Byron and Artemus Ward meet in savage club chat
The near-collision banter unfolds between Henry Byron and Artemus Ward after a Saturday dinner at the Savage Club. Ward feigns kinship and recounts grim comic tales of eating Byron’s imagined brother Alonzo and killing the father in a mine, to force a laugh and a reconciliation.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Artemus Ward
Henry J. Byron
Savage Club
Tom Robertson
Artemus
Byron
England
Alonzo
Robertson
Arteenuz
Gulf of Mexico
Afonso
Staffordshire
Mother Earth
Artegnus
Sam
Love’s Light Through Loneliness and Memory
A Cleveland Plain Dealer column reflects on finding guidance in love during dark times. It notes that memories of a loved one can brighten days, turning gloom to hope and guiding the soul when the world seems bleak.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Akia
Allus
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Don’t Let Jim Walk Prompts City Transits and a Church Pew Tale
A London man returns to church after a long absence and occupies a pew prompting a pompous stranger to joke about payments. Jim Wardner, reportedly broke, reaches Montreal via a miscommunicated telegram and quips at Tom Shaughnessy’s expense, exposing telegraph errors and travel whimsy.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jim
Transportatia
Vancouver
the Canadian Pacific
Jim Wardner
Tom Shaughnessy
Montreal
Montreat
Tom
Shaughnessy
Wardner
Sleeping Churchgoer Gets a Ticket Please Gaffe
In a northern state town a retired railroad conductor helping in a church collection wakefully rattled a sleeping parishioner with a sharp dig and blurted out ticket please a quirk from his railroading days. The moment drew laughs and a lighthearted note for the service.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ohio State Journal
Sarah Bernhardt Creates a Free Pass for Bookseller
In London a bookseller recalls Sarah Bernhardt entering his shop and, after a swift French exchange, writing a note inside a Scott volume. She tears out the leaf and hands it to him, a pass for two to her evening performance. The gesture is grand but costly for the proprietor.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Sarah Bernhardt
London
Scott
Sarah
East Side Alderman Recalls Eight Nationalities Vote
An alderman boasts he was elected by eight nationalities. He lists Trish, German, Polish, English, Italian, French, Greek, and Americans, joking that Americans were the missing eighth, as a reporter chimes in.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
East Side
Detroit Free Preas
Egyptian Women Adorned with Gold Ear Hoops
Descriptions note Egyptian women wore gold bangle hoops in their ears as prized possessions rarely removed except under extreme stress. The golden calf is said to have been formed entirely from the people's earrings.
The Sculptor and the Debt Bust Prison Escape
A New York Times tale shows a noted artist who made a bust of a sitter who rejected it as a likeness. The artist displayed the work with a debt note, drawing in crowds. The debtor finally buys the bust at double price to regain freedom from prison.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Times
Whisky tasting by smell expert Captain Ryan in Chicago
Captain Joseph E. G. Ryan, a former Seventh captain and noted whisky judge in Chicago, can identify age, brand, distiller, origin, and adulteration from a few drops without tasting. He claims smelling is the superior method, sharpening with use to detect the slightest difference between samples.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago
Joseph E. G. Ryan
Ryan
Chicago Journal
Hamlet Actor George Melville Receives Midnight Gruel Tale
In Bristol the aged English actor George Melville playing Hamlet tells a self aggrandizing tale of a bowl of gruel sent by his landlady. A new servant girl misreads directions and enters the stage during a soliloquy asking for Mr Melville to take his gruel.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
George Melville
Hamlet
Bristol
Queen Square
Bank Street
Fortune in Cement Sparked by Kansas Field Find
A Kansas cement mill tale recalls a tract near Mulvane once emitting smoke after rain. A stranger bought the land and claimed a fortune from surface cement, valued at ten dollars per barrel, turning the site into a noteworthy discovery reported by the New York Tribune.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Kansas
Mulvane
New York Tribune
Also Mentioned on This Page
Isis Sent
Wheeler & Wilse
Wheeler & Wilson
Wheeler & Wilson Mize.Co
Wabash Avenue
Livine Dior Mercantile Co
Argee Uynees
Guy Point
Atlanta
Minneapolis
Minnesota
St.Louis
Kansas City
Omaha
Northern Pacific
Ageng LO Post
Bert Cheetweeeige
Bilibees Aed Tte Pelipenet Om Ratti
Severseeliss
Senate We Tee Reresas Ciey
Spohirne
Pfeleas
Butte
HF. Ruger
Segur
Eigras
Peentthee
Martta
Wea Creo
CHE Marlin Fire-Arns CO
New Haven
Nmkcmiltan Fur & Woot Co
First Ave. W
Winchester Repeating Arms CO
Conn
Northrup, King & & CO
Minneap
Nowans 'Olis Minn
Paul
Minneapolis -Duluth
Points
Spokane
Seattle
Tacoma
Portland
California
Japan
China
Alaska Klondike
E.J. Bardwers Rec
Chas. S. Fee
ST. Paul, Minn
Timeegard
BIG Tikber
Atlantic Mail
Freight
Pacifics
Pullman
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!