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Posted by: Heather Thomas
By the late 19th century, children in the U.S. had begun mailing their Christmas lists in letters to Santa, but the Post Office regarded these letters as undeliverable. Around the same time, newspapers began encouraging children to send their ‘Dear Santa’ letters to them to be published, recognizing the emotional impact the letters would have on their readers.
Posted in: Digitized Newspapers, Holidays, Newspapers
Posted by: Heather Thomas
On the last day of his life, millionaire Jim Fisk was embroiled in attempted blackmail, ongoing legal battles, and a contentious love triangle, all involving his mistress and his one-time closest friend. Little did he know that the drama would climax with his murder. Jim Fisk was the Gilded Age robber baron personified. He gained …
Posted in: Crime, Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers
Posted by: Heather Thomas
America’s first daredevil, Sam Patch, astounded audiences by leaping from waterfalls at hair-raising heights. For two years he was unstoppable, cheating death jump after jump. “There’s no mistake in Sam Patch,” he boasted, but a mistake during the jump he dubbed his “last” led to his demise. A Rhode Island cotton mill spinner since childhood, …
Posted in: Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers
Posted by: Heather Thomas
Never before had a congressional hearing been described as “UPROARIOUS,” until master magician and escape artist Harry Houdini provided expert testimony in which he delivered a lively and compelling case against the supernatural. For years, Houdini had worked tirelessly to debunk spirit mediums who claimed to communicate with the dead. He viewed them as “ghost …
Posted in: Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers
Posted by: Heather Thomas
Dead outlaw, will travel. In life, Elmer McCurdy was a hard-drinking drifter. In death, he crisscrossed the country touring the carnival circuit, hit the Hollywood scene, and even made it to TV! The bizarre tale of Elmer’s journey from varmint to traveling corpse started in Oklahoma when he and his gang of bandits robbed the …
Posted in: Comic Books, Crime, Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers
Posted by: Heather Thomas
It takes a thief to catch a thief. That was how imprisoned mob boss Al Capone proposed to bring the kidnapped Lindbergh baby home safely. On March 2, 1932, from his cell in Cook County Jail in Chicago, one day after the son of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh had been kidnapped, “Scarface” Al Capone offered …
Posted in: Crime, Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers
Posted by: Heather Thomas
Why do we commoners get a kick out of royal weddings? Maybe it’s the garb: brides in white silk with laced veils, grooms decked out in full military dress. Or the pomp and circumstance: ancient rituals, gilded carriages, thousands of cheering spectators. Or it could be the simple desire to watch a fairy tale turn …
Posted in: Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers