Jack Grisby of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, was engaged in storing pumpkins in the loft of his barn and his 5-year-old girl was standing near by watching him. A large pumpkin weighing about thirty pounds, rolled from the loft and, falling, struck the girl in her upturned face, breaking her back and causing instant death.
How awful! This wasn’t the first time such a tragedy was reported, however. Current giant “champion” pumpkins weigh over 1600 pounds.
Lawrenceburg is best known now for its “riverboat” casinos, although Seagram’s whiskey once had a large distillery there (since threatened with closing and sold).
A Western Passenger Train Held Up by a Swarm of Hornets
A swarm of hornets held up a passenger train on the Chicago, Fort Madison & Des Moines railroad, and gave the trainmen and passengers a battle that will be remembered longer by far than if it had been against bandits, says an Ottumwa dispatch to the Cincinnati Tribune. The train was running slowly up a steep grade just outside the city, where the hillside is covered with trees. Suddenly Engineer Cunningham noticed a black mass moving through the air ahead of the train. Had he known what was coming he could have stopped his engine and backed to the next station. The small cloud soon developed into a swarm of hornets. The hornets notice the slowly puffing engine and made for it. They attacked the engineer and fireman, who were forced to stop the train. It was a sultry day and all the car windows were open. This gave the hornets an opportunity to enter the cars and pester the passengers. It was an hour before the trainmen and passengers succeeded in driving away the hornets. A number of persons were severely stung. The train stopped at a farmhouse until the injuries could be attended to and then proceeded to this city.
Unfortunately, there isn’t any decent information on the railroad, and trying to find anything about “hornet attack train” leads to lots of fighter jet sites.
I’ve finally updated Odd Ends to the latest WordPress (including tags) and have this spiffy new look. I tried very hard to make as few edits to the theme and plugins as possible so that I don’t have to wait so long between updates in the future, but some things have changed, particularly for the oldest posts. I don’t think there will be any functional problems, though, but please let me know if there are.
Essays Towards a Theory of Knowledge, by Alexander Philip. Published 1915.
Thanks to Michael Zeug and Lisa Reigel for post-processing this project!
Bookp(h)ile
from: The Queen of the Block, by Alexander L. Kinkead.
CHAPTER IV.
THREE-SISTERS.
It is one town and not three contiguous villages as its name might suggest. Three blast-furnaces stood on the bank of the river below the town. These Colonel Hornberger had named for his daughters, Martha, Sarah, and Henrietta. So the town that grew up near them came to be known as Three-Sisters, and was often spoken of as Three-Girls.
On all sides of it mountains, through which there were three gaps, rise precipitously. Through one of the gaps Boomer Creek, a clear and rapid stream, given to sudden rises, runs into the river, which is picturesque and famous, and almost encircles the town. Through another gap the river glides to the village, and by still another pursues its journey towards the sea.
Beginning above the town, and running parallel to the river, the race conducts the water to the huge wheels in the bellows-house and at the saw-mill.
The railroad runs to the left of the village, crossing the flat on which it is built, while the river flows to the right.
A long wooden covered bridge spans the river and race, and the island between them, and connects Three-Sisters with Boomer Creek Valley, in which are many farms that are gradually encroaching on the forests.
Many of the streets and alleys in the town were given high-sounding titles, but nearly all have their nicknames. The street on which the proprietor dwells is called Big-bug Avenue. There are Goose Street and Backbiter’s Alley. Harmony Lane is where the worst wranglers in the village live. And there is the Block-of-Blazes, standing at the head of Big-bug Avenue, yet giving it the cold shoulder, for not a door of the Block opens, not a window looks, except askance, upon the Avenue.
The people of Three-Sisters, in the days of this story, were laborious, frugal, and patient; they had few grievances. Strikes were unheard of, and no trouble was fermented, except by the tavern whiskey, which flowed freely on Saturday nights, when there were frequent fights among the men.
The women were given to gossip, but were honest. Scandal was rare among them, and they prided themselves on being good cooks and tidy housewives.
Belford’s Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 1, December 1888.