Reading the Constitution

1936 Political Cartoon

A NOVEL CONCEPT….. INDEED!

“Worldly Girl” Tarred and Feathered

Dorothy Grandon - Lloyd Shank - Mary Shank

Girl Tarred and Feathered By a Mob of Fifty Men

MIDDLETON, Md., July 25. — Dorothy Grandon, 21, of Martinsburg, Pa., was tarred and feathered last night by a mob of 50 men on the county road between Myersville and Middleton, Md.

Fifty business men, merchants and citizens of Myersville, face arrest on charges of being members of the mob. Sheriff Ingemar of Frederick county after questioning the Grandon girl at the home of James Whip, a farmer announced that warrants would be sworn out during the day.

Whip was threatened with death because of his rescue of the girl from the mob. With J.O. Shepley, a Myersville merchant, Whip was attracted by the girls’ screams. His home is near the scene of the assault. The two men ran up the road fought their way through the mob and found the girl covered with tar.

Whip secured a sheet, wrapped it around the girl and carried her to his home. A doctor found her body covered with bruises as result of the beating she received at the hands of the mob. Mr.and Mrs. Whip succeeded in only partially removing the tar from the girl’s body.

The girl said she had been visiting at the home of Mrs. Viola Kennedy, near the foot of Catossin Mountain on the county road near Myersville. She came here last week with a girl named Mabel Mills, 20, of Hagerstown.

Yesterday, Mrs. Kennedy received a letter from Sheriff Ingomar ordering her to leave the county.
________________

FREDERICK, MD., July 25 — (By the Associated Press) — A young woman whose name was said to be Dorothy Grandon, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was tarred and feathered near Myersville, Frederick county last night by an unmasked mob said to have been led by a young married woman who had objected to alleged attentions paid by her husband to Miss Grandon.

The mob met the woman on the street and took her to the edge of the village where she was stripped of her attire and a coat of tar and feathers was applied.

A woman companion of Miss Grandon also had been ordered to leave Myersville, but she was not molested.

Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth, Ohio) Jul 25, 1924

Grandon - Shank - Whipp - Whipp

Woman Admits Striking Girl And Applying Tar and Feathers Because She Saw Husband Hugging Her

FREDERICK, MD., July 26. — (By the Associated Press.) — It was a woman who applied the coat of tar and feathers to Miss Dorothy Grandon, 20 years old, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, near Myersville, Frederick county, Thursday night.

Mrs. Lloyd Shank, wife of a farmer, admitted this fact at the hearing here last night of herself and eight men accused of being participants in the affair. All were released on bail of $2,000 each for the grand jury on a technical charge of assault and battery. The victim was sent to jail in default of $500 bond as a material witness.

Those arrested were a part of about fifty men alleged to have composed the mob that participated in the tarring and feathering of the Grandon girl who had been accused by Mrs. Shank of receiving the attention of her husband.

The men accused are Calvin Shank, brother-in-law of the avenging wife; Romer Shank, her father-in-law; and Harry Leatherman, all farmers; Alvey and Arthur Rice, brothers, employed in the Myersville garage, and Irving Rice, a third brother, Paul Grossnickle and Grayson Doub, farmers.

Victim Tells Her Story

Telling her story at the hearing last night Miss Grandon said she and another girl had been ordered to leave the place by the sheriff and having no money she started to walk to Martinsburg, hoping to get a lift on the way. She met Lloyd Shank, whom she advised to “go home to his wife like a man,” she said, and directly afterward Mrs. Shank drove up. They had some words and Mrs. Shank went away with her husband and she continued on her way, accompanied by her girl friend.

Soon afterward they were overtaken by three automobiles, from one of which sprang Mrs. Shank. After some words, Mrs. Shank struck her with a club knocking her down with the third blow, her attacker then almost stripped her of her clothing. She could smell the tar she said, and begged them on her knees “not to do such a thing.”

Encouraged by the cries of the men, Miss Grandon declared, Mrs. Shank threw buckets of tar over her and showered her with feathers.

“And in the wild uproar,” the victim went on, “they slandered me like I was a common dog.”

“They’d stop automobiles coming along the road and speak to them to flash their lights on me and look at me. Don’t she look pretty, they’d jeer.

“The only women there were she and I. All the rest were men.”

Says She Struck Her With Club

Meanwhile her girl companion had disappeared. Mrs. Shank admitted in her statement to the magistrate that she struck the Grandon girl twice with a club and tore her clothes from her, all but a flimsy undergarment. She said:

“I wanted to do the job myself. I took the tar from one of the men and poured it over her. Then I grabbed the sack of feathers and threw them on her.”
__________

MORE IMPLICATED IN ATTACK

FREDERICK, MD., July 20. — (By the United Press.) — Shaken by her experiences, her face and body bearing evidence of mistreatment at the hands of an infuriated group of men and at least one woman, 20 year old Dorothy Grandon was sheltered at the home of James Whipp, a farmer living near Middletown today, while her assailants who applied a coat of tar and feathers, were held for the grand jury in bonds of $2,000 each.

Sixteen men and one woman are now accused of having had a share in the tarring.
Eight additional men, all farmers, were named as having participated in the attack during a hearing before Magistrate Brust today.

Mrs. Shank is held in jail awaiting bail. Her male companions have pledged their collateral.

Whipp fought his way through a mob which was attempting to punish Miss Grandon for her alleged attentions to a married man of the county, and despite threats that he would receive “the same dose,” succeeded, with the aid of the man in question in getting the girl away.

Nine persons were arrested, and a hearing was held before Justice of the Peace Storm last night. A large crowd gathered, those unable to get inside, peering through windows.
Those bound over with Mrs. Shank were Homey Shank, her father-in-law; Calvin Shank, a cousin of the husband; Aldey Rice, Irving Rice and Arthur Rice, brothers; Paul Grossnickle, Grayson Dodd and Harry Leatherman all of Middletown.

The girl, the upper part of her body still smeared with tar, was held in $500 bond as a material witness.

The tarring and feathering was attended by a mob estimated to number between 50 and 60 on the main highway near Middletown, Thursday night. The offense charged against the nine assailants, under the laws of Maryland, carries a penalty of imprisonment for not more than 10 years, nor less than 18 months without the alternative of a fine.

Says She Saw Husband Hugging Girl

Mrs. Shank admitted inciting the entire proceeding.

“I saw my husband hugging the Grandon girl,” she said. “I went and got help.”

The mob that gathered streamed down the road toward Myersville and captured the girl. Mrs Shank tore the clothes from the girl’s body and struck her with a club, it was charged. Then she applied hot tar, the affair being stopped when her husband and James Whipp fought their way through the mob and carried off the nearly unconscious girl.

Both In Jail, Woman and Her Victim Bury Animosity

FREDERICK, MD., July 20. — (By the United Press) — Both held in jail today unable to raise bond demanded as a result of the tarring and feathering and beating party, 20-year old Dorothy Grandon, the victim, and Mrs. Mary Shank, who admitted inciting the attack and applying the tar and feathers, buried their animosity in the opportunity to discuss their predicament.

The Grandon girl and Mrs. Shank both spent the night in jail. All animosity between the two women seemed to have disappeared after the hearing and they discussed the case amicably in the jail corridor.

Their cells adjoin each other and they were given the freedom of the corridor.

The Grandon girl seemed especially regretful over the turn her affairs have taken.

“If I’d have known that I had to stay in jail,” she said today, “I’d have taken my medicine and not have accused anybody.”

Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth, Ohio) Jul 26, 1924

ANOTHER CITY HEARD FROM
Dorothy Grandon Reported Known in Chambersburg, Pa.

