NCAA Football Quiz: 1) Name the top three, all time, in passing
yards. [#1 is not in the NFL.] 2) Name the top four rushing, all
time, with all four having played in the NFL. Answers below.
President James Buchanan, Part II
As we continue with the story of our nation’s worst president, let
me just begin by saying that once again I’ve opened up a can of
worms and this particular tale could be a real stem-winder. In
other words, your editor doesn’t want this to be a half-ass look at
the Buchanan presidency.
In the election of 1856, James Buchanan, a Jacksonian
Democrat, defeated the newly formed Republican Party
candidate, pretty-boy explorer John Fremont, by a 174-114
margin in the Electoral College. [Millard Fillmore, the Know-
Nothing (No Popery) candidate, captured Maryland and 8
electoral votes.] In the popular vote, Buchanan garnered 58.8
percent to Fremont’s 38.5 and Fillmore’s 2.7 percent.
And it’s here that we digress for the first of many times. It was
the antislavery factions of the Whigs and the Free Democratic
parties that formed the Republican Party. [To confuse matters,
recall that the name ‘Republican’ had been applied to the earlier
Democratic-Republican Party, which developed into the present
Democratic Party.]
Following is a portion of the first Republican Party platform, as
adopted on June 2, 1856 in Philadelphia. It has everything to do
with the rise of Abraham Lincoln four years later.
“This convention of delegates, assembled in pursuance of a call
addressed to the people of the United States, without regard to
past political differences of divisions, who are opposed to the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to the policy of the present
administration, to the extension of slavery into free territory; in
favor of admitting Kansas as a free State, of restoring the action
of the Federal Government to the principles of Washington and
Jefferson, and who purpose to unite in presenting candidates for
the offices of President and Vice-President, do resolve as
follows:
“Resolved, That the maintenance of the principles promulgated
in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal
Constitution is essential to the preservation of our republican
institutions…
“Resolved, That with our Republican fathers we hold it to be a
self-evident truth that all men are endowed with the inalienable
rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that the
primary object and ulterior designs of our Federal Government
were to secure these rights to all persons within its exclusive
jurisdiction; that our Republican fathers, when they had
abolished slavery in all of our national territory, ordained that no
person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property without
due process of law, it becomes our duty to maintain this
provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate, for
the purpose of establishing slavery in any territory of the United
States, by positive legislation, prohibiting its existence or
extension therein….
“Resolved, That the Constitution confers upon Congress
sovereign power over the Territories of the United States for
their government, and that in the exercise of this power it is both
the right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories
those twin relics of barbarism – polygamy and slavery…”
The platform went on to talk of how the constitutional rights of
the people of Kansas “have been fraudulently and violently taken
from them; their territory has been invaded by an armed force.”
“Resolved, That Kansas should be immediately admitted as a
State of the Union, with her present free Constitution…”
[Source: “Facts About the Presidents” Joseph Nathan Kane]
OK, we’re getting kind of deep already but first, let’s look back
at President Buchanan’s inauguration, March 8, 1857, for it bore
quite a contrast to the tough times to come.
“A big parade containing impressive floats attracted great
crowds. Models of battleships, the Goddess of Liberty, and
historical scenes were depicted on the floats.
“A special building to accommodate six thousand persons was
erected at a cost of $15,000 on Judiciary Square for the inaugural
ball. The building, which contained two rooms, one for dancing
and one for the supper, was 235 feet long, 77 feet wide, and 20
feet high, and had a white ceiling studded with gold stars….The
music was furnished by an orchestra of 40. Food was lavishly
served. At the supper, 400 gallons of oysters were consumed, 60
saddles of mutton, 4 saddles of venison, 125 tongues, 75 hams,
500 quarts of chicken salad, 500 quarts of jellies, 1200 quarts of
ice cream, and a cake four feet high. Over $3,000 was spent for
wine.” [Source: Joseph Nathan Kane]
Personally, I probably would have stuck to the wine, not being
sure on the cleanliness of the food, since I’m also not exactly a
fan of tongue.
OK, back to the real story. You undoubtedly noticed in the
Republican platform references to the Missouri Compromise and
the struggle over Kansas. So before we continue we better
review these two.
