Interesting Clippings: Heir to Four Million

While doing research with newspapers, I came across an interesting article about a man named Ansel White in Port Angeles, Washington who was the sole heir of a 4 million dollar estate in New York and apparently never knew it. The man died in 1888 and it wasn't until 1895 when his grand nephew finally found him and his death information, that allowed he and 15 others to inherit the 4 million instead. The nephew traced White from Utica, New York to Missouri, and then to California where it was assumed he drowned in the San Francisco Bay. The nephew put an ad in the paper there and it was answered by a former neighbor of White, confirming the identity of White and his death.

4 million split 16 ways would have been only $250,000, but this was in 1895, and as we all know, $250,000 was worth a lot more in 1895 than it would be today. How much more? Calculating the equivalent worth is complicated and depends on the type of value in question. I like to use MeasuringWorth.com to give me an idea of historical money worth, and in this case, I would use one of the three "Income or Wealth" values.

The "historic standard of living" value would be $7,270,000, the "economic status" or "prestige value" would be $60,400,000, and the "economic power" is $275,000,000. That's still a pretty big range, but it gives you an idea that today, they would have still been multi-millionaires.

In comparison, the original 4 million would have been relative today to a range between 116 million, to 4.4 billion.

Interesting Clippings #19: Great Train Wreck of 1856

On July 17, 1856, two trains travelling towards each other on the same line collided between the railway stations of Camp Hill and Fort Washington in Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. At the time, it was the deadliest train accident to have ever occurred and the death count was likely over 60.

This caught my eye because I had several ancestors near Whitemarsh Township at the time, mostly in nearby townships of Cheltenham, Springfield, and Upper Dublin. I often wonder what my ancestors made of such national news happening practically at their doorstep. Later, in 1901, one of my own relatives would die in a train accident around the same area.

The partial article to the left is a clipping from the New York Daily Tribune on July 18, 1856, which had been printed in the Philadelphia Bulletin the day before. You can read the full article for free from the Library of Congress and you can read more about the Great Train Wreck of 1856 on Wikipedia.

Interesting Clippings #18: Leprosy

When we think of leper colonies, we tend to think of medieval times but actually, there was no effective treatment for Leprosy until the 1940s and leper colonies were still in use well into the 20th century. The clipping to the right is from March 15, 1925 in which a woman who was infected with Mycobacterium leprae moved from Reading, PA to a federal leper colony in Carville, LA. Though the article says she remains hopeful of a cure, she probably didn't recover for another 20 years, if she lived that long. Though leprosy isn't fatal, we don't know how old she was at the time.

Although leprosy is very treatable today and only effects about 5% of people who come into contact with it anyway, much like many diseases, it can still be found untreated in underdeveloped countries.

Source:

• "Leper Woman Happy; Expects To Have Health Restored." Reading Eagle 15 Mar. 1925: 6. Google News Archive. Web. 16 Aug. 2013.

Interesting Clippings #17: Historical Uses of Cod Liver Oil

Ambler Gazette
Nov 3, 1898, p8

Cod liver oil is high in omega-3 as well as vitamin A and D. The health benefits of omega-3 are a relatively modern discovery, it's popularity skyrocketing only in the last couple decades. But historically, the vitamin content of cod liver oil was understood and it's for this reason that cod liver oil was often marketed as cures and treatment for a number of different ailments with varied results.

Today, cod liver oil is still used to aid in the treatment of arthritis and multiple sclerosis and one study has even suggested that it may also aid in the treatment of cancer, though this is not to say these diseases can be treated with cod liver oil alone! Cod liver oil is also recommended to be taken during pregnancy as it's believed to reduce the risk of diabetes.

Ambler Gazette
July 30, 1896
page 4

Historically, it was marketed to treat or cure anything from the common cold and poor digestion to tuberculosis and pulmonary problems but how effective it was is really open to debate. We know today that tuberculosis is a bacteria that is easily treatable with antibiotics and therefore has been nearly eradicated from the developed world. So could omega-3 and vitamins really cure a bacterial disease? Probably not but they could have helped boost one's general health and immune system, which may have aided in one's natural recovery.

Granted, I'm certainly no medical expert but I recently read Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today which talks a lot about how our resistance to certain infectious diseases grew over centuries and in addition, how infectious diseases were forced to become weaker so that they might spread more easily and survive. Because of both of these natural occurrences, many diseases which were once extremely fatal had a relatively low mortality rate later in history, despite a lack of effective medical treatment. Therefore, it's somewhat understandable how and why people of the past believed in treatments which we now know probably did little to nothing. Over time, it could have been said "since the use of cod liver oil, mortality rates for tuberculosis have dropped by x%" when in reality, they were just seeing a natural decline over time. This is why we still shouldn't jump to conclusions when we see all these statistics about modern medical treatments too - it's difficult to know for sure when we're seeing a direct cause and effect rather than there being other influences at work.

Scott's Emulsion, as seen advertised in these historical newspaper clippings, is actually still in production, although I imagine they no longer market it as a cure for tuberculosis!

Interesting Clippings #16: When Men Were Sold

Philadelphia was the birthplace of the anti-slavery movement and there was a lot of controversy and conflict during the early and mid 19th century as to different state laws regarding slavery. It was not uncommon for black people in the north to be kidnapped and taken south where they were sold into slavery. They claimed to be capturing escaped slaves but Pennsylvania had a law that the burden of proof lay with the alleged slaved owner/kidnappers. Notably, there was the case that reached the Supreme Court, Prigg v. Pennsylvania, in which Edward Prigg had kidnapped a black woman named Margaret Morgan from Pennsylvania and sold her into slavery in the south.

This story from the Ambler Gazette, just outside Philly, holds echoes of Margaret Morgan's story and the Prigg v. Pennsylvania case. Click the link below to read the full article on page 7.

Source: The Ambler Gazette, February 17, 1898, Page 7. Access Pennsylvania Digital Repository.

Interesting Clippings #15: No Desire to Vote

Click thumbnail to read full article.

This article is interesting because it addresses the issue that not all women in the early to mid 20th century had a desire to vote or had any political interest. It seems hard to imagine to us today but some women were just more comfortable leaving it all to the men. It's not very surprising that the woman in this article was 92 years old and had grown up during a time when women's rights was in it's infancy.

Ambler Gazette, September 14, 1933, page 8.

Interesting Clippings #14: Threatened with a Knife

Click the thumbnail to view full article.

This sounds like an interesting early civil court case of death threats and intentional infliction of emotional distress in 1907. Mrs. Dumee is described as having already been in a "delicate condition" and though it does not specify why, the implication is that she was under distress given the threats Mr. Regal had been making for some time. When his threats escalated to brandishing a knife and claiming he would drink her blood, she broke down and experienced a "nervous fit" or what we would now call an anxiety or panic attack.

The article describes it as "an unique case" suggesting that civil suits based on emotional well being were not common at the time. It's important to note that this is a civil case, not a criminal one.

Ambler Gazette, February 14, 1907, page 4.

Interesting Clippings #13: Insane Man

Click the thumbnail to read the article.

I wonder what exactly it was about John White's behavior that made Mr. Devine suspect that he was "insane"?

Founded in 1880, the Norristown State Hospital was the first institution in the U.S. to accept female physicians and still functions today as a psychiatric hospital. You can read more on the Norristown State Hospital from Wikipedia and Asylum Projects.

Clipping from The Ambler Gazette, July 07, 1910, page 4.

Interesting Clippings #12: Photography

Being a photographer myself, the history and evolution of photography in society interests me very much. This 1866 article caught my eye as it talks about the rapid growth of photography at the time.

 

• The evening telegraph. (Philadelphia [Pa.]), 10 Nov. 1866. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025925/1866-11-10/ed-1/seq-9/>

Interesting Clippings #11: Remember Your Deceased

The Pittsburgh Press, December 9, 1913.

While I was looking for an obituary in the Pittsburgh Press of my 2nd great grandmother, the one who died of acute alcoholism, I spotted an interested ad beneath the list of death notices in which a photographer was advertising his services to photograph the deceased or floral offerings. It may seem morbid and wildly inappropriate to take a photo of a corpse to us but in history, post-mortem photography was acceptable to society when often, it may be the only photograph of a loved one the family might have. It's popularity decreased in the 20th century with the introduction of "snapshot" cameras like the Kodak Brownie in 1900 which made photography easy and affordable to the masses. So I was a little surprised to see this advertised in 1913 but Wikipedia assures me that formal memorial pictures were still being produced into the 20th century.

On another note, I feel like the genealogy gods are against me today. My 2nd great grandmother Anna Jane (Russell) Bauer died December 7, 1913 in Pittsburgh and I was hoping to find an obituary in the Pittsburgh Press from December 8th or 9th (hence how I found today's interesting clipping), but probably more likely the 8th. Frustratingly, the paper for December 8th and only December 8th, of all days, is missing! The 9th has no obituary for her. I even checked the 10th but by then, there don't seem to be any listings going back as far as the 7th. I actually didn't have high hopes for finding an obituary for Anna, simply because I'm pretty confident she was disowned by her family and died alone. They did not even pay for her to have a headstone. But I thought maybe even the lack of an obituary would give me more insight into just how strongly her family felt about their detachment from her. However, I can't even confirm that there was no obituary since the one paper I need to see is missing!

Interesting Clippings #10: Personal Ads and Mail-Order Brides

The cliche of putting an ad in the newspaper to find a partner in life has a long history, except in history people seemed to cut to the chase and put out ads for a spouse, aka mail-order bride.

Recently, while nursing a cold, I was watching Ripper Street on BBC, an excellent show about the police department in the East End which dealt with the Jack the Ripper murders set after the murders ended. It's highly fictionalized but also highly entertaining with excellent characters and for those in the US, it is being aired on BBC America so get watching! Anyway, the latest episode dealt with a human trafficking in which young, destitute women were targeted through a newspaper ad of a gentleman supposedly looking for a wife and companion. It got me thinking about what sort of personal ads I could find for my Interesting Clippings feature.

The Evening World, New York,
N.Y. October 19, 1894.
Chronicling America

To the right is a clipping of widower Col. Thomas Ruggles 1894 ad in The Evening World, a New York City newspaper, in which he is seeking a wife. It appears despite numerous attempts, he can't find a northern woman to his liking who is willing to join him in the south. With the Civil War not before, there was still a lot of anti-northern sentiment in the south. The reason Ruggles was looking for a northern wife was because he himself was a Yankee, presumably stationed in the south at the time, and so probably most southern woman would not have been willing to marry him.

Despite sounding rather lonely and anxious for a new wife, he also sounds a little picky as he ruled out the few responses he had which weren't from "Bowery girls" (Bowery being a low-end area of NYC at the time) for having seen too many "frosty winters" (too old, I presume) or sounding too "high-toned" for suggesting a different location to meet. The audacity! What amuses me most is the fact that he changed his name in the personal ad to "Thomas Rich" - perhaps he thought women were put off by "Ruggles" - maybe because it sounds a bit silly? Or maybe he just thought the "Rich" would be a reflection of his financial status and attract women?

Interesting Clippings #9: Jimmy Logue - Infamous Thief and a Murder Mystery

Read the rest of the
Paterson Daily Press
article from Oct 19, 1893 at
Google News Archives.

Jimmy Logue was born around 1837 in Philadelphia and began stealing when he was only 17. In his own words, thievery was "born in him" and he "couldn't help it." It's believed that over the course of his criminal career, he stole an accumulative of over $300,000. He began by sneaking into homes where he found himself adapt at finding the owner's most valuable possessions quickly, and eventually graduated to bank robberies. He spent time in and out of jail but got away with many of his robberies.