A dispatch from Chambersburg, Pa., says:

“Dorothy Grandon of Hagerstown, who was tarred and feathered last week at Myersville, by a mob led by a woman, last year was under care of the local welfare committee — now defunct — which maintained a venereal ward at the Chambersburg Hospital, local officers said.

“While at the local hospital she was made guard over the other girls in the ward, but one day she connived with a local taxi driver, who later lost his license for this offense, to take her to Hagerstown. She was away from the hospital for several weeks when Police Chief Byers and Constable Klipp went to Hagerstown and returned her to the institution.

“She was picked up here and placed in jail, where she remained some time before being taken to the hospital ward. While here she told Police Chief Byers that she had been in a school or home for girls in West Virginia and had been made a teacher. She gave evidence of being well educated, police say.”

The News (Frederick, Maryland) Aug 1, 1924

Receives Proposals

FREDERICK. — Dorothy Grandon, victim of Myersville tar and feather mob about a week ago, who is confined in the Frederick county jail in default of $500 bond as a State witness, is being deluged with offers of marriage. Letters seeking to ascertain Dorothy’s views of the matrimonial question are said to be coming in from various parts of the country and according to the epistles, which usually start out “My Dear Dorothy,” the girl who was recently tarred and feathered will have no trouble in locating a husband.

The Gettysburg Times (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) Aug 4, 1924

Examining the Evidence

Mrs. Shank Pleads Guilty In Tar And Feather Case;
Leatherman Goes On Trial Before Jury;
Past Life Of Miss Grandon Not To Be Revealed

COURT FIRM IN RULING IT SHALL NOT BE QUESTIONED
Only Inquiry is Whether She Was Tarred and Feathered;
If Leatherman Had Part.

SENTENCE ON WOMAN WHO PLEADED GUILTY DEFERRED

Court Room Crowded When Cases Are Called For Trial.

The “past life” of Dorothy Grandon cannot be made the basis of an inquiry by the defense in the Myersville tarring and feathering cases. Chief Judge Hammond Urner and Associate Judge Robert B. Peter ruled this morning in circuit court. That ruling, court attaches felt, dealt a hard blow to the defense.

Perhaps the outstanding development and surprise of the day was the admission of Mrs. Mary Shank, wife of Lloyd Shank, that she was guilty. Her counsel, Samuel A. Lewis, after being overruled on a demurrer to the indictment, announced that she pleaded guilty generally. There are three counts in the indictment — tarring and feathering, assault and battery, and riot.

At the request of Mrs. Shank’s attorney, the court deferred sentence. It was expected that the remainder of the cases will be heard before sentence is pronounced.

After the Shank case had been disposed of in less than fifteen minutes, State’s Attorney William M. Storm announced he would next try Harry Leatherman. There were nine counts in the indictment against Leatherman, and demurrers were sustained to three of these for the purpose of simplifying the charges and the remaining six allowed to stand.
Leatherman pleaded guilty and asked a jury trial. Judge Urner’s ruling on behalf of the court on the “character” of Miss Grandon came while Reno S. Harp, who with Samuel A. Lewis and H. Kieffer Delauter represents Leatherman, was making his opening statement to the jury.

Jury Selected.

Only six jurymen from the regular panel were acceptable to both the State and the defense. Twelve talismen were also called to the jury box before the jury was secured. The jury follows: John P. Style, foreman; Richard J. Allnutt, Grover C. Trout, William D. Curfman, Charles F. Kreb[h?], C. Harry Cramer, Allan M. Spitzer, Bernard W. Wilson, Clyde W. Smith, Ulysses G. Hooper, Archie W. Ogle and J. Calvin Fox. The last six named are talismen.

[list of all jurymen called and challenged, not transcribed]

Immediately following the selection of the jury, the Court asked for the opening statements.

State’s Attorney William M. Storm then formally turned toward the jury and stated that the State expected to prove that on the night of July 23, Leatherman, in company with a number of others, planned to perform the act which occurred the following evening.

On the evening of July 24, the State asserted, it intended to prove that Leatherman was seen coming out of the Farmer’s Exchange at Myersville with a bag of feathers and that he stopped at the home of James Whipp, a farmer, and asked him if he had seen anything of the girls. (meaning Miss Grandon and Viola Kennedy.)

It was then contended that Leatherman jumped on the running board of an automobile and proceeded down the road toward Middletown until he saw the girls, and that after passing them a short distance, he stopped and came back. The State then added that it would prove that Leatherman urged the Shank woman to beat the girl. (Miss Grandon) and also urged Mrs. Shank to strip Miss Grandon. Leatherman, it was then asserted, handed the Shank woman the tar and feathers and then hurled “filthy and vile epithets” at Miss Grandon following the occurrence.

The Defense.

Reno S. Harp, one of hte attorneys for the defense, began by referring to the “wide notoriety” of the girl and urged the jury to pay no attention to newspaper accounts of the case. Here the Court interrupted the attorney and admonished him not to refer to any specific newspaper which the attorney had done during the course of his talk. Mr. Harp asserted that the State could produce no evidence against Leatherman and further declared that the Shank woman “had committed the whole crime.”

A further insinuation against the character of the Grandon girl was objected to by the State and the objection was sustained.

“We are not here to try the character,” the Court declared, “and the only concern of the jury is to determine the guilt,” of the prisoner at the bar, Mr. Harp was informed.

The defense then contended that it expected to prove that Leatherman did not participate in the affair, and had made no arrangements fr any tar or feathers. Here the attorney for the defense referred to the “prosecuting witness. (Miss Grandon,) seen in the company with a certain woman’s husband,” and the State again objected and was sustained by the Court.

The defense asserted that Leatherman went down the road to the scene where the tarring and feathering occurred as a spectator and did not carry anything but a flashlight, and that he did not participate in the affair at all.

The defense then concluded the opening statement and Miss Grandon was called to the stand, the first witness in the case and the main prosecuting witness.

Miss Grandon began her testimony by stating that she in company with a friend, Viola Kennedy, of near Myersville, was walking along the road toward Middletown. After they had walked about three-quarters of a mile, they met Mabel Mills and Luther Silver.

While together, several automobiles passed the four and after they had passed about ten minutes together, they saw Leatherman and Mary Shank approaching.

Miss Grandon then declared that she was assaulted with a club and after that the Shank woman asked for the tar and feathers and asserted that Leatherman gave them to her. Prior to that, she said she was held by Paul Grossnickle and Calvin Shank, while she was being beaten with the club. Leatherman then handed the Shank woman the bucket of tar and it was applied to her and then Leatherman gave the Shank woman the feathers which she in turn scattered on Miss Grandon.

The witness further declared that Leatherman carried a large flashlight which he flashed upon her after she had been stripped, tarred and feathered, as passing motorists went by. “After the mob drifted away,” Miss Grandon said, “I asked for a machine to go to the Kennedy woman’s house,” and Leatherman replied that I should be tied on the back of a car and dragged through Myersville.

The affair began about 7:30 o’clock in the evening, Miss Grandon said and ended about 12:45 when she reached the home of James Whipp in reply to a question by the State, she stated the tar and feathers were removed with “lard, hot water and soap.” This question was preceded by several similar questions which were objected to by the defense and the court ordered the wording changed.

At this point the clothing that Miss Grandon wore at the time of the far and the feathers were applied, were exhibited to the jury and passed around. Following a few minor questions, the State concluded.

During the cross-examination, it was brought out that Miss Grandon’s real name is Lorraine Pearell and declared that her home is in Martinsburg, W. Va. When asked why she changed her name, the State objected and the Court sustained it.

It was further brought out that Miss Grandon had been living in Hagerstown, but questions as to why she left that place and came to Myersville were objected to by the State and they were sustained by the Court.