Briefly, on March 3, 1820, Congress passed a piece of legislation
rammed through by Henry Clay called the Missouri
Compromise. Missouri was permitted to enter the Union as a
slave state (formally, 1821) at the same time Maine entered as a
free state (1820), thus preserving the equal balance between
slave and free. But…slavery was to be forever prohibited in the
rest of the Louisiana Purchase (1803) north of the line of latitude
36 degrees 30’, which was the southern boundary of Missouri.
This worked, for the most part, until the adoption of the Kansas –
Nebraska Act of May 30, 1854, which was signed by another
dreadful president, Franklin Pierce.
Now this piece of legislation, sponsored by Illinois Senator
Stephen A. Douglas, had the effect of repealing the Missouri
Compromise and allowing two territories, Kansas and Nebraska,
both lying above 36 30’, to decide for themselves such matters as
whether to allow slavery. The Act was written to solve the
growing slavery controversy but only made matters worse.
Douglas was one of the best orators in the land and, being from
Illinois, was sensitive to the needs of prairie folk when it came to
settling the west. Douglas wanted to erase the “barbarian wall”
of Indian tribes impeding migration to the plains and “to
authorize and encourage a continuous line of settlements to the
Pacific Ocean.”
“A heavy speculator in Western lands…he favored a Central
route for the transcontinental railway. In order to contest
(Jefferson) Davis’s southern route, law and government must be
extended over, and settlers invited into, the region through which
the Central route must pass.” [“The Growth of the American
Republic,” Morison, Commager, Leuchtenburg]
So Douglas was looking to organize the Territory of Nebraska
and though earlier attempts had failed, he “baited” this one for
Southern votes “by incorporating the principle of popular
sovereignty. At the insistence of Southern leaders, he made clear
that his bill would render the Missouri Compromise ‘inoperative
and void.’ Furthermore, the bill, as amended, divided the region
into two distinct territories: Kansas and Nebraska.” [Morison,
Commager, Leuchtenburg]
The bill passed by a 37-14 majority in the Senate, but only 113-
100 in the House. Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner
offered “It is at once the worst and best Bill on which Congress
ever acted.” The worst because it was a short-term victory for
slavery. The best for “it annuls all past compromises with
slavery, and makes all future compromises impossible. Thus it
puts freedom and slavery face to face, and bids them grapple.
Who can doubt the result?”
Douglas screwed up big time. He thought the slavery issue
would be a minor one. And being personally opposed to it, he
figured the Plains would also be inhospitable to slavery.
From Michael Beschloss’s “American Heritage: Illustrated
History of the Presidents”:
“Northerners insisted (Kansas and Nebraska) had to be free states
upon entering the Union. But Southern ‘fire-eaters’ realized this
decision would mean that all western lands would be henceforth
closed to slavery, and they now insisted that the Missouri
Compromise ought to be ignored.”
“Bleeding Kansas” was soon capturing the nation’s attention.
“Most of the settlers who came to Kansas went there to build a
new life and live in peace, not to agitate the slavery question.
When blood was shed, it was often not over the freedman but in
a dispute about land titles, for there was no legal way a settler
could register and protect his land claim until the Federal
Government opened its first land office in 1856.” [Morison,
Commager, Leuchtenburg]
The struggle was brutal. In the elections for a territorial
legislature in March 1855, several thousand “border ruffians”
crossed over from Missouri to stuff ballot boxes. The fraud
legislature then established a draconian slave code, so the free-
state men established their own rump government and by 1856
Kansas had two governments, both illegal. Each party then sent
for settlers representing the two sides. Northern ‘Jayhawkers’
battled with ‘Kickapoo Rangers,’ ‘Doniphan Tigers,’ and other
groups.
Senator Atchison of Missouri wrote, “The pro-slavery ticket
prevailed everywhere….Now let the Southern men come on with
their slaves. Ten thousand families can take possession of and
hold every acre of timber in the Territory of Kansas, and this
secures the prairie…We are playing for a mighty stake; if we
win, we carry slavery to the Pacific Ocean.”
But while few Southerners wanted to risk their property in this
new region, free-state settlers moved in “with the spirit of
crusaders.” John Greenleaf Whitter wrote their anthem.
We cross the prairie as of old
The pilgrims crossed the sea
To make the West, as they the East,
The homestead of the free
One of these newcomers was a fanatic by the name of John
Brown, who murdered five men, four of whom were hacked to
death at the “Pottawatomi massacre.”
