1868 - Wheeled Back to Health

Mention was made some time since of the resident of Watertown, N. Y., who wheeled his wife on a wheelbarrow from that place to Saratoga. The trip was undertaken, on the advice of a physician, for the benefit of the wife's health. Recently the couple passed through Utica on their way home, the woman restored to health, and walking beside her husband, who wheeled the empty barrow.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
August 22, 1868

1869 - A Fishing Story

Two citizens of Jackson, Miss., went out fishing, got fifty miles away from home, and out of money, and finally, as a last resort, went to the Sheriff of the county,  told him they were escaped convicts from the Jackson Penitentiary, gave themselves up, and were taken home without the expenditure of a cent. The Sheriff's feelings, on realizing the joke, may be imagined.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
July 3, 1869

1886 - "Egg Sociables"

"Egg Sociables" are now prevalent in Kingston, N.Y. Every young lady brings an egg along, writing her name on it. Each young man draws one of these eggs out of a bag, and must act as an escort for the young lady whose name is inscribed on the egg he draws.

St. Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
April 10, 1886

1884 - New Eyelid

Mr. P. Sexton, of Elmira, N. Y., will soon have a new eyelid. Mr. Sexton, as will be remembered, was the engineer of the train that rain through a sea of burning oil near Bradford, Pa., last January. He was severely burned. Parts of his nose and ears are gone, while both lower eye-lids are burned away, leaving no protection to the eyes. A prominent physician of Elmira volunteered to repair the engineer's mutilated face, and recently preformed a plastic operation for the restoration of one of the lids, literally making a new eyelid. When it heals, the same operation will be made on the opposite side. - Buffalo Express.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
October 25, 1884

1886 - Seventy-four Years Married

WESTPORT, Ct., April 18. - Captain Alfred Taylor, of the Poplar Plains District, some two miles north of the town of  Westport, is now in his 95th year. He is the oldest voter in Fairfield county, and one of the oldest in the State. He owns a farm of several hundred acres, and has worked upon it during a period of more than two generations. His wife, Mrs. Chloe Taylor, is 92. Should they live till Good Friday, April 23, they will have completed seventy four years of married life. A diamond wedding will be held in their honor, to which hosts of friends will be bidden, and in which every descendant and relative will take part.

Captain Taylor, when asked about his great age and the rapid flight of time, says he is unable to realize where the years have gone. To him the events of remote periods which he has witnessed seem to have occurred but yesterday. He is a Democrat of the Jeffersonian school, and cherishes the memory of "Old Hickory." When Mr. and Mrs. Taylor began in life, there was not a railroad or telegraph in existence, and few of the inventions and appliances which make the close of the nineteenth century memorable. Captain Taylor, though troubled with deafness and a slight dimness of sight, physically is well preserved, though during the winter he has passed most of the time in the kitchen, listening as some of his grandchildren read, or exchanging sentiments with Mrs. Taylor, who differs with him in politics and has the faculty of maintaining the sentiments of her arguments. This aged couple have resided sixty-one years in the house which is to be the scene of the diamond wedding.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
April 24, 1886

1870 - A Puzzling Letter

The postmaster at San Antonio, Texas, was not long since puzzled by the receipt of a letter from New Orleans, directed to "My Mammy, living in the City of San Antonio." One day, however, a small, fierce looking old woman appeared at the post office window, saying, "Mister, have you got any letters there from my Johnny?" The letter addressed to "My Mammy" was at once given her at a venture, and the suspicion that it was intended for her proved correct.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
June 25, 1870

1878 - How a Hat Saved a Life

MAJ. RUBE ALLEN, Com. Vanderbilt's favorite veteran engineer of the Central Road, a man of giant stature, with a brave heart, which is as tender as a woman's, had a new hat for one of the freight brakeman of the road when he can find the right man. One day last week he was coming to Utica, drawing an express train. Just as he approached one of the small stations he saw the foreman of a section gang standing sideways in the middle of the passenger track, apparently watching a passing freight train. Rube quickly tooted his whistle, but the noise made by the freight must have drowned it, for the foreman never stirred. He continued the signal, whistled for brakes and reversed, but the man stood still as if in a reverie. The locomotive had approached so near that Rube could hear the brakeman who stood on the top of his train call out to the trackman and see him move his hands despairingly, as if he feared that he could not save the man. The express was running at a high rate of speed, and could not be stopped in time.