Miss Grandon admitted taht she had been convicted in Hagerstown of being drunk and disorderly. She was not convicted in Chambersburg, Pa., she said. State’s Attorney Storm interposed frequent objection to questions asked by Mr. Harp which led Judge Urner to say that the court had indicated the line of its ruling at the outset and would not permit any effort to circumvent it. There was a very specific charge involved, said Judge Urner, and added that the defense must confine its examination along that line. The only inquiry the defense could make, Judge Urner ruled again, was along the line of the tarring and feathering. It was not proper, he said, for counsel to try to get before the jury something that was contrary to the court’s ruling.

Once more when Mr. Harp sought to question the witness along a line that the court thought was not proper, and after he had stated to the court he thought a right to ask such question, Judge Urner said:

“We differ radically from that view and of course it is the responsibility of the court to rule on the questions.”

The News (Frederick, Maryland) Sep 29, 1924

MAN WHO HELPED TAR AND FEATHER GIRL IS CONVICTED

FREDERICK, MD., Oct. 16 — Arthur Rice was found guilty by a jury in circuit court tonight of aiding and abetting in the tarring and feathering of Miss Dorothy Grandon. The verdict carries a penitentiary sentence of from 18 months to 10 years.

Counsel for Rice, who was released on $2,000 bond, immediately filed a motion for a new trial, which will be argued upon completion of the remaining 17 cases growing out of the attack.

Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth, Ohio) Oct 16, 1924

Members of Tar and Feather Party Are Sentenced; Woman Must Serve Jail Term

FREDERICK, MD., October 27. — (By the Associated Press) — Condemning in strong terms the conduct of the mob which last July tarred and feathered Dorothy Grandon, 20, Martinsburg, W. Va., Chief Judge Hammond Werner in circuit court here today imposed sentence upon one woman and eleven men, suspended sentence upon two and declared five other men not guilty. The woman sentenced was Mrs. Mary Shank, who pleaded guilty and confessed that in a jealous rage she tore the clothing from Miss Grandon and daubed her with tar and feathers. She was given nine months in the Frederick county jail.

Harry N. Leatherman, of Myersville, where the assault took place, was sentenced to two years in the house of correction. Mrs. Shank testified that Leatherman furnished her with the tar and feathers for the “tar party.” A like sentence was imposed in the case of Arthur Rice.

Both these sentences were for rioting. The men were also convicted of tarring and feathering Miss Grandon, but have asked for a new trial.

Nine other men convicted of rioting were sentenced to one year in the house of correction. They are Roma Shank, father-in-law of Mrs. Shank, Walter and Calvin Shank, her brother-in-laws; Alvin Rice, John Langdon, Grayson Doub, Vernon Summers, William Houpt and Irwin Rice.

Sentence was suspended in the cases of Harold Grossnickel and Frederick Shepley.

The five men found not guilty of the charge are Paul Grossnickel, John Shepley, Chester Shepley, Claude and Howard Toms.

Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth, Ohio) Oct 27, 1924

AFTER DOROTHY GRANDON
Tar Case Victim Implicated in Auto Case.

Ralph Timmons, alleged deserter from the Marine Corps; Odessa Miller, a young woman of Martinsburg and Lorraine Pearrell or Dorothy Grandon, also of Martinsburg, the latter figuring in the tar-and-feather case at Myersville, are being sought by police of Martinsburg. Timmons being charged with being implicated in the theft of an auto from R.F.A. Bowers, stepfather of the Miller girl, and the others sought as accomplices.

Bowers told officers that Timmons and Miss Miller went to Washington and returned, claiming they were married. When he questioned their story, because they had no papers, they left, he said, taking his car and also picking up Lorraine Pearrell.

The News (Frederick, Maryland) May 27, 1926

Editor of “Greenback Standard” Murdered

Dr. Perry H. Talbott, editor of the Greenback Standard, published at Maryville, Mo., was assassinated last Saturday evening at nine o’clock, while at home surrounded by his family. We have seen no intelligent opinion expressed as to who did the shooting; Talbott before he died said he thought it must have been a paid assassin of the national banks, “some enemy of the great cause which I represent.” We regard this as ridiculous, and regret that a gentleman of the profession should leave such a foolish statement behind him.

Globe, The (Atchison, Kansas) Sep 21, 1880

*****

Capt. Lafe Dawson, attorney for the Talbott boys, visited them at St. Joe yesterday. It is understood that he is working up a confession by which they are to be released. The plan is supposed to be to have Wyatt, the alleged insane participant in the murder of Dr. Talbott, confess that he did the shooting. This si expected to procure the release of the Talbott boys, and then Wyatt is to get off on the old insanity dodge.

Globe, The (Atchison, Kansas) Jul 2, 1881

*****

IT was stated in one of the afternoon’s Greenback speeches that the Democrat and Republican parties were now each represented in attempts at assassination, but that the Greenbacks had escaped the odium. The speaker is evidently not familiar with the assassination of old Dr. Talbott, editor of a Greenback paper at Maryville, by his two sons, who were stalwart Greenbackers.

Globe, The (Atchison, Kansas) Jul 16, 1881

*****

A more fiendish murder than that of Dr. Talbott was never perpetrated, yet there is increasing indignation — particularly in the office of the St. Joe Gazette — that his murdering sons will probably hang for the crime.

Globe, The (Atchison, Kansas) Jul 18, 1881

*****

The Talbott boys have made another confession, which is to the effect that neither one of them had anything to do with the killing of their father, but that Will Mitchell, Mrs. Talbott’s sister’s husband, is probably the real culprit. A few weeks ago one of them confessed that he did the killing while Dr. Talbott was beating his mother, but as that did not satisfy the Governor, another statement had been made. This is the third story of it they have told, and Governor Crittenden will not be blamed for accepting the verdict of the court in preference to either one of them. They will be hanged at Maryvill to-morrow.

The gist of the confession consists of a conversation that Albert heard between Mitchell and Wyatt, and in which Wyatt tells the manner in which they accomplished the shooting, and the events that follow are given in long detail. There is another conversation given before the date of the murder between Wyatt and Mitchell, in which the latter consents to do the killing for a consideration. Mitchell is considered a leading spirit of the murder, partly out of revenge for the death of his wife who caught cold after having been ordered by Dr. Talbott from his home and died; and, second, because the doctor refused to let him marry his oldest daughter.

Globe, The (Atchison, Kansas) Jul 21, 1881

ST. LOUIS, July 22. — The [Post-Dispatch's] Maryville, Mo., special says: Albert, Rand and Chas. E. Talbott, convicted of murdering their father, Dr. Perry H. Talbott, on the  18th of September last, and respited once, were hanged this afternoon in the presence of from 8,000 to 10,000 people. Up to a late hour last night they expected gubernatorial interference, but at midnight went to bed after a lengthy interview with their mother and sisters, and Miss Lewis, to whom Albert was betrothed. Mrs. Talbott was very bitter against the Governor for not commuting the sentence of her boys.

The prisoners received the last sacraments of the Catholic church this morning. It was an exceedingly affecting scene between the prisoners and their relatives.

About noon, Charles, the youngest one, broke down completely and begged that something might be done. This unnerved the women and made a terrible scene. The women were removed. Mrs. Talbott frantically resisted, but the guards led her away crying, “I hope you will be satisfied when you have killed my boys.” The brothers were taken to the gallows in an omnibus, being strongly shackeled. The women and the crowd followed. The scene when the trap fell was very solemn, the whole crowd uttering groans.

Helena Independent, The (Helena, Montana) Jul 24, 1881

*****

Although it is notorious that the Talbott boys quarreled incessantly with their father, and finally killed him, one of them said a few hours before the execution that “We will soon be seated with our dear father on the Great White Throne.” It is probable that the old man, when he saw his two sons alight on the Great White Throne beside him, knocked them off with a harp, spades and neck yokes not being used in that country, and therefore not available to throw at members of his family, as was his custom here. Old Dr. Talbott was the Elder Mitchell of Missouri, and his last words were that he had undoubtedly been murdered by National bank presidents, although one story of the murder told by his sons is that when they fired the fatal shot, he had their mother on the floor and was jumping upon her. The idea of such fiends roosting lovingly on the Great White Throne is supremely disgusting.