Then on May 19, 1856, Senator Sumner delivered a speech on
“The Crime against Kansas.” Sumner’s oratory contained some
truth, as well as a “disgraceful personal invective against Senator
Andrew Butler of South Carolina.”
“Three days later, a kinsman of Butler, Preston Brooks, attacked
Sumner as he sat at his desk in the Senate chamber and beat him
senseless with a stout cane, while Stephen Douglas and Robert
Toombs looked on. He was following the code of a Southern
gentleman in dealing with an enemy unworthy of a duel.
‘Towards the last he bellowed like a calf,’ Brooks reported. ‘I
wore my cane out completely but saved the Head which is gold.’
Returning to South Carolina, the assailant was feted from place
to place and presented by admirers with suitably inscribed canes.
From Louisiana, Braxton Bragg wrote, ‘You can reach the
sensibilities of such dogs only through their heads and a big
stick.’” [Morison, Commager, Leuchtenburg]
[Sumner took three years to recover from his injuries.]
Slavery was the only real issue in the election of 1856 and James
Buchanan came into office as a contradiction: “The Unionist was
elected without the votes or strong support of the North. He was
aware of the danger: ‘The great object of my administration,’ he
wrote, ‘will be to arrest, if possible, the agitation of the slavery
question at the North, and to destroy sectional parties.’ Had he
accomplished this goal, he would be revered as one of our
greatest leaders.” [Michael Beschloss]
Two days after Buchanan’s inauguration, March 6, 1857, the
Supreme Court published its decision on the case of Dred Scott
vs. Sandford.
We better stop here because this next big issue can’t exactly be
passed off with a line or two.
1955
October 4 was the 50th anniversary of the Dodgers first and only
World Series title in Brooklyn. In 1941, 47, 49, 52, and 53,
Brooklyn had lost each time to the hated Yankees, but finally in
’55, the Dodgers, down 2-0 to the Yanks after the first two
games, rallied back to take the Series in 7.
Brooklyn Dodgers Lineup
Gil Hodges…1B…27 HR 102 RBI, .289
Jim Gilliam…2B…110 runs…7 HR 40 RBI, .249
Pee Wee Reese…SS…99 runs…10 HR 61 RBI, .282
Jackie Robinson…3B…8 HR 36 RBI, .256
Carl Furillo…OF…26 HR 95 RBI, .314
Duke Snider…OF…126 runs…42 HR 136 RBI, .309
Sandy Amoros…OF…10 HR 51 RBI, .247
Roy Campanella…C…32 HR 107 RBI, .318
Don Hoak and Don Zimmer played a lot at 2B and 3B, with
Zimmer contributing 15 HR 50 RBI. Jackie Robinson’s career
was winding down.
Pitching Staff
Don Newcombe…20-5…also hit .359 with 7 HR 23 RBI
Clem Labine…13-5…starter / reliever
Carl Erskine…11-8
Billy Loes…10-4
Johnny Podres…9-10
Plus Don Bessent, Karl Spooner, Russ Meyer, Roger Craig, Ed
Roebuck and a 19-year-old by the name of Sandy Koufax who
was 2-2 in 12 appearances.
From Dave Anderson, New York Times.
“After the Dodgers lost (the) 1941 Series, the Brooklyn Eagle
headline ‘Wait til Next Year’ endured for more than a decade as
the borough’s byword. When the Dodgers lost the first two
games of the 1955 Series at Yankee Stadium, next year loomed
again. No team had ever come back from a 0-2 deficit to win a
Series. But at Ebbets Field, a 23-year-old Dodgers lefthander
with an erratic 9-10 record that season, Johnny Podres, pitched a
seven-hitter in an 8-3 victory. The next day, Clem Labine nailed
down an 8-5 victory as Snider homered. Then Roger Craig and
Labine collaborated on a six-hitter in a 5-3 victory.
“When the Dodgers returned to the Bronx for Game 6, the
Yankees won, 5-1, on (Whitey) Ford’s four-hitter, and in the
decisive Game 7 on Oct. 4, Podres opposed lefthander Tommy
Byrne.
“The Dodgers soon led, 2-0, with Hodges driving in runs in the
fourth and sixth innings. But in the bottom of the sixth, Walter
Alston, the Dodgers’ manager, made a defensive switch: he took
out second baseman Don Zimmer, moved Jim Gilliam from left
field to second base, and inserted Sandy Amoros in left field.
