Lost on the Ill-fated Erie: A Tribute

Image from the GenDisasters website, which also has transcribed  newspaper articles about the Erie disaster.

POETRY
For the Southport American.

The following Tribute to the Memory of Mrs. Smith and her Infant daughter, lost on board of the Erie, will no doubt be acceptable to her friends.

Mrs. Smith was the daughter of Mrs. Storms of Rochester, N.Y. She left Schenectady on her way th this place, with her mother and sister who accompanied her as far as Rochester. Arriving in Buffalo she took passage on board the ill-fated Erie, and amid the sufferers of that awful occasion she with her infant were lost.

Mrs. Smith was a sincere and devout member of the Methodist Church, and as such, we doubt not, felt even in the anguish of that trying hour, the support and consolation of those heavenward hopes, which it is the privilege of the Gospel alone to inspire. The public have sympathised with her afflicted partner, and although he feels like one from whose heart the tenderest vine has been torn, and is called to look upon the young object of his hopes as some

“Sweet flower no sooner blown than blasted.”

Like some

“Pale primrose fading timelessly,”

he is supported and sustained by the assurance that, although removed from the earth, they are transplanted to the Paradise above, to bloom and flourish in memorial vigor — that freed from the pains and fra???s of humanity, they have entered

“Upon that state
Of pure imperishable blessedness,
Which Reason promises, and Holy Writ
Ensures to all Believers.”

To her partner, as an offering of respect, the following lines are inscribed:

—–
This is the hour of gloom and mortal sadness,
To thy troubled breast;
— The hours, when in joy and gladness,
Thou thought’st to have pressed,
Anew, once more, to thy lone heart,
Thy wife and her blest counterpart; —
Those lovely forms, so oft by thee caressed.

Thou stands like one deserted and forsaken,
And all thy hopes are fled —
For they, thy sole delight, are taken,
And thou art numbered
With those who all too early mourn
Life’s dearest objects quickly torn
From their embrace, and numbered with the dead.

While from thee affection’s tendrils thus are torn,
And thou art called to be
Like one most wretched, most forlorn;
Lift up thine eyes and see
The source of that sustaining Power,
Which, in affliction’s sternest hour,
Cheers the frail spirit of humanity.

Think of those lost ones with a chastened love,
And, though thy heart be riven
With more than human sorrow; look above,
From whence alone is given
To feel how blest their present state,
With all the good, the wise, the great,
Amid the life, the light, and joy of Heaven.

Soul of our souls! Source and sustaining Power!
Look on the bow’d one,
And in this his sorrowing hour,
Cause that for him may run
Streams in the desert: — that he may,
Even in affliction wisely say,
Father! thy will, as ever, now be done.

N.P.D.

South Port American (South Port, Wisconsin) Sep 30, 1841

The Lost of the Erie

Image from the Who is John Maynard? website, where there are several newspapers transcriptions related to the burning of the Erie in 1841.

From the Chicago American

THE LOST  OF THE ERIE

Beneath the cold blue wave they sleep,
Their winding sheet the surge,
The winds that o’er the waters sweep,
Sigh mournfully their dirge

The billows roll above each breast,
And rise beneath each head,
And non may seek their place of rest,
Affection’s tears to shed.

And every murmur from the wave,
When by the tempest tost,
Speaks to our hearts, as from the grave,
Of the lamented lost.

August, 1841.

M A M

Alton Telegraph and Democratic Review (Alton, Illinois) Sep 11, 1841

Left My Bed and Board

Perplexing Case.

Hon. James H. Knowlton, one of our most eminent Western advocates, met with the following perplexing adventure in his early practice in Wisconsin:

A stranger came into his office and abruptly informed his that his wife had deserted him, and wished to have her replevined at once. Knowlton told him that that remedy would not meet his case exactly, and went on to inform him that if he would be patient until the desertion had continued one year, he could obtain a divorce. —

The stranger said he did not know that he wanted a divorce. What he mostly feared was that his wife would run him in debt all over the country.

“In that case,” said Knowlton, “you had better post her.”

What his client understood him to mean by posting, remains a mystery to this day. He said, in a meditative way the he didn’t know where she had gone, and beside, that she was fully as strong as he was, and he didn’t believe he could post her, even if he knew where to find her.