In 1860, Jimmy married a widow with a son by the name of Alphonso Cutaiar, though he had never formally divorced from his first wife, Mary Jane Andrews (I guess bigamy is no worse than theft). After the death of his second wife, he married her sister, Joanna (her maiden name is cited by different sources as Gantz, and Gahan so it's unclear which is accurate), in 1871 and thus making him both Alphonso's stepfather and uncle. Alphonso was a barber and Jimmy had set him up with a barber shop and with Jimmy as the legal owner, it provided a partial cover for his stolen income, though it was obvious he spent above what the shop made. Immediately after marrying Joanna, Jimmy was tried for one of his burglary jobs and sent to jail. Released in 1877, he could finally be with his bride.

Read the rest of the
Baltimore American
article from Apr 29, 1895 at
Google News Archive.

Only a couple years later in 1879, Joanna disappeared. 14 years go by and in this time, Jimmy became so distraught over her disappearance that he eventually left their home at 1250 N 11th Street and gave it to Alphonso. Alphonso wound up selling the place and when the new owners were having some floor boards fixed in 1893, a skeleton was found. It was confirmed to be Joanna by the personal artifacts left with the body, particularly her wedding ring with a specific inscription.

At first, Jimmy was the prime suspect, his motive being to steal Joanna's diamonds. But these were diamonds he bought her himself and when he turned himself in, his alibi was proved, in a bizarre twist, that he had actually been involved in a burglary at the time of Joanna's disappearance. Suspicion turned to Alphonso. Initially denying it, Alphonso was faced with the fact that he was the only one with access to the house at the time and he began to confess - multiple times. Multiple stories. Most were spun to make Joanna's death look like an accident and his improper disposal of her body done out of fear but Joanna's missing jewelry and bonds were likely his motive. And so the mystery was finally mostly solved.

Alphonso went to jail in the Eastern State Penitentiary and in 1904, a pardon for him was attempted but thankfully denied. The judge who denied it said that Alphonso should be considered lucky to have not received the death plenty. (The Philadelphia Record, Jan 7, 1904 - Google News Archives). In 1910, he can be found on the census still in prison but by 1920, he had apparently been released and living with his family again. He eventually died in 1940 at the ripe old age of about 80 (Find A Grave).

Read the rest of the
Philadelphia Record
article from Oct 5, 1899 at
Google News Archive.

Jimmy had lost his appetite for stealing and died penniless in an almshouse on Oct 4, 1899 after repenting his sins. He seems to have genuinely loved Joanna and grieved her disappearance and death greatly. He held onto his anger for his stepson/nephew and never believed it to be an accident.

One article, which is not available for free, suggested that Jimmy's real name was William Casey. This would explain why Jimmy seemingly can't be found on any census record, even prior to his criminal carrier, under the name Jimmy or James Logue.

For more details on this story, check out the clippings and links. The articles were too big to clip fully and there were too many to clip all of them but you can read the articles in their entirety for free if you follow all the URLs. I was so intrigued by this story that I even created a Wikipedia page for it. Maybe others will continue to add more details.

Many years later, in 1951, a paper in Milwaukee picked up the Logue story as one of their weekly "mystery" true stories. It's the longest article but therefore included the most details, however embellished they might be (some of the information conflicts with the other articles). It was printed in the Milwaukee Sentinel on April 1, though it's no April Fool's joke. Below is a clipping but if this story interests you, definitely click through the link to read the full article. It is broken up over a few pages so I will link to each one, just in case:

Page 1
Page 2
Page 3

Interesting Clippings #8: Temporary Insanity as a defense has a long history

Ambler Gazette, April 25, 1895, Page 2

My morbid side is coming out. I love a good historical mystery novel so it's not surprising that I go looking for true crime in history. I came across this 1895 clipping to the right from the Ambler Gazette (Ambler, PA) about a professor who murdered his wife in Media, PA. It appears he was deemed insane and put in a mental hospital but the article is discussing his release.

NY Times, Oct 11, 1900

Wanting to know more about this, I went Googling and found his full name was Professor Swithin C. Shortlidge and that he had founded the Media Academy for Young Men. He murdered his second wife on Dec 31, 1893 and interestingly, some time after his release from the hospital, began pursuing insurance money on his wife, as detailed in an article from the New York Times, Oct 11, 1900  (left). 

