Month: July 2019

Old Ad of the Week: Darn That Gogo Carsons!

I read a lot of old newspapers, which means I see a lot of old ads. Some of them are too good to keep to myself.

Source: Chicago Tribune; Sept. 25, 1938

Right-click –> view image to enlarge.

Cora: Until the Corn Grew Too High to See Them (9)

Read the full Cora Stallman series here.

Thursday, Aug. 27, 1925. Humboldt, IL

On the first day of Cora Stallman’s inquest, Edith Lilley was in the witness chair twice. Both times she had plenty to tell — and yet, she hardly figures in the resulting newspaper accounts. Her testimony was mentioned only at the ends of articles, when it was mentioned at all. Maybe this oversight was due to when she testified, halfway through the event, after people had been sitting in the stuffy town hall for hours. Or maybe it was simpler than that. A farm wife, despite knowing Cora as a person and friend, could not compete against the allure of learned experts — even ones who knew her only as a body. The newspapers wanted to hear from doctors and scientists, so that’s who they put on the front page.

Continue reading “Cora: Until the Corn Grew Too High to See Them (9)”

Cora: What the Papers Say #4

From the Inquest

The town hall at Humboldt is a one-story frame structure opposite the Odd Fellow Hall. It is about 40 x 50 feet and there was a crowd of upward of 150 people in it at the inquest. In addition to these, there were multitudes of the largest, “barb-wiredest” flies that have ever tormented a coroner and a lot of gentle listeners at an inquest. The windows of the town hall have wire screening in them, but instead of fly screen, it is two-inch mesh poultry netting attached to frames. Just what “make” of flies these “screens” were intended to keep out is not estimated, and many wondered why so many flies and of such scorpion propensities should levy on the audience.

Mattoon Daily Journal-Gazette; 28 Aug 1925

 

Hello My Name Is

I had happily imagined a pile of family photos. I didn’t bother thinking about what might be on the back of them.

This woman’s face drifted up to me this week. She came out of a pile of photos, a randomly selected card in a shuffled deck of memories. It has been some days, but I keep going back to her although — and maybe because — I have no idea who she is.

Continue reading “Hello My Name Is”

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