Tonnelling to Liberty and a Navy Sailor’s Escape Tale
A former navy volunteer ensign recounts 1864 events on Lake Pontchartrain with the gunboat Stockton. After ambush by guerrillas under Greenly, he is captured, mistreated, and taken to Macon and Savannah. He plots a three mile tunnel escape, hides in swamps, nearly starves, and is recaptured near Sherman’s line before enduring Libby Prison. He finally returns home weighing 117 pounds from 175.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
United States Naval
Philadelphia
John Lowrie
Lake Pontchartrain
Cairo
Lower
Mississippi
Stockton
Edwards
Alabama
New Orleans
Chefundie River
Greenly
Mandeville
Yvets
Savannal
Savannah
Sherman
Macon
Countrias
Richmond
Libby
Jook
Yairbanks
Jacob and Rachel and the limits of introductions
A satirical essay argues over young people meeting strangers without introductions, recalling the biblical Jacob and Rachel. It contrasts ancient courtship with modern propriety, noting how missteps could spark scandal, police action, or social consequences while urging cautious, informed introductions.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jacob
Rachel
Fachel
Jake
Haran
Rache
Chicago
House of Correction
Materialized Philosophy in Fat Man Tales
A New York Mercury piece argues flesh nourishes philosophy, recounting fat men in anecdotes and a Kentucky case where a fat man was deemed too heavy to hang. It links bodily excess to insight, noting humor, resignation, and a cheerful acceptance of appetite amid life’s smoother moments.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Mercury
Dickens
Kentucky
Supreme Court
Philosphy
Faust
Arall
Feuding Fashion and the Power of Love in Women
A Cincinnati News Journal essay surveys feminine beauty and behavior across cultures, praising love as a universal bond while critiquing vanity. It contrasts fashion’s superficiality with enduring virtues, cites historical women exemplars, and argues for respect toward women’s influence in society amid evolving mores.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Cincinnati News-Journal
Japan
India
Gujarat
Greenland
Monomotapa
Peru
Nes
Love
Fishes and Birds in Love Courtship Display
A naturalist describes fish courtship among sticklebacks with nest building and egg care, notes the male guards and later tears down the nest after hatching. He also details bird courtship in cranes and herons, including dancing displays and female selection, plus a South American rite of gymnastic tests before acceptance.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Florida
New York Reverberates With Energy and Awe
A writer sits by a window looking south over miles of roofs and urban sprawl in New York. He extols the city’s majesty, energy, and sensory onslaught of bells trains and traffic, calling it an inspiring contrast to southern quiet and a sign of metropolitan vitality.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York
Staten Island
Brooklyn
Society's Favorite Excuse in Polite Society
A Philadelphia Press column argues that a bad cold is the favorite excuse to avoid unpleasant requests and evaded invitations. It notes the cold is often a false plea used to stay home or dodge social obligation, likening it to the gouty shoe excuse at a country house.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Philadelphia Press
James Smith
Sam
Smith
Chinese flirtation tale ends with a taunting pun
A Paris based Chinese attache jokes that a Chinese husband may divorce a talkative wife, claiming domestic virtue as value. The Frenchlady questions the barb, and the Mandarin bows, hinting at a law against loquacious wives as punishment.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Paris
Noman
China
Aobel
The Webster Speller Sells Across Regions Despite Decline
The Webster spelling-book once common in New England and the Middle States remains less popular there but still thrives in trade. Publishers claim 1,900,000 copies sold annually since 1847, with most current sales heading to the South and West. Total nationwide sales reach a substantial 76,000 copies to date.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New England
Middle States
Behind the Scenes at a Theatre An Evening's Stage Routine
A 6:30 to late night tour of backstage life details the gasman lighting borders, fly-men, set pieces, props, and dressers. It follows stage hands, prompter, and orchestra as they build, cue, strike, and reset scenes for each act amid noise, humor, and ritual.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Times
le Sage
Byron
Gulliver
Mark Twain
Marco Polo
Eneas
Mark Antony
G. P. R. James
Tegin
Charles
Johnson
Bellamore
Withen
