June 27, 1907 (Wednesday)

AN IMMIGRATION MOMENT: SPEAKER SPOTS A GIRL KISSING THE FLAG: Joseph Krauskopf (shown) told the New York Times that he saw something that really impressed him at a graduation yesterday at the Baron de Hirsch School [the Times spells it Hersch.] in Manhattan. The ceremony yesterday morning was for a class of 48 children who have been in this country about half a year. During the six months, they have mastered the English language and are ready to transfer to the city's public schools. Here's what Dr. Krauskopf said, according to the Times:
I have been to many graduations. A number of them have been my own, but I have never been so much touched as by this. As the procession was marching into the room today I saw one girl, who was standing beside another carrying a flag, stoop, take one corner of it in her hands and kiss it. I never saw anything like it. The children here have learned to value the flag as highly as the pious Jew does his Torah. I SHOULD HAVE LIKED THE PEOPLE AT WASHINGTON, WHO ARE WORKING SO HARD TO RESTRICT IMMIGRATION, TO HAVE SEEN THAT.
(Emphasis added.)

FEMALE BUFFALOS PROTECT ABANDONED BABY AT THE BRONX ZOO: The keeper of the buffaloes at the Bronx Zoological Gardens (shown here about 1910), Henry Reinmeisen, says he is prepared to swear to something he witnessed yesterday morning. While making his rounds, he noticed a number of the female buffalos standing up to Rocco, their bullish lord and master buffalo. Inside the cage, Rocco kept trying to get past the females, and each time he tried, they snorted and stamped their feet and kept him at bay.
The keeper took a closer look and noticed a white bundle on the ground between the females and the fence. As he looked closer, he noticed that a human baby was wrapped in the bundle. He plucked it from the cage and ran it to the administration building. Soon, people from the Fordham Hospital arrived. One of the nurses, Miss Elizabeth McKinnen, recognized the child as one who had been born at the hospital a month ago. The clothing resembles hospital-issue garb. A doctor at the hospital is "pretty sure" he knows the identity of the mother. The article says, "It is quite certain that the infant was deliberately abandoned in the Zoological Gardens."

June 26, 1907 (Wednesday)

PILOT'S TEMPER SOARS WHEN HE HEARS PRESS AGENT'S SPIN: Aeronaut Lincoln Beachey (shown here, in 1914) crossed up his press agent yesterday after a broken propeller forced him to drop his airship into the river during a demonstration in Manhattan. Here's how today's New York Times presented the exchange between the two of them, beginning with a statement from the press agent:
"Mr. Beachey is greatly chagrined that he was prevented from carrying out his intention of circling the Flatiron Building at Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street, and when a sloop brought him home this afternoon, riding on the top of his airship's frame, he was crying bitterly."
"I wasn't doing any such doggoned thing," burst out young Mr. Beachey, who is really a stout, nervy little fellow.
"Yes, bitterly weeping," continued the press agent, giving the 20-year-old aeronaut such a look!


HIGHLANDERS WITHSTAND A LATE RALLY IN BOSTON: In American League baseball action in Boston yesterday, New York was leading the home team, 3-1, going into the bottom of the ninth inning. Then, miraculously, the first three batters reached base (two singles and a hit batter). The crowd, numbered at 2,514, took notice. Here's how the Boston Globe put it:
Up to this time everything had gone along as quietly as if the crowd was under the influence of some powerful drug. Suddenly there arose a cyclone of cheers, and the New York men looked worried.
The top of Boston's order was coming up, and "the game looked like money from a distant relation."
It was not to be. A grounder to the pitcher forced a runner at home. An infield hit scored a run, keeping the bases full.
New York's pitcher, Bill Hogg, threw three balls. The Globe's sports writer put it this way:
...it was a strawberry short cake to a dog biscuit that Mr. Barrett would work the rattled box man for the limit, and 20 to 1 that Hogg could not get the net three balls over.
Then, on a 3-0 count, Jimmy Barrett (shown) inexplicably swung at the pitch and grounded out to second base, ending the game.
The New York victory prompted the cartoon above that shows that the "Highlander" image and nickname is still in place for the New York team. It will remain that way until the name officially becomes "Yankees" in 1913. But "Yankee" does show up in news articles at this time.

