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The Old Times: NURSE KILLS SELF

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  This quick little article is not a funny one this time around. When I look for odd articles of things that happened in the past, I typically come across quite a bit of death and I've become somewhat numb to it.  However, this one from the Detroit Times on April 26th of 1909 just struck me for some reason. NURSE KILLS SELF. TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., April 24. -Esther Heller, 25 years old, a nurse at the Northern Michigan insane asylum here, committed suicide last night by swallowing carbolic acid. Miss Heller, who was pretty, carefully planned the deed. She had been in ill-health for sometime, but her friends say her physical condition was not serious enough to drive her to end her life. Esther was a young woman, who according to the article, was pretty. She had what was presumably a tough profession, as asylums of that time were likely not very forgiving to anyone. It seems as if she had a rough life. There was nothing of note in the article as to who she was or what she meant to her
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The Old Times: Ice Fishing on Lake St Clair

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   Fishing is apparently a much more dangerous hobby than one would think. There's two stories from the Detroit Times that I've got from the same newspaper and the same day in February of 1941. History tells us that the more things change, the more they stay the same :  Plane Saves 2 on Ice   Fisherman Marooned on Floe in Lake St. Clair Rescued by Navy Flier       Two fishermen, marooned on an ice floe more than a mile from shore on Lake St. Clair, owe their lives today to the crew of an amphibian plane from the naval reserve aviation base at Grosse Ile.      The fishermen are Dan Vandenbossche Sr., 58, of Harrison Township, and James Sinclair, 40, of 7743 Sherwood avenue, Detroit. Their rescuers are Ensign Henry McNeely and Machinist's Mate M. T. Woodcock.       Two planes joined in the rescue, the second one from Selfridge Field being piloted by Lieut. R. B. Hubbell with Lieut. Dale Garvey, observer. The men were fishing from a shanty on the ice about a mile from shore wh
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The Old Times: PIGMY WORSTS GIANT IN FIGHT

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  This article is about check fraud from The National Bank of Mouth. When you write a check from that bank, you sure as hell better make sure your ass can cash it. Mean Joe Greening learned a valuable lesson in an article from February of 1909 from The Detroit Times.  PIGMY WORSTS GIANT IN FIGHT Joseph Greening, No. 94 Mott-ave., as he gave his address to the police, and Arthur Morris, a waiter, rooming at No. 162 Congress-st, east, were principals in a bloody "scrap" in Smith's restaurant at No. 111 Bates-st., about 1:20 o'clock, Tuesday morning. Greening is a big strapping fellow and Morris a frail young chap in comparison, but when it was all over, the giant went to St. Mary's hospital for repairs while the pigmy was locked up in central station on a charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm. Morris was released later, however, when word came from the hospital that Greening's injuries were not serious, and it is doubtful whether any prosecution
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The Old Times: DEATH ENTERS WHERE POVERTY PREVAILS - Sponsored by Stroh's Beer

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 Here I've got a quick article all from Jan.  30th 1909. The subject matter of this article is nothing to laugh at, but there is some humor in the horrors that existed in the world in 1909.  DEATH ENTERS WHERE POVERTY PREVAILED MUSKEGON, Mich., Jan. 30,- Mrs. Samuel Huston, of Ferry, Oceana county, and her two children are dead from typhoid fever. The family was found living in a one-room hovel. They had nothing to eat and every member of the family was affected with some disease. The father is ill and four other children will have to be sent to a state institution. ____________________________________________ Stroh's Bottled Beer is a modern family 'commodity or rather necessity. It has no rival. It is the standard of purity and flavor. Phone Main 316 for a case. Holy hell, newspaper people, read the room. "You think an entire family being devastated from hunger and illness is cold? Not as cold as a Stroh's Beer!" Perhaps the Huston family was unaware of the
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The Old Times: SHOOTING VICTIM LOSES BOTH EYES

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  Here's a real fun one from The Detroit Times, on January 2nd, 1908 . Apparently in 1908, the real estate on the front page was limited. The vagueness of this wildly intriguing story is maddening. Here it is: Alexander Van Houteen, the Belgian shot by Gustave Meert, a countryman, in Remi Tank's saloon, No. 1193 Jefferson-ave., Tuesday night, will lose both his eyes as a result of the wound. The doctors in St. Mary's hospital have tried in vain to save his sight, and on Friday both eyes will be removed. It is thought Van Houteen will live, Meert is in custody and will probably be prosecuted on a charge of assault with intent to kill.  Where was Alex shot? Why was Alex shot? Why was Alex Belgian? Why did they always disclose where the people in the story's home address? These are things left up to the readers' imagination in this story. Poor Alex though. The guy's eye are gone now. A total loss of vision has to be devastating, especially in the early 1900's w
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The Old Times: SLOBBERED OVER HUBBY IN PUBLIC

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 It was a slow news day on Dec. 3rd, 1909 , apparently. The Detroit Times decided it was appropriate and necessary to print this article about some nasty family drama. Imagine your domestic situation was so ugly that it made the news. Here's the lengthy article.   SLOBBERED OVER HUBBY IN PUBLIC But Mrs. Cornwall Was Prize Nagger In Private, Spouse Tells Divorce Judge That the nagging of his wife made life with her unbearable, was the testimony of John J. Cornwall, in Judge Murfin's court, Friday, in his suit for divorce against his wife, Pearl Cornwall. Mrs. Cornwall is contesting the case, her interests being looked after by two attorneys. "Wasn't Mrs. Cornwall ever affectionate?" the husband was asked in cross-examination. "Yes, when people were present," he answered. "What would she do?" "Attempt to embrace me and kiss  me." "Did you object to that?" "Yes. I didn't like hugging and kissing in front of people. I c
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The Old Times: Lost in a Storm

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 This story is from a bit north in the state and is from the Charlevoix County Herald. It was March 5th, 1904 , and Frank Sherman was about to prove that he was either a complete badass or a complete dumbass. Here's the story: Lost in a Storm. Frank Sherman, a cobbler of St. James, started Sunday morning from Hog island to go to Charlevoix to buy leather. He began his journey, afoot, toward Cross Village, the nearest mainland point but finding the weather fair, decided to walk straight across the lake to Charlevoix, a distance of thirty odd miles. Early in the evening when within five miles of his destination he was over- taken by a blizzard. The blinding and dense snow made a definite course impossible, and the darkness rendered his pocket compass of little use. He traveled the entire night. having been on the lake for twenty-four hours without food or rest. Daylight found him on the north shore of the bay near Emmet. Beach. Sherman was resuscitated by farmers and continued his jo
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