Great Smallpox Swindle Foiled by Elder Confidence Game
A hotel keeper recounts a 1886 case in which two strangers staged a fake smallpox scare to force the owner to remove a supposed ill guest. A doctor confirmed the ruse, and a plan to move the patient for a $5,000 payoff ended with the rogue leaving in an insured decoy setup. The tale ends with the owner deeming the loss a price of education and reputational protection.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mike
Tmn
New Orleans Times-Democrat
The African Elephant in Kongo Regions
Describes behavior when threatened, noting that elephants may fight and become dangerous prey. Details large ears extending behind the neck, grayish blue color, absence of sacred white elephants, and impressive size with tusks over 200 pounds and lengths around six and a half feet.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
India
The Secret in a Paraphrase by Bparks and Btray
A cryptic exchange about secrets between a boy and a woman surfaces in a dialog attributed to Bparks and Btray Stories. The lines hint at contrasting views on keeping secrets, noting a woman’s two perspectives on concealed information.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Parks
Boy
Unseen Guards Protect Wall Street Wealth and Vaults
The article details covert security at Wall Street with armed detectives guarding cash and gold transports. It describes the subtreasury defenses, hidden bombs, metal shutters, a vault arsenal, and close surveillance to deter thieves without public display.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Wall Street
Great Financial Center
New York Tribune
New York
Batlees
Pine Street
Springfeld
Nassau Street
Broad Street
New Street
Prized Muster Roll of Captain A Lincoln’s Company
A detailed notice from Youth’s Companion describes the original muster roll of Captain A. Lincoln’s Company of the Fourth Regiment of Mounted Volunteers. Lincoln’s careful handwriting, the roll’s preservation, and its recovery after a prior disappearance are noted alongside endorsements by Nathaniel Buckmaster and the auditor for the treasury.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
A. Lincoin
Treasury Department
A. Lincoln
Lincoln
Snme
Treasury
Deak
Abraham Lincoln
Richland
Sangamon County
Nathaniel Buckmaster
Disraeli anecdote linked to Jebb Life Tales
A London review recalls Sir Richard Jebb Life and Letters and a Disraeli story. Corry recalls asking what a great orator speaks about after a speech. Disraeli recounts a Vienna cab anecdote with Gortschakoff and an English military man, praising the Englishman’s politeness.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Richard C. Jebb
Disraeli
Gorchakov
Free Speech In England Lectures on Treason in Hyde Park
Professor Masterman at Cambridge argues modern England values liberty of the subject while noting Hyde Park Sundays brim with treasonous talk that could fortify a German fortress yet speakers go home to tea. He adds it is remarkable that European states suppress attacks on the sovereign so strongly.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
England
Masterman
Cambridge
Hyde Park
London
Europe
Graphic
Heampeck Quarrel Becomes Wry Exchange In Wit
In a domestic exchange Mrs Heampeck asks her husband what he would do if she died. Hepeck replies the idea would drive him crazy and jokes about rain and sanity, reflecting a humorous back and forth from a St Paul Pioneer Press style snippet.
Humorist Captain Derby and a New System of Grammar
The piece discusses Captain Derby’s humorous critique of language via a proposed rating system for adjectives from 1 to 100. It imagines precise health descriptions like I am 55 or 90 well, then illustrates with a dialogue where ordinary exchanges become numerically quantified, showing wit and whimsy in the concept.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Captain Derby
America
Miss Smith
Toate
Meguis
Also Mentioned on This Page
Bally
Will
the Union
Bank Street
Waterbury, Conn
BTR
Broadway
Pearl
Beaver
Liberty Streets
Pinkerton
Byrnes
Willowby
Ransom
Zeb Hobart
Ruby
Polly
Zeb
English Woolen Wills Co
Reid & Hughes
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!