I also found an earlier article at the time of the murder (below, right) which claims Shortlidge's was suffering from "the grip", which supposedly caused his insanity. The grip is an old term for the flu but as we know today, influenza does not last as long as what this article from the New York Times is claiming. Supposedly, he'd been suffering from it before his wedding in November and then killed his wife the night of December 31. The flu can cause pneumonia which may extend the illness but someone suffering that long from pneumonia would not have the strength to be walking about and murdering someone. Furthermore, neither influenza or pneumonia are not known to cause insanity as far as I'm aware!

NY Times, Jan 1, 1894

If he was suffering from a physical illness that caused a mental illness, and not just using it as a get out of jail free card (the family of Shortlidge's wife contested that there were any signs of insanity), it was likely something else, though I don't know of anything that conveniently presents itself during the murder of your wife and then goes away for the next 30+ years (Shortlidge apparently died in 1931). It's not like treatment of mental illness was very advanced during this time period so it seems unlikely that he was "cured," as was claimed by Dr. Richardson, detailed in the Reading Eagle article below.

Reading Eagle May 6, 1895, Page 1

Shortlidge had been treated at the Norristown insane asylum and released in early May of 1895. What is interesting about this article is that is mentions Shortlidge's brother is mayor of Wilmington, DE. I wonder if any political strings were pulled to both keep Shortlidge out of jail and get him released from an insane asylum having been "cured" only two years later. Though Shortlidge was ordered to pay the mother and brother of his victim $5,000 to "keep the peace", they strongly objected to Shortlidge's release regardless. They claimed their own lives to be in danger but obviously the court didn't buy it and indeed, there is no record of harm falling to them after his release.

Only weeks after his release, Shortlidge applied for a passport. Though he remained a resident of Pennsylvania for some years, he eventually moved to England for some time (he can found on the 1911 Census) with his son, who was married there in 1906. Shortlidge left England and returned to New York in 1914, where he was also living by 1930.

A very interesting case that might warrant further investigation for those interested in the history of mental illness and/or crime.

Interesting Clippings #7: Christmas Feast 100 Years Ago (er, that'll be 205 years ago then)

In this San Francisco newspaper clipping from 1907 is an article about the Christmas feast and what it entailed 100 year ago (meaning we're talking about 1807). It is interesting to see how history, especially human and societal history, has always intrigued the public. Not to mention, you might get a few good recipe ideas for Christmas dinner!

Source: The Library of Congress, The San Francisco call. (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, December 22, 1907, Page 2, Image 2

Interesting Clippings #6

I noticed that all my interesting clippings so far have been advertisements and while historical ads can be fascinating, I didn't want this feature to go that direction entirely so I'll do my best to be sure the next few installments will not be ads. Just keep in mind that these are meant to be interesting tidbits and there is usually much more to read on the subject matters (and I do try to provide links to additional reading) since I am, by no means, an expert on these topics!

click to
enlarge

An article (left) from the Ambler Gazette in 1895 (page 4) relays the story told at a Women's Suffrage meeting in Des Moines, Iowa of a woman who had to buy her own beloved set of silver spoons three times in order to keep it as her own since a woman's property became her husband's once she married. It's probably not an entirely true story but the purpose of it will have been to highlight the plausibility of it.

The date of the article illustrates how far back the Women's Suffrage Movement began. In fact, it actually began decades earlier in the mid 19th century (though the Ambler Gazette only goes back to 1894), as evident with the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, but I think when most of us think of the movement, we think of it's peak in the early 20th century and perhaps forget that it took nearly a century of pushing for women's rights to finally obtain the vote in 1920 in the United States.

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enlarge

It's also important to note that at the time of this article, some U.S. states did indeed have laws protecting the property rights of married women but I guess Iowa was not one of them. Apparently neither was Pennsylvania, based on the article to the right dated two years later (Ambler Gazette, Feb 25, 1897, Page 3) which reports how the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage association presented a bill which aimed "to place men and women on a perfect equality in regard to individual property when either a husband or wife die without making a will." It mentions an act of 1848 and 1873 but I believe these are laws from other states or nations; New York had a Married Women's Property Act of 1848 and both Ontario and the UK enacted property or real estate laws regarding married women in 1873.

