Recent Posts
Quick-Thinking Engineer Prevents Passenger Train Disaster
For a few terrifying moments on the Lake Shore tracks, it looked as if a passenger train was about to plunge into disaster. The westbound…
Mother Watches Baby Die in Her Arms During Heat Wave
The summer heat had already done its damage by the time Susan Dodi reached the doctor’s office with her baby in her arms. Her six-month-old…
Teen Locked in Freight Car by Jokers Found Frozen and Starving
What began as a cruel joke nearly cost a teenage boy his life. Seventeen-year-old James Fry was locked inside a freight car at Peru, Indiana,…
Navy Retires Fish Names for Submarines as Octopus Becomes C1
Before she became the C1, she was the Octopus. Resting in dry dock at the New York Navy Yard in 1912, the submarine was waiting…
Sick Children Were Once Tapped With a Blacksmith’s Hammer to Cure Them
For centuries, the village forge was a place of transformation. Cold metal entered the building and emerged as tools, weapons, horseshoes, and household objects. To…
Loaded Evidence Gun Fired in Philadelphia Courtroom, Shooting Reporter
A Philadelphia courtroom was waiting for the judge to take the bench when a revolver suddenly fired inside City Hall. Court reporter Leon Alexander had…
This Was Considered One of Wisconsin’s Most Modern Restaurants in 1922
When King’s Cafe opened in its new brick building on West Second Street in 1922, local readers were told they were looking at one of…
Lightning Struck Crowded Iowa Fair Tent, Killing 4 and Injuring Dozens
When rain began falling over the county fair in Indianola, Iowa, men, women, and children crowded into the poultry exhibition tent for shelter. Then lightning…
Chicago Mayor Threatened to Call Out Troops as 1905 Strike Spread
Chicago stood on the edge of a wider labor conflict in the spring of 1905 as striking teamsters, determined employers, imported strikebreakers, and hundreds of…
Spokane Conductor Said His Body Parts Were Stolen Before Court Declared Him Insane
Albert D. Finch was a familiar figure in Spokane, where he worked as a conductor for the Great Northern Railway. When the 58-year-old husband and…
