Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Monday, April 22, 1912
Frightened Animals Push Rear Seat on Driver’s Head, Injuring Him.
    Upper Sandusky, O., April 22.-A singular accident happened here. William Leverich was about to hitch a team on Main street when an automobile driven by David Rall grazed the animals flank. Rall slowed down to see if the horses had been injured and the animals started after the machine. Rall quickened the speed of the car and to avoid the horses turned into an alley.
    The horses leaped on the back of the machine, pushing the back seat over Rall’s head. Rall ran the car into a building, damaging the machine. He was only slightly injured by the horses.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Saturday, March 16, 1912
Leaves Michigan Home on Skis-Parts of Her Clothing Are Found.
    Hancock, Mich., March 16.-Mrs. Selma Makkinen, wife of a Finnish farmer living near Alston, is believed to have been killed and eaten by wolves.
    Shortly before dark she set out on skis for a neighboring farm. She failed to return amd searchers found her skis and parts of her clothing. Tracks indicating a large pack of wolves were seen by the rescue party.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Monday, March 4, 1912
Thirty Fall Twenty-five feet from Wrecked Cars.
Four are killed and the Rest Run Through Chicago Streets, Creating a Wild Panic.
    Chicago, March 4-Thirty head of maddened cattle, freed from cars in a train wreck, stampeded at East Forty-first street and Cottage Grove avenue and terrorized the neighborhood for blocks in every direction.
    Two cattle cars of a stock train left the elevated tracks of the Chicago Junction railroad and hung suspended from the structure. The weight of the cattle forced out the end of the cars and the animals dropped twenty-five feet to a vacant lot. Four were killed and three climbed upon the structure of the South Side Elevated railroad, delaying traffic until they could be chased down. The others ran bellowing in every direction, spreading panic in their paths.
    A hurry call to the stock yards brought a score of cowboys to the scene, but it was an hour before they had rounded up all the runaways and turned them back toward the stockyards in a herd.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Saturday, February 17, 1912
Team Buried Under Heavy Fall of Ice and Snow in Chicago.
    Chicago, Feb. 17.-Two horses were killed when 500 pounds of ice and snow slid from the roof of a six-story building at 440 Jefferson street.
    The team was owned by J. Torenta. He left the horses attached to his wagon at the rear of the building and when he returned fifteen minutes later they were buried under the snow and ice. The animals were dead when dug out.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Thursday, February 15, 1912
    According to advices from the Caucasus millions of singing birds which every winter used to find a warm retreat on the southern slopes of the forest clad mountains of the Caucasus have suddenly been surprised by the intense cold and severe snowstorms while they were on their way from the north.
    The slides of the mighty mountains, the highest in Europe, and the shores of the Black sea are now strewn with small corpses of singing birds, especially bulfinches, goldfinches, robin redbreasts, fly-catchers and other birds which in the summer mostly visit these shores.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Friday, August 6, 1897
Sticks His Knife Into a Horse
James Keating, of Chicago, tried to carve his initials on a horse’s hip with a knife and when the police arrived he and his companion, Michael Hinckey, were in the hands of a mob of 500 men and boys who were trying to stamp the pair to death with their heels. Isaac Hoffmann, a peddler, left his wagon and horse standing while he went home to supper. Hinckey and Keating, laboring men, wandered along Canal street much befuddled with liquor. Keating carried an open knife in his hand and was whittling a stick of wood when he spied Hoffmann’s horse. He plunged the knife blade into the horse’s flank and drove it about so as to form part of a letter. The injured horse sprang into the road and hundreds of persons on the street turned upon Keating. He passed the knife to his companion and latter threw it away, but the crowd was not searching for evidence. They piled themselves upon the two men and used fists, heels and clubs. Half a dozen riot calls were sent into Maxwell street station and Operator McInerney dispatched the patrol with Officers Thieme, Keefe, Gara, Connery, Boyle, Raftery and Leng to the scene. The officers had to club the crowd for fully five minutes before they could reach Hinckey and Keating, and then it was a struggle to prevent their being pulled from the wagon. Both men were terribly bruised and beaten and were attended by a physician before they were locked up.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Published in the Illinois Intelligencer, Kaskaskia, Illinois on Thursday, October 23, 1817
    In page 204 vol. 111. [Memoirs of doctor Lettsom] the following curious relation is given by Bishop Madison.