Globe, The (Atchison, Kansas) Aug 9, 1881

*****

*ANOTHER MURDER AND A MENTION OF THE TALBOTT MURDER*

A worthless whelp named Birch wanted to marry Anna Lanaham, one of the daughters of an old farmer near Rock Rapids, Iowa. The old man objected, and drove Birch from his house. The consequence was that Birch and Anna, assisted by Maggie, another daughter, and Mrs. Lanaham, wife of the farmer, devised a scheme for getting rid of him. One day, after he had returned from a farmers’ meeting, Maggie slipped up behind him and put a bullet through his brain. Her sister Anna then broke out a window pane, so as to make it appear that he had been fired upon and killed from the outside by some unknown party. The murder was planned some time in November, but it could not be carried out until a few days ago. It was a terrible affair, and every one of the fiends who were engaged in it ought to be hung, but we suppose every exertion will be put forth by maudlin sentimentalists to save them even from the penitentiary.

Old man Lanaham may have been a disagreeable old fellow: he may have bored his family to death by eternally talking about the iron heel of monopoly that was crushing the life out of the farmer; he may, to the neglect of his family, have spent his time in talking over public wrongs; but he had a right to live until he worried himself to death.

The telegraph informs us that he was killed just after returning from a farmers’ meeting.

We infer from this that he was a reformer, like Dr. Talbott – that he was one of those men who try to reform the world before they endeavor to reform their families. Talbott was always hurling thunderbolts at the red-handed monopolists who were choking the life out of the farmer and laboring man, but while he was doing this a plan for his murder was being concocted in his own family.

We do not believe there ever was a kind, indulgent and provident father murdered by his own children. The man who thinks of his family first and the public weal later is in no danger of his life at home.

The manner of Mr. Lanaham’s taking off probably furnishes a pretty accurate key to his character. By neglect and abuse he inspired hate into the hearts of his wife and children to such an extent that they desired to get rid of him at all hazards. He was doubtless popular with the world, as all men are who devote the greater part of their time to it, and we are not surprised that the community in which he resided is now crying aloud for vengeance.

Globe, The (Atchison, Kansas) > 1882 > February > 17

*****

A private detective named Brighton, who was interested in ferreting out the murderers of Dr. Talbott, the editor of a Greenback paper in Maryville, Mo., has been arrested in Illinois, and brought back to Kansas City to answer a charge of crookedness.

Atchison Globe, The (Atchison, Kansas) Dec 22, 1882

*****

* TALBOTT’s DAUGHTER AND THE CRIMINAL, CHARLES NORRIS *

CHARLES E. NORRIS.
A St. Joseph Clerk in the Role of Forger and Lover — A Curious Agreement.

ST. JOSEPH, May 3. — The man who was arrested here Wednesday for attempting to obtain money on a forged draft of Heller & Hoffman, of St. Louis, turns out to be Charles E. Norris, formerly in the employ of Heller & Hoffman, and he is wanted by that firm for forgery.

It now transpires that he combined the business of love making with forgery as he had since his arrival in the city formed the acquaintance of Miss Jennie Talbott, daughter of Mrs. Belle Talbott living at 607 South Eleventh street, in this city, and a sister of the Talbott brothers, who were hanged at Maryville for the murder of their father, Dr. Talbott, who had made a written contract with Norris, which was signed by both, dated April 29, agreeing to live together as man and wife.

The Talbott girl had taken several meals with him at the Pacific House and he took her to Bailey’s dry goods store and she bought goods to the amount of $70 and attempted to pay for them with a forged draft, of Hiller & Hoffman, but Bailey being suspicious, took the draft to Hax’s which had been indorsed by Hax’s clerk, who by this time had become frightened, and it was determined to arrest him then, which was accordingly done.

Norris was arraigned before Recorder Oliver, waived examination and was sent back to jail to await the arrival of Heller with a warrant for his arrest.

Atchison Globe, The (Atchison, Kansas) May 3, 1884

*****

For more information about Perry Talbott and his family, “Our Family Gallery” has genealogical information, more newspaper accounts and other information about this family. [I am not related or connected to the site, just ran across it looking for information about the Greenback Standard newspaper, edited by Mr. Talbott.]

Vintage Poetry for the Fourth of July

1776
HOW THE GLAD TIDINGS WERE SPREAD

While the vote on the adoption of the Declaration of Independence was being taken in the State House at Philadelphia, crowds surged about the streets. The suspense was terrible. Would Congress dare declare the colonies free? Would they dare defy the power of England?

The old State House bell was to ring out the news if Congress acted. Already, in the belfry the old bell-ringer waited for the signal. At last it came, and as his grandson bounded up the stairs shouting “Ring! Ring! Ring!” the peals of the bell broke forth spreading the good news far and near. And the shouts from the crowds below told that the joyous sound found echo in the hearts of the people of the new and independent nation.

INDEPENDENCE BELL

There was tumult in the city,
In the quaint old Quaker town,
And the streets were rife with people
Pacing restless up and down, –
People gathering at corners,
Where they whispered each to each
And the sweat stood on their temples
With the earnestness of speech.

As the bleak Atlantic currents
Lash the wild Newfoundland shore,
So they beat against the State-House,
So they surged against the door;
And the mingling of their voices
Made a harmony profound,
Till the quiet street of Chestnut
Was all turbulent with sound.
**
“Will the do it?” “Dare they do it?”
“Who is speaking? “What’s the news?”
“What of Adams?” “What of Sherman?”
“Oh, God grant they won’t refuse?”
“Make some way there!” “Let me nearer!”
“I am stifling!” “Stifle, then!
When a nation’s life’s a hazard,
We’ve no time to think of men!”

So they beat against the portal,
Man and woman, maid and child;
And the July sun is heaven
On the scene looked down and smiled’
The same sun that saw the Spartan
Shed his patriot blood in vain,
Now beheld the soul of freedom
All unconquer’d rise again.
**
See! See! The dense crowd quivers,
Thru all its lengthy line,
As the boy beside the portal
Looks forth to give the sign!
With his little hand uplifted,
Breezes dallying with his hair.
Hark! with deep, clear intonation,
Breaks his young voice on the air.

Hushed the people’s swelling murmur,
List the boy’s exultant cry!
“Ring!” he shouts, “Ring! grandpa,
Ring! oh, ring for Liberty!”
Quickly at the given signal
The old bell-man lifts his hand,
Forth he sends the good news, making
Iron music thru the land.

How they shouted! What rejoicing!
How the old bell shook the air.
Till the clang of freedom ruffled
The calmly gliding Delaware!
How the bonfires and the torches
Lighted up the night’s repose,
And from the flames, like fabled Phoenix,
Our glorious Liberty arose!

That old State-House bell is silent,
Hushed is now its clamorous tongue;
But the spirit it awakened
Still is living — ever young;
And when we greet the smiling sunlight
On the Fourth of each July,
We will ne’er forget the bell-man
Who, betwixt the earth and sky,
Rung out, loudly, “Independence”
Which, please God, shall never die.

–Author Unknown

** The two stanzas between the double asterisks are from the version of the poem printed in the Bayard Advocate, 1916. The rest of the poem is for the most part, the same as the Davenport Democrat, 1925 version.

The Davenport Democrat and Leader (Davenport, Iowa) Jul 3, 1925
Bayard Advocate (Bayard, Iowa) Jun 29, 1916

The First State Print (Image from www.jordanmarketing.com)

RODNEY’S RIDE.

