We've Always Thought Congress Sucked

From the Charleston Mercury 1818. So thinking Congress is overpaid has been an ongoing thing for almost 200 years!

Interesting Gun (Rifle) Ad from 1901 Plus KKK ! (Flour)

From the Arizona Daily Journal.

And the unfortunately-named KKK Flour...apparently they were big because they featured ads all over the place. From Atlanta, 1909:

A Black Widow Serial Killer in 1850

From the Covington Journal, an account of what sounds all the world like a woman serial killer, that rarest of things. (and again, you can right click on the image, choose View Image, and you should be able to zoom in so you can read it easily)

Hatfields and McCoys 1881

Here's an actual news item about the famous feuding families. (Alliteration!)

Racism Alive and Well in 1850, 1881 and 1923 (Baltimore Sun)

From Dawson's Daily News 1923:

From Daily True American 1881, a mixed-race wedding with a REAL bad ending.

And from the 1850 Baltimore Sun(telegraphed to the Covington Journal)--a "colored persons" riot:

Gruesome Murder! A New Planet! Bad Puns! All from 1850!

I don't know what the deal is with this new planet discovery. I looked at some google items about the planet Victoria but it's not all that enlightening. To be fair I only spent like 30 seconds looking through the google answers...

Yeah, you get it all from one newspaper issue. Covington Journal 1850!

Did you know the world was reborn in 1933 under a massive cataclysm?

If not, I guess you didn't read this prediction by the wannabe Nostradamus. They point out Europe in the headline, but the good Doctor doesn't stop there.

From the Dawson Daily News, 1923:

The Past: A Dangerous Place To Live

Did you ever see Seth MacFarlane's "A Million Ways To Die In The Old West"? It's not a very good movie. Has a few funny moments, but one of the running gags is how many ways there were to die back in the old days.

I'm convinced he got that idea after reading just a few newspapers from the past. It's pretty incredible not only how many ways there were to die, but how graphic the newspapers got into describing them.

Here's just a couple. Since they were small articles I posted a few.

Like this one--a "Medical Duel"? With arsenic? The way the article ends is pretty funny.
(and I forgot the other article I attached from the same issue involved a committe that was offering a premium for the best architectual plans to enlarge the Capitol building in Washington)

From the Covington Journal 1850:

Nitroglycerine, you say? Sure. From the Daily Star 1910.

And I give you the original Ash from Evil Dead! From the Daily Star 1925:

Dynamite, as my friend Jimmy would have said! "Blown to atoms", and "Torn to Pieces". Man, did they like the gory stuff back then! From the Daily True American 1883.

Sever the artery, from the Daily True American 1904:

Kids meets circular saw. Bad things happen. Dispatch 1913.

I have a feeling this is going to be a recurring kind of post, because I'm finding more all the time.

Establishment of the Smithsonian Institute 1846

From the Charleston Mercury October 1846:

I wasn't aware that Congress established the Smithsonian--I guess I just figured it was a museum. This is a reprinting of the edict to found the museum from land given by one James Smithson.

Does that mean we should be pronouncing it the Smith-Sun-ee-un as opposed to the way most of us do it--Smith-sone-ee-un?

1909: The "Colored State Fair"

Man, looking through the 1800-1950's you really get a good long look at what a different world it was. Hard to imagine living in that world...

From the Atlanta Independent.

The first one...Indian Messiah and the Cat (1890)

Two articles of note in this scan from the Bridgeport Morning News of 1890.

 One is about a woman going out to try to talk the Sioux Indians from believing a Messiah was coming who would "destroy all the whites, bring the dead back to life, and make the Indians once more powerful and rulers of the land."

She was on the way to the famous Sitting Bull's camp...

The other involves a cat who gave everyone diptheria. Enjoy.