Knowlton hastened to inform him that by posting his wife he meant puting a notice in a newspaper, saying:

“Whereas my wife Helen has left my bed and board without any just -”

“But that ain’t true,” interrupted the client — “that ain’t true. she didn’t leave my bed — she took it away with her.”

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) Sep 25, 1861

CAUTION.

WHEREAS my wife Anne, late widow of David Risher, had left my bed and board without just cause, on the 26th inst. — This is therefore to caution all persons, from trusting or harboring her on my account, as I am determined to pay no debts of her contracting after this date.

BALTZER KOONTZ, Son.
Bethlehem tp. July 27.

The Ohio Repository (Canton, Ohio) Aug 19, 1824

NOTICE. — WHEREAS MY WIFE, Anna Rolland, has left my bed and board I shall pay no more bills of her contracting from this date.

LEVI (his X mark) ROLLAND,
Fitchburg, Jan. 23, 1874.

The Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, Massachusetts) Jan 29, 1874

Caution.

NOTICE is hereby given to all persons, that my wife Hannah Fosdick has left my bed and board, and has taken one of my children with her, John H. Fosdick. I hereby forbid all persons harboring or trusting her on my account, or in behalf of the child, as I will pay no debts of her contracting after this date; as I will support the child when returned to me at Norwalk.

JOHN M. FOSDICK.
Norwalk, Sept. 4, 1844

Huron Reflector (Norwalk, Ohio) Sep 24, 1844

NOTICE.

I, the undersigned, caution the Public against trusting my Wife LYDIA M’WHIRTER — she having left my bed and board last October, without any provocation and against my consent. I will not pay any debts of her contracting from this date.

JOHN M’WHIRTER
Baltimore July 17, 1841.

The Adams Sentinel (Gettsyburg, Pennsylvania) Aug 2, 1841

CAUTION AND NOTICE.

WHEREAS my wife Elvira Bridges, without any good cause or reasonable excuse there for, has left my bed and board and absconded with my two children this is to caution all persons from harboring her or them and to give notice that I shall pay no debts of her contracting or pay any expense for their or either of their support having suitably provided for them at my house in Bucksport.

EPHRAIM BRIDGES, Jr.
Bucksport Oct 12 1841

Bangor Daily Whig and Courier (Bangor, Maine) Oct 26, 1841

NOTICE.

MY wife, REBECCA, left my bed and board, and refuses to live with me under any consideration whatever, after intercessions and propositions of every kind, that an affectionate husband could make. I, therefore, hereby warn all persons not to harbor or trust her on my account, as I have arrangements made for her board, and by calling on me, or on Messrs. Wareing & Benson, or C. & J. Culp, she can have information, and be conducted to the house.

MATHEW M’KELVEY.
Plymouth, Huron County, Nov. 16, 1842.

Huron Reflector (Norwalk, Ohio) Nov 29, 1842

Pass Him Round. — Mrs. Elizabeth Peterman, of Rochester, Fulton county, Indiana, thus notices her absconding husband: “Left my bed and board, last August, thereby making my expenses lighter, my dearly beloved companion, David Peterman, without any just cause or provocation. All the old maids and young girls are hereby forewarned against harboring or trusting him on my account, as I am determined not to be accountable for his debts, or, more especially, for his conduct. Papers will please copy, and oblige a female who is rejoicing at her happy riddance.” — Indiana Blade.

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) Apr 13, 1846

Dennis O’Shanessy advertises as follows in the Columbus Republican: “I hereby give notice that my wife Bridget has left my bed and board and that I will not pay her debts, as we are not married.”

The Ohio Democrat (New Philadelphia, Ohio) Apr 12, 1872

Poetry Against Prose.

The following notices appear as advertisements in the Ticonderoga Sentinal of recent date:

NOTICE.

Whereas my wife Josephine has left my bed and board without just cause or provocation, all persons are hereby forbidden to trust or harbor her on my account, as I shall pay no debts of her contracting hereafter.

W.O. MEASECK.
_________
NOTICE.

No bed or board as yet we’ve had
From William O. or William’s dad.
Since last September, when we were wed,
Have furnished him both board and bed;
And for just cause and provocation
Have sent him home to his relation.

MRS. JOSIE MEASECK.

Josie has the best of it in wit if nothing else.

The Ohio Democrat (New Philadelphia, Ohio) Oct 5, 1893

NOTICE.

