The Fall of Sumter Messenger and Major Anderson’s Defense
In 1861 a Confederate siege of Fort Sumter led to Major Robert Anderson’s stubborn defense. A Lincoln messenger, the Pickens Beauregard circle, and a dramatic day at Charleston hotel reveal threats, a staged departure, and dispatches that shaped the bombardment. The tale recalls Lincoln’s unsigned note, Pickens’ reply, and Anderson’s fading stores as flames rose around the fort.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago
Inter-Ocean
Columbia
D. C
Moses
Francis W. Pickens
United States
Montgomery
Ala
Lincoln
Washington
Beauregard
Charleston
Fort Sumter
Robert Anderson
Pickens
Lim
Livinas 5
Shaw
State Department
South Carolina
Seward
Olive
Thomas Shaw
Department of State
Mr. Shaw
Robert S. Duryea
J. Jonathan Lucas
Duryea
Lucas
Wis
Siain
J. Davis
Veauregard
Anderson
Chestnut
Beaurngards
Major Anderson
Re. Anderson
G. W. Fox
Edmund Ruffin
Virginia
Morris Island
Palm-Leaf Fan at Druid Hill Park Draws Odd Crowd
In a Baltimore park scene a plain palm leaf fan sits on a bench as a portly man lopes up and sneezes repeatedly after using it. A fashionable passerby fancies the fan, then a young couple, and two boys steal the item amid muttered jokes as the park fills with visitors.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Baltimore
Billy
A Salmon's Whiz. The Fish That Climbs Falls and Fights
A New York Sun piece extols the salmon as a mighty climber and feisty fighter. It describes river dangers, the dramatic ballet of strike and reel, and the stamina needed to land a twenty-three pound fish. The account blends humor and detail about salmon behavior, tackle, and the epic chase.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Sun
The Vendetta and the Neapolitan Code of Honor
A Saturday Review essay compares Neapolitan vendetta practices with duels and explains how street violence arises from honor codes. It describes how warnings are given by gestures such as thumb and forefinger, the use of biting thumbs, and how public opinion polices vendetta and how crowds often side with the aggressor.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Saturday Review
Naples
Salerno
England
Europe
Lazzaroni
Iis
Dhar
Samson
Gregory
Camorra
His Little Garden by Bill Nye Relates a Mournful Garden Tale
Comic prose recounts Nye’s gardening woes with irritable irrigation and rival neighbors. He describes planting odd vegetables, a dispute over water, a fatal confrontation, and the costly, largely absent effort behind his garden. The piece ends with a humorous invitation for Shanghai eggplants, a lock of hair, and $10.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Bill Nye
Shaneha
Poland
Encouraging Experiments
A Somerville Journal snippet depicts a bashful man with a hint of mischief needing encouragement to act. A woman toys with the idea of testing stories in the funny papers about kissing, prompting a coy exchange on how a young man might discover their truth by seizing opportunity.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Somerville Journal
Cincinnati Saturday Night Farm Motto
A fragment from Cincinnati Saturday Night urges boys not to leave the farm but to take it along wherever they go. The line hints the farm will be handy in case of wet situations, suggesting a humorous rural philosophy.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Naples
Calabrese
Cincinnati
Gronsense
Harry
The Same Old Cat on a Fly Wheel Ride
A humorous note celebrates the familiar fly wheel cat, who has taken a dramatic rotary trip of about two hundred miles in half a day with no injuries beyond mild daze. The piece contrasts its Montreal debut with a planned Burlington to Red Oak run, praising the cat’s perennial act.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Burlington
Canada
Red Oak
Disinterested Advice for the Major
Major Gage, once chief commissary of the Army of the James and later publisher of the New York Weekly Magazine, stood in Chicago waiting for a streetcar when a news boy teased him to cover hair with cap or shave. The Major, amused, swore off hat removal in public thereafter.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Gage
Army of the James
New York Weekly
Chicago
A Monk Yet a Man in Melk Encounter
Vienna letters recount an ornithological congress visit to the Benedictine monastery at Melk on the Donau. The monks hosted a showy tour with wives admiring cloisters, hall, library, and gardens. An enthusiastic lady told a monk they were in heaven, to which he quipped that heaven lacks angels.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Vienna
Melk
Donau
A Kansas Dude Brigade Formed in Galena City
The Galena Republican reports a new organization called the Kansas Dude Brigade. Membership requires chewing taffy tofu in the dude dialect, wearing a No 4 hat, and performing a four-step dude walk. Sugar-coated toothpicks and single-barrel eyeglasses are ordered and expected soon for a forthcoming dregs parade.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Kansas
Galena
Why Some People Bet A Lucky Penny and Its Effect on a Man
A New York Mail and Express piece examines betting psychology at racing venues, recounting a penny luck tale and the odd ways bettors choose horses. It shares vivid anecdotes of dream inspired bets, number superstitions, and a famous racehorse Force, linking dreams to outcomes and the minds of racing followers.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Mail and Express
David
Sheepshead Bay
Kataplan
Charley Kempland
Duke of Montalban
Lewis
Brighton Beach
el Capitan
Abraham
Manhattan Beach
Gilmore
Feminine agility on the fence becomes a comic exposure
A San Francisco Examiner piece lampoons a girl climbing a fence as a showy feat. It details step by step maneuvers to surmount the top rail, the peril, panic, and eventual safe landing, ending with a vow to never attempt it alone again.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
San Francisco Examiner
Terra Firma
Justice Matthews Great Starring Tour on Erie Canal
Syracuse Herald recounts Justice Matthews and Alfred Seaman touring with Uncle Tom's Cabin aboard a canal boat in the Erie Canal era. Captain Duffus transports the troupe aboard the Sarah Jane, staging hundreds of performances under a leaks plagued tent. Matthews played most roles except Eva, and rain led to umbrellas shaping realism.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Justice Matthews
Erie Canal
Syracuse
Mr. Matthews
Bill
Duffus
Matthews
Eva
St. Clair
Owl at Market Provokes Irishman's Wisecrack
In Detroit market a stout Irishman inspects a large owl on display and asks how much for his broad-faced goose. The vendor clarifies the bird is an owl, prompting the man to quip that, regardless of its age, it’s good enough for the board.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Paris
Naples
Neaplitan
Detroit Journal
San Francisco Chronicle
Mr. Jones
California
All in the Same Fix
A New Yorker discovers an unmailed letter from his wife as three friends realize they too have forgotten to mail letters. The incident sparks shared concern and a moment of collective embarrassment among the group.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Graphic
New Yorker
Bric a Brac July Satire Mix
A compilation of humorous verse and quips from various papers. It blends Lucre, poems, and notices on July heat and society, with lines about poetry in heat, a physician misusing the title, and light social sketches from Puck and Harvard Lampoon style.
Also Mentioned on This Page
Sumter
President Lincoln
North
Sora
Italy
Johnny
Wun Lung
Shanghai
Penny
Florio
Markland
Tom
Soanevere
Force
Foree
Lawoke
West Roxbury
Nora Worth
Colorado
Lefevre
Saratoga
Mark
Merchant Traveller
Hartford Post
Denver
Philadelphia
Texas
Vermont
Rej
Harvard Lampoon
J. G. Holland
Dickey
Blackwood’s Magazine
Glenelg
Eva Gorton Taylor
Georgia
Jackson News
Puck
Venus
Newport
Mount Desert
Worth
Nellie Brown
Detroit Free Press
J. Williams
Chambers
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