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Newspaper
Algona Republican
Location
Algona, Iowa, United States of America
Date
Aug 18, 1897
Page
8
In a Northern provincial town a famed conjurer and mesmerist challenged a party to a free demonstration. He claimed he could compel an alderman to keep his finger from his nose as he left the room, placing him by an iron column and guiding his movements. The alderman ultimately saw the joke’s point.
A concise profile drawing the marine engineer as the indispensable yet under recognized chief of a vessel’s propulsion, steering, lighting, pumping, ventilation, and heavy armament on warships. The article lauds his decisive brain work overseeing internal economy and the ship’s course, despite scant public credit.
A New Jersey judge, appointed through influence, reveals he learned law mainly from grand juries. A federal judge asks about his Latin, noting words like ladies. The story ends with the judge starting to study Latin but his progress is not reported.
Residents of Ossining argue to rename Sing Sing village to shed its prison stigma. Village president William Grandreth cites promised rail support for a new station named Sing Sing station on prison grounds. Wealthy residents favor Bearburgh as a commuter stop, while Ossining emerges as preferred new village name.
Among Suntee Stony Indians seeking a ban on alcohol sales to their tribe, Julie Goodthunder Mary Lightning Ellen Iron Elk Nancy Pay Day G D Redowl J Crow D Coor and Charles Standing Soldier petition Congress for the prohibition.
The New York Sun notes biannual neatsfoot oiling of elephants and a daily rhinoceros oiling at Central Park menagerie. The process cleanses skin and improves health, with the rhinoceros described as lively and spry for a large animal while elephants kneel on command during application.
An 18th century style note discusses hair reading as a new science. It claims hair texture and color reveal birth, intelligence, temperament, and honesty, with straight hair denoting practicality and black hair linked to treachery. The piece warns the idea may be debunked by scientific investigation.
A collage of old notes on proverbs targeting women, a tale of the American beauty rose, a Liberian time-telling method, and a Paris fire relief subscription. It recounts gendered satire, Field’s rose venture from Grant era conservatories, a palm-leaf kernel clock, and a Paris disaster fund raising 222,800 dollars.
A wall behind a row of stolen locker cigars at a San Francisco police station was torn away to reveal a nest of several hundred cigars hidden behind boards. The stash included marked and twisted cigars, many broken, with inspectors noting long-term pilfering and internal suspicion among officers.
Mr. Toggleton explains that Davy wears out a pair of shoes every month, allowing precise dating by shoe calls. He notes constant wear with occasional resoling, and laments the unprecedented cheapness of shoes enabling his family to cope without relocating to a warmer climate.
A Chicago Times-Herald story recalls a directory writer failing to learn a man’s name in many languages. In a Polish district he speaks Polish, German, Italian, and Trench with no result until the resident says he speaks United States. The man laughs at his own pantomimed questions.
Prof Elmer Gates of Washington reports creating what is believed to be an absolute vacuum by filling a glass tube with a inner glass melt then withdrawing the outer layer to seal air out as the assembly cooled. The process left no air space in the tube, suggesting a perfect vacuum.
One Maine lake, Foddy Pond, is linked to Toddy Pond from an old tale. Woodsmen crossing the ice in winter brewed a hot toddy by pouring rum into a hole cut in the ice, creating a drink that gave the pond its memorable name.
The airship craze in Germany rivals that of this country. Prof Hoffman, an imperial councillor, has built a dragon inspired steam powered machine with propellers he claims will work properly.
An estimate places the average annual pecan crop in the United States at eight million bushels. The figure underscores the scale of pecan production across growing regions.
Journalists recount a Seattle Times item on a rate for soap slush from Northern Pacific coast points to Chicago and river markets. Readers joke about unknown soap slush origins from lakes with silica water and lathering effects, with Portland and Walla Walla roles in wild theories.
A New York Journal question asks for the era defining monument to Africa's civilization progress. Joseph Thomson photographed Kry coast ceremony where gin bottles were worshipped. The piece portrays Krus as diligent workers tied to European commerce and exposes a single man driven mad by drink, turning bottles into a monument of intoxicant power.
An old Troy Poly technical graduate recalled by a Cincinnati paper as he pondered a 100 story dream. A former classmate Fay, famed for his genius and odd ideas, drew a bridge standing on end and vanished years ago after graduation. The tale links genius with madness and a mysterious disappear.
A stove designed to cool rooms in summer uses salt ice and a patent chemical to chill. The device can generate its own ice inside the oven, and the surface becomes so cold that skin may blister on contact. Given low salt cost and unclear chemical, it is likely to see broad use in hot regions.
A wave of suicides in Belgian prisons, centered in Brussels, has prompted the minister of the interior to issue a regulation requiring that no prisoner be left alone in a cell. The measure aims to reduce self inflicted deaths amid the ongoing epidemic of deaths by own action.
A brief report claims the people of Germany and Belgium are the greatest potato eaters with consumption over 1,000 pounds per person. It also notes a fatal incident where a English child allegedly died after consuming buttercups, with the coroner finding no alternative cause.
A shabby man claiming to be an undertaker asked a Philadelphia pawnbroker to pawn a casket with silver trimmings to raise money for a shroud and a funeral. He said relatives would redeem the pawn with funds from the bereaved, but the broker declined. The outcome of the case or burial was not learned.
A Chicago Record correspondent notes China’s emperor works in reverse hours. His day begins at 1 p.m. with the privy council, officials, and boards, followed by midnight meals and duties. Ambassadors and Li Hung Chang have been heard at 4 a.m. The kneeling court and cushions for knees are described, and the emperor dines at sunset and sometimes eats a third meal at midnight.
A Grass Valley postmaster and store owner recounts a bizarre demand from a middle aged woman who ordered him to lick a stamp. He describes a prior incident six months earlier when she forced him to stamp with a kick and punch, claiming she wants only her own stamps. He notes his annual salary of $23 and reluctance to risk further trouble.
A column notes crustaceans react to loud thunder by shedding claws then regrowing them within days. It also recounts a Milan battle of 1518 with armor so perfect no one was killed or wounded despite hours of combat, save a rider’s collarbone break. The piece mentions Mocha trade origins from the East Indies.
Gen IT V Boynton, a Washington correspondent for over 30 years, assesses a rising moral atmosphere in the capital. He cites honest government, a well run postal service, and restraint across parties as signs of progress, noting Washington as a peaceful, orderly capital.
In the Ladies' Home Journal W J Scott recounts John Wesley facing Georgia officials who demanded bond. Wesley refused, saying he would not bail or surrender his conscience. He left Savannah after preaching one year and nine months, noting the opposition was a shallow pretext for his stance on admitting a woman to communion only after repentance.
The puss moth caterpillar uses a cleft organ to spray acid fluid as a defense. A writer cites an entomology magazine account of a captive specimen striking an observer’s eye two feet away, causing temporary blindness and severe pain before recovery.
In Indiana two counties host a German settlement across four towns Ferdinand and St Henry in Dubois county and St Meinrad and Maria Hill in Spencer county. Ferdinand the oldest town founded in 1840 by Father Kendrick honors Ferdinand I of Austria. The community largely German speaking with English taught to children and almost no Americans in Ferdinand and only two American families in St Meinrad home to a Benedictine monastery. A comic wartime like scene shows a nervous patient asking a doctor if she will die while awaiting medicine and the doctor jokes about delay.
In Ireland, concerns rise as insanity grows with noted causes. English statisticians cite alcohol abuse and failed emigration attempts as significant factors.
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