Local newspapers used to be so damned good – factual, informative, detailed, and, above all, interesting. Let me say that again … detailed and very interesting. I love to peruse old papers. They contain great stories that always entertain me. Often its the small, rather quirky news of yesteryear that catches my eye. The old days of detailed community reporting are gone, but it makes me wonder how the demise of the newspaper – local publications that were up-close and very personal – ever occurred.
Allow me to share some journalism from bygone days – stories from well over 100 years ago. Here is some of the news that hit the streets on just one day, January 20, 1910. All of these stories have been taken from the archives of The People's Defender (West Union: Adams County, Ohio). The paper back then was packed with wonderful information (7-8 pages an edition). It was stylish, and very well written. I hope you enjoy.
The People's Defender, January 20, 1910
Let's start with a doozy – a local scandal.
Headline: “Charlie and His Affinity Arrested in Pittsburg”
C.S. Pittinger, well-known Decatur citizen, left his wife and eloped with Miss Nita Williams, a pretty telephone operator at the Decatur exchange, were arrested at Pittsburg Friday and held for the Brown County authorities.
Mrs. Pittinger, who had asked for the police of various counties to look out for the couple, swore out a warrant for her husband on a charge of abandoning children but afterwards withdrew it and the couple were discharged.
This is not the first time the couple eloped. On former occasions when her husband returned, she readily forgave him. After leaving Decatur, Pittinger and Miss Williams went to Cincinnati, where they stopped at a hotel on Twelfth Street. The couple were recognized but could not be taken into custody. Pittinger is about 50 years old and Williams is about 25 years old.
In the divorce proceedings of the Pittingers in Georgetown a few days ago, Mrs. Pittinger withdrew her petition for divorce and the couple signed separation papers.
By the agreement, Mrs. Pittinger was given all the real estate, consisting of a large dwelling and business house and barn in Decatur, all personal property, notes, accounts, moneys, and credits, save about $800 deposited in the Citizens Bank, Ripley. Mrs. Pittinger has care and custody of minor children and Mr. Pittinger is enjoined from interfering with Mrs. Pittinger in the control of them. The court found Mrs. Pittinger to be the sole owner of 83 acres of land in Brown and Adams counties deeded to her by the defendant February 27, 1909.
Animals made the news.
John Slack lost one of his family horses by death a few days ago. A young horse of Mike Shope got loose and kicked Mr. Slack's horse injuring the animal to such an extent that it died a few hours later.
Headline: “In Wildest Portsmouth”
A catamount (medium-sized or large wild cat – panther or lynx?) rendered desperate by hunger, raided the hog pen at the Scioto County infirmary early Monday partially chewing up a fat porker. John Hall was awakened by the squeals of the hogs and got to the scene in time to save the rest of the porkers.
The weather was extremely bad.
W.B. Evans, postmaster at Pink P.O, Adams County, was in town Tuesday and said that they had received no mail in the Pink neighborhood for a week, on account of the heavy snow, says the Portsmouth Times. At the top of Rome Hill, where the winds do rage all year around, the snow has drifted to a depth of 12 feet, according to Mr. Evans and the road is impassable.
(In Peebles) On account of the snow, T.A. O'Leary, our mailman, failed to make his rounds the latter part of the week.
Looking for work?
Wanted: Three or four men to make railroad ties on the farm of Wm. C. Gaffin near North Liberty. Will give 10 cents straight for streetcar and Panhandle ties. Small timber, all oak; a vacant house close to the woods to shanty in. There will be from 3,000 to 4,000 ties to be made. Call on address Wm. C. Gaffin, Bentonville, Ohio.
Spirits were making the news that day. And so was a mystery in West Union.
Now that President Taft has decided that whisky (sic) is whisky, there are people who would like for him to determine what is in the bottles that are shipped into West Union from the Cincinnati mail order booze merchants.