To whom it may concern: All persons are hereby notified that Joseph Leipert has left my bed and board without any cause or reason therefor, and that hereafter I will not be responsible for any board, lodging, clothing, food, expenses, or other article furnished him.

Dated at Corning, Iowa, February 26, 1898.

ANNA LEIPERT

Adams County Free Press (Corning, Iowa) Mar 10, 1898

NOTICE.

My husband, John S. Sanders, having left my bed and board, notice is hereby given the public not to sell him anything in my name as I will not be responsible for debts or bills contracted by him.

MRS. ANNA M. SANDERS,
New Oxford, Pa.

New Oxford Item (New Oxford, Pennsylvania) Sep 5, 1918

To all Whom it may Concern.

My wife, Francis Catching, having separated from me, and having left my bed and board without any just cause or provocation, I hereby notify all persons not to trust or give her credit on my account, as I will pay no bills, debts, or obligations contracted by her from and after this date, of any nature or kind whatever.

JOEL P. CATCHING.
Missoula, M.T., Feb. 23, 1883.

The Daily Miner (Butte, Montana) Mar 4, 1883

MY WIFE, Mrs. I.H. Tupen, having left my bed and board, I will not be responsible for any debts contracted by her after this date, December 11, 1919. Irving H. Tupen.

P.S. — Her name formerly was Miss Avy Alice Cutlip.

Woodland Daily Democrat (Woodland, California) Dec 19, 1919

The Englishmen at Bunker Hill

Image from Wikimedia

Two strangers recently visited Bunker Hill, and ascended to the top of the Monument. After they had asked a number of questions, which the superintendent answered very politely, he told them it was customary to pay a small sum for ascending the Monument. At this they were highly indignant, and said they thought it was a free country, and this place should be free to all; — they would not be gulled out of their money by a Yankee! an Englishman ought to be allowed to go free to such public places, &c.

The superintendent bowed very politely, and said, ‘I wish you had mentioned that you were Englishmen before, for they are the only persons we admit free; we consider that THEY paid dear enough for ascending this hill on the 17th of June, 1776!’

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) May 10, 1841

Mashed to a Mummy

Steam Driven Rolling Mill

Image from the  Youngstown Steel Heritage Foundation website. They have an interesting project going on, which is explained on the website and includes pictures.  Here is their mission statement:

The mission of the Tod Engine Foundation is to preserve the steelmaking heritage of the Youngstown steelmaking district, and to preserve the history and technology of large reciprocating engines in the steel industry.   Our major project is the construction of the Tod Engine Heritage Park in Youngstown, where we have preserved the Tod Engine, a 260 ton rolling mill steam engine built in Youngstown.

Screaming Man Mummy

Mummy image from the Metro.co.uk article, The Mother of All Mysteries.

Horrible Death. —

We learn by the Morgantown, (Pa.) Republican, that a young man by the name of James Weerman, by imprudently trying to jump from one side of a machine to the other, in Messrs. E.C. Ellicott & Co.’s Rolling Mill, on Cheat river, was caught between the rollers and drawn through in the twinkling of an eye, and thus was mashed to a mummy — the result of sheer carelessness on his part.

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) May 3, 1841

OPINION: The description of  “mashed like a mummy” seems odd, since mummies aren’t usually flat, but I guess they were trying to stretch a very short news item by adding all the figurative language. Sort of like how I have managed to take this very short news article and stretch it out even further! haha!

Stubborn Facts for Farmers

Image from http://www.old-picture.com

From the Farmers’ Cabinet.

FACTS.

‘Facts are stubborn things.’

1. A poor farmer will be a poor man.

2. A large manure heap makes a full granary.

3. Intelligence to plan, industry to execute, and economy to preserve — prosperity follows.

4. Ignorance, idleness and waste are followed close in the rear by distress, poverty and want.

5. The interest and happiness of the owner of all domestic animals are prompted by kind treatment, full feeding and cleanliness. Try it.

6. Poor tillage, poor crops.

7. To raise an abundance of grass is the foundation of all good husbandry, and should be the first and last effort of every person who desires to be a successful and prosperous farmer.

8. Plants derive their nutriment from the soil, and every crop removed takes away part of its productive power, which an honest farmer will take pleasure and derive profit from restoring as soon as possible.

9. Those who trespass on the kindly disposition of the soil to produce crops, without making adequate returns to it, are very soon brought to judgment.