The old engineer was about to shut his eyes to avoid a sight of this mangled victim, when he saw the brakeman pull off his hat, roll it into a ball and throw it at the man. Fortunately, it hit him squarely on the head, and giving a quick backward motion, the trackman just cleared the rails as the locomotive went thundering by. Old Reuben says his heart seemed to come up in his mouth for a minute, and he could not help crying out for joy. He knew that the quick-witted brakeman's old hat was cut to pieces, and he says that he should have a new one "if he never lays up a cent." -- Utica (N. Y.) Herald.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
September 21, 1878

1878 - A Little Traveler

The passengers by the through Intercolonial train from St. John, N. B. to Montreal, which arrived at Bonaventure Station this morning, was very much interested in a little girl about seven years of age, who was traveling alone, friends having placed her aboard the train at St. John on Tuesday night, and left her to the tender mercies of passengers. She was very neatly dressed, and had a white pasteboard card tightly sewed to the left shoulder of her jacket, upon which was written in a neat, lady-like hand, the following: "Nellie Carr - Please forward to Detroit thence to Lawton by Michigan Central Railway." Carefully pinned in her pocket she carried an envelope inclosing a half-fare ticket "St. John to Detroit." A basket (nearly as large as herself) containing an ample supply of cookies, doughnuts, buns, etc., and a "little dollie" which she very tenderly nursed, completed her outfit. She told your correspondent quite confidentially that she had money enough in the toe of her boot to pay her fare from Detroit to Lawton. She added, however, that her auntie had very strictly cautioned her against telling anyone that she had any money, as there were a lot of bad men traveling who would take it away from her. Her father is to meet her at Lawton, where she will arrive (if she makes her numerous connections all right) next Friday night. All who saw here on the car wished "little Nellie" a comfortable trip, and a safe and speedy arrival at the end of her long and tedious trip of 1,700 miles, and trusted she would continue to the end of her journey to be the "pet" of the train and the "special charge" of its passengers, as she has thus far. - Montreal (Can.) Witness.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
September 21, 1878

1880 - "An Ingenious Insurance Fraud"

Not long ago a cattle dealer named Grunbaum living at Zsolna, in  Austria, disappeared. As he was known to be in fair circumstances and good health, it was naturally apprehended that he had fallen victim to foul play, and a diligent search was instituted. The result was that in a wood not far from the town a mutilated corpse was found, in the pockets of the clothes of which were letters addressed to Grunbaum, and which was at once recognized by Grunbaum's wife as the body of her husband. Not very long before his disappearance Grunbaum had insured his life for $5,000 in one office and for $2,500 in another; after the funeral these sums were claimed by his widow, to whom everything was left by the will of the deceased. Before the policies were paid, however, the suspicions of one of the offices were excited by some chance; inquiries were made, and finally it was discovered that Grunbaum was still alive. He was at once arrested; and it has been now established that he himself murdered a stranger he met in the woods where the body was found; dressed the corpse in his clothes, putting on himself those of the dead man, and place his letters in the pockets of his victim. His wife was to draw the policies payable on the death of her husband, and the two then intended to emigrate under another name to America.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
July 10, 1880

1888 - Marriage by the Glove

A marriage by proxy, or as it is called, "marriage by the glove," is prevalent in Holland, and is brought about by the fact that many of the eligible young men, after having finished their education, depart for Dutch India. A friend selects a willing young lady, generally one with a substantial dot and otherwise conforming closely to specifications of the letter. A photograph of the favored one is inclosed [sic] in the return epistle. After the lapse of a few months, a soiled left-hand glove, with a power of attorney, is received from the far-away bachelor. The friend in Holland marries the selected bride in exactly the same manner as if he were the actual groom, and the young wife departs in the next India mail steamer to bring happiness to the lonely one in the far East. A marriage of this description is as binding as if the bridegroom were present, and is never repudiated. If either party to the glove marriage should die before meeting in India the survivor would share the property of the deceased in accordance with the law. - Boston Traveler.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
September 29, 1888