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This newspaper page contains 32 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Brainerd Dispatch
Location
Brainerd, Minnesota, United States of America
Date
May 15, 1896
Page
3
Stanley Claremont schemes with Abraham Nailer to entrap Sydney Drummond. The ruse involves inviting reckless youths to occupy the house and a midnight plan to reach Sydney's room. A coded hour hidden in a watch promises a decisive moment for the scheme.
Sydney Drummond endures a brutal night of baccarat at the Claremont mansion where Stanley uses debt and pride to crush him. Drummond loses £125, contemplates flight, and awakens amid fear and shame while a mysterious watch-seal is found in his room.
A San Francisco Chinatown piece describes the cheerful yet squalid quarter, its two schools, and Chinese children learning English and Chinese, interwoven with religious contrasts. The second item recounts Herod's fortress Machaerus, its dark dungeon, and John the Baptist's fate as told by Stoddard in St. Nicholas.
The Indiana Farmer columnist urges farmers to improve seed corn while citing measurements of ears and basing methods on selecting best ground and seed, deep plowing, heavy manuring, and precise thinning to one stalk per hill. The piece warns that weeds nearby, especially sunflowers, hinder corn growth and stresses clean, well-cultivated soil for alfalfa as well.
In a Pittsburg Chronicle Telegraph snippet, a courtly exchange unfolds as a speaker cites a familiar phrase and the idea that unwritten letters may carry more effect than written words. The dialogue hints at wit about bias and the value of unspoken messages in polite discourse.
In Harper's Round Table a coal mine tram driver named Ruggsy saves the day amid a runaway car. He and his mule Lazybones act swiftly to divert the tram toward a switch and into a mine well, sparing miners below. He is hailed as a hero and given a job in the engine room.
A woman living in the countryside claims she has tamed a family of mice living in a window sash. She says each mouse responds to her call and feeds from her hand. During a garden tennis party a mouse is killed by a thrown hat, unsettling the narrative and its teller.
Advice on foot care and shoe fit from Harper's Round Table stresses proper shoe length and low heels to prevent ingrown nails bunions and deformities. It endorses multiple shoe pairs soft stockings regular foot bathing neat footwear and storing shoes to maintain shape. It champions proportion over size and urges careful buttons and upkeep for a pleasing appearance.
The article notes cross-country as an early spring sport with two race methods a pre laid course and hare and hounds. It highlights Louis the Greek hero of Marathon to Athens 26 mile race with a time of 2 hours 48 minutes and cites historic context of the Persian victory.
In Glasgow a pale faced bootblack helps another boy while waiting for hire. The second boy explains Jamie is briefly out of hospital and they take turns brushing for him. The gentleman rewards the group with a shilling. the helper gives sixpence to Jamie and keeps six for his sister, refusing any share of Jamie’s money.
A passage from Arthur Hoeber in St. Nicholas muses on the ubiquity of the Smith surname. He notes dozens of Smiths in New York City and across Britain and Germany, where Schmidt is the German variant, highlighting how common the name is in cities from Land’s End to John o’Groats.
A Practical Farmer article by M. G. Ament describes building a hand cart using secondhand carriage wheels, an iron axle, and oak beams. It details cutting the axle, assembling with clips, mortising holes, adding posts, boards, and a front leg, plus a long chain and harness rings for handling and stability. The design emphasizes bracing, load efficiency, and mobility without a horse.
The Missouri Experiment Station reports successful control attempts using a fatal disease against chinch bugs. Winter survival is high and hatch is likely, urging farmers to request infected bugs. Send live bugs and requests to Prof. J. M. Stedman or Director H. J. Waters at Columbia Missouri.
A brief reminder for readers about preparing soils for alfalfa sowing. The note emphasizes careful groundwork and timing to optimize germination and growth. The guidance appears in a compact advisory style typical of local agricultural notes.
A historical note explains transplanting large trees by digging a trench around the trunk and using wooden levers to lift with a soil ball intact. Diagram references illustrate excavation methods and soil layers, noting the trench depth varies by tree size and that minimal root disturbance aids new growth.
