Tom Finlay and Sam the gentlest horse in Galveston
An 1885 Texas Siftings tale portrays Tom Finlay and his bay trotting horse Sam. Finlay’s wry sales pitch ends abruptly when Sam dies of colic, exposing a comic farce about swindling and gullible buyers. The piece blends humorous anecdotes with social banter as Finlay greets friends and contemplates fate.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
McClure
Galveston
Tom Finlay
Sam
Finlay
Strand
Jim Barnes
Bates
Cotton Exchange
Barnes
Stark
Wade
Quatrains The Book Agent
A compact verse sketch notes a book agent type who enters with a lie on his lips and exits with a jam. The quatrains critique starch stiffened manners and a smiling, door facing posture reflecting social pretense.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
B. J. & Phillips
A Bovine Paradox
A terse dialogue depicts fear, prudence, and courage as characters discuss a violent act. Jones tells his wife of a man who killed his wife and sold her body to a medical college, prompting a harsh judgment that such a person is not a gentleman.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jones
Wat I Should Guide in the Mazy Waltz
An 1885 note by A Y Ly Bill Nye discusses restoring his dancing, describing himself as tall and limber, with a cyclonic leg and balding head. He speaks with anticipation of resuming waltzing and the pleasure of guiding a partner through the maze of a dance.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
LY Bill Nye
Nature
Sec Row Seat Note for Admittance at Lulu Hurst Event
Retain this check as it secures your admit one for Lulu Hurst seat. The fragment implies a ticket or admission instruction naming Lulu Hurst and a specific row seat.
Ode to a Defunct Bull Terrier Poem
A humorous 1885 verse by W. J. Henderson laments a Bull Terrier named Eulalie. The speaker recalls the dog’s fearsome yet gentle eye and the cat’s reluctance to approach. The poem ironizes the pet’s demise as the sausage man has claimed the dog and plans to pot the remains, a wry farewell with tender lines on loss.
Entertaining Description of a Ride in a French Railway Carriage
London Truth recounts a rail journey to Trouville where a crowded compartment housed several ailing passengers. Heat, scents, ether fumes, headaches, and various self made remedies fill the cramped ride as the writer notes discomfort and odd behavior from fellow travelers.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
London
Trouville
Trousseau
Femme de Chambre
Fashionable Kissing and the Typewriter Romance
A New York Telegram item declares typewriter correspondence dulls romance in courtship. It notes women often value personal handwriting over machine letters and mocks the notion of fashionable kissing as an empty delusion observed among ladies at Saratoga and Lake George.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Telegram
Cincinnati
EM Jerkins
Whitehall
Saratoga
Lake George
A Womanless Farewell Kiss Debate in 19th Century Social Notes
The passage mocks the crowd at a farewell scene where couples exchange brief, restrained kisses. It argues that such "billiard-ball" kisses lack genuine warmth and claims a man would reject this form of affection, imagining a suitor traveling ten miles to kiss, only to touch a cheek and nose briefly.
Chased by a cyclone in a Colorado gulch
A Colorado narrator recalls a violent cyclone near a gulch opening. The party races horses to shelter as a black, dense cloud roars by, with white pillar of light behind it. They crouch in the ravine, feel the wind, hear cannonading thunder, and fear for life before safety.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Nan
Emma
Giory
The Nerve-Starter in Street Cars Described
A letter-writer condemns a local man described as a fiend who preys on women in street cars by staring at the floor opposite them. His disturbing gaze causes women to hide their feet and rearrange their skirts, leaving passengers anxious and humiliated. Tar and feathers are proposed as punishment.