“Minutes later, with Yankees runners on second and first and no
outs, Amoros made a desperate running catch of (Yogi) Berra’s
sliced drive near the foul line, then whirled to start a double play
that ruined the Yankees’ threat. As Podres preserved the 2-0
lead through the seventh and eighth innings and into the ninth,
Brooklyn held its breath.”
Joan Hodges was sitting with Dottie Reese, Betty Erskine and
Fern Furillo. Joan recalled “by the ninth we were all standing,
and I was praying that because the Yankees had won the Series
so many times that God would shine on us.”
Legendary sportswriter Red Smith, from his story in the New
York Times, Oct. 5, 1955:
“Scoreless in their half of the ninth Brooklyn took the field for
the last time, Podres pitched to Moose Skowron – a ball, a called
strike, a second ball, another called strike, then Skowron swung.
The ball came back hard to the pitcher, stuck in his glove as he
and the batter raced toward first. ‘Throw!’ The shout came from
thousands. In the last instant, Podres wrenched the ball free and
threw. One out.
“Bob Cerv up. A called strike. The pitcher’s shoulders lifted
and sagged in a mighty sigh. Ball one. A second called strike,
then a high fly ball to Sandy Amoros in left.
“Now Elston Howard. Podres’s right leg kicked high, a strike
came through that only Jim Honochick, the umpire, saw clearly.
A curve hung high for ball one. Howard swung and missed
strike two. Gingerly, with just his fingertips, Podres lifted the
rosin bag and dropped it, tugged at his cap, brought a flannelled
forearm across his brow. Ball two was high. The pitcher
pumped three times, stopped and signed again as Howard
stepped back from the plate. Fast ball, fouled back; fast ball, also
fouled; then a gentle ground ball to Pee Wee Reese, and there it
was.
“There it was, but what was it, exactly? It was a baseball game,
the seventh and last of the fifty-third World Series, very well
played, close and exciting, won by the Dodgers, 2 to 0, on the
magnificent pitching of a muscular, quiet country kid from an
obscure Adirondacks village. [Witherbee, NY]
“If he never pitches again, Podres will still be the only man on
earth who ever started and won two games for Brooklyn in one
World Series. If he ever does pitch again, it will be a miracle, for
when Reese’s throw had smacked into Hodges’s mitt and ended
it all, the pitcher’s playmates set out to make a litter case of him.
“All of a sudden he was lost from sight in a howling, leaping,
pummeling pack that humped him and thwacked him and tossed
him around, hugged him and mauled him and heaved him about
until Rocky Marciano, up in a mezzanine box, paled at the
violence of their affection.
“Now there was mufti in the swirl of gray flannel as kids
materialized from nowhere and adults swept down onto the field
behind them, and it seemed that Podres, caught in the eye of this
hurricane, could never be brought through to the sanctuary of the
dugout. At length the last uniform disappeared, but the crowd
stayed on, reluctant to leave the scene where the deed was done.
Even as this is written kids are running the bases, boys measure
their small feet in the depressions dug by Podres’s spikes, and
their elders stand staring in at deserted benches.
“One has to pause a moment and consider, before the utter
implausibility of this thing can be appreciated. First, the
Dodgers had never won a World Series, and especially they had
never won one from the Yankees, not in five meetings over
fourteen years.”
[From the book “Red Smith on Baseball”]
Dave Anderson:
“All over Brooklyn, the everyday people (had) tears in their eyes.
Stars in their eyes, too.
“ ‘The players had parked at Ebbets Field and went to Yankee
Stadium by bus, then the wives went on another bus,’ Joan
Hodges recalled. ‘Coming back, we were with our husbands,
and when our bus got into Brooklyn, it kept getting surrounded
by fans. When we got two blocks from our house on East 32nd
Street in Flatbush, the police had to form a human chain to get us
home before we went to the party.’
“The Dodgers had invited about 100 people to a victory party at
the Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn Heights, but more than 300
showed up. And that evening, all of Brooklyn was one big block
party.”
Canada by Motorcycle, Part I
A few years ago, a good friend of StocksandNews, Ken S. out of
Omaha, took a motorcycle trip up to Alaska with his son. I
relayed his journal at the time, received some good comments,
and I thought you’d get a kick out of his latest adventure, from
this past June, where he rode his bike from Omaha up to Canada
and back. I’ll be covering this over the coming few weeks.