SECRET OF DE RAYLAN -- THAT HE IS A SHE -- OFFICIALLY SURFACES: For 18 years, Nicolai De Raylan, longtime secretary in the Russian consulate in Chicago, has passed himself off as a man. I liked the layout of today's New York Times -- putting this story next to an advertisement for Ponds Soap -- "be sure you get the genuine."

June 25, 1907 (Tuesday)

GERMANY ENACTS AN ANTI-SNAPSHOT LAW: Photographers reportedly face heavy fines in Germany after July 1. That's when a new law goes into effect that grants the rights of all persons to all photographs of themselves, or pictures of their houses or belongings. Photographers will have to secure the permission of someone before taking a photograph. the trouble is that the photographer might inadvertently include someone else or their belongings in that picture.
The picture above (taken in the first decade of the 1900s, probably in Germany) poses numerous problems for the photographer. Each person must give permission, even if their names are not included. And there's some artwork in the upper portion of the center of the picture.
Today's New York Times explains a typical problem:
Even when requested by a friend to take a photograph of a room with its contents, which the owner may desire to use as a picture postcard, the danger is still great, for the room may contain pictures, and if these are recognizable in the photograph the photographer is liable to persecution by the artist.
So, it seems that there's no need to learn how to say "Cheese" in German. (For the record, it's "Käse.")

THE UNWRITTEN LAW COULD LEAD TO UNPUNISHED KILLING: one of the most famous murder cases in the history of Virginia is playing out right now. At issue is the "unwritten law" -- not the punk-rock band, but a much-used rationale some turn to for taking the law into their own hands. Sometimes, it's the banner under which lynchers march.
This case, and the hazard it represents, is summed up nicely in an editorial in today's Boston Globe. Here goes:
[Theodore] Esters was the sweetheart of Miss Elizabeth Loving, the 19-year-old daughter of Judge [W.R.] Loving. The two went driving one evening, and the next day there was a rumor that the girl had been drinking. It was reported to Judge Loving that she had been ill-treated by Estes, and the judge promptly proceeded to put the "unwritten law" into effect. He sought Estes, and shot and killed the young man.
The case examplifies about the largest latitude that can be claimed for the "unwritten law." Judge Loving had not seen his daughter, but accepted a story that had been brought to him by a person whose information was hearsay, when he went to kill young Estes. If under circumstances like these a man may slay with impunity, there would seem to be an end to the force of all written law.

June 24, 1907 (Monday)

CLERGYMAN ARTICULATES ONE OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CENSORSHIP -- IT'S OFTEN SELF-DEFEATING: The Rev. Robert Collyer (shown) of New York's Church of the Messiah, has come to the defense of the novel "Mary Barton," which the London County Council wants removed from the shelves of elementary schools. He presents one of the classic reasons why censorhip is often self-defeating. Here's a quote of his in today's New York Times:
Now that the London County Council has put its official stamp of disapproval on the book, I suppose every child in the schools will want to be getting a copy so as to see what it contains. That is human nature.

RESEARCHER IDENTIFIES THE CORRECT "JOHN HART" AS SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: Thanks to Dr. Charles Godfrey of the adjutant general's office of the state of New Jersey, the identity of the "John Hart" who signed the Declaration of Independence has been nailed down. He says the overlooked signer was John Hart of Hunterdon County. He was elected as a Congressman on June 22, 1776, according to today's New York Times.
(The painting above by John Trumbull shows his version of the signing. The signatures of the New Jersey delegates are also shown, top to bottom: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark.)
The U.S. and New Jersey and numerous historians have confused him with John De Hart, a Congressman who resigned June 1, 1776. Worthington Chauncey Ford, who is chief of the Division of Manuscripts in Washington, D.C., has written Godfrey to declare that the federal government has been wrong and to thank him for identifying the right Hart.

