#33 - Interests: Extra! Extra! Read all About It! (Newspapers)
Our previous post looked at books owned by the Drums. Now
for some light reading!
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! The Drums read
newspapers, too!
Not only READ them, sometimes we were even IN the
newspapers! If you are going to be IN a newspaper, for a GOOD reason, of
course, you want to be on the front page. If you are on the front page, you
want to be “above the fold”. That way your picture is seen when the papers are
stacked waiting to be sold at the news stand.
Here I am, IN the paper, ON the front page, ABOVE the
fold! Yikes!
If you want to know more about this story, the post “No
BOOM is Good BOOM!” will explain it all.
However, whether we were in the papers or NOT, we surely
were READING the papers! The oldest
printed document I’ve found to date among the stuff saved by previous Drum Family
Tree Members, was a newspaper.
Printed in 1831, one month prior to the death of George
Drum, our ancestor who brought us to the valley that has become known as “the
Drums Valley”, here is Der Correspondent. In a
previous post I wondered if this might have been the last thing George
read before he died. I can just see him, sitting at a table reading this paper by the light of a candle or an oil lamp.
I imagine Nathan S. Drum sitting in his favorite
wing-back arm-chair, bathed in the warm glow of his oil-lamplight, turning the
pages of that day’s edition of the Hazleton Plain Speaker. Perhaps he
was chuckling over a note about HIMSELF, seen in the Carbon Advocate of
Lehigh, PA[1]
or the Lancaster Intelligencer[2]
of Lancaster, PA; both of which reported that he had been chosen to attend the
state Democratic Convention of 1887. Perhaps he was rubbing his forehead as he
read in the Freeland Tribute on July 24, 1890 that the “Merchant Nathan
Drum” had been selected for Jury Duty to begin on September 5, 1890.[3]
I can even see him pointing out to his wife that his
uncle Abraham’s son George was listed in the Hazleton
Sentinel on August 12, 1880. It’s possible he read it out loud to
her, saying something like, “Look here, Elizabeth! Here it says that ‘Geo.
Drum, the popular landlord from Butler, spent a few hours in town yesterday.’[4] Well, I’ll have to ask him what he was up to, next time I see him!”
We think it might have been Nathan’s name-sake nephew,
Nathan A., the coal miner, who, now by the light of his new electric-light lamp,
clipped the political cartoon by Bluckton entitled “The Robber
and his Victim” from the New York Thrice-A-Week World in 1896.
It is apparent that the Drums got much of their
information from newspapers. The “Hat
Box Collection” of documents, almanacs, receipts, and other papers
mentioned in previous posts, included, in addition to this cartoon, an
assortment of clippings from newspapers from 1870 into the 1930’s.
The
following photo includes just a few of these many clippings (some dated,
some not) found in the hat box.
Included in the photo are clippings on topics about,
among other things, (1) “Uses of Lemons”, (2) “Pie-crust Recipe”, (3) instructions
for making an electric engine, (4) tanning, (5) how to make paint from sour
milk, and, (6) the 1925 60th wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs.
Adam Smith. There is even a clipping filled with various medicine preparations
entitled (7) “Clip this Out!” So, they did!
According to clipping #8, a reunion of Union and
Confederate Soldiers was held in Gettysburg in 1913. The photo shows a Union
Soldier’s Widow greeting a Confederate Soldier. Beside that is a clipping (9) of
the evangelist Uldine
Utley. She’s the one with her hand in the air. The clipping is undated.
She looks young in the photo. We know she was 18 in 1929 so, this is probably
earlier than 1929, perhaps 1925. It is also hard to say what paper it was
clipped from but below the photo it says the photo was taken in New York. Below her clipping is a clipping about the (10)
death of America's
"Hymn Queen" Fanny Crosby. She died February 12, 1915 so one
assumes the clipping came from a newspaper published about then. She wrote
thousands of hymns in her lifetime, one of her best-known was Blessed Assurance.
Someone (Uncle Jake?) had an eye for the odd and curious.
From a 1904 paper we get a (11) picture of “Jack, the freak bull” (He’s on the
right side of the picture under the (12) Gyroscope car clipping).
Jake probably also was the one who clipped the story
about Rose the Monk-Faced Chicken (see below). No date was saved with this
clipping but it looks like it might have been from the 1920’s (when Jake’s
scissors seemed to be the most active).