    In a town, this fall, among the mountains of our country, near to the place where I happened to be, a boy of 12 or 13 years of age, was bit on the side of one of his feet, by a very venomous serpent, commonly called a copperhead. The poison of this animal is not less dreaded than that of the crotalus horridus, or rattlesnake. The boy was carried home, and soon discovered symtoms of great uneasiness. A swelling commenced, and the wound was slightly scarified. A by-stander, acquinted I suppose, with the practice of the Indians, recommended the following application. A chicken was caught, the feathers plucked from the abdomen, and that part closely applied to the wound. The chicken instantly grew sick, and died as quick as if its head had been cut off. A second was applied in a similar manner; it died in about four minutes. A third also shared the same fate, in nearly eight minutes. A fourth was applied; it discovered some uneasiness, but did not die. The process was then discontinued. The boy was relieved, and suffered no greater inconveniece from the wound than he would have done from the puncture of a pin. He was perfectly well on the second day. Having heard what passed, I was preparing to go to the house where the boy was, when his father, a very respectable man, a magistrate, and noted for his strict veracity, with two other persons, upon whose information I entirely relied, from an intimate acquaintance with them came to me. From them I heard the particulars related, as they were present, and witnessed the effects of this extraordinary imbition of the poison. There remains not the shadow of doubt of the fact, as I have stated it. I saw the boy on the third day.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Published in the Illinois Intelligencer, Kaskaskia, Illinois on Wednesday, August 14, 1816
Lumberton, N. C. June 18.
Extraordinary and Shocking occurence.
    On Friday afternoon, the 7th inst. Mrs. Ratley was riding across the Gum Swamp, [about 1 miles from this place] where the water is but little more than knee deep, the boat on which she rode was attacked by an Alligator, and in the struggle, Mrs. Ratley was thrown and the moment she fell, the monster seized, bit, and mangled her most horridly, of which wounds she died on Monday evening last. Her husband and brother were near at hand and ran to her assistance, and in rescuing the woman, one of the men recieved a blow from the alligator without sustaining much injury, and after shooting seven or eight times they succeeded in killing him; he measured 11 feet in length.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Published in the Illinois Intelligencer, Kaskaskia, Illinois on Wednesday, February 3, 1819
On Friday the 4th instant, about 700 men of the neighboring townships, formed a hunting party. The signal for proceeding was given on Frenchtown Mountain, which was answered by all the horns of the hunters, comprising a circuit of 40 miles, in the space of 15 minutes. The hunters then progressed towards a centre in Wilcox township; shooting and driving the game before them, until the circle became too small to use guns with safety; the animals were then attacked with bayonets fixed on poles, clubs, pitch-forks, etc. with success that nearly 300 deer, 5 bears, 9 wolves, and 11 foxes were killed. It was calculated that 500 deer, 10 bears, and 20 wolves escaped, together with a great number of smaller animals. The expedition was attended by many circumstances highly interesting to hunters, and closed, as usual, with great mirth.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Published in the Waukegan Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois on Saturday, September 28, 1901
Rat Catchers That Are Paid by the Government.
    Several years ago a letter containing a large sum of money disappeared, from the New York post office, writes Hugh Netherton, in Ladies Home Journal, in telling of “Cats That Draw Salaries.” A month after the disappearance a desk in one of the rooms was moved, and on the floor was found a nest of young rats resting on a bed of macerated greenbacks-all that was left of the missing letter. Uncle Sam at last decided to employ a cat to protect the New York post office from rats and mice. The first appointee in the United States rat and mouse catching service was a large gray tabby. She secured the place through the recommendation of her owner, who certified that she was not only a good mouser, but also a friend of the administration-qualities which she at once exemplified by her work.
    With New York as an example, other post offices asked for cats, and to-day nearly every large office in the United States has its official mouser or rat killer, who receives from nine to twelve dollars a year. This income is expended under the supervision of the postmaster for purchase of food. Milk is the chief item, for the cats are supposed to provide themselves with meat.