10. A wise man will spread neither manure nor his labor over more ground than will enable him to attain a maximum result.

11. Postponing doing right, is doing wrong.

12. A well cultivated garden is the most profitable part of a farmer’s domain.

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) May 10, 1841

Lynch Law From the Bench

Image from Wikimedia

Lynch Law from the Bench. —

The Chicago Tribune narrates the particulars of a great excitement at Oregon, Ogle county, Illinois. Several men belonging to a gang of horse thieves in the neighborhood had been arrested. During the session of the court, and, probably with a view to the rescue of the prisoners, fire was communicated to the court house near which stood the jail. The court house was consumed; the jail with some difficulty was preserved from the flames, and the prisoners were kept secure.

The town was in great excitement, rumors being circulated that the confederates of the prisoners were resolved to assail the persons and property of all concerned in prosecuting the accused felons.

Judge Ford who presided at the trial, having disposed of the case of the prisoners, took occasion to say — ‘that hitherto he had acted as a magistrate upon the bench, as impartially and justly to all, as he could, but would take that opportunity to allude to threats which had been made out of doors. It had been threatened that violence would be visited upon the persons or property of all concerned in prosecuting the prisoners, including the Judge who had presided at their trials.

If any persons concerned in uttering such threats were there present, he would take that opportunity of admonishing them, that the moral portion of the community was at least well organized to protect themselves and the laws, and that no such demonstrations of vengeance of the fate of the convicted felons should pass without condign punishment. For himself, his official station would now compel him to leave his home in order to discharge his duties on the Circuit; and he would be obliged to leave his family and his property in their midst, without the presence of their natural protector.

But he then gave notice, that  — if in his absence, his family or property should be assailed in pursuance of the threats already made — he would, upon his return, place himself at the head of his friends, pursue the offenders wherever they might retreat, and — judge or no judge, law or no law — hang them summarily upon the nearest tree.’

The Tribune, with great propriety, comments upon the foregoing singular address as follows:

We should greatly lament such a declaration from any source; we can find no words to express our mortification and indignation at hearing them from the bench. We can well appreciate the excitement of feeling, which under the circumstances led so discreet a man as Judge Ford to utter a threat so sacrilegious, but excitement can, in an case, furnish only an excuse, not a justification.

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) May 3, 1841

*****

You can read more about Judge Ford HERE:

The Regulators and the Prairie Bandits:
Vigilante Justice in the Rock River Valley
Herbert S. Channick

*****

And in the following book:

Papers in Illinois History and Transactions
Illinois State Historical Society, 1913
Governor Thomas Ford in Ogle County
By Mrs. Rebecca H. Kauffman, Oregon Ill. (Google book LINK)

At the beginning of the essay on page 107 (one paragraph) is a tribute to Thomas Ford by Theodore Roosevelt, given at the Minnesota State Fair in 1901.

A Patriot’s Warning: The Words of Thomas Jefferson

Image from http://www.blueheronblast.com

A PATRIOT’S WARNING.

If ever the tones of warning of the immortal Jefferson should be heard and heeded, now is the time. If there ever was a period when they were more directily applicable than any other, it is the present. Read and remember.

A Warning Voice. — “To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our selection between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.

If we run into such debts, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the governmemt for their debts and daily expenses, and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes; have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagement to account; but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet the chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers.

Our land-holders too, like theirs, retaining, indeed, the title and stewardship of estates, called theirs, but held really in trust for the treasury, must wander, in foreign countries, and be contented with penury, obscurity, exile, and the glory of the nation. This example reads to us the salutary lesson that private fortunes are destroyed by public as well as by private extravagance. And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance, becomes a precedent for a second; that second for a third; and so on, till the bulk of the society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery, to have no sensibilities left but sinning and suffering.

Then begins, indeed, the bellum omimium in omnia*, which some philosophers observing to be so general in this world, have mistaken it for the natural instead of the abusive state of man.

And the fore-horse of this frightful team is, PUBLIC DEBT.

Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression.”

Thomas Jefferson

The Experiment (Norwalk, Ohio) Sep 8, 1841

*war of all against all (Definition from the Atlantic Sentinel, which published these same words from Jefferson in a recent article.)

Charles Dickens: Over the Years

Charles Dickens

Boz.
The Sunday Morning News says the Reporters of N. York are taking measures to give Mr. Dickens (Boz) a slendid public entertainment, on his arrival in this country, which it is expected will be early in January next. – From present prospects, the dinner will be a magnificent affair.