Note: On December 27, 1909 President William Howard Taft answered a question: “What is Whiskey?” The question of “What is Whiskey?” came about because of the Pure Food and Drug Act that went into effect on June 30, 1906. In order to define what would be “Pure” whiskey, the government had first to decide what was whiskey itself.
Was whiskey a distilled spirit from grain that was aged in oak barrels with only pure water used to adjust the proof, or was it also the spirit that was modified with neutral spirits, flavoring and coloring agents?
The Chief Chemist for the Department of Agriculture under Theodore Roosevelt, Harvey Whiley, decided that it was only the former. This upset the portion of the whiskey industry who were rectifiers – people who bought bulk whiskey and blended it with neutral spirits and other components to make a flavor profile that they could sell to consumers. This also upset the foreign whiskey importers because this decision meant that their Scotch, Irish and Canadian products could not be called whiskey but instead were to be called “imitation whiskey”. The complaints were filed in court and the legal process began.
Taft spent six months listening to both sides of the issue. People from both camps testified either in person or by written statement–E. H. Taylor, Jr., John G. Carlisle, Isaac Wolfe Bernheim, and George Garvin Brown among others.
Taft took the task seriously and looked at the question from every angle. (Taft, you may know, is the only person to serve as both President and, later on, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The man loved a good legal question, and he dove deep into this one.)
Finally on December 27, 1909 he issued his decision on the matter. Nobody liked it, but everyone accepted the decision. The straight whiskey people thought it did not go far enough and the rectifiers thought it went too far. The one big change that Taft made in his decision was that Neutral Spirits used in “Blended Whiskey” had to be made from grain and not molasses. Molasses was the basic ingredient for making rum, not whiskey. The decision defines what could be called “straight whiskey,” what was “blended whiskey” and finally what was “imitation whiskey.”
One hundred years later (and change) when a person reads the regulations for a straight bourbon or rye, they are reading the Taft Decision.
(Bob Eidson. “The Taft Decision.” The Bourbon Review. February 17, 2014.)
And, speaking of the President …
A recent report from the African jungles described the mightiest hunter since Nimrod as being delighted over having shot a bull elephant “with tusks weighing 110 pounds.” That is a great deal better than his “heir apparent.” is doing to the G.O.P. Elephant here in Ohio and in the nation, for Mr. Taft is merely worrying the poor old beast to death. It's just awful how dreadful it is. Either the Red Cross or the humane society ought to interfere.
Was this perhaps the beginning of controversy about Confederate monuments?
The most talked of statue in the country right now is that of General Robert E. Lee, the placing of which in statuary hall, brought protests from some of the GAR posts because of the Confederate uniform. Each state in the union is allowed two stature of distinguished sons in statuary hall. Virginia donated memorials to Washington and Lee. The legislature of Virginia stipulated that if the statue of Lee was not accepted, that of the first president should be withdrawn.
Note: In December 2020, the Lee statue was removed from the National Statuary Hall's collection. It's expected to be replaced by a statue honoring civil rights activist Barbara Johns.)
Other noteworthy tidbits from the paper …
Headline: “Old Sprigg: Rumors of a Lead Mine and an Old Indian's Secret in Circulation”
Many of our older people believe there is a rich lead mine in this township. An aged citizen of West Union raised in this township, now dead, once informed the writer that the secret was confined to him by an old Indian hunter, who swore him to the utmost secrecy under pain of death. From what we can gather from the old gentleman's story, the mine is located somewhere between Owl Hollow and the farm of S.R. Forman on Ginger Ridge. It might pay some of the younger generation to investigate.
“I see,” remarked Uncle Jerry of Peebles, “the life insurance companies have laid down a set of rules for making people live 15 years longer. I ain't going to pay any attention to 'em. The life insurance companies have got a good thing the way it is.”
A delightful fragrance that is not oppressive can be given a sick room by putting a little cologne in a saucer and setting fire to it.
No comments:
Post a Comment