August 28, 1923 is the date attached to
the story about Ruth Bouche’s legs which had apparently just been insured for
$25,000 (A sizeable sum even for these days but, to give context, that dollar
equivalent for today would be $373,608!). To round out the photo, we see
a clipping about Henry Ford and one showing the founders of the GAR.
Further along in this post we will come to a cartoon from 1908 showing the
evils of alcohol. The GAR Founders photo is on the back of that cartoon
clipping. Both subjects must have held interest to the clipper, however, since
the full cartoon is clipped out, seemingly indicating that was why the piece
was clipped, but the GAR Founders are titled in pencil “Founders of the G.A.R.”
as well.
If you watch a lot of late-night television, you’ve
probably seen a few commercials, or “info-mercials” as they’ve become known, that
seem ready to end only to hear the announcer say, “But WAIT! There’s MORE!” And
so it is here as well!
Here are two cartoons, one about Summertime safety and one concerning the evils of drinking.
The smaller one is urging
summer-time safety by showing all sorts of unsafe activities. the fellow
leaning against the tree is the “Fool-Killer” He says he takes his vacation in
the summer because the “fools” take care of things then themselves.
The image
includes hunters shooting each other, climbers falling into a crevasse,
swimmers diving into the lake head-first, a sky-diver with an unopened parachute,
etc.
Whoever clipped it wrote “Fools” on the cartoon. No indication of when or
in what publication it was published but it does not appear to be on newspaper
paper.
An interesting aside about this cartoon concerns who
appears in the cartoon. I’ve often lamented how hard it is to follow women in
History, so little attention is paid to them and their contributions. This
cartoon may be the women’s payback! There are only two individuals depicted in
the cartoon that even MIGHT be female! And I’m not certain they are! One is
near the impending train/car wreck and the other is depicted as only two feet
sticking out of the water by the overturned canoe. The feet appear to be
wearing women’s style shoes (higher heels as might be seen in an older woman’s pump).
The rest are all men. Is this an admission that only men, or mostly only men,
are fools?
The larger cartoon is from 1908. It is a commentary on
the evils of drinking (men spending money on liquor while family members watch
through the window, weeping). This is the clipping mentioned above that has the G.A.R. Founder
article on the back.
Next in the pile we find an article about the passing of Captain Straw. The
Straw family was a prominent Drums Family throughout the 1800’s. They played
a large role in the
Drums Methodist Church and owned and operated lumber mills along
the Nescopeck River. In 1838, “Andrew and Mrs.” Straw had a son they named
Cyrus. Cyrus lived an eventful and active life which is probably
why (probably) Jake clipped it for his archives!
As usual, Cyrus's mother is listed
in the article only as "Mrs.". Her name was Christina Boger Straw.
She was born in 1819 and died in 1870 at the age of 51. I am uncertain what year she
married Andrew but she and Andrew had five children together, Cyrus being the
first. In 1872, Andrew married again,
this time to Lovina Drum(Philip, George, Jacob, Philip). Lovina
was born in 1835, 23 years Andrew’s junior but three years before Cyrus. Lovina
lived 86 years, dying in 1921.
The article lists the following occupations
of Cyrus: Banker, Teacher, Businessman, Musician, and Butler Township School
Director. In 1885 he was elected County Commissioner. Not mentioned is that he was a Tax Collector, too. Here is his
autograph from 1877 that proves it.
The article goes on to say that Cyrus was a soldier in the
Civil War. He was wounded in the hip during the Battle of Antietam.
This battle took place over a 12-hour period on September 17, 1862 at Antietam
Creek, near Sharpsburg, Maryland. (The North usually named battles after
geographic features such as rivers, creeks, etc. The South named battles after near-by
communities so, in the South, Antietam is known as the “Battle of Sharpsburg”).
This battle was a pivotal battle of the Civil War, not because it changed the
course of the war, but because it became the “positive” news Lincoln was
seeking in order to announce his Emancipation
Proclamation.
Most observers did not refer to it as a victory. At best,
this bloody battle was a stand-off with some giving a slight edge, perhaps, to
the Union forces. However, Lincoln was seeking a Union victory so he could
announce his Emancipation Proclamation while the country’s spirits were high.
He chose to use this battle as his “victory” even though it was, and still is,
the battle with the highest number of casualties in U. S. Army history: 12,401.
