Category: U.S. Historical News
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…
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…
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…
15-Year-Old Girl Hid in Virginia Woods and Eluded Searchers for Days
For several days in the summer of 1926, authorities searched the woods near Falling Creek for a 15-year-old girl dressed only in a bathing suit….
2 Men Drowned in Mississippi River While Their Wives Watched
What began as a summer picnic on a Mississippi River sandbar in 1925 ended in tragedy when a swimmer was caught in the current and…
California Miner Rescued After 57 Hours Trapped Underground
For 57 hours, Robert Hill remained trapped inside the darkness of a collapsed California mine tunnel while rescuers worked to reach him back in 1925….
Man and 2 Horses Killed by Lightning Near New Salem
As a violent electrical storm swept across the farmland northwest of New Salem in 1914, Ernest Bohnke hurried to get two frightened horses into the…
Teen Fugitive Swam From Randalls Island and Escaped on a Trolley
In 1903, seventeen-year-old Gentle had already slipped past the guards, crossed a mile of institution grounds, and reached the northern end of Randalls Island before…