A Novel Jail Revolving Cylinder Proposed in Omaha
The Omaha Bee reports a new jail design with a three story revolving iron cylinder housing ten cells per floor. A crank, water motor, and dual doors enable controlled access while prisoners remain out of reach. the cylinder rotates to present only the chosen cell.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Omaha Bee
Omaha
Enigmatic Yacht Names Reflect Social Whimsy and Tradition
In a lively exchange, a talkative young woman flirts with Mr. Smith about yacht names. They discuss whether boats honor sisters or friends, note that sisters rarely have pretty names, and consider christening a new vessel in honor of Elizabeth, Danie, or Elisha Smith. The dialogue reveals social humor and naming conventions in nautical culture.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Gracie
Mr. Smith
Fanny
Ty Danie
Elizabeth
Lizzie
Bessie
Bess
Elisha Smith
Boston smallpox kiss rumor shocks city in quizzical chatter
In a fragmentary exchange from iChicago News era speak a Boston girl and a boy puzzle over smallpox exposure and vaccination, joking about a kiss spreading disease while noting they have been vaccinated. The quirky dialogue captures a moment of urban humor amid health fears.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
iChicago News
Boston
Gawege
Yaas
Gawge
The Burglar's Presence of Mind in London Tid Bits
A night noise prompts Jones to descend with a candle where he finds a burglar fleeing with a full sack. The thief glibly snatches the candlestick from Jones and stuffs it into his bag, uttering a quip about ten thousand shanks as he departs.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
London
Jones
Cctpaigina Jones
Dead on His Post The Southern Scout Spy’s Narrow Escape
A 1863 New Year tale recalls a Union frontier mission along the Rappahannock. A Confederate disguised as a Federal barber evades pickets, deserts camp, and escapes across the river with a horse and vital intelligence, narrowly avoiding capture in a brutal winter patrol.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Virginia
Charleston
Rappahannock
Burnside
Fredericksburg
South Shore
The Colonel's Duel Joke Ends With Rock Fight
An elderly colonel ridicules a challenger with a staged duel at a mine shaft. The young man must throw rocks up while the colonel drops rocks down, prompting the withdrawal of the challenge. The piece also notes Etretat washerwomen using a subterranean stream as a natural washhouse.
Water on the River Bed Becomes A Poet's Inspiration
The passage describes a hidden spring along the La Fountain stream, where water appears fresh and pure beneath the bed. After washing linen, clothes are laid on the beach to dry, weighed down with stones to prevent blowing away. A scenic, poetic potential is noted for future writings.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Normandy
Memphis
Etretat
Flying Dutchman mystery car robs city of 5 cent fares
A Philadelphia Call report unravels the urban legend of car No 99 the Flying Dutchman. A poverty stricken couple built and operated a yellow five cent fare car that appeared on multiple lines, evading depots and public scrutiny, until they earned about 80000 then disappeared.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Fime
Corporation On
Fairmount Park
Germanytown
Theassenger
Anthey
Two Dirly-Cirlies Hammock Romance From Philadelphia News
A humorous Philadelphia notice describes a hammock scene in a suburban rear verandah where two sisters test a tilted hammock. One sister appears rosier as blood pools toward the face while the other enjoys a slight vertigo effect, revealing social amusement in polite surroundings.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Philadelphia News
Texas Literature Fans Home Demand Encouragement from Gatesville Sun
A Gatesville Sun excerpt mocks local romantic prose by depicting Lycurgus and Opedeldoe cats on a woodshed roof. The scene escalates when a wild-eyed man with a musket appears and the cats flee into a different room, ending with the word Finis.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Texas
Detroit Free Press
Gatesville
Lycurgus
Opedeldoe
Opedeldoc
Finis
The Cluster Ring Scam Then A Honeymoon Plan
A New York Sun feature explains a seven stone cluster diamond ring sold for 12 dollars with a six month rebate of five. The jeweler exposes a common tactic where the first ring is used as an engagement fling then swapped for the real piece, noting this is a hustler’s pattern across cities.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Cirisi
New York Sun
Bosto Philade
Spirit Life Graphic Story of a Man’s Return From Death
A Cleveland Plain Dealer feature recounts a man who died after a horseback accident and later revived. He describes a journey through a personal afterlife, observing heaven, ostracization by others, and a return to life that followed medical revival and an embalmers’ misstep. He offers a theory on life’s vital principle and nine tenths death, arguing time in the other world differs from earth.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Rose
Language mixups spark wild New Mexico hotel scene
A stranger from the East travels to Albuquerque and mocks Spanish pronunciation, misreads local names, and causes a hotel dining room uproar. Amid misunderstandings he boasts of Irish and Illinois roots, loudly declaring his Spanish slang prowess before friends restrain him.