On the Third day of July, 1776, Caesar Rodney rode on horseback from St. James’ Neck, below Dover, Delaware, to Philadelphia, in a driving rain storm, for the purpose of voting for the Declaration of Independence.

In that soft mid-land where the breezes bear
The North and South on the genial air,
Through the county of Kent, on affairs of State,
Rode Caesar Rodney, the delegate.

Burly and big, and bold and bluff,
In his three-cornered hat and coat of snuff,
A foe to King George and the English State,
Was Caesar Rodney, the delegate.

Into Dover village he rode apace,
And his kinfolk knew from his anxious face,
It was matter grave that brought him there,
To the counties three upon the Delaware.

“Money and men we must have,” he said,
“Or the Congress fails and our cause is dead.
Give us both and the King shall not work his will.
We are men, since the blood of Bunker Hill.”

Comes a rider swift on a panting bay;
“Ho, Rodney, ho! you must save the day,
For the Congress halts at a deed so great,
And your vote alone may decide its fate.”

Answered Rodney then: “I will ride with speed;
It is Liberty’s stress; it is Freedom’s need.”
“When stands it?” “Tonight.” “Not a moment to spare,
But ride like the wind from the Delaware.”

“Ho, saddle the black! I’ve but half a day,
And the Congress sits eighty miles away –
But I’ll be in time, if God grants me grace,
To shake my fist in King George’s face.”

He is up; he is off! and the black horse flies
On the northward road ere the “God-speed” dies,
It is gallop and spur, as the leagues they clear,
And the clustering mile-stones move arear.

It is two of the clock; and the fleet hoofs fling
The Fieldboro’s dust with a clang and a cling,
It is three; and he gallops with slack rein where
The road winds down to the Delaware.

Four; and he spurs into New Castle town,
From his panting steed he gets him down –
“A fresh one quick! and not a moment’s wait!”
And off speeds Rodney, the delegate.

It is five; and the beams of the western sun
Tinge the spires of Wilmington, gold and dun;
Six; and the dust of Chester street
Flies back in a cloud from his courser’s feet.

It is seven; the horse-beat broad of beam,
At the Schuyikill ferry crawls over the stream –
And at seven fifteen by the Rittenhouse clock,
He flings his reins to the tavern jock.

The Congress is met; the debate’ss begun.
And Liberty lags for the vote of one –
When into the hall, not a moment late,
Walks Caesar Rodney, the delegate.

Not a moment late! and that half day’s ride
Forwards the world with a mighty stride;
For the act was passed; ere the midnight stroke
O’er the Quaker City its echoes woke.

At Tyranny’s feet was the gauntlet flung
“We are free!” all the bells through the colonies rung,
And the sons of the free may recall with pride,
The day of Delegate Rodney’s ride.

Bayard Advocate (Bayard, Iowa) Jun 29, 1916

STAND BY THE FLAG.

Stand by the flag! on land and ocean billow;
By it your fathers stood, unmoved and true;
Living, defended; lying, from their pillow,
With their last blessing, passed it on to you.
The lines that divide us are written in water.
The love that unites us is cut deep as rock.

Thus by friendship’s ties united,
We will change the bloody past
Into golden links of union,
Blending all in love at last.

Thus beneath the one broad banner,
Flag of the true, the brave and free,
We will build anew the Union,
Fortress of our Liberty.

Bayard Advocate (Bayard, Iowa) Jun 29, 1916

FREEDOM’S STANDARD.

God bless our star-gemmed banner;
Shake its folds out to the breeze;
From church, from fort, from housetop,
Over the city, on the seas;

The die is cast, the storm at last
Has broken in its might;
Unfurl the starry banner,
And may God defend the right.

Then bless our banner, God of hosts!
Watch o’er each starry fold;
Tis Freedom’s standard, tried and proved
On many a field of old;

And Then, who long has blessed us,
Now bless us yet again,
And crown our cause with victory,
And keep our flag from stain.

Bayard Advocate (Bayard, Iowa) Jun 29, 1916

Independence Day.

Columbia fair,
With glory rare.
Sitting as queen in thy western sea,
The peoples pause
To give applause,
To celebrate thine ascendancy.

From eastern surge
To western verge
They sons, in glad activity,
Hail loud and long
With shout and song
They day of thy nativity.

Though dark they morn
Of oppression born,
And bloody thine earliest history,
Splendidly bright
Is they noonday light;
Grand be thy future of mystery.

The portal gleams
With the radiant beams
From the lifted hand of Liberty,
A sign of rest
For those opprest
And promise of peace and prosperity.

God save our land,
Where, hand in hand,
Justice and mercy habitate.
For her be strong
Whene’er the wrong,
Or dangers ‘gainst her militate.

Free as the breeze
That fans her leas,
Bright as the stars of her summer night,
Pure as the ore
In her treasured store,
Lord, may she ever by thy delight.

– E.B. Van Arsdale.

The News (Frederick, Maryland) Jun 30, 1893

Our Glorious Fourth — 1899.

Our flag on high
Kissing the sky,
Red, white and blue,
In gallant array.
O hear the drum
Of those who come
With fife and drum
On this natal day.

Patriots cheering,
Rockets glaring,
As the royal
Adn the brave come forth,
A united life,
Where once was rife
The earthly strife
Betwixt South and North.

Ye Yankee sons,
Shoot off the guns!
O Columbia,
Your proud spirit wake!
Let cannons roar
And huzzahs pour
From shore to shore
Until hillsides quake.

Urchin and man,
Those of our clan,
To the spirit
Of patriotism yield.
This mighty throng
Sings loud the song
Which makes us strong
Our valor to wield.

Our soldier boys
Will fire their toys
Upon the Philippines.
Steam whistles toot
And guns’ salute
Will crack and shoot
From marshalled lines.

Phalanx and file
In Cuba’s isle
For our Yankee
Liberty will root.
The Spaniards brave
And those that clave
Their land to save
Will join in and hoot.

Bells sway and ring
And patriots sing
But it is not
Our requiem song.
Our Nation’s creed
And daring deed
The world will heed,
If not now, ere long.

Freemen by birth
All join in mirth
Upon this day,
“Our Glorious Fourth.”
No alien’s hand
Shall spoil our land,
Firmly we stand
Now no South no North.

– J. EDWARD LUTZ, Harmony, Md.

The News (Frederick, Maryland) Jul 1, 1899

Fourth of July Circa 1850

Image from http://vintageholidaycrafts.com

FOURTH OF JULY.

No paper will be issued from the office of the Sanduskian. We hope all who love their country well enjoy this glorious anniversary, and that no one will get drunk or be blown up.

The Daily Sanduskian (Sandusky, Ohio) Jul 3, 1850

Image from www.accd.edu

FOURTH OF JULY ACCIDENTS.

We are informed that two men had both hands blown off by the premature discharge of a cannon at Detroit yesterday. One of the boys from our office saw one of the men in this condition, and heard of the other.

We heard that a connon burst at Bellevue, but without injuring any one.
There was some drunkenness here last night, and some fighting; but whether these irregularities were accidental or premeditated, we are unable to say. –

It is a very improper time, when the heat is at 91, as we are informed was the case yesterday, to engage in either drinking or fighting, and if sickness follows such kind of amusement, it will not all surprise us.

The Daily Sanduskian (Sandusky, Ohio) Jul 5, 1850

Fourth of July, 1854 – Old Town San Diego

Old Town (Image from www.sandiegohistory.org)

Phoenix on “the Fourth,” in San Diego.