[I’m including the highways because I know some of you are
glancing at a map.]
Day 1: Sunday, June 5, 2005. Omaha, NE to Russellville, AR,
I-680 to I-80 to I-29 to I-435 to US71 to MO7 to US65 to AR7,
528 miles. Left at 6:45 CDT. Clear, humid, cool, 60 degrees.
Cloudy and then clear, 70 degrees as neared K.C. I-435 around
K.C. Rode by lots of lakes, hills and forest between K.C. and
Springfield. At Springfield, MO, cloudy very windy, 80 degrees,
hilly, lots of trees, start of the Ozark Mountains. US65 to
Branson, MO, the Ozark Mountains, turned clear, 80 degrees,
great riding, sunny, gorgeous country. AR7 to Russellville, AR,
hot, 90 degrees, very humid, beautiful forests with great curvy
road, the Boston Mountains. Arrived at Russellville motel at
4:15 p.m. CDT. Great start. Bike running well. Looked like
rain off and on, but never did.
Day 2: Monday, June 6. Russellville, AR to Clinton, MS, AR7
to US 1676 to US84 to US61 to the Natchez Trace Parkway to I-
20, 489 miles. Left at 7:30 a.m. CDT. Very humid, sticky
morning, little wind, 75 degrees. Into Ouachita Mountains south
of Russellville, AR7 very challenging riding, lots of curves, little
traffic. Day gradually clouded up and rode in and out of showers
during late morning and afternoon. Crossed the Mississippi
River at Natchez. Very confusing to find the Natchez Trace
Parkway just north of Natchez, poorly marked, found it more by
luck than skill. Natchez Trace was originally an Indian path,
then trail by foot or horse, then finally widened for wagons and
stage coaches in mid-1800s. Became a gravel road in the 1920’s
and 30’s. It was only completely paved about 20 years ago.
Now a beautiful parkway, mowed and maintained like a park.
Heavy rain at times as headed north on Parkway, very slow
going. Arrived at Clinton motel at 6:30 p.m., 11 hours today,
very tired. Bike running good, but getting dirty with all the rain.
Day 3: Tuesday, June 7. Clinton, MS to Crossville, TN, I-20 to
I-220 to I-55 to Natchez Trace Parkway to I-40 to US70, 520
miles. Left Clinton (just west of Jackson) at 7:30 a.m. CDT.
Very humid, cloudy with some sun, 70 degrees. Detour to get
back onto Natchez Trace. Lakes, trees, swamps, park-like all the
way along the Parkway, easy riding, gentle curves, and speed
limit is 45 mph. Crossed the Tennessee River as I rode for 35 to
40 miles in Alabama. Rode into Nashville, TN about 3:15 p.m.,
90 degrees, very humid, thunder clouds all around. You are very
vulnerable to lightening on a motorcycle, so must watch
carefully. I got caught in heavy rush hour traffic in Nashville.
Arrived at Crossville motel at 6:15 p.m. CDT. 80 degrees. Got
confused by exits to motel and spent 20 minutes figuring it out.
Difficult to look at the map on top of the tank bag, watch signs
and traffic, control bike and figure out where the hell you
screwed up, all at the same time. Another 11 hour day and tired
all the time now.
[OK, that’s your taste of Ken’s trip…much more over the
coming weeks. It gets hairy, at points.]
Stuff
–And now……..the Bar Chat “Lock of the Week”!!!!!
As you know, our record is 0-1 thus far and thousands have been
forced to file bankruptcy ahead of the Oct. 17 change in the law
due to my incorrect call in the Wake Forest – Clemson game.
But this week, you can bet the ranch* on this one.
Wyoming, giving 6, over TCU in a key Mountain West
conference game in Laramie.
*Children under 12 must check with a parent or guardian before
accessing their trust funds for the purpose of wagering on this
contest. In most cases, the permission of said trustee would be
needed as well.
[As of Wednesday, the official weather forecast for Laramie on
Saturday is partly cloudy and 67 degrees. Yes, a beautiful day
for college football……………paid for by the Laramie Dept. of
Tourism.]
–Comedian Nipsey Russell died at the age of 80. One of the
first black stand-up comics, he got his first big break on “The Ed
Sullivan Show” in the late 1950s and then had a role in the
television comedy “Car 54, Where Are You?”