Bangor Daily Whig and Courier (Bangor, Maine)  Nov 6, 1841

Arrival of the Britannia — Twenty eight days Later from England — Arrival of Charles Dickens — Twenty eight Thousand Russians killed or taken Prisoners by the Circassians, &c. &c.

As good luck would have it, just as our paper was going to press E. HARRIS, Esq. handed us a copy of the Evening Gazette, containing the news by the Britannia…

The Britania arrived at half past four o’clock on Saturday in 18 days from Liverpool. She experienced very heavy weather, having had her Paddle boxes much impaired and her Life Boasts stove? to pieces during a severe gale on the night of the 15th. In entering the harbor of Halifax she grounded but was got off again in a few minutes and anchored for the night. She brings an unusual large number of passengers, among whom is CHARLES DICKENS, the principal literary writer of the age.

Bangor Daily Whig and Courier (Bangor, Maine) Jan 25, 1842

Charles Dickens, in behalf of the passengers of the Britannia during her last voyage on Saturday, last, presented Capt. Hewitt several pieces of plate as a testimony to the skill and gentlemanly conduct of that gentleman during the passage. The address was delivered at the Tremont? House, Boston, and was very neat.

Charles Dickens, Esq. alias “Boz,” as you will have heard before this reaches you, is now here. A complimentary dinner is to be given him next week. He is decidedly a good looking fellow wears long hair, and is of course the “lion of the city.” The Earl of Mulgrave is entirely eclipsed by him. It is stated that the tickets to the “Boz dinner,” are to be put at the moderate price of ten dollars, and I make no doubt the company will be sufficiently select.

Mr. Dickens is a pleasing writer, and I have no doubt is an amiable man, but, I question the propriety of feasting any man or set of men. There are a thousand as good men as Dickens in Boston, and probably double that number men who are in all respects his equals, if not his superiors. If they visit England, are they feasted, and worshipped? No. And here the people of that country shew their good sense. Let us receive distinguished strangers with cordiality and a hearty yankee greeting, and with all those little civilities which should characterise the meeting of friendly strangers, but at the same time eschew all that foolish and disgusting parade, which is but too common at the present day. Besides, I am so much of a republican, that I would no sooner honor a lord, a duke, a prince, or a literary man, than I would a mechanic who had become famous in his calling. A skilful engineer, or cordwainer, if he is a gentleman, is as deserving of homage, (and frequently more so,) as is a representative of the aristocracy, or of the literature of a country. However, as I shall not attend the ten dollar fete, I will say nothing more.

Bangor Daily Whig and Courier (Bangor, Maine) Feb 1, 1842

Groupies, circa 1842

Several Plymouth girls made a request of Dickens for a lock of his hair. In a letter to them says the Rock, he declines a compliance with that request, because it would afford a precedent, which, if followed, would shortly result in total baldness. Boz concluded his letter in very pretty terms, and his reply was a very proper one.

Bangor Daily Whig and Courier (Bangor, Maine) Feb 15, 1842

Charles Dickens.
At a late dinner given to Mr. Dickens at Hartford about 80 gentlemen, and among the, Gov. Ellsworth, Bishop Brownell, Mr. Niles and other distinguished men sat down to the table. After several toast had been given, the president of the day introduced, with some appropriate complimentary remarks, the following toast.

The health of Charles Dickens Elected by the world’s suffrage, to an elevated station in the great republic of letters, his fame is written on the heart, and the head approves the record.

This toast was received with enthusiastic and long continued applause. Mr. Dickens, when the applause had subsided, rose and in feeling and unaffected terms thanked the company for the kind feelings which they had expressed towards him…

Bangor Daily Whig and Courier (Bangor, Maine) Feb 19, 1842

You can read his speech here:

SPEECH: FEBRUARY 7, 1842.

N.B. — Mr. BONNER has the pleasure of announcing that CHARLES DICKENS, who is universally conseded to be the most popular author living, has been engaged to write a Tale expressly for the columns of the LEDGER; and that he is now at work upon it. Advance sheets of Mr. DICKENS’ stories have at different time been obtained by American publishers, but this is the first time that a tale has been written expressly and solely for an American periodical by such an eminent author as Mr. DICKENS; and yet Mr. BONNER would not have the public suppose that he thinks there is anything very remarkable about this engagement — it is only part and parcel of his policy.

