Nineteenth Century
Follies of the Madmen #506
Not sure how a cigar-smoking toddler promotes coffee...
Posted By: Paul - Tue May 04, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Tobacco and Smoking, Children, Coffee and other Legal Stimulants, Nineteenth Century
Mail-Delivering Cats
1879: Reports reached America of experiments conducted in the city of Liege, Belgium to determine if cats could be used to deliver mail. Three dozen cats were said to have been placed in bags and then taken several miles out of the city. They were then released, after a message had been tied to each one. The cats reportedly made it back to their homes in Liege before the humans did.Plans were said to be in the works "to establish a regular system of cat communication between Liege and the neighboring villages".
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal - Mar 26, 1879
The Chicago Inter Ocean - Oct 28, 1879
Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 30, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Cats, Nineteenth Century, Postal Services
The Crash at Crush
Sep 15, 1896: Over 30,000 spectators watched as two locomotives were deliberately collided head-on. The event was a publicity stunt staged in Texas, about midway between Waco and Hillsboro. It was named the "Crash at Crush" after the railroad agent William George Crush, who had dreamed up the spectacle.The event didn't exactly go as planned. The boilers of the locomotives exploded upon impact, despite the earlier assurances of engineers that this wouldn't happen, sending shrapnel into the crowd. Several were killed. Many more were injured. According to TexasEscapes.com:
There's now a historical marker at the site of the collision.
More info: Farm Collector
source: Baylor University
Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 28, 2021 -
Comments (4)
Category: Disasters, Nineteenth Century, Trains
Owney, the Taxidermy Post Office Dog
Mail clerks raised money for preserving their mascot and he was taken to the Post Office Department's headquarters in Washington, DC, where he was on placed on display for the public. In 1904 the Department added Owney to their display at the St. Louis, Missouri, World’s Fair. In 1911, the department transferred Owney to the Smithsonian Institution. In 1926, the Institution allowed Owney to travel to the Post Office Department’s exhibit at the Sesquicentennial exhibit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From 1964-1992, he was displayed at the Smithsonian museum now known as the National Museum of American History and in 1993 he moved to the new National Postal Museum, where he remains on display next to a fabricated Railway Post Office train car.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Apr 28, 2021 -
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Category: Travel, Trains and Other Vehicles on Rails, Dogs, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century, Postal Services
240 different ways to spell the word Scissors
The author of this pamphlet, published in England in 1829, noted that he could expand the list to 480 variant spellings if he were to substitute 'z' for 's' at the end of the word. On this basis, he claimed that "The word Scissars appears capable of more variations in the spelling than any other."He seemed to prefer the spelling 'scissars' to 'scissors'.
He also seemed to think that the publication of this list offered some kind of moral lesson. But, despite his explanation, I still can't figure out what that lesson might be:
If engaged in writing for the amusement of the Public and cannot refrain from introducing subjects which may be prejudicial to the morals of the rising generation, had he not much better write nothing but Scissers...
If any other subject engage his attention, it will always be a very safe and adviseable plan to consider if at any future more serious moment he might not be inclined to wish he had written nothing but Scissurs.
Click to enlarge. Source: The Picture Magazine - 1895
Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 26, 2021 -
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Category: Languages, Puns and Other Wordplay, Nineteenth Century
Unlikely Reasons for Murder No. 4
Being the victim of hypnotism pretty much qualifies as unusual cause for murder.The scan of the story at this source is defective, so some text missing. The second scan gives a condensed version without reference to hypnotism. There is a discontinuity in the text in the second piece as well, and a truncated ending--but that's the way the article appeared.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 08, 2021 -
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Category: Death, Hypnotism, Mesmerism and Mind Control, Nineteenth Century
Bock Beer Ads
The fact that Bock Beer allowed in the German language for a pun with "goat" (bock) meant that the drink had a handy visual icon as symbol. But since goats had an alliance with Pan and Satan, many of these ads seem in my eyes to have lewd and devilish connotations. Also fitting for drunkenness, I guess.See more ads here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 02, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Gods, Religion, Advertising, Europe, Nineteenth Century, Alcohol
Profit in Potato-Digging
Undated. I'm guessing it's late 19th Century. From OddBook.ca:Maybe I should give up this blogging gig and start digging potatoes!
Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 01, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Self-help Schemes, Books, Vegetables, Nineteenth Century
The Evil Eye
I wish audiovisual recordings had been available in 1898 to capture this play.
Source of quote.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 15, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Theater and Stage, Special Effects, Nineteenth Century
Pearl Hart, Girl Bandit
She committed one of the last recorded stagecoach robberies (1899), and led quite the life.Several nice photos with this article.
Article from 1899.
Her Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 11, 2021 -
Comments (0)
Category: Crime, Gender-bending, Nineteenth Century
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