June 23, 1907 (Sunday)

60-YEAR-OLD NOVEL, CONSIDERED A CLASSIC BY SOME, IS BANNED BY LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL: Elizabeth Gaskell's famous novel novel Mary Barton has been deemed inappropriate for the eyes and minds of London readers younger than 14, according to today's New York Times. (That's an illustration of the title character above.)
The county's Education Committee wants all copies of the work to be called in, to minimize the exposure of the book to young students. The ruling "was tremendously startling to everybody present who knew anything about literature," the Times said. One person objecting was Stewart Headlam (shown here). He said the book was one of the best pieces of literature ever written in the English language, according to the Times.
What could the objections be? Is it that Mr. Carson mentions the fact that a man (him) and a woman (Mary) could be together without being married? Here's something he says in chapter XI in the book:
You know (or perhaps you are not fully aware) how little my father and mother would like me to marry you. So angry would they be, and so much ridicule should I have to brave, that of course I have never thought of it till now. I thought WE COULD BE HAPPY ENOUGH WITHOUT MARRIAGE [emphasis added]." (Deep sank those words into Mary's heart.) "But now, if you like, I'll get a licence to-morrow morning - nay, to-night, and I'll marry you in defiance of all the world, rather than give you up.
The Times warns, balefully,
One by one the authors of English classics are losing their good names.
It's noteworthy that the book, written in 1848, was reportedly praised by Charles Dickens, W. M. Thackeray, Charlotte Brontë and George Eliot. You can check it out for yourself here.

'DON QUIXOTE' TAKES ON A NEW LOOK: As long as we're on literary topics and the FATE OF THE CLASSICS, today's Boston Globe presents "Don Quixote" in an incredibly shortened version. The paper has managed to fit the entire book -- a summary, of course -- on on full newspaper page, complete with illustrations. A little headline trumpets this as "A Famous Story Told in Brief."
By way of explanation, the paper The first sub-head is "Much Reading Hath Made Him Mad." That's appropriate because this five-paragraph section introduces the tale with the title character's obsession with reading tales of chivalry. The reading did, indeed, make him mad. With this truncated version, the editors are being careful to make sure that the newspaper readers of 1907 NOT fall into that trap of "much reading."
This was clearly a nationally syndicated feature. The San Antonio (Texas) Gazette printed it in August 1907 as a "One-Page Classic."

June 22, 1907 (Saturday)

WOULD THE SUPREME COURT CONSIDER THIS AN UNCONSTITUTIONAL WAY TO SECURE A CONFESSION FROM A MAN ACCUSED OF MURDER? Charles Wawsen of Shenandoah, Pa., was arrested recently and charged with killing his sweetheart. Since that time he has been trying to convince the authorities that he was INSANE. That was BEFORE a REMARKABLE EVENT happened last night in the Schuylkill County Prison (above) in Pottsville, Pa. A BOLT OF LIGHTNING struck the prison yard. The blast left Wawsen cowering in his cell, pleading for mercy. The guards brought him to the prison office, and there he confessed he had killed the girl because she did not want to marry him, according to a brief article in today's New York Times. He added that he had hidden $400 and that his tale of being robbed of $800 was not true.

ILLUSTRATOR RECALLS DIFFICULTY OF KEEPING UP WITH A FAST-WRITING AUTHOR: The books supplement in today's New York Times includes a delightful article based on interviews with illustrators. Some have some funny comments, including noted artist Florence Scovel Shinn. When asked about any recent work, she mentioned her illustrations of "Coniston" by American novelist Winston Churchill. Because he wanted to get the book out FAST, Churchill asked Shinn to try and illustrate it as fast as he wrote it. He sent her two or three chapters at a time, and she created her illustrations based on his words. The trouble was that Churchill failed to take a close look at her drawings. So, eventually, an illustration did not make the appearance of one man, as presented in the story. She recalls,
For instance, nothing in the chapters that had been sent me had said anything about a beard, and I had made the man smooth-faced, but later he is found stroking his beard. I told Mr. Churchill he would have to stop having his characters grow whiskers overnight.
You can read "Coniston," and see Mrs. Shinn's illustrations.
(NOTE: Mrs. Shinn was to become known as a writer of self-help books.)

June 21, 1907 (Friday)

NEW YORK POLICE CHIEF FALLS FOR A HOAX: Eager to clean up the dens of iniquity in New York City, police Commissioner Bingham responded quickly when he received an anonymous letter from a citizen. As quoted in today's New York Times, the letter read:
Dear Sir: I beg leave to inform you that the VILEST DEN in New York is run at 434 West Thirty-seventh Street. Disorderly persons of both sexes resort to it at ALL HOURS OF THE DAY AND NIGHT. This INFAMOUS PLACE should be BROKEN UP.
Evidently Bingham got right on it. He forwarded the letter to Capt. Stephen O'Brien, whose jurisdiction includes that address.
Capt. O'Brien instantly recognized the address. He sent a message back to commish:
The building 434 West Thirty-seventh Street, I most respectfully report, is the POLICE STATION HOUSE of which I am the commander. I assume the responsibility for the accuracy of this report. Respectfully.
The picture shows a NYC police officer in 1903.
(NOTE: A New York Times article describes the building in question partway through this article. It served the 20th precinct.)