Webb Donnell explains that planting into shallow fertile soil over a hardpan forces roots to push into infertile ground. He advises excavating deeper and wider, then filling the bottom with rich soil and firming it around the roots to a proper depth.
A Practical Farmer letter offers a design by C. E. Pleasin showing a three barrel ash hopper with a removable upper end. The lever action raises the end through post notches, allowing easy emptying without heavy lifting. A hollow tree trough can serve as a trough, and the unit can be roofed to last a long time.
To prepare common land for late celery, dress with stable manure low in coarse litter and well rotted if delayed near planting. Manure from grain-fed cattle, sheep or hogs is preferable to horse manure, ground should be deep plowed, then finely worked. Early crops may precede celery, with fresh manuring if needed, otherwise reuse well rotted material only.
Plant potatoes this year and heed garden truck advice. Remove and burn black knot on cherries and plums. A hellebore remedy helps currant and cabbage worm control. Clover supports pasture and hay, aiding low lands. Shady pastures save heat and boost profits, while well kept gardens benefit families more than vast fields.
The Philadelphia Times reports on a new season for women playwrights. Elizabeth B. Walling produced a two act comedy at the Carnegie Lyceum on February 18, praised as faithful to daily life in the Elizabethan era. Walling joins prominent women dramatists Marguerite Merrington JT Morton Eva Brodrique Huntley Mrs Edith Tapper Alice Ives Lucette Ryley and Minnie Maddern in a rising feminine intellect movement.
A Welsh wedding described in old custom where consent was given by the bride’s parents, a guarded gate, and a game of hide and seek. The bride hid behind a cloak, horses galloped to the church, a guard outside the church, and a celebratory toast with shared cup.
At Ann Mille near Newville Pennsylvania Sarah Jane Geese, described as one of the county’s heaviest women, leapt from Gallows bridge into the Conodoguinet creek hoping to drown. Her body, too buoyant to sink, floated for hours before being rescued and she is expected to recover. The story notes her twelve children and steady weight gain.
A description of an illustration showing letters with two equal shapes that appear differently when upright versus upside down. The upper halves seem only slightly smaller than the lower halves, but turning the page exaggerates the size difference, making the top appear much smaller than the bottom.
Reporter Richard Harding Davis describes Honduras as pleasant on the surface yet filled with biting insects and relentless pests. He notes dense brush, aggressive swarms, and nights of discomfort caused by stinging creatures.
The dialogue asks why two chicken legs differ in toughness and jokes about one leg being 100 percent tougher. Sam quips about Sen do dan de, and the exchange notes a leg that “sleeps on,” reflecting humorous old style slang from Harper's Magazine.
An Irish observer parodies the vastness of the United States, claiming you could roll England through it without leaving a dent. He imagines freshwater oceans deep enough to drown Ireland and Scotland so small you could misplace it, only noticing it by the scent of whisky.
An exchange in Le Monde Comique shows Madame Piffard praising her new theater job as a box opener while noting she once sold newspapers on the Boulevard and preferred drama to journalism. The other gossip, Madame Trabuchet, agrees with the sentiment.
A Yonkers Statesman quip recalls a clerical exchange about taking time off. A worker allegedly lied about attending a funeral to justify a baseball game. The joke hinges on the graveyard metaphor, framing an offhand office moment.
A reader asks if hats must be removed in theaters and a sensible mother answers Yes, hats are taken off whenever the audience sits, before the performance begins, according to a Washington Star item.
The article tracks a shift from low nail prices and factory losses to higher wages and rising raw material costs. It notes demand for cut nails waning while American wire nails dominate, with German nails failing to gain traction despite early foreign prevalence.
The delineascope is a new instrument for military and topographical surveying. A small portable camera with fixed focus looks downward through a 45 degree angled mirror, projecting a reversed image onto tracing paper for tracing features and recording details with a focusing glass and squared grid margins for precise data.
A humorous exchange features Bobby asking if the baby was sent from heaven. Mamma affirms with a playful warning about quiet up there, while Truth adds a lighthearted remark on the heavenly routine.
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