Interesting Clippings #5

Happy Turkey Day! Thanksgiving 100 years ago:

Ambler Gazette, November 11, 1912 - Page 3

Ambler Gazette, November 21, 1912 - Page 4

Ambler Gazette November 28, 1912 - Page 3

Interesting Clippings #4

Ambler Gazette
August 24, 1916 - Page 8

Snellenburg's, once the largest clothing manufacturer in the world, was a wholesale clothing manufacturer and later, a middle class department store based in Philadelphia. The company was founded in 1869 on South Street until it moved to Market Street, the shopping hub, in 1889 and developed into a true department store. It eventually closed in 1962. I'd never heard of it until I spotted the ad in the Ambler Gazette to the right; having been born in the early 1980s myself, why would I have heard of it? But it saddens me to think the next generations will equally never have heard of Strawbridge's (below), another long running Philadelphia based department store. Founded in the 1860's as a dry goods store, it closed only 6 years ago in 2006. I was personally very disappointed as Strawbridge's was one of my favorite department stores. So let's not forget Snellenburg's either.

The buildings that had been Snellenburg's factory and warehouse in Philly are now on the National Register of Historic Places but the flagship store building had since been torn down. Snellenburg's suburban locations were sold to Lit Brothers, yet another Philly department store which was founded a little later in 1893 and closed in 1977.

Ambler Gazette
May 14, 1896
Page 2

Also noteworthy is Wanamaker's (left), the very first department store in Philadelphia and one of the earliest in the United States. It originally opened as a men's clothing store in 1876 in time for Philadelphia's Centennial Exposition, the first world fair in America. However, in 1877, it was expanded to include additional departments, making it the first true "modern-day" department store in Philadelphia and possibly America, though the term "department store" did not come into use until the mid-1880's. Wanamaker's ambition was to create a "Grand Depot" similar to London's Royal Exchange. It was eventually taken over by Hecht's, now Macy's, in 1995. The building was the former Pennsylvania Railroad Station and is still in use today as Macy's so if you'd like to see a little piece of history, just go for a bit of shopping! 

Department stores fascinate me from a historical point of view, since many of those still in business today were founded in the mid to late 19th century. It's a shame to see such long running businesses close down. 

For more information on the history of department stores, particularly in Philadelphia, check out this excellent and much more detailed article from Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. I mostly just wanted to share these clippings, the second of which is particularly interesting because of how large and detailed it is.

It's interesting to note that the BBC are currently running a historical drama called "The Paradise", which is centered on a fictional early department store in northern England, in an undisclosed fictional town, though it's filmed at Lambton Castle. For those interested in the development of the department store, this is definitely a fun show to watch, though I don't know if it's being aired in the US yet.

Interesting Clipping #3

Having trouble deciding what to get people for Christmas? Here's some ideas - if you lived in 1914, of course:

How much things have changed. "Rubbers" now mean something entirely different and I had to Google "gum boots" (rain boots, better known in England as "Wellies"). I assume "arctics" are like snow boots.

Source: Ambler Gazette, December 17, 1914 - Page 4

Note: It's purely coincidental the last two posts have been about shoes.

Interesting Clipping #1

I spend a lot of time browsing the Ambler Gazette, a weekly newspaper for an area of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, for any mention of or relation to some of my ancestors who are indeed frequently mentioned in it. In the process of this, I also wind up coming across interesting articles and ads that I feel like sharing, even though they have nothing to do with my ancestors, so I decided to start posting them here.

Here's an ad from January 21, 1904, page 6:

"Every woman should have a Savings Account. Many women need a Checking Account. Special attention to the comfort and convenience of women here.
[...]
The Albertson Trust and Safe Deposit Co. Norristown, PA."

This certainly reflects the first-wave feminism that was occurring around this time, in the push for woman's rights, particularly the right to vote. It's fascinating to see a contemporary example of the growing shift in society's attitude towards women.