Cyrus would have been counted in this number. The south, with fewer solders on
the field, arguably took the heavier hit, losing 10,316. It was a horrible loss
of life and limb for both sides.
 |
| Cyrus’s grave is the second stone from the right. It is decorated with an American flag. |
“Due to disability”, Cyrus Straw was mustered out in 1863
with the rank of Captain. He was still walking with the aid of crutches sixteen
months after his return to Drums. In 1867 he got married. His first business
was destroyed by fire so, according to the article, he became a Lumber Dealer
in Drums and “felled the forests between Nuremburg and Humbolt, around Honey
Brook and between West Hazleton and Conyngham.” Cyrus Straw died in 1915 and was
laid to rest in the Drums Cemetery across from his beloved church.
The abduction
and murder of Marion Parker was, apparently, a big news story in 1928. The man
executed for her murder was Edward Hickman. True to form, it was
clipped from the paper. I’m pretty sure it was Jake who clipped it out as well.
Sounds like a pretty gruesome event. Hickman was hung by the State of California
for this crime. I guess that ended that.
The Panama
Canal was a big deal in the years just after the turn of the century,
19th to 20th. People had been thinking about cutting
across the Isthmus of Panama to make getting around the world quicker almost
from when the Isthmus was discovered! Plans for a canal were being discussed as
early as 1524! However, it wasn’t until the 1890’s that things began to move
forward. A few alternate plans were discussed, the final route chosen, malaria
overcome, and, in 1906, construction began. The canal opened in October, 1913,
officially in 1914, but the world waited until 1920 to formally dedicate the
thing. Jake clipped a flurry of clippings from various newspapers about the
whole (hole?) business and here they are.
First, we see Col. George W. Goethals, “Master Mind of
the Panama Canal”. This Army officer was the engineer who oversaw the
construction of the canal for most of the work. He took over the project in
April of 1908 and saw it through to completion. President Taft was going to
appoint him as the first Governor-General of the Panama Canal Zone in 1913 but
abandoned the plan due to a political controversy that did not involve
Goethals. The large photo appeared on January 18, 1913 in a Chicago paper (the
clipping does not include the publication name).
On the back of this clipping is what appears to be a
photo of the Woolworth building in New York City which opened in 1913 as the
Tallest Skyscraper in the world; the second tallest structure in the world,
second only to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Below this picture are two headlines
of interest, unfortunately, neither story was cut out and saved with the
clipping. “Dirt Flies Faster” reads the first with a sub-heading: “Canal work
showed a good gain last month.” A second sub-heading under that reads: “’Big
Ditch’ to be completed this year and first vessel will go through in October.”
Beside that is the headline: “Eight-Foot Bath Tub Is
Ordered for Taft”. However, it does not appear the tub was in the White House.
The sub-head reads: “New Haven Hotel Fits Up Special Suite for Use of the Ex-President
at Yale.”
The smaller photo of Goethals in the picture above was
clipped out of the Hazleton Daily Standard or so it would appear. There
is part of an ad for Deisroth’s Store, a popular department store in Hazleton
at the time, on the back of this clipping. It was probably part of the Daily Standard's coverage of the Canal that was printed in its February 18, 1913 edition.
Finally, according to the next clipping from a paper out
of St. Paul, Minnesota called The Rural Weekly dated October 16, 1913,
the canal was completed on October 10, 1913 when President Woodrow Wilson sent
a signal to Goethals at 2:00 pm to blow up the Gamboa Dike, the final permanent
barrier separating the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which he then did. The
photo caption says, “As the great detonation broke the silence…a prolonged
cheer arose that was heard from Panama to Colon and four miles into the
interior.”
For me, the interesting thing about the clipping is the paper it was clipped from: The Rural Weekly! We know
Jake did the clipping of this piece for sure because his name is included in
the address label still glued to the picture (near right hand side of the
clipping). Uncle Jake sure read a lot of newspapers! The arrow in the photo is
pointing to the location of the Gamboa Dike.
The paper is over
100 years old and was stored folded into fours as the gaps in the photo above
suggest. Over the years the paper became brittle and broke away at the folds so
words from the story have been lost, however, enough still exist that we can
make out the story being told. And that is important because the story being
told is the top story in the paper, the one above the fold! It is the probable
reason Jake kept at least two full sheets of its pages.
It is the story
of the capture, in Detroit, and how he came to be there, of, as described in
the article, the “once prosperous merchant and highly respected citizen” of Drums,
Charles Brighthaupt. Just as this piece
of the collection is long, the story is lengthy, too. It’ll be covered in more
detail in the next post whose title has been “ripped from the headlines” as
they say: #34 - “…and Blames Inn Across the Way.”