RED TAPE SNARLS ARRIVAL OF HUNDREDS OF TALKING PARROTS FROM CUBA; 24 DIE FIGHTING IN CAGES AT PIER: The feathers flew yesterday at the Ward Line (aka the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Co.) pier in New York City. Two dozen parrots died while customs officials waited for clearance despite the entreaties of Ambrosio Clarijo, a Cuban dealer in snakes and birds. He wanted to remove 250 talking parrots, 92 snakes and about 40 smallish alligators from the pier, but a Custom House permit was missing. The birds handled the delay poorly and began fighting. By 3 p.m., 24 were dead in the cages. Customs officials didn't budge. The form should arrive by noon today.

ABOUT 20 NATIONALITIES COME OVER IN IVERNIA'S STEERAGE: The ship Ivernia, of the Cunard line, landed at East Boston, Mass., yesterday. (The undated postcard above shows the one-smokestack ship in Boston Harbor.) It was delayed about 12 hours by fog. The ship carried 1,691 in steerage, according to today's Boston Globe. As with most landings, a list of countries-of-origin is in the article in the paper. Ships are landing all the time, and it's not necessary to mention each, but this trip offers a decent snapshot of who's coming into Boston by sea. Here's the lineup (noting that in one case an entire continent -- "Africa'' -- is listed as a place of origin):
Austrians, 248
Australians, 2
Africans, 2
Dutch, 3
English, 161
Finnish, 135
Flemish, 3
French, 8
Germans, 4
Greeks, 36
Irish, 148
Italians, 1
Russians, 407
Scandinavians, 310
Scotch, 10
Servians, 120
Turkish, 28
Welsh, 1
Americans, 50
"Other", 2.

June 20, 1907 (Thursday)

MAN AND WOMAN HATCH A NEAT SCAM ON LOVELORN FARM WORKER: James Chamberlain is back at work at a farm in Brookfield, Mass. He might be a bit embarrassed about it, but he's $10 POORER for having fallen for a scam that drew him to the Jamestown Exposition. Today's New York Times tells the story:
On May 10, he was eating his noon meal near a farm. He picked up an egg and found a NOTE INSIDE. The note was signed "NELLIE WITH THE BLUE EYES." The note, which smelled of violets, went like this:
Will the finder of this epistle kindly make an effort to met the sender in the lobby of the Administration Building [shown above] at the Jamestown Exposition, May 31, at 8 o'clock in the evening, near the main entrance?
In order to facillitate matters for your accommodation, I will appear dressed in a complete suit of white duck, and will wear a black Modjeska jacket . I will wear no hat but will carry a white parasol in my right hand. If the finder will appear dressed in a checkered gray suit and with a brown derby I will have no trouble in finding him. Assuring the finder that he will be welcome, I wish to remain his and only his.
After three days of pondering, Chamberlain decided to make the trip. He bought a suit and hat in Springfield and headed south. He and "Nellie" met as planned; she was with her brother, whom she called "Bob." The trio spent the day together. They decided that Chamberlain should linger with Nellie for about a MONTH. They also agreed to meet the next morning. As they were about to part, "Bob" mentioned casually, "Could you lend me a tenner, just until tomorrow." Chamberlain handed him a $10 bill.
You guessed what happened the next morning. "Nellie" and "Bob" did not show up. Chamberlain came home -- without Nellie and without his $10 -- with his mind slightly scrambled by the note in the egg.