The Cambler's Victim On a Mississippi Steamboat Tragedy
Detroit Free Press recounts a Mississippi River steamboat scene where a young, well educated gambler loses large sums at card tables. After declaring he lost $600 entrusted to deliver to New Orleans, he leaps overboard. Captain later says the man reappears as a capper to lure greenhorns, not drowned.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Detroit Free Press
New Orleans
Natchez
Bosh
Greenhorns
The Virgin's Kiss and Wax Flirtations Tales
A San Francisco Chronicle letter describes Baden Baden’s old Schloss and its torture chamber trap known as the Virgin Kiss, where a condemned man fell forty feet onto a spikes and blades statue. Pittsburgh Dispatch notes sealing wax flirtations as a modern racket using color codes for business mourning love and weddings.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
San Francisco Chronicle
Baden-Baden
Schloss
New Castle
Pittsburg Dispatch
Wax fashions and seals inspire a Paris scented craze
Report notes rising taste for decorative wax work as waxes, thimbles, and seals become fashionable. A Paris imported perfume wax fills rooms for about four hours, driving demand and price. A French firm is implicated in producing the scented wax used to create elaborate designs and displays.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Paris
Fire Hunting and Romantic Echoes in a Fragmented Page
A collage of literary fragments and jokes from Texas Siftings and Harper’s, including a vivid canoe scene with a lone rifle shot on a lake, mock dialogue about a dinner for two francs, a scandal rumor, verses about good nights and lost springtime, a street scene with city refined women, and a joke about Gus Snobberly. The items drift across memory, music, and humor, preserving period tone and curious miscellany from the era.
Bevy of fair girls weave and sew in Good Cheer
Margaret Eytinge describes a scene of busy girls including Maud Jess Lizzie Jennie Nell and Ben sewing a crazy quilt painting a fan and weaving lace while Peg sits in a wicker chair crocheting a dainty black silk stocking. The golden sun glints on her bowed brow as she darns with careful stitches and the speaker's heart is pierced by the delicate work.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Maud
Jess
Lizzie
Jennie
Nell
Ben
Peg
A Substitute for Snoring
Old Hicks awful snorer heard beyond a blacksmiths forge, wife soothed by the sound. They were domestic, never apart for years. He went to assizes, she slept poorly those nights, a servant girl ground coffee to help her sleep.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Rehoboth
Hicks
Also Mentioned on This Page
Tappy
Mex. Sweet
Philips
W. J. Henderson
Bill Nye
Globe
Eulalie
Alexander Sweet
Texas Siftings
Thad
Mississippi
Strauss
Jumbo
Monke
Lulu Hurst
Labouchere
Colorado
New York Post
Chicago
St. Louis
Detroit
Free Press
Atlanta
Georgia
North
Taylor
Peters
Peachtree Street
Lancaster
N. Y
Twelfth Infantry
Mentey
Secessia
Etrerat
Quaker City
Philadelphia
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Illinois
Jose Country
Albuqurque
N. M
Mugwumpery
Railroad Avenue
la Junta
Jemes
Haymess
Armijo
Armiho
Sante Fe
San Felipe Hotel
Illinoy
Montezuma
Jeremi
Heremiah Hones
Hacksonville
Lnoy
Hoop
Hupster
Cwill Meredith Nicholson
Palais Royal
Jack
Dimidium
D. Blackmore
Harper's
Mary
Charley
San Antonio
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
the City Boarder
iPuck
Sally Ann
Gus
New York
Adirondacks
Margaret Eytinge
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