The New York Times (New York, New York) Arp 25, 1859

Congratulations

A translation of Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities is to appear in the feuilleton, Le Pays, the semi-official journal of the French Government.

The New York Times (New York, New York) May 26, 1860

Literary Humor:

A facetious correspondent sends us a query — Which is the most industrious writer, Dickens, Bulwer Lytton, or Mr. Warren? to which he answers Dickens; for he writes All the Year Round, while Bulwer has written Night and Morning, and Warren Now and Then. In justice to the latter gentleman our friend should have remembered that when he was merely writing novels, Mr. Warren wrote Ten Thousand a Year.

The New York Times (New York, New York) June 30, 1860

This Dickens fan was a bit extreme:

A boy of fifteen lately committed suicide in London because the servant maid took away his candle while he was reading “Pickwick Papers.” Mr. Dickens should immortalize him in his next novel.

Galveston Daily News (Galveston, Texas) Sep 30, 1865

CHARLES DICKENS FOR PARLIAMENT.
Charles Dickens is being again importuned to become a candidate for Parliament. Says an English contemporary: “Mr. C. Dickens should be heard by every one who wishes to hear oratory. In vain will he listen in the House of Commons for the like. Gladstone and D’Israeli have not a tithe of the command of the brilliant spirit, flowing, uninterrupted words, beautiful and truthful thoughts, of our great English novelist. He has been asked over and over again to stand for some place or another. He knows any part of London would return him, free o’ cost, and give him a statue in precious metal at the same time to commemorate the event. But he will not. It is his pride, perhaps, to wash his hands of any institution he has so freely rediculed; but there is good still in it, and he might honor the House and the country by taking his seat there.”

Galveston Daily News (Galveston, Texas) May 17, 1866

Dickens Reading

HOW CHARLES DICKENS READS.
Mr. Dickens’ method is thus described in the Philadelphia Ledger:
He takes one of his works, “David Copperfield,” for example, and in about an hour and a half tells the whole story of the book, occasionally selecting a favorite passage, which he repeats in full, making all the characters act and talk precisely as he fancied them at the time of their creation in his own mind. All this is done with the finest dramatic effect, as Mr. Dickens, among his other intellectual qualities, has those of a finished actor of the highest grade. He has, too, the great advantage of knowing all about the characters he personates in his readings. To use one of his own expressions, he “knows their tricks and their manners.” It is on account of these elements that the “Dickens readings” are said to excel all other entertainments of the same general character.

Galveston Daily News (Galveston, Texas) Sep 22, 1867

BOSTON, Nov. 18. — The sale of tickets to Dickens’ course of readings, which took place at Ticknor & Fields’ to-day, cause no little sensation. At sunrise the crowd begain to gather, and the aid of a strong police force was required to enforce fair play among the eager applicants. Nearly all the tickets for the course, about 8,000, were sold, and hundreds were disappointed in securing any. A few tickets got into the hands of speculators, who offer them at $20 each.

Galveston Daily News (Galveston, Texas) Nov 30, 1867

The Philadelphia correspondent of the London Times says that Mr. Dickens will have to pay $20,000 of his receipts for reading, in this country, as an internal revenue tax.

St Joseph Herald (Saint Joseph, Michigan) Mar 14, 1868

Dickens

Mark Twain is lecturing to crowded houses in California and Nevada.
Dickens is writing a $10,000 Chirstmas play for Jarrett, of Niblo’s, New York.
For $60,000 in gold, Strauss has consented to make a concert tour in this country.

Mrs. Ann S. Stephens has written a new fiction which is “Doubly False.”

Anna Dickinson is going to England to lecture.

St Joseph Herald (Saint Joseph, Michigan) June 6, 1868

$$$$$$$$$

The London Court Journal says that Charles Dickens made more than $260,000 in America, and has just concluded an engagement for 100 farewell readings in England, for which he is to receive L8,000 without risk.

St Joseph Herald (Saint Joseph, Michigan) Sep 26, 1868

Tom Thumb

Personal and Literary.
Charles Dickens’ only surviving brother died, a few weeks ago, in England.
Emerson is getting deaf.
Tom Thumb is growing taller.

