Baby rides Basel the 9000 pound elephant helper
A New York baby named Evan Healy enjoys daily rides with Basel the gentle 9000 pound elephant nurse. The baby’s keeper’s son is cared for by the elephant as crowds watch the unusual scene. Basel first tests the baby’s milk, then uses its trunk to push the carriage or guide the ride. Frances learns to tiptoe and descend stairs quietly, sharing a doll-like moral about manners.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Evan Healy
New York
Basel
Healy
A Collection of Odd Historical Jokes and Tales
A string of fragmented anecdotes and notes on curiosities from history. Included are a tale of Rome and a goose, a musically inept rabbit and bullfrog, a Civil War horse that carried both Union and Confederate prisoners, and reports on underground fires in mines. Also notes on a balloon sighting and misheard explanations.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Buffalo Horse World
Sheridan
Shenandoah Valley
Hits
Jubal Early
Oscar L. Teachout
Aristocratic Robber Espinosa of the Santa Fe Trail
The Chicago Record recounts Espinosa, a Spaniard who built a hacienda by the Rio Grande, ruled peons as a king, and was ruined by New Mexico’s newcomers. After a fatal encounter with a Yankee guest, he fled to the Sangre de Christo mountains and led raids on coaches and caravans until Irish trapper Tom Tobin killed him and sent his head to authorities.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Santa Fe
Espinosa
Rio Grande
Cortes
Spain
New Mexico
Donna Espinosa
Sangre de Christo Mountains
Tom Tobin
Chicago
Fire drill at sea tests passengers and crew
A New York Press account recalls a second day at sea when a drill turned chaotic as hoses blasted and lifeboats were readied. Passengers feared impending doom until a cook’s boy explained it was a drill to test the crew, revealing how death at sea feels to those unprepared.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York Press
Unlucky Mail: Items From Dead Letter Office Catalog
Patti Lyle Collins writes in The Ladies' Home Journal about Washington’s dead letter office housing odd contents not sold as unclaimed parcels. Ivory miniatures watches false teeth raisins wedding cake pistols knives a clothes wringer coffeepot kerosene lamp infernal machines china fans frogs centipedes human skulls a four foot alligator and more. Dynamite and live serpents are unmailable yet have been transported by mail.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Uncle Sam
Museum of the Dead Letter Office
Washington
Patti Lyle Collins
Ladies’ Home Journal
Rare Bangor lad names Chinaman with whiskers in autograph
A 10-year-old in Bangor Maine found a line in an autograph album that began What is so rare as a day in June. He added a bold witty reply The next page was vacant and he wrote A Chinaman with whiskers and signed his name in the book The anecdote reflects a young imagination and a cheeky sense of humor with no harm intended.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Bangor
Poor Papa Exhorts Caution Over Daughters Suit
In a Philadelphia North American item a father questions a suitor's claim of his daughter's affection and asks whether the man truly deserves her hand for life. The young man counters that he has observed things the father may have missed.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Papa
Philadelphia
Also Mentioned on This Page
Frances
Rome
Freeman
Mr. Freeman
The
Goose
Cincinnati Commercial Tribune
York Herald
Great Britain
Aspin
Colo
Kirkpatrick & Wilson Importers
Nn Ge
Sanden
M. Sanden
Main Street
Winnipeg
Manitoba
P, Burns & CO
Nelson, B. C
Rossland
Trail
Nelson
Kaslo Sondon
Three Forks
New Denver
Slocan City
Brackman-Ker Milling Co
la Victoria
Vancouver
Westminster
Edmonton
Roe
West Kootenay Butcher Co
E. C
Manavera
Baker Street
Nelson Hardware CO
J. J. Walker
WM. Hamilton Manufacturing CO
Peterborough, Ontario
Canada
Turner Beetone Co
Victoria
London, End
Pabst Beer
Milwaukee
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!