But Nipsey will forever be known to those of us of a certain
generation as a mainstay on game-shows such as “Hollywood
Squares” and “The $50,000 Pyramid.”
Nipsey was also known for his topical poems, two examples of
which follow.
The opposite of pro is con;
That fact is clearly seen;
If progress means move forward,
Then what does Congress mean?
—
Before we lose our autonomy
And our economy crumbles into dust
We should attack Japan, lose the war
And let Japan take care of us.
[New York Times / L.A. Times]
–Former major league outfielder Pat Kelly died. Kelly played
15 years in a mediocre career that saw him hit 76 home runs and
drive in 418 while batting .264.
–John Lennon would have been 65 on Oct. 9. This Dec. 8 will
mark the 25th anniversary of his slaying at the hands of Mark
David Chapman.
–With the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, many have
compared the rebuilding of New Orleans to that of Chicago
following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. I save all kinds of
stuff that I come across and a few years back I clipped out a story
by Kay Snyder in Harris’ Farmer’s Almanac.
It was Sunday, Oct. 8, 1871.
“Chicago was a tinderbox, with 55 miles of pine-block streets
and 600 miles of wooden sidewalks. The town bulged with
wooden shanties and even the mansions on the eastside were
frame structures with stone facades. The poorer folks, many of
them Irish, lived on the Westside, home of Patrick and Catherine
O’Leary. On their ‘farmette’ they housed five cows, a calf and a
horse in a shed at the back of the property.
“According to the song, ‘A cow kicked a lantern’ that burned
down Chicago. Later under oath, Mrs. O’Leary swore that she
did not take a lantern to the shed, but eyewitnesses claimed that
the fire did start in a building on her place.
“The gusting winds scattered embers over the neighborhood, and
the entire block caught fire. When the flames were only fifteen
minutes old, a series of human errors ensued and the fire got out
of control for the next 31 hours. The neighbors evacuated and
one, William Lee, ran to Gall’s drugstore to get the key to the
firebox mounted on the side of the building. Gall refused to hand
over the key, insisting that a fire wagon had already passed. In a
later inquiry, the druggist changed his story, saying that he
personally turned in the alarm. However, the central alarm office
in the courthouse never received an alarm when the fire was still
controllable.
“Another fatal flaw rested in Chicago’s recently renovated fire
alarm system, considered the most advanced in the country. A
central controller stood in a cupola atop the courthouse to spot
and verify the location of fires. By voice tube he would notify a
telegraph operator in the central fire alarm telegraph office on the
third floor of the courthouse. The operator would then strike the
correct fire alarm box, which would signal the courthouse bell
and the bells in the city’s fire stations to ring.” But this system
failed.
Other mistakes were made. Panic set in. “Carts clogged the
streets and horse-drawn wagons bolted through throngs of
pedestrians, rushing to the shores of Lake Michigan.”
A final accounting revealed 250-300 dead, 18,000 buildings
destroyed, and up to 90,000, or 1/3 of the population, homeless.
But there was another tragedy that very same night, Oct. 8, 1871,
that claimed far more lives; possibly as many as 1,500. It was
known as the Peshtigo Fire in northeastern Wisconsin.
The entire upper Midwest had suffered a drought that summer,
but while Chicago’s fire captured the headlines because it was
such a big transportation hub, in rural Wisconsin, it was three
days before the rest of the country began to hear of what
transpired.
Peshtigo was but one of several villages obliterated that night,
the heart of a booming lumber industry with one of the nation’s
biggest sawmills. From a piece by Cynthia Crossen in the Wall
Street Journal, August 4, 2003:
“In retrospect, it seems obvious that Peshtigo was amassing a
huge pile of kindling around itself. Every building was made
almost exclusively of wood – walls, shingles, floors, even
sidewalks. Some people used sawdust for insulation. Lumber
companies discarded a quarter of every tree they harvested, and
piles of the waste, called ‘slash,’ choked the area….
“Peshtigo’s last rainfall before the 1871 fire had come in early
July; and throughout the summer, small but stubborn fires began
burning in the region. Eventually, the smoke was so thick that
stores kept their lights on all day…
“When the wind kicked up that Sunday evening, however, the
blaze came so quickly and furiously that people barely had time
to put on their shoes. The dense smoke and infernal heat cut off
escape routs for hundreds; the lucky ones made their way to the
river. A Catholic priest, Peter Pernin, who witnessed the fire,
remembered ‘the neighing of horses, falling of chimneys,
crashing of uprooted trees, roaring and whistling of the wind,
crackling of fire as it ran with lightning-like rapidity from house
to house – all sounds were there save that of the human voice.