The immortal John Phoenix has furnished the Herald with a report of the celebration of the late national anniversary in San Diego. We extract as follows:

At 8 A.M. a procession was formed, and moved to the sound of a military band, consisting of a gong and a hand bell, across the Plaza, where it separated into two divisions, one proceeding to the Union House, the other to the Colorado Hotel. At each of these excellent establishment and elegant dejeuner was served up of the sumptuousness of which the following bill of fare will give some faint idea:

BREAKFAST BILL OF FARE.
Coffee,    Cafe, con sucre,
Bread,     Pan,
Butter,    Montequilla,
Fried Beefsteaks,    Carne,
Hash,      No se.

At 9 A.M. precisely, the San Diego Light Infantry, in full uniform, consisting of Brown’s little boy, in his shirt-tail, fired a national salute with a large bunch of fire-crackers. This part of the celebration went off admirably; with the exception of the young gentleman having set fire to his shirt tail, which was fortunately immediately extinguished without incident.

At 12 M., an oration was delivered by a gentleman in the Spanish language, in front of the Exchange, of which your reporter regrets to say he has been unable to remember but the concluding sentence, which, however, he is informed, contains many fine ideas.

It was nearly as follows:

“Hoy es el dia de Santa Refugia! — Hio, los Americanos son abajos, no vale nada! Hio [or Hie?], nada, nada, nada, hiccup! Mira! hombre, dar me poco de aquadiente. Carajo [e?]!”

This oration was remarkably well received, and shortly after, the band commencing its performance, the procession was again formed, and, dividing as before moved off to dinner.

The afternoon passed pleasantly away it witnessing the performance of a gentleman who had been instituting a series of experiments to test the relative strength of various descriptions of spiritous liquors, and who becoming excited and enthusiastic thereby, walked round the Plaza and howled dismally.

Mountain Democrat, The (Placerville, California) Sep 9,  1854

Image from Phoenixiana

From The Journal of San Diego History:

DERBY DIKE SITE

Fear that the San Diego River would silt up the San Diego Bay to the extent that its value as a harbor would be lessened, caused the government to send Lt. George Horatio Derby, of the U. S Corps of Topographical Engineers, here in 1853, to deflect the river into False (now Mission) Bay.

Derby employed sixty Indian laborers in the raising of a levee from Old Town across the flats to the nearest high land to the west – about twelve hundred yards away. The dike was washed out, and the Army built another, and parts of a later one until recently could be seen a few yards north of Frontier at Midway Drive.

The dike is remembered because it brought Derby here. As “John Phoenix” he was America’s leading humorist. His delightful descriptions of San Diego life a century ago were best-selling literature before the Civil War.

And from Save Our Heritage Organization:

Derby is perhaps best remembered as one of the foremost humorists of the nineteenth century, whose “typically American” style inspired Mark Twain, Artemus Ward, and other later authors. Squibob and John Phoenix were two of his pseudonyms and in 1855 he published his best-known work, Phoenixiana.

*********

When searching  Google for a picture for this post, I ran across Phoenixiana in Google Book Search. It includes the above transcribed newspaper article.

Murdered For His Harley

Murder Victim Buried

JACKSON, July 12 — The funeral of Roy Nye Shay, 19, who was found murdered in Dayton Wednesday afternoon, was held Saturday from the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Nye. The lad was a motorcycle messenger for the Western Union Telegraph Company, and was found lying along the bank of the Miami river; the body, it is thought, having been rolled toward the river by his assailant, and caught in a wire fence near the water’s edge.

The lad is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Shay, of Dayton, and is survived by his parents, one brother, Herbert Shay, and a number of more distant relatives.

Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth, Ohio) Jul 12, 1920

Believe Murderer Of Youth Passed Through This City

Detective Howell of the Dayton police department was in the city the first of the week investigating a report that Frank Mills, charged with the murder of Roy Shay, Dayton messenger boy, who was shot and killed along the river front in Dayton on the night of July 6th, had passed through Portsmouth on July 11th, and that he had separated from his “buddy” at one of the ferry landings here.

It has been discovered that Mills, riding the motorcycle which he took from the murdered lad, passed through the city, and that he did part with his comrade here on the night of July 11th. Further trace of him has not been found.

The murdered boy, Shay, was buried in Jackson, where his people at one time made their home and where relatives live. This murder startled Dayton and surrounding territory because of the apparent lack of motive and the brutality of the crime, Shay’s body being found along the Miami river bank, and his murderer gone with the motorcycle. The machine, a Harley Davidson, was much battered and worn out, and it was believed that Mills might have stopped here for repairs.

Chief Distel and the local police are still on the lookout for Mills, but believe that he has gone south.

Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth, Ohio) Jul 22, 1920

Held For Murder

DAYTON, Nov. 29. — Denying that he killed Roy N. Shay, Western Union messenger boy on the night of July 6, last, Frank Mills, gave himself up to Deputy Sheriff Harry Thompson this morning. Two days ago the police recovered a motorcycle, covered with blood and belonging to Shay in Greenup co, Kentucky.

Mills says he has been in that section for several weeks.

Coshocton Tribune (Coshocton, Ohio) Nov 29, 1920

Frank Mills, who is accused of killing his boy chum, Roy Shay, a messenger boy in Dayton, is on trial in that city. Mills was arrested here and the police say he had Shay’s motorcycle when apprehended.

Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth, Ohio) Mar 23, 1921

LIFE HANGS IN BALANCE ON WEIGHT OF BIT OF LEAD

DAYTON, March 29. — The weight of a bit of lead taken from the brain of Roy N. Shay, messenger boy murdered here July 6, may be the means of Frank Mills, 20, who’s defense started Monday, freeing himself from a first degree murder charge. The defense claims the weight of the lead is of a 22 calibre bullet and not of a 32 calibre, the size of the gun alleged by the state. The defense claims there was a 22 rifle at the Shay home and that on one occasion Joseph Able, a roomer, said “I did it and am going to the police and tell them all about it.”

Chronicle Telegram, The (Elyria, Ohio) Mar 29, 1921

Youth Found Guilty of Murder; Given Mercy

DAYTON, O., April 1. — After being out since 9 o’clock Thursday night, the jury in the case of Frank Mills 20, who has been on trial for the past two weeks in common pleas court on a charge of first degree murder for the killing last July of Roy N. Shay, 19, Western Union messenger boy, today at 6:20 a.m. returned a verdict of guilty in the first degree. Mercy was recommended.

Mills was jointly indicted for the murder with Fred Panstingle, now in the Mansfield reformatory. It was charged by the state, the two boys killed Shay in order to obtain his motorcycle to go to Lancaster, Ohio, boys’ industrial school to free Martin Wacher, a prisoner there, and a cousin of Panstingle.

Mills surrendered himself last December. His attorneys claimed that Panstingle alone killed Shay and then induced Mills to accompany him on the motorcycle, which was found in Mills’ possession when he surrendered.

Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth, Ohio) Apr 1, 1921

Lieut. Slaughter, Slaughtered

Lieut. Slaughter and Wife (Image from www.historylink.org)

DEATH OF LIEUT. SLAUGHTER.

From a copy of The Puget Sound Courier we learn that Lieut. WM. A. SLAUGHTER, of the 4th Regiment of Infantry of the U.S. Army, )son of Judge A.B. SLAUGHTER of this place,) was killed near the junction of White and Green rivers, Washington Territory, on the evening of the 4th of December, last.

Capt. Keys, commandant of the Puget Sound district, reports that at a place when Lieut. S. had halted “there was a small log house in which Lieut. Slaughter, Capt. Hewitt, Lieut. Harrison, and Dr. Taylor of the Navy, were conversing together. At about 7 o’clock P.M. of the 4th inst., the Indians fired a volley at the house and through the door. One ball passed between the logs, and through the breast of Lieut. Slaughter. He fell dead without a groan, and without speaking a word. The Indians kept up their fire until about 10 o’clock, killing Corporal Barry, of Company C, 4th Infantry, and Corporal Clarendon of the Steilacoom volunteers, and wounding six other men.”