ANOTHER MAN-WOMAN "DATE" THAT ENDS WITH A WOMAN DROWNING IN A LAKE: In an echo of the Chester Gillette case made famous by "An American Tragedy", an 18-year-old girl named Mamie Vennell died night before last in what he companion called a boating accident at Sunset Lake in Bridgeton, N.J. (shown in this undated photo). Police have lots of questions for her companion, a glass blower named George Evans. He told police that their rowboat sank when they tried to switch places. He said he had to tear himself away from her to save himself. He swam to Piney Point and WALKED HOME and WENT TO BED. The swamped boat was discoverd at 1 p.m. yesterday. Police tracked Evans down at his home to find out more about the sunk boat, which he had rented. They had no idea that someone had drowned until they talked to him. The Evans-Vennell relationship is touchy. Here's how the article in the New York Times ends:
Evans's father is a cripple, and his mother went to the Vennell hone today and offered her assistance, but her offers were bitterly refused.
"They will try everything to get my boy in trouble over this just because he is a non-union man and the Vennell brothers all belong to the union," said Mrs. Evans.
Under the circumstances some persons talked of the Gillette case, in which a girl was murdered and the body found under similar circumstances....

June 19, 1907 (Wednesday)

TWAIN HOLDS COURT IN GREAT BRITAIN: Writer Mark Twain (shown in a cigarette ad) met with a large number of journalists yesterday while on his way to receive an honorary degree from Oxford University. During part of the meeting, George Bernard Shaw was at Twain's side. Today's New York Times devoted a front-page article to the encounter. At one point, he told reporters that he has developed a new scheme for his daily life. He requested that journalists be especially accurate in recording his words because others might benefit from his example. Here's what he told them, according to the Times:
Every morning as soon as I'm up, I smoke a cigar, and then have breakfast at 8 o'clock. After breakfast I smoke another cigar, and then go back to bed. At half past 10 I smoke another cigar and start dictating to my stenographer. If finish at 12 o'clock and dose off till 1. I smoke another cigar and eat lunch. Then I go back to bed and read what the newspapers have to say about me. I smoke more cigars until half past 6. Then three assistants dress me for dinner, evening parties &c, after which I associate with elite society till 1 o'clock in the morning. I never go to bed till my daughter turns out the lights, and then I smoke in the dark.
My constitution is improving all the time.

VERDICT FINDS WOMAN'S HAIR IS WORTH $5,000: Matilda Civetti has a measure of justice, thanks to Justice Davis of New York's Supreme Court. He returned a verdict of $5,000 against the American Hatters and Furriers' Corporation of Danbury, Conn., in the wake of an accident in April 1906. While Ms. Civetti was hanging skins in the drying room of the factory, a revolving shaft CAUGHT HER HAIR and PULLED IT OFF HER SKULL, much like a scalping. During her testimony yesterday, she wore a skullcap, according to today's New York Times.

June 18, 1907 (Tuesday)

ART LOVERS ARE SHOCKED -- YES, SHOCKED -- IN PITTSBURG: For quite a while, art lovers in Pittsburg (still spelled without an "h") enjoyed looking at "A Study in Black and Green" (shown here) by highly regarded artist John W. Alexander. Now, to their HORROR, they hear that the model for the painting was none other than Evelyn Nesbit Thaw. The painting was reproduced in this week's issue of The Bulletin, a society journal, with word that the scandal-plagued Thaw sat for the artist. The painting was one of the most admired works in the recent exhibit at the Carnegie Art Gallery. In fact, many who protested against the first prize going to La Touche's "The Bath" (see the fifth item in my May 2, 1907, entry) thought this piece should be purchased for the collection. Nobody recognized that the woman was Thaw, according to today's New York Times.
"Now the sentiment has changed. Society is demanding that Evelyn's picture be kept out of the permanent collection," the Times says.
Where is it now? There's a reference to it here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Web site.

ALAS, POOR SOTHERN -- THE PORTRAIT OF HIM AS HAMLET IS DESTROYED: Vandals somehow got access to the lobby of the Lyric Theatre in Manhattan, N.Y., between Saturday night and 9 a.m. yesterday morning. While there, they destroyed the painting of Shakespearean actor E.H. Sothern (shown), who is appearing in the title role of "Hamlet" at the theater. The vandals neatly cut out the head and shoulders of the artists -- removing about four square feet of canvas. (The painting was the work of Orlando Rouland, who recently did a portrait of President Roosevelt.) Sothern was philosophical about he vandalism, when interviews in his dressing room after last night's show. He pointed out that there are four other portraits of him by the same artist in the lobby and that his Hamlet was the only one destroyed. He supposes that the destruction was done by someone who disliked his rendering of the part. According to today's New York Times, he said, "As long as I have my own head left, I can have another picture taken."