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| HistoryBuff.com August 2011 Newsletter | |
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In a 1768 American newspaper, the back page had a small ad offering a reward. In that era the were many indentured servants that ran away from their "owners." (An indentured servant was a person that willingly agreed to work for a craftsman with only room and board for payment. It was this method that they could learn a trade to support themselves after the contract expired.) I started reading the ad and it related that a man's wife had run off with a salesman. The ad went on to give a description of his wife and of the salesman; weight, height, color of hair, etc. Then at the bottom it offered the following reward: "5 pence reward for information leading to her whereabouts, or a 5 pound reward if you keep her." (Remember, we were still on British currency then.) Another favorite of mine appeared on the front page of a rural newspaper from the late 1960s. The top half of the front page was a headline "40 Chickens Stolen From Local Farmer" as well an article giving details. What made this front page funny was what was on the lower half of the page. The headline was: "Scout Troop to Host Chicken Dinner." Sometimes I have to wonder if the editor chose the correct words for their headlines:
Grandmother of eight makes hole in one |
In 1919, a 58-foot-high, 90 feet wide cast iron tank loomed over Boston's North End. The tank held 2.2 million gallons of molasses and burst, sending a tsunami of the sticky liquid down Commercial Street at 35 miles-per-hour, destroying houses, commercial buildings and a part of the elevated railroad. Chunks of metal flew everywhere, piercing into people and buildings for hundreds of feet around. The burst tank sent out a blast of air that pushed people away. But seconds later a counterblast rushed in to fill the vacuum and pulled them back in. However, most of the damage was caused by the molasses itself. It splashed onto city streets in all directions, speeding faster than a man could run. Envision a disaster scene with smashed buildings, overturned vehicles, drowned and crushed victims, and terrified survivors running away covered in molasses. Like the modern-day disasters with which we are unfortunately familiar, there was chaos, terror, buildings in ruins, victims to be dug out, trapped survivors to be rescued, rescue workers among the victims, and anguished families rushing to relief centers to find their relatives. It was like any horrible disaster scene, with the addition that everything was covered in smelly, sticky brown molasses. The molasses smashed freight cars, plowed over homes and warehouses and drowned both people and animals. A three story house was seen soaring through the air as well as a huge chunk of the shattered vat that landed in a park 200 feet away. Rescuers were bogged down in the stuff and were scarcely able to move as the molasses sucked the boots right off their feet. The dark brown sticky stuff filled cellars for blocks around and it took months for it to be pumped out. Salt water had to be sprayed on cobblestone streets, homes, and other buildings because fresh water would not remove the stuff. For months afterwards, wherever people walked, their shoes stuck to the goop. Some people claimed that on a hot day one could still smell molasses even after thirty years. Imagine, if you will, a genealogist finding a death certificate for a relative that died in Boston in 1919, and the cause of death was "Asphyxiation by molasses." Wouldn’t that throw them for a loop?
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Staff Sgt. Christopher Fessenden is stationed in Afghanistan. His brother sent him a remote controlled truck with a video camera mounted on top to help ease the tension. A small monitor is mounted to his rifle. Little did anyone know that this little innocent toy would become the key to saving lives. Fessenden loaned the remote control truck to a group of fellow soldiers, who used it to check the road ahead of them on a patrol. It got tangled in a trip wire connected to what Fessenden guesses could have been 500 lbs. of explosives. The bomb went off. The six soldiers controlling the truck from their Hummer were unhurt. Fessenden said the little truck has successfully found four IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) since he received it. This toy vehicle with a wireless camera mounted on it has a price tag of $500. I think that most people would find it worth the price since it saves multiple lives on each mission.
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