Manner
Havana by Night A New World City Awakens
New York Telegram correspondent describes Havana at night around the Prado blazing with gas lamps and fountains. The scene features a cosmopolitan crowd in bright Parisian attire, soldiers in trappings, balconies, and Moorish and Eastern touches. The writer hints at hidden passions beneath a picturesque surface.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Telegram
Havana
Prado
Isabella la Segunda
la Haroun al Rashid
United States
Secanty
Liger
Murillo
Professional Humorists Peck and Nye Highlight Western Wit
George Peck, famed humorist and father of the “bad boy,” has risen to about $25,000 yearly. From La Crosse to Milwaukee, Peck built Peck’s Sun into brightness for many households while giving back to ragged newsboys with a banquet and diamond cuff buttons. Bill Nye, the Boomerang founder, is a baldheaded, bearded humorist living quietly yet capable of provoking laughter. he has earned around $16,000 from the Boom erang and seeks to establish a Minnesota funny paper near 36 Paul.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Peck
Bill Nye
Indianapolis Journal
George Peck
New York Herald
New York
Wisconsin
Brick” Pomeroy
Herald
la Crosse
Milwaukee
Rocky Mountains
Henry Watterson
Eopie
Kentucky
Nye
Wyoming
Denver Tribune
Minnesota
Paul
BRIC A BRAC My Pretty Boy and a Dog Stare Tale
A brief poetic vignette features My Pretty Boy by D M Jones describing beauty and joy through flirtatious lines about a pretty boy with sparkling eyes and a melodious mouth. A comic exchange from a French source asks what a dog stares at, leading to a sharp quip about a barber who eats a removed ear.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Pretty Boy
D. M. Jones
Puck
Harber
Barber
Love Stone as Death and a Sitting Bull church joke
A Mother endures loss as her infant nears death then recovers amid love. Satirical sketches follow with Sitting Bull joining a church and a blunt humor about church collections. A string of regional stereotypes and quips from many nationalities finishes with a puzzled exchange on ice making.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Macher
Old Mother Hubbard and the baby’s costly reign
A satirical piece notes how a baby drains funds and upends daily life. It portrays a mother selling her last suit to feed the dog and jokes about the social and financial chaos caused by a child, from worn shoes to restless carriage crowds.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
National Republican
Against Death the Temptations of Man by Francis Quarles
A fragment reflecting on human fragility and the futility of earthly attributes. The speaker notes that beauty strength wisdom wealth and youth end with death, asserting that mortality renders all such qualities powerless and leaves man only with a common ending.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Francis Quarles
Plantation Philosophy of a Candidate and Common Sense
Opie Read reflects on rural wit and ambition, arguing hard work matters more than politics. He notes a candidate who claims disdain for office yet reacts with anger when opposition is revealed, illustrating distrust and the stubborn temper of voters.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Opie
Arkansaw
Pateridge
Death as Omnivorous Toad in Twilight Road
In a late prose fragment by Sydney Lantery Well the passage envisions Death as a vast omnivorous toad that seizes all, promising fate to Eve and Adam while shifting through biblical imagery. Grim Suneenor sits on a twilight road and croaks about life and mortality, urging pilgrims toward a Christian path as Christ leads.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Paradise
Gotham
Joe Nighthead
Egypt
Sam Johson
Purgatory
Licretia
Connecticut
Sydney Lantery
Death
Eden
Adam
Ohio habits show in ex-Ohioan dress and opinions
From Ohio to Chicago, an observer notes ex residents shed home habits. They reform facial hair and dress, shun suspenders, and adopt Shakespeare collars and neckties, yet some cling to phrases of Ohio pride while avoiding accusations of electoral impropriety.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ohio
Chicago
Howells
Minnesota
Western Reserve
Hayes
Whitelaw Reid
Also Mentioned on This Page
Tonnelling
Liberty
Engineer Lockwood
Lockwood
Brockton
Jacob and
Bmnen
Boldhuss
Stranger Land
Phaon
Petrarch
Heloise
Abelard
Helen
Urey
Khorassan
Budmeus
Naomi
Ruth
Zion
Volumnia
Rome
Chary
Dorcas
Mary
Christ
Damarus
Areopares
Our Republic
Ledyard
Europe
Fishes
Stringendo
Mufty
Orange
Sitting Bull
Mr. Bull
Charles Pinson
Esquimaux
Austin
Wes
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!