I wish Jake, if it was Jake who did most of this
clipping, would have included sources and dates on his clippings. Most of them
are just items clipped from, well, someplace!
Among the various unsourced/undated clippings in “The Hat
Box” was this fine piece announcing the death of William Jennings Bryan. Unfortunately,
the article ends with “(continued on page four)” but page four was not included
in the box. Sigh.
Details, Uncle Jake. Details! They are important!
Mr. Bryan was a dominant force in the Democratic Party
from at least the 1890’s until his death in 1925. He gained national notice by
serving as a democratic member of the U.S. Congress 1891 – 1895. In 1896 he was
chosen as the Democratic Presidential nominee, an honor he held two more times
after this one. Today, he is probably most remembered for his speech given at
the 1896 National Democratic Convention known as the “Cross of Gold”. He also
served as U. S. Secretary of State in the Wilson Administration from 1913 –
1915.
Bryan died July 26, 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, so we, at
least know the paper was published close to that date. The information, and an
ad, on the back of the clipping refers to activities in Freeland, PA placing
the publication in this area. It could be from a Freeland newspaper but my
guess is that it is more likely from the Hazleton Standard Sentinel.
Actually, I haven’t even begun to make a scratch in the
various clippings and newspapers that various Drum Tree Members have retained
over the years. A box in the attic, a drawer in the closet, a box in storage,
heck, I haven’t even described all of the clippings in the photo of clippings
shown earlier in this post, let along the clippings NOT in that photo!
William Sachse, age 55, died of appendicitis on February
13, 1924; A prayer meeting was held in Hazleton (we have the account of the
meeting, just no clue of when it was held!); A poem in memory of Harry Readler;
an announcement of the death of U. S. President Calvin Cooledge’s father; Rev. Safflett
retired; George Dreisbach’s “Indian Legend of Tresckow Falls”; Decorative
stitches clipped from the April 1913 edition of Farmer’s Wife; Etta
Adams is now Mrs. Wilson Freidland; and so forth and so on and on and on.
As I re-read this post, I find that alcohol played a huge
role in a number of the stories: the cartoon of 1908, Mr. Brighthaupt’s undoing
due to alcohol, the role the Drums Hotel played in his undoing; even one of the
recipes offered in the “Clip This Out” clipping noted above calls for certain
ingredients to be added to “half a pint of good whiskey”! As that is the
case, I offer this final paper for this post. This is not just a clipping, it’s
the whole dang paper. It was in a box of papers saved in the attic, not in the
Hat Box.
The paper comes from Youngstown, Ohio. It is dated
December 23, 1933. I don’t know why we have it or who saved it.
In 1919, the United States passed a constitutional
amendment (#18) that made the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages
illegal (It was, apparently, still [no pun intended] ok to drink alcohol if you
could only get it!). The amendment took effect at midnight on January 17, 1920.
The United States was “dry” throughout that entire decade and into the early
1930’s. However, by 1933 the people of the United States had had enough of the
“Noble Experiment” as Prohibition was called at the time. The twenty-first
amendment was passed which canceled out the 18th and liquor and beer
once again flowed from bar taps and bottles across the country.
This paper shown below is announcing that Youngstown, Ohio Drug
Stores had been given the green light to sell liquor, apparently the first
establishments allowed to do so in Youngstown. The article states that sales of
alcohol by the glass are still illegal but will be lawful soon. I suppose from
a local point of view, this is the correct headline, and surely the news that
Prohibition had ended had been announced earlier in the month when it happened,
but in this paper, down in the lower right hand corner, we see the headline “Prohibition Ends in Ohio.”
And on that last drop of information, we empty our glass
and bring our newsstand almost to a close. I say “almost” because there is
still that one last story to look into. Come back on October 8, 2019 for
post #34: “…and Blames Inn Across the Way” to learn more about Charles
Brighthaupt’s story and find out what roll he says the Drums Hotel (the “Inn
across the way”) played in his downfall. After that we’ll continue to
investigate what members of the Drums Family Tree were reading by taking a look
at what kinds of technical reading the Drums were doing by the glow of their
lamps. Post #35 will provide "specs" for that topic.
Until then, however, let’s go across the street and have
a drink…
[1] Carbon
Advocate, Lehigh, PA, August 6, 1887
[3] “Jury
Duty”, Freeland Tribute, Freeland, PA, July 24, 1890
[4]
“Personal”, Hazleton Sentinel, Hazleton, PA, August 12, 1880
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