People seemed stricken dumb by terror.’ …
“In the tiny community of Williamsville, 74 of the 78 residents
lost their lives. Some people, believing they were going to burn
to death, slit their own throats….
“Most survivors bore awful scars, and some fled Peshtigo and its
memories, never to return. But Peshtigo Co., the Chicago
company that owned the lumber yards, decided the town should
be rebuilt.”
[Back to the Chicago Fire, one historical document was also a
victim; the original draft of Lincoln’s “Emancipation
Proclamation” which had been stored in the Chicago Historical
Society.]
–Huge problem in Putnam County, NY, north of the Big Apple.
Three years ago, beavers arrived in the town of Patterson and
they have placed a dam across a stream that flows out of Little
Pond on its way to the Croton River. One homeowner now has
200 yards of waterfront property while a major street is
threatened.
So what to do with the giant rodents? And can Addison Drive be
saved?
Maybe not, and it also turns out there are an estimated 1,140
active beaver colonies in the area that could be heading south to
New York City, which to me is another sign we have reached a
peak in the housing cycle. Beavers, you’ll recall, build and build
and build…irrespective of what the market will bear. It’s thus
simple supply and demand going forward, sports fans.
And on a related topic, beavers mate for life; so none of this
Renee Zellweger / Kenny Chesney garbage when it comes to
them.
–Just glanced at the Sugar Bowl web site.
“In due time, we anticipate being able to announce a site for this
year’s game.”
Better hurry up, guys.
–In Saranac Lake, New York, a beautiful spot in the
Adirondacks, what happened on Oct. 7, 1925?
The great pitcher Christy Mathewson passed away at the age of
45. Mathewson, having retired from play in 1916 with a 373-188
mark, was Cincinnati’s manager when he went off to fight in
World World I as a captain in the Chemical Warfare Service, a
unit that included fellow ballplayers Ty Cobb, George Sisler and
Branch Rickey.
Unfortunately, Christy became violently ill on the ship over to
France with the flu, and then he participated in a drill at
Chaumont. “In the gas chambers Matty was one of many
soldiers who failed to snap on their gas masks in time. There
was a ‘hopeless tangle’ in the panic to escape into fresh air, Cobb
wrote. ‘We weren’t fooling around with simulated death when
we entered those gas chambers. The stuff we turned loose was
the McCoy.’ Mathewson survived, wheezing and congested.
‘Ty,’ he told Cobb. ‘I got a good dose of that stuff.’” [Sports
Illustrated]
Mathewson never saw active duty as the war ended with him in
the hospital, and once back in the States he never fully recovered
as he was diagnosed as having chronic bronchitis. Later it was
switched to tuberculosis.
The Mathewson’s thus moved to upstate New York to be near a
sanitarium in Saranac Lake. Those who saw him say he just
shriveled up. Then on Oct. 7, 1925, he whispered to his wife
Jane, “It’s nearly over. I know it, and we must face it. Go out
and have a good cry. Don’t make it a long one. This is
something we can’t help.” He died that night.
The World Series had opened the same day between Washington
and Pittsburgh. On Oct. 8, the flag at Forbes Field was lowered
to half-staff, and as the players from both teams, in black
armbands, marched out in ceremony, many in the crowd began to
sing “Nearer My God to Thee.”
By most accounts, the death of Christy Mathewson was the first
time America had lost a true national sports hero.
–Jeff B. and I are distraught at the direction the comic strip “For
Better or For Worse” has taken. As Jeff puts it, “Enough of the
National Geographic!” I would suggest to cartoonist Lynn
Johnston that she kick it up a notch…we’re bored to tears.
Top 3 songs for the week of 10/9/71: “Maggie May” (Rod
Stewart…#1 five weeks) #2 “Go Away Little Girl” (Donny
Osmond) #3 “Superstar” (Carpenters)
NCAA Football Quiz: 1) Top three passing yards: Timmy
Chang / Hawaii…17,072; Ty Detmer / BYU…15,031; Philip
Rivers, North Carolina State…13,484. 2) Top four rushing
yards: Ron Dayne / Wisconsin…6,397