Sinking a Mine Shaft Tales of a Narrow Escape
John Devonshire, an English mining engineer, recalls a near death in a 90 foot shaft in Australia with two partners. A heavy bucket hung above him after colliding with another, leaving him trapped as the rope looped, while his companions, Bill Treadwell and Joe Mason, planned the rescue. They hauled slack rope, released the bucket, and lifted Devonshire to safety, with Treadwell returning later to locate a gold vein.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
John Devonshire
Australia
Joe Mason
Bill Treadwell
Woohatta
Brisbane
Tread Well
Joe
Bill
Treadwell
New York Recorder
Similarity of the lands and Feet in human anatomy
A Washington Star reflection notes people born without hands use their feet for most tasks. It compares the skeletons of the foot and hand, highlighting their nearly identical structures and the adaptations of the foot for movement versus the hand for manipulation.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Washington Star
Cape Cod Characters and a Curious Tide Lesson
A Cotuit legend recalls Captain Barnabas Z and his wife Abigail known for strong contrary natures on Cape Cod. Abigail’s fall overboard amid harbor bustle leads Barnabas to search against the tide, but her body is found the next day, illustrating the tale that even contrarians can be swept away by fate.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Cape Cod
U Cotuit
Barnabas Z
Abigail
Barnabas
Norwegian Cheese Delicacies and Hardy Tastes Explored
In Murray’s Magazine a narrator describes a Norwegian table with sardines sausages and several cheeses including mysost a brown goat milk cheese formed from whey and dried into bricks. Another cheese pultost with caraway smells off yet is enjoyed by locals.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Julius Niebolgson
Germany
Murray’s Magazine
Curious Passover Custom Painting of Hands Across Regions
A Montreal passenger article notes that painting hands on walls during Passover is common beyond Jews. It claims the hand charm signals good luck and as a feng shui-like ward against the evil eye, with Phoenician links and votive artifacts in Carthage. It cites occurrences in Syria, Naples, Constantinople, India, Ireland, and southern Spain.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Tunis
Algiers
Syria
Naples
Captain Candor
Carthage
St. Sophia
Constantinople
India
Ireland
Spain
Cutting Toast Etiquette Warns of Marriage Fate
A New York Advertiser note instructs that cutting toast requires three or four thin slices cut the loaf lengthwise then halved with one stroke. It warns a young woman who leaves slices unsevered will not marry this year, and if bread parts split evenly she should prepare for spinsterhood, with the final toast refused signaling luck.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Trousseau
New York Advertiser
Love and Wisdom and a Medieval Church Ledger
A poem contrasts Love and Wisdom with vivid imagery. Then a Harper’s illustration details St Paul’s cathedral and London church establishments in 1450, listing officers, canons, chaplains, vergers, bakers, brewers and staff, asserting such institutions likely housed a quarter of London’s population.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ss. Paul’s
Church of
St. Paul’s
St. Paul's
London
Waltw Besant
Harper's
Shell Money and Early Native Currency Practices
A Philadelphia Press account notes shell money in Pacific coast communities and eastern tribes. It describes bead manufacture, wampum belts of the Iroquois and Penn treaty belt, cowries and dentalium shells used as currency, and the varying values from twenty-five cents to two dollars. The piece highlights the cultural role of shell money and its display in the National Museum gallery windows.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Catlin
National Museum
Troquois
New York
Penn
Historical Society of
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
Asia
Africa
Washington
Oregon
California
Philadelphia Press
Street Car Lodgers Have Late Night Lodging Scheme
A Third Avenue line conductor jokes about picking up sleeping lodgers on warm nights. A man sleeps across from him as the car travels Bowery toward Harlem, with plans to transfer and ride back, a habit the conductor says fills the night and costs as little as a lodging house.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Third Avenue
Bowery
Harlem
New York Herald
Foot Measuring Machine patent links to hatter diagrams
A Baltimore inventor patents a foot measuring device using movable pins to trace the foot shape, similar to a hatter's head diagram. The note adds that hatter diagrams often resemble shoes, linking two measuring arts.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Baltimore
Hatters
New York Journal
An Appropriate Nause and Other Marginal Notes
A weekly visitor to his fiancée in a city near New York sparks a boys' debate on his nickname Uncle Pred or Uncle Fred. A London vegetarian hymn extols wheatmeal bread for all ages, while a French tale follows Jenny the flower maker and her lover. A street-cleaning dreamer is mocked by a local statesman in a New York Weekly item.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Metropolis
New York
Leland
Fred
Ned
Guy
London
Apin
Hite
Also Mentioned on This Page
Chicago Tribune
Wisdom
A. C. Gahan
New York Sun
New York Telegram
Frederick Tudor
Boston
England
Ohio
John Leech
Mme Teresia
New York Tribune
Pers
Jenny
Mademoiselle
Journal de Charleroi
Jinks
Isi
New York Weekly
da. E. F. Butterfield
Syracuse, N. Y
L. G. Noyes & Co
Warren
John Sill & Son
Diamond Furniture Company
B. G. Gregory
The
People’s State Bank of
East Randolph
Castoria
Parker
Nashville
Tonn
N.kk. Wendelboe’s
B. G. Gregory's
Humpirey & Nemoyer
Water Street
Episcopal Church
Pitcher’s Castorla
Samuel Pitcher
G. C. Oscoon
Lowell, Mass
Sam
J. F. Rinchenor
Conway
Atk
H. A. Ancarr
Oxford St
Brooklyn
Castor
the Centaur Company
TT Murray Street
New York City
Northwest
Pennsyania
Shaw
Front Street
Peter Greenland
Warren, P
T. W. McNett
Second St. Oppe
Davis’ Drug Store
Iuner
Short Street
Warren, Pen
Varnis
Warrein
Gowanda
Wiard
Biell
AMORA
Robison
R. Edmonds & Sor
Warren, PA
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!