Category: U.S. Historical News
Anton Herl, Come Home
In February 1918, a desperate plea went out through Washington, D.C.: Anton Herl, come home. Your little boy is dying and asking for you. Herl,…
Deathbed Confession Cleared the Man Who Wouldn’t Hang
In 1892, William Buckley was shot from ambush after reportedly exposing the activities of “white cappers” in the area. The crime led to a sensational…
New Jersey Woman Blows Horn for Hours to Save Husband
In the winter of 1905, a blizzard could do more than bury roads. It could cut a family off from the world. Before telephones were…
Smallpox Panic Stops a Philadelphia Train
At the height of the early twentieth century, a single word could bring a train, a hotel, a ship, or an entire neighborhood to a…
She Said There Was a Snake in the Bed — No One Believed Her
There are few things more frightening than a snake in the house, but a snake in the bed is the sort of horror that seems…
Pennsylvania “Corpse” Sat Up and Asked for Breakfast
In the early 1900s, death was not always as certain as it seemed. Doctors had fewer tools, homes often served as sickrooms, and the line…
Police Clubs Fell on Lawrence Textile Strikers
In the fall of 1912, the textile city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, was still raw from one of the most famous labor uprisings in American history:…
“Dead” Aberdeen Logger Returned to Work
Logging was never gentle work. In the early 1900s, a lumberjack’s day could mean felling massive trees, trimming branches with sharp axes, hauling timber over…
San Rafael Powder Factory Explosion Kills Four
A thunderous blast rolled across Point San Pedro on June 17, 1899, so loud that some who heard it first mistook the sound for a…
She Risked Her Life to Rescue Old Glory
A crowd gathered beneath the old Chicago post office, staring upward in alarm as a young woman made her way across the icy, sloping roof….
