Tuesday, April 19, 1910. 606.

Paul Ehrlich announced his discovery of what was termed "606", the first medicine that could cure syphilis.

The Jewish German physician died in 1915 of a heart attack at age 61.

The Philadelphia General Strike of 1910 came to an end.

Last edition:

Thursday, April 14, 1910. Taft throws out the first pitch.

Labels: 1910, 1910s, baseball, Sports, technology, Traditions, William Howard Taft

Thursday, November 17, 1774. First City Troop.

The First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry was formed.

A very famous National Guard unit, at one time it was mostly made up members of Philadelphia's social elite.  It is still in existence.

The troop was originally called Light Horse of the City of Philadelphia.

Last edition:

Monday, November 7, 1774. The Yorktown Tea Party

Labels: 1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Colonial North America, Intolerable Acts, Virginia, Virginia (Yorktown)

Monday, September 5, 1774. The first Continental Congress Convenes.

President Peyton Randolph.

The first Continental Congress convened at Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia.  Twelve of the Fourteen (not thirteen) colonies sent delegates. Georgia, which was fearful of war with native tribes, did not participate as it hoped for British assistance in the impending war with those earlier denizens.  Quebec had no interest in participating.

Peyton Randolph of Virginia was named President of the First Continental Congress. 

Randolph. . . not Washington.  

Randolph, not Washington, was the first President of the United States by some measures (and Washington is not the first President under any properly considered measure).  He was an American born lawyer who had studied law at the Middle Temple at the Inns of Court in London, becoming a member of the bar in 1743, showing just how unlike the current populist "don't tread on me" crowd these men were.

He died of some sort of seizure in 1775 while dining with Thomas Jefferson.  He was 54 years of age.

Signatory page of the three-page Continental Association signed by 53 of the 56 delegates

Last edition:

Sunday, September 4, 1774. Explorers.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, Alexander Hamilton, Canada, Exploration, Hudson's Bay Company, James Cook, New Caledonia, Personalities, Saskatchewan, The Frontier West, The written word

Tuesday, April 27, 1899. The Battle of Calumpit

The Battle of Calumpit (Filipino: Labanan sa Quingua), alternately known as the Battles of Bagbag and Pampanga Rivers) concluded with U.S. forces under Arthur MacArthur Jr. combating Filipino forces under General Antonio Luna.  U.S. forces were comprised completely of state militia units, essentially the equivalent of today's National Guard, somewhat, those being the 20th Kansas Volunteers, the Utah Volunteer Light Artillery, the1st Montana Volunteers, the1st Nebraska Volunteers and the 51st Iowa Volunteers. All were probably mustered to fight against the Spanish in Cuba, and not the Filipino's in their native land.

U.S. forces prevailed with Medals of Honor, under the original standards, going to Colonel Frederick Funston, Private (later First Lieutenant) William B. Trembley, and Private Edward White.

The Filipinos, interestingly enough, grossly over reported American losses.

A terrible tornado struck:

The Kirksville Cyclone

Portrait shows event described in Eleanor Pray's letter of April 27, 1899: 

"Yesterday morning I asked Mademoiselle [Lindholm family governess] to go to the bazaar with me to take some photos, and we took Dou Kee with us. I hired a small Korean to stand in front of a stall to be photographed. The Chinese got out like lightning for they say a camera has the evil eye. The Korean wanted also to run away when he found what was up, but the Chinese were quite willing the evil eye should be cast on him so they kept pushing him back and there he stood half scared to death. In a second after I pressed the button, there were Chinese around us ten deep all clamoring to see the picture. When the small Korean found he wasn't killed, and got five kopecks for pay, he was quite in another frame of mind." Another letter, dated May 4, 1899, also mentions this event: "The group of Koreans I took near the Bazaar. They thought I was going to shoot them and the one in the edge of the picture was clearing out for his life but couldn't resist looking back to see what happened to his friends. Before that old man could get up the deed was done and I'll warrant the whole crowd cursed me by all their gods."

A statute of Grant was unveiled in Philadelphia.

Monday, June 11, 1923. Fires In Philadelphia! Near Disaster at Washington D.C. Pier! Turks pay in Paper! Casper's water dangerous! Foreign crews booze it up! Supreme Court opts for beauty!

Wow, what a set of headlines.

The station disaster was indeed bad:

The link to that photo, which is directly linked in, notes in the caption that:

The Pennsylvania’s giant Broad Street Station in Center City Philadelphia suffered a major fire on June 11, 1923. Train service was quickly restored, but the 16-track trainshed had to be removed.

PRR photo

More on that event; here.

The United States Supreme Court, which traditionally issues a set of opinions in June, issued one in Rindge Co. v. County of Los Angeles, holding that a local government could use its power of eminent domain to take land from a private landowner for the specific purpose of building a scenic highway.

Good for them.

This established a precedent still in effect today. 

In his opinion, Justice Edward T. Sanford, writing for the whole court (8, one abstaining), stated:

Public uses are not limited, in the modern view, to matters of mere business necessity and ordinary convenience, but may extend to matters of public health, recreation and enjoyment. Thus, the condemnation of lands for public parks is now universally recognized as a taking for public use. A road need not be for a purpose of business to create a public exigency; air, exercise and recreation are important to the general health and welfare; pleasure travel may be accommodated as well as business travel; and highways may be condemned to places of pleasing natural scenery.

I'm sure that in today's Wyoming, this would be regarded in some quarters as an outrage.

Lou Gehrig was introduced as a player for the Yankees.

Friday, May 11, 1923. Speed, home runs and volleys

USS Richmond, May 11, 1923.  This was during a pre commissioning speed trial.  The ship would be commissioned in July.  Ordered during World War One, the Richmond would serve through World War Two and be stricken in 1946.

A Major League baseball record that would stand until 1966 was set when the St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillis hit a combined ten home runs.  The Phillies won 20 to 14.

The Hardings took in a tennis match.

Airmail! Lt. Torrey Webb gets a watch and New York and Philadelphia get air mail service (and meanwhile on the Western Front). May 15, 1918.

Lt. Torrey Webb on the day of the inauguration of air mail between New York City and Philadelphia.  They gave him a Hamilton watch.  Dignitaries showed up. . . including ones from France.

The plane was a Curtis JN-4, a "Jenny".  The Jenny had, fwiw, just been commemorated by way of a postage stamp a few days prior.

Torrey Webb was was in the Army 's air service during the war, but he was studying engineering prior to it and would return to it.  He ended up the vice president of Texas Oil Company (Texaco).

Meanwhile, on the Western Front, these two RAF crewmen were were taking off in their RE8.

All of these air missions, we would note, were incredibly dangerous.

Patriotic Rally in Philadelphia, Independence Square. March 31, 1917

Weighing Gold

Weighing gold at the Philadelphia Mint, which had just received an additional $600,000,000 in gold from Europe.  February 21, 1917.

Freight station, Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad. Philadelphia. February 12, 1917.

Freight station, Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad.  Philadelphia.  February 12, 1917.

Independence Square, Philadelphia. March 31, 1917