The Courier says:

Lieut. Slaughter was born in the state of Kentucky, in the year 1827. Early in life he removed with his family to the town of Lafayette, Indiana. In 1844 he entered the Military Academy, and graduated with distinction in 1848.

*     *     *     *     *     *
Soon after graduating, Mr. Slaughter joined the 2d Infantry in California, as Brevet 2d Lieutenant. For a while he served with the escort to the commission for establishing the boundary between the United States and Mexico, and in the spring of 1850, having been promoted to the 4th Infantry, he returned to the United States. He again embarked for the Pacific with the 4th Infantry in 1852, and after being stationed a short time at Fort Vancouver, he was ordered to Fort Steilacoom in February, 1853. From that time till the date of his untimely death, he was constantly on duty in this portion of Washington territory.

In the difficulties which have heretofore disturbed our Indian relations in the neighborhood of Puget Sound, Lieut. Slaughter’s services were often required. His activity and energy, and the alacrity with which he performed his duties, caused him, as a general rule, to be selected as the leader of the expeditions which from time to time were sent to suppress the threatened and actual hostilities of the savages.

Upon the breaking out of the war with the Yakimas, Lieut. Slaughter was ordered, in September last, to cross the mountains with a command of only 40 men. He was shortly recalled, and after joining his 40 men with the force under Captain Maloney, again set out for the Yakima country late in October; before proceeding far, Capt. Maloney was induced to retrace his steps. In the combats with the Indians, on the 3d and 4th of November, on White and Green rivers, Lieut. Slaughter’s conduct and gallantry were such as to win the admiration of all parties, both of regulars and volunteers.

After the conflict on Green river, Lieut. Slaughter was detailed with a separate command. In crossing the Pualylup [Puyallup], over a fallen tree, the two loading men were shot down by Indians ambushed on the other side. As the men fell, Lieut. Slaughter called out to them separately by name, but receiving no answer, he ordered his soldiers to charge across. Two sprang forward, he, himself, following next, and then all rushed over and drove the red skins from their covert.

*     *     *     *     *     *
Lieut. Slaughter was uncommonly successful in his encounters with Indians, and if his life had been spared no estimate too high could be placed on his capacity to chastise these monsters. His appearance was not robust, but he would start out, on foot, in the dress and equipment of a common soldier, with his blanket and provisions on his back, and march all day through rain, mud and frost, and bivouac at night without any complaint of fatigue. Such hardships and deprivations, ordinarily so discouraging to the strongest men, seemed only to enliven his spirits, and inflame his ambition.*

It is supposed he was shot by an Indian boy, once his servant at Fort Steilacoom, towards whom he had always been kind and indulgent. Such is the character of the savage!

*     *     *     *     *     *
The remains of Lieut. Slaughter were consigned to the grave at Fort Steilacoom with Masonic and Military honors.

*     *     *     *     *     *
On the receipt of the intelligence at Olympia, of the death of Lieut. Slaughter, both branches of the legislative assembly adjourned after passing resolutions expressive of their regard for the memory of the deceased.

Richland County Observer (Richland Co., WI) Apr 13, 1856

*     *     *     *     *     *

The White River Valley Museum website had more about Lieut. Willam A. Slaughter and the Treaty Wars and Indian Uprisings.

*     *     *

On the USgenweb.org website, Gary Reese has posted more information about William A. Slaughter.

“Joe Rickey” – A Man and a Drink

THE REVISED “JOE RICKEY.”
From the Kansas City Star.

The “Joe Rickey” is the name of a new summer beverage which has become fashionable and popular at Washington. It is worthy of the illustrious Missouri statesman whose title it bears. It is made by squeezing half a lime into a large tumbler half filled with crushed ice. A reasonable measure of whiskey is added to this and the glass is then filled with soda from a siphon. When a Kansas man orders a “Joe Rickey” he instructs the barkeeper to leave out the ice, the lime juice, and the soda.

The News (Frederick, Maryland) Aug 8, 1890

Shoomaker's - Washington D.C. (Image from www.shorpy.com)

Describing Shoomaker’s, excerpt from:

Robert Graves, Discusses with the Gravity Becoming so Important a Subject, the Relative Merits and Prices of Beverages in Washington and New York.
….
There is very little drunkenness in this place considering the large number of customers it has. Of course Shoemaker’s is a gold mine. It is owned by a stock company, one of its shareholders being Joe Rickey, the well known St. Louis politician. A popular summer drink, a mixture of whisky, apollinaris and lime juice, was named the “Joe Rickey,” and had a great run, not only in this house, but in others here. The profits of this famous saloon are not less than $50,000 a year….

Bismarck Daily Tribune (Bismarck, North Dakota) Oct 24, 1890

POPULAR DRINK.
“Rickey” Creation Disclaimed by the Man Whose Name it Bears.

Colonel Joe Rickey, the man who is credited with inventing the drink that bears his name, sat in the cafe of the Waldorf-Astoria talking politics with Senator Squire, Colonel Thomas P. Ochiltree, and several others last night, when the subject of “rickeys” came up for discussion.

As might be expected, Colonel Joe had much information to impart:

“There is a mistaken impression that I created the drink now known all over the world as a “rickey,’” he said, “but, as a matter of fact, I don’t think I ever drank a ‘rickey’ in my life.

“The ‘rickey’ originated in Washington, and I was in a sense responsible for it. You see, it was like this: I never drank whisky neat — it’s a mighty injurious system — but whisky diluted with a little water won’t hurt anybody. Of course, a carbonated water makes it brighter and more palatable, and for that reason I always took a long drink, usually whisky and water with a lump of ice.

“This is the highball of common commerce, and has been known to thirsty humanity for many generations. To this, however, I added the juice of a lemon in my desire to get a healthful drink, for the lemon acid is highly beneficial and tones up the stomach wonderfully.

“This combination became very popular at Shoomaker’s in Washington, which I did most of my drinking, and gradually the folks began asking for those drinks that Rickey drinks. About this time the use of limes became fairly common, and one afternoon an experimenter tried the effect of lime juice instead of lemon juice in the drink, and from that time on all ‘rickey’ were made from limes.

“I never drink the lime juice combination myself, because I think the lemon acid is mellower and more beneficial.

“The drink named after me was always made by the experts in Shoomaker’s from limes thereafter, and soon became popular. Washington during a session of congress, is filled with people from all parts of the country, and soon the fame of the new drink spread north and south, east and west, until it could be found all the way from the granite cliffs of Maine to the Golden Gate of California, and from the gloomy forests of the northwest to the sandy wastes of Key West.

“Only here in New York was it perverted and made a thing of shame. Here they make it with gin, which is a liquor no gentleman could ever bring himself to drink. In fact, the gin rickey is about the only kind known in this city and the average barkeeper looks surprised if you ask him for one made with rye whisky.” — New York Telegraph.

Mansfield News (Mansfield, Ohio) Jul 7, 1900

NOT PROUD OF HIS HONORS.
Co. Rickey Is Know Chiefly as the Godfather of a Noted Drink.

Some people are born to fame; others achieve it, while celebrity is thrust upon a few. Among the latter is Col. Joe Rickey, of Missouri. But instead of feeling proud of the fact that he has given his name to a popular tipple Col. Rickey feels very much aggrieved, “only a few years ago,” he said recently, “I was Col. Rickey, of Missouri, the friend of senators, judges and statesmen and something of an authority on political matters and political movements. As time has dealt lightly with me I had no right to quarrel with the world. I am still the friend of statesmen and politicians, and I think I keep fairly well in touch with the world. But am I ever spoken of for those reasons? I fear not. No, I am known to fame as the author of the ‘Rickey,’ and I have to be satisfied with that. There is one consolation in the fact that there are fashions in drinks. The present popularity of the Scotch high ball may possibly lose me my reputation and restore me my former fame. ‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished for.”

