Out of Our Past: Local news of May 1883 involved drunkards, liniment and a mashed thumb
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May 30 in history:
In 1431, 19-year-old Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal, in Rouen, France. The Catholic Church later made her a saint for her troubles.
In 1783, Benjamin Towner published the first daily newspaper in the U.S. It was called The Pennsylvania Evening Post.
In 1806, future President Andrew Jackson killed Charles Dickinson in a duel after Dickinson accused Jackson's wife of bigamy.
In 1821, James Boyd patented the Rubber Fire Hose.
In 1911, Ray Harroun, with an average speed of 74.59 miles per hour, won the first Indianapolis 500. It was another man won the hearts of over 80,000 fans though; Harry Knight, driving a Richmond-made car, forfeited winning to avoid hitting a man fallen on the track and got the bigger headlines.
More Out of Our Past: Indy 500 driver in Richmond-made car sacrificed glory to save man's life
In 1949, WRTV TV channel 6 in Indianapolis began broadcasting on ABC.
In 1964, the Beatles' "Love Me Do" single became the number one hit in the United States.
The world-altering Richmond news the last week of May 1883:
Yesterday we should have reported there were 200 DUNKARDS passing through Richmond going to yearly meeting at Hagerstown. We employed an irresponsible ‘R’ and should not have stated it was DRUNKARDS. For this we sincerely apologize. It being the fault of our typesetter, he was shot yesterday and his body will be used as fertilizer to nurture neighborhood gardens, so that he may of use somewhere. - Sincerely, -The Eds.
Yesterday afternoon, Ed Tobin, who runs the sand belt machine at the Bent Wood Works, got his thumb caught in the rotary belt, and mashed it quite badly. Owing to the wound of a torn joint, his thumb will likely be crippled, but there are hopes this is not the case. Ed is a hard working man and the accident is to be deeply regretted, for it is his favorite thumb, and he has but two.
Conductor Hadley Fox has rubbed so much smell-good liniment on himself the last few days he smells like mint juleps. He says he works hard and sweats much, and needs an aromatic to be more fragrant, but fellow train hands declare he has a honey-scented sweetie who makes him sweet-smelling, a Jay County girl who affixes herself to him romantically. He lets her get close as she pleases, for they say a Jay county girl, in hugging, uses all four limbs like a bear, and Conductor Fox don’t care.
The Frank Wilson who figured prominently in police court news Tuesday morning, is not the Frank Wilson of Richmond, but a hoodlum from Dayton who came over and got drunk and passed out in the street. Our Frank Wilson and his wife urged us to make that clear. – The Eds.
Jimmy Smelser, the irate Irishman who orates for land league issues in politics, has boycotted the gentler usage of the English language lately, and inflicts not just bad grammar but vulgarities that are both unwarranted and unmatched. His poll opponent’s gloat, “The trouble with Jimmy is that he wears to large a mouth. If he would get one several sizes smaller, he could not have so much difficulty controlling it.”
Police Court opened this morning with three drunks and a marital misconduct on the docket. Marion Justice, called first, pled guilty and paid $9.95 for the mess made in the streets. Charles Fisher from Cincinnati came next, and pled guilty to drunkardness, and it cost him $ 9.95. John Donaland pled guilty to falling down drunk. He paid his $ 9.95, still unsteady on his feet. There was a complaint filed against William Iden and wife, Levinia, for disorderly conduct and destruction of the peace, as they created quite a stir fighting in the street, and should have confined themselves to the privacy of their home. They pled not guilty. Trial was set for 2 o’clock this afternoon.
Quite a lively little runaway took place at the depot last night. A horse hitched to a buggy got frightened and making a break for the platform, ran into the depot proper, through the open double doors, and passengers inside were terribly affrighted, seeing a horse there inside with them wrenching a buggy behind, they thinking he wanted to wait for a train, but the horse twisted and threshed back out, and smashed aforesaid buggy to pieces by the tracks, and nobody got hurt, except the buggy.
Contact columnist Steve Martin at stephenmonroemartin@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Out of Our Past: 1883 news involved drunkards, liniment, a mashed thumb