St Joseph Herald (Saint Joseph, Michigan) Nov 28, 1868

$$$$$$$$$

Dickens is coining money by his farewell readings inthe large cities of England, and only one-quarter of the applicants for tickets are successful. After reading in Scotland and Ireland he goes to Paris, where his audiences have heretofore been large and enthusiastic.

St Joseph Herald (Saint Joseph, Michigan) Jan 23, 1869

Humorous letter to the press, asking for a correction, after they incorrectly reported his sister-in-law had DIED!

The following is the text of Charles Dickens note to the London News, a summary of which was received by the cable: “Sir– I am required to discharge a painful act of duty imposed upon me by your insertion in your paper of Saturday of a paragraph from the New York Times respecting the death, at Chicago, of  ‘Mrs. Augustus N. Dickens, widow of the brother of Charles Dickens, the celebrated English novelist.’ The widow of my late brother, in that paragraph referred to, was never at Chicago; she is a lady now living, and resident in London; she is a frequent guest at my house, and I am one of the trustees under her marriage settlement. My temporary absence in Ireland has delayed for some days my troubling you with the request that you will have the goodness to publish this correction. I am, &c., CHARLES DICKENS. “Belfast, Jan. 14.”

St Joseph Herald (Saint Joseph, Michigan) Feb 20, 1869

Declining Health?

Charles Dickens suffers from palsy in the right hand, induced by writing too much.

St Joseph Herald (Saint Joseph, Michigan) Mar 6, 1869

AND

Dickens has suspended his readings under medical advice.

St Joseph Herald (Saint Joseph, Michigan) Mar 20, 1869

Charles Dickens was banquetted in Liverpool on the 11th. About 700 persons sat with him at the table. In responding to a sentiment, Anthony Trollope intimated that the appointment of Mr. Dickens as Minister to Washington would be beneficial to both countries.

St Joseph Herald (Saint Joseph, Michigan) Apr 24, 1869

Dickens Writing

Mr. Dickens is again reported to be writing a novel.
It is reported that Anna Dickinson is worth $100,000.

St Joseph Herald (Saint Joseph, Michigan) June 5, 1869

In a recent speech at Birmingham, Charles Dickens alluded to the fact that a former speech of his had been misunderstood, and he would therefore take this occasion to restate his political creed. He had no faith in the people with a small “p” governing, but entire faith in the People with a large “P” governed. He put entire trust in the masses, none whatever in the so-called ruling class.

St Joseph Herald (Saint Joseph, Michigan) Jan 15, 1870

EVERY SATURDAY, No. 15, for April 9, contains the first installment of Mr. Dickens’ new story, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.” This 1st published from advance sheets, by special arrangement with Mr. Dickens, and appears simultaniously with its publication in England. It is accompanied by the illustrations drawn for the English edition by Mr. Fildes, under the supervision of Mr. Dickens himself. Those who desire to read this great story in its earliest and only authorized form in America, can find it in Every Saturday. This number of Every Saturday is rendered additionally attractive by an excellent new portrait of Mr. Dickens, and views of his residence at Gad’s Hill Place. A supplement is issued with the number, entitled “Mr. Pickwick’s Reception,” drawn expressly for this number by Mr. S. Eytinge, Jr. It represents the numerous personages of Mr. Dickens’ novels passing before Mr. Pickwick, to whom they are pointed out by the trusty Sam Weller. The admirers of Mr. Dickens will easily recognize their favorites and aversions, — Mr. Pecksniff and his daughters, jolly Mark Tapley, Mr. Micawber and the twins, Fagin, the Artful Dodger, the Fat Boy trying to grow fatter, Little Nell and her Grandfather, Dombey, Bob Cratchit with Tiny Tim, and indeed almost the entire roll of characters that throng Mr. Dickens’ unequalled stories.
FIELDS, OSGOOD & Co., Publishers, Boston.

St Joseph Herald (Saint Joseph, Michigan) Apr 9, 1870

Charles Dickens

It is said that the advertisements which will be printed at the end and beginning of each part of Mr. Dicken’s new novel will not only pay the cost of the novel’s “composition,” but leave a very handsome overplus. The only cost, therefore, to the author will be the paper and press-work. Mr. Dickens is his own publisher, and allows the trade publishers a commission on sales made, in this way reversing the usual relations between authors and publishers.

St Joseph Herald (Saint Joseph, Michigan) May 14, 1870