The Wellsboro Gazette (Wellsboro, Pennsylvania) Jul 26, 1901

An exchange commenting upon the passing of a recent individual of note says:

Colonel Joe Rickey, inventor of the gin and whisky rickey, is dead, but his memory will long be revered by his fellow countryman. He was not so great an inventor as Edison, but his inventions were much more palatable. They were not so costly as radium, but they were better to have early in the morning.

Mansfield News (Mansfield, Ohio) Apr 28, 1903

Cause For Thanks.

When Colonel “Joe” Rickey was quite a young man he had occasion to employ a lawyer to collect a bill against a business man with whom he had had a number of dealings. As he had never before retained counsel he went to the lawyer his father had always employed and placed the claim in his hands. The lawyer collected the amount, $276, and notified young Rickey to call for the money. In due time he called, and after waiting for some time, was shown into the private office.

“Good morning, Joseph,” said the lawyer. “I’m glad to see you are so prompt in attending to business. I have your money for you.”

Then ensued a general conversation for a few minutes, in which the lawyer said among other things: “Joseph, I knew your father well and for many years, and I knew your grandfather well and for almost as many years. They were fine men.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Rickey, “but as I am in a hurry, sir, I would like to get my money and go.”

“All right, Joseph. I will charge you even money. I will take $200 for my fee, and give you the $76,” said the lawyer as he handed the money over.

“Very well, sir,” said Rickey, “and I am thankful you did not know my great-grandfather too.”

Reno Evening Gazette (Reno, Nevada) Dec 8, 1903

Wall Street (Image from http://standfastic.com)

The following paragraph from the New York Tribune shows how western stock gamblers sometimes take in the Wall street sharks: “Joe Rickey of St. Louis knows a good thing when he sees it. Nearly everybody knows “Joe” Rickey. He arrived in New York last Wednesday. He drifted through Wall street during the morning and sold a few stocks short. Thursday he was there again. Friday morning he was on the ground early. Friday night he had $16,000 to his credit as the profits on three days’ operations.

The Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) Jul 2, 1887

What Takes in Missouri.

Chicago Inter Ocean: “Joe” Rickey, who committed suicide in New York yesterday, was for many years a noted character in Missouri, where, as a lobbyist and “gentleman gambler,” he was among the most popular of men.

The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) Apr 27, 1903

George Williamson died suddenly in Washington, D.C., just before noon yesterday. Williamson mixed the first “gin rickey” ever served over a bar in the United States, according to his friends. The “rickey” was named after the man who directed Williamson to mix it, and it was served to Colonel “Joe” Rickey of Missouri, a well-known politician and bon vivant of Washington a quarter of a century ago.

Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Aug 9, 1915

*****

The Quondam Washington D.C. blog has an interesting post about Colonel Rickey.

Finally, at the Wall Street Journal, I found an article entitled, A Lobbyist of Special Interest that  that include some interesting tidbits about Col.s Rickey and Joyce,  the Whiskey Ring scandal of 1875 and the Gin Rickey.

Fanny Crosby – Blind Hymn Writer

Fanny Crosby

FANNY CROSBY IS DEAD AT HER HOME
Noted Hymn Writer, Blind Since Youth, Lives To Age of Ninety-Five.
—
Was the Author Of More Religious Songs Than Any Other One Person.
—
Bridgeport, Conn., Feb 12. — Fanny Crosby, well known hymn writer, died today at her home in her ninety-fifth year.

Eight thousand hymns of Christian worship sung in Protestant churches throughout the world are the work of Fanny Crosby. No one since the days of Charles Wesley or Isaac Watts has made anywhere near as large a contribution to the gospel song book as did the blind writer.

Miss Crosby’s health had been failing for some time. Shortly before the end she became unconscious and remained so until death. At her bedside were her niece, Mrs. Henry Booth, and other members of the family, with whom she long had made her home.

In spite of feeble health Miss Crosby continued writing hymns up to a short time before her death.

Fanny Crosby’s name was signed so regularly as author of one hymn after another that the hymn book makers of a quarter century ago were forced to give her some 200 different pen names to make it appear that someone besides the famous writer had contributed. Thousands — perhaps hundreds of thousands who sang her songs, which were translated into every language, did not know that it was a blind woman’s inspiration which they employed to express their Christian faith and hope in song.

“Saved by Grace,” “Blessed Assurance,” “Rescue the Perishing,” and “Safe in the Arms of Jesus” are typical of Fanny Crosby’s most popular religious verses. Of the latter Miss Crosby has related an incident showing the remarkable rapidity with which she employed her inspiration and her talents of versification.

Incident In Life.

W.H. Doane, who wrote the music for many of her verses, had called one morning at Miss Crosby’s home in New York.

“I must take a train to Cincinnati in forty minutes,” he said, “and I have some music for which I want you to write a hymn.”

“He sat down at the piano and played his music.

“I think I can write it, Mr. Doane,” I said.

“I hurried upstairs and sat down to write. For some time I was entirely oblivious of surroundings. When I came back to my full senses the hymn was written and was on paper before me. I learned that I had only taken fifteen minutes. Triumphantly I carried it down to Mr. Doane. The music he played then and the words that I had hurriedly written, are the same used today in singing “Safe in the Arms of Jesus.”

“It was my most successful hymn, and I believe it was dictated by the spirit of the Lord, and that it was born for a mission.”

Wrote Popular Melodies.

But Fanny Crosby did not begin hymn-writing until she was over 40 years of age. Fifty years ago she was best known for her popular melodies which were whistled all over the country, such as “Proud World Good-by, I’m Going Home,” “Hazel Dell,” “The Honeysuckle Glen,” and “Never Forget the Dear Ones.”

Born in Putnam county, New York state, March 24, 1820, christened Frances Jane Crosby, and married to Alexander Van Alstyne, a blind music teacher, who died many years ago, the blind writer lived to be almost 95 years old. Her mother had lived to be 102, and her grandmother to be 106. She retained to the last all her faculties — excepting eyesight. She lost this during a fever in infancy when a hot poultice was applied to her eyes, destroying the optic nerve.

At eight years the little girl displayed her first talent in versification by this philosophy of contentment:

Oh, what a happy soul am I!
Although I cannot see;
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be.

How many blessings I enjoy,
That other people don’t;
To weep and sigh because I’m blind,
I cannot and I won’t.

For twelve years she studied at the New York Institution for the Blind. She never learned to read by the raised letters. Playing the guitar while a child she so calloused her fingers that they were not sensitive enough to read the raised characters. All she learned she memorized from hearing. During her connection with the institution, which included an additional twelve years as a teacher, she traveled all over the country declaiming her own verses. Before both houses of congress she once recited these special lines:

“O ye, who here from every state convene,
Illustrious band! may we not hope the scene
You now behold will prove to every mind
Instruction hath a ray to cheer the blind.

The Lincoln Daily Star (Lincoln, Nebraska) Feb 12, 1915

A Young Fanny Crosby (Image from www.nyise.org)

Fanny Crosby, the blind Methodist hymn writer, is now 70 years of age. She has written about 3000 Sunday school hymns, many of which are widely known. She was born at South East, N.Y., in 1823?, and lost her sight when six weeks old through the ignorant application of a warm poultice to he eyes. She has been an inmate of and teacher in the institution for the blind in New York since 1835. In 1858 she was married to Alexander Van Alstyne, a musician, who was also blind. Her first poem was published in 1831 and her first volume of verse, “A Blind Girl and Other Poems,” in 1834.

The Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, Massachusetts) Jul 27, 1894

More pictures and links to her hymns, go HERE.