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This newspaper page contains 25 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Pittsburgh Dispatch
Location
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Date
Jan 26, 1890
Page
6
Handball is described as a distinctly Irish sport now the most popular athletic diversion in the Emerald Isle. Ancient accounts show handball contests in Rome four centuries before Christ, yet for long it attracted little attention until recent times.
The article explains handball rules, scoring, and the strategy of placing the ball to defeat the opponent. It highlights the ace scoring system, singles and doubles play, and the need for quick judgment and reading the opponent. Brooklyn hosts prominent players like ex-champion John Lawler, Philip Casey, and others in a sport rising in the United States.
The article presents a proposed handball expansion with rules for four handed play, serving position and wall plays, ball obstruction fouls, and referee decisions. It emphasizes handball as a growing pastime, adaptable to racquet courts, and details handout and foul definitions including binders and outs.
The narrator recalls early Pittsburg when river traffic ruled, steamers between Pittsburg and Cincinnati and rival lines from Wheeling, oil and coal shipments, and the rise of railroads that shifted commerce. He notes the old bridges, ferries, and distant travel a generation ago, before modern consolidation and rapid expansion transformed the city.
The essay traces Pittsburgh's shift from a provincial manufacturing hub to a progressive city. It notes the replacement of horse and rail travel with cable and electric lines to Oakland and East Liberty, praising rapid transit gains while predicting further speedier systems. It portrays suburbs becoming city neighborhoods and businessmen adopting city manners as real estate booms.
In 1882 a country teaching mother cured a severe cough with Chamberlains Cough Remedy. Word spread through neighbors and local druggists advertised 50 cent bottles. Listings name E G Stuckey Penn Ave and other Pittsburgh area merchants selling the remedy.
A new carpet named Agra claims durability surpassing any prior carpet. Only Groetzinger, 627 and 629 Penn Avenue, Pittsburg, offers it this season with large sales reported. Ladies are invited to inspect the carpet at this exclusive Pittsburgh outlet.
Mrs Carroll of 89 Irwin Ave Allegheny delighted after receiving an Everett piano on certificate No 72 in the Everett Glob She was so surprised she thought she would die The ad promotes low wholesale price payments of 1 per week and invites visits or requests for a circular Also mentions auction sale Japanese goods at No 10 Sixth Street and various local businesses and offerings including Z Wainwright Co ale and beer and Aufrecht's Elite Gallery at 516 Market Street Pittsburg
Readers learn that somnambulism may involve automatic intelligence from hemispheric activity. The article argues consciousness can be asleep while brain processes act independently, producing automatic acts without central awareness. It discusses storehouse memories, practice, and unconscious cerebration as normal in human thought.
The Lancet condemns ear boxing as injurious and often fatal, noting that even minor blows can cause serious ear damage and brain complications. It cites poorly nourished children as especially vulnerable and recalls a case where a tutor’s head strike led to death years later.
A professor named E Munroe reports a newly discovered explosive with decisive test results. The compound allegedly offers greater violence than current blasting and military charges yet remains chemically stable. It resists friction and percussion, is smokeless and nearly noiseless, and could rupture heavy armor with a shell’s contents. Manufacture is said to be simple and equipment light.
A long standing Arkansas scheme by a gang of horse thieves used rubber jacket disguises and sulphur baths to alter color and appearance. A doctor’s mistaken entry into a cabin alerted a Sheriff’s posse, leading to surrounding the den and capturing members. Stolen horses were bleached and rebranded to pass daylight transit and exit the region.
Workmen at the Birmingham and Ansonia mills in Connecticut staged cent rolling feats. An Ansonia roller started with a modern alloy cent and produced a 38 inch long strip 1.5 inch thick, then a 50 inch bronze ribbon 3 inches wide and 1.2 inch thick, and finally a 59 inch long strip less than 0.21 inch thick so delicate it could not be measured, tied to a ribbon to prevent it from tangling. The feats used mill rolls intended for large copper bars, highlighting their exceptional precision and touch.
A Belfast report describes a pneumatic bicycle tire for road use with a 234 inch diameter outer covering of rubber varied in thickness from a quarter inch at ground contact to a reinforced canvas rim attachment. Inside lies an inner tube containing the air.
The description explains a football blower inflated tire using a patent air valve to prevent deflation. Vibration is greatly reduced as the tire is intercepted between rim and ground, preventing frame jar except under large holes. It notes lighter frames can be used without risk of collapse, reducing wear.
A warning on the dangers of sleeping in damp and cold beds. The piece argues that cold rooms and chilly sheets threaten health, especially for travelers and household guests, and urges insistence on aired and dry bedding to prevent illness and potential death.
Dr. A N Blodgett proposes a portable phonograph to record physicians directions in hospital wards. He suggests recording patients lips and ward directives on cylinders for accurate, lasting medico legal evidence and clear reproduction long after treatment.
The town of Ontario in San Bernardino County shows a railway on Euclid avenue a broad street lined with orange and lemon trees. The six and a half mile route has heavy grades near the hills. A mule drawn car descends by gravity aided by a movable platform and guard rails while mules ride on the platform for the ascent.
A writer notes that determining acoustic qualities for great halls is still unresolved. He argues voice distribution depends on accident and trial after building completion. The field for discovery is open as sound properties appear poorly understood and remedies are hard to devise.
The Photographic Society of Geneva photographed 78 couples to test facial resemblance. In 24 cases the similarity between husband and wife exceeded that of siblings, in 30 cases it matched, and in 24 cases there was no resemblance.
A substitute for the expensive gum acacia is found in flaxseed mucilage. It emulsifies cod liver oil when treated by boiling with dilute sulphuric acid and water and then adding strong acid. The resulting gum appears brownish and viscous with a peculiar taste, and thirty grains can emulsify an ounce of cod liver oil.
If belts slip at electric plants or machinery a handy remedy is painting the pulley face with hot peppelium or very thin white lead with turpentine. Let dry, apply a thicker coat of white lead, allow to dry fully and use. The coatings won’t scale off when properly applied and reduce pulley noise and wear.
A refined woman with influenza like symptoms narrates severe sneezing and nasal inflammation, plus a productive morning cough. She credits Chamberlain's Cough Remedy for rapid improvement after initial doubt, and a local ad lists multiple Pittsburgh and Allegheny sellers including Stuckey, Markell Bros., Ihrig, Hartwig, and E. Heck.
A retrospective on Frederick Lerenz born in Germany who settled in Pittsburg, built a glass industry empire, and planned a grand Temperanceville estate. The article describes Lerenz’s early glass-work rise, the Elliot’s Delight plantation purchase, multiple house additions, estate grounds, and the aging homestead later owned by Mrs. Grace with relics from the Revolutionary era and old furniture.
Pure silk ribbons Nos 22 30 40 Py tie 28c reduced from 80c 62c 75c at De Haan's Big Wylie Ave. Sold by Smithfield street. Exclusive for his sale. Mail orders invited.
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