, say, Nigeria.

July 18, 1906 (Wednesday)

SOMETIMES IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO HAVE A WEAPON IN A CLASSROOM: Dean J.F. Downey had a little "show and tell" session yesterday at the State University Summer School in Minneapolis. While he was lecturing a class of young women on pedagogy, a mad dog burst into the room through an open door. Fortunately, Dean Downey had a "large pistol" in his classroom desk. He pulled it out and shot the dog dead with the first bullet. Maybe it was also his way of telling the students not to be late for class.

A STORM PUTS THE "WILD" IN A WILD WEST SHOW: A thunderstorm struck Bayonne, N.J., yesterday and threw Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show into turmoil. As the main tent shuddered and eventually came down, Pawnee Bill (left) himself valiantly tried to keep the main tent's main pole erect, but he dislocated his shoulder. About 10 tents came down, sending horses scurrying throughout the city. The New York Times says, "For half an hour thereafter the town was treated to a genuine wild west exhibition. Yelling cowboys raced through the streets until the last of the horses had been captured."


FIRST-PLACE CUBS THROTTLE GIANTS: The anticipated pitching matchup between Christy Mathewson (left) and "Three-fingered" Brown (right) never materialized yesterday in Chicago as the red-hot Cubs whipped the world champion New York Giants, 6-2. Both pitchers were off their game a bit, with each giving up five walks. Brown "steadied when hits meant runs while Mathewson was hit hardest with men on base." Historians might someday note that Evers and Chance made a double play for Chicago. Not sure where Tinker was on that one. Most agree that the play of those three infielders can be described as poetry in motion.

PENSION OFFICE FINDS YOUNGEST CIVIL WAR VETERAN: Evidently a former Illinois soldier has surfaced as the youngest living veteran of the War Betwixt the States. Lyston (or Liston) D. Howe enlisted (or enlysted) in 1861 at the age of 10 years, 9 months. He was a drummer boy. He lasted for four months until he was discharged because of his age. (Hmmm, it took them four months to discover he was 10, and by then he was 11.) He fibbed about his age and signed up again about four months later. He served throughout the war. Recently, his request for an increased pension was granted. I hope he will be remembered.

July 17, 1906 (Tuesday)

BREAKING IN IS HARD TO DO: Someone named Louis Gourdain is making quite a stir by trying to "break into" the penitentiary at Joliet, Ill. (left). He was convicted of "lottery operations" according to an article in The New York Times. He was sentenced to four years and was supposed to be in the Cook County jail. He complained that the jail is too noisy for him and insists on being incarcerated in the state prison. He arrived at Joliet yesterday and demanded that the warden let him in. The warden told him it was impossible to let him in. Here's Gourdain's response:
Nothing is impossible. It is my right as an American citizen -- a convicted American citizen, a former prisoner, who is being wrongfully kept outside the penitentiary. Stand aside. Let me pass. I am your prisoner.
That unique lesson in civics was lost on Warden Murphy. He ordered Gourdain to leave. One report says he is on his way to Washington, D.C., to meet with the Supreme Court to insist that his sentencing be enforced. The article in the Times included this description of his baggage:
The baggage included a waste-paper basket filled with newspaper clippings and documents relating to the twenty-year fight between the Federal authorities and the lottery operator. Sticking from the sides of the basket were two small American flags.

ARMISTICE IS LIKELY: The outlook for peace in Central America is growing brighter. Leaders from Guatemala and Salvador are expected to gather aboard the USS Marblehead for peace negotiations. Honduras and Nicaragua are also involved in the fighting in the fighting. The Marblehead has arrived at a Guatemalan port. There is confusion about the fate of Salvador's Gen. Tomas Regalado (right). Some reports say he was killed during some intense fighting. Another report says he was gunned down by his own men, who were hired by Guatemala to kill their leader.

July 16, 1906 (Monday)

A GOOD REASON WHY RUSSIAN GENERALS SHOULD WEAR NAMETAGS WITH THEIR MEDALS: News from St. Petersburg via London indicates that a General Kozlov was shot to death while he was in the park at Peterhof (above) on July 14. According to the Fort Wayne Sentinel, the shooting was at 9:30 p.m. "in the presence of several thousand people who were listening to the music in the English park before the grand chateau, adjoining the park of Alexander palace, where the imperial family and General Trepoff [sic](right) reside." The shooter has been arrested. It's noted that he was "well dressed." Authorities are puzzled, however, because Kozlov was not connected with any political wranglings. Witnesses say the accused killer was staring at a photograph before shooting the general. It was a photo of Gen. Dmitri Trepov, who became -- in practice if not in title -- the dictator of Russia after the 1905 uprising in St. Petersburg.

THAT'S HIS STORY AND HE'S STICKIN' TO IT: Chester Gillette (right) , who's accused in the killing of Grace Brown on Big Moose Lake, is in the Herkimer jail. He reiterated to the Under Sheriff that the boat in which he and Grace were rowing was accidentally capsized. The officer asked him why he didn't report the incident at all, Gillette said he was too scared to talk with anyone. One article ends with this observation:
The autopsy Saturday revealed, it was stated to-day, that Miss Brown had been struck in the eye and mouth and pounded on the top of the head before she went into the water.
That doesn't really sound like an accident or a suicide. The tragedy has grabbed the attention of many people and will likely be long remembered.

OLD CANOE FOUND, AND DISCARDED, IN MANHATTAN: Workers from the New York Edison Co. were digging in an area about eight feet deep at the corner of Cherry and Oliver street yesterday when they came across what they thought was a log. Further examination revealed it might be an old Indian canoe. So what did they do? They chopped away at it and removed half of it and put it on a pile of dirt beneath the Franklin Square elevated station. The canoe was probably lying in the mud 100 years or more, since the time when the river front was filled in to make more land area. The New York Times reports that the canoe was likely hewn from a single log that was 14 feet long. It says the workmen "didn't take much interest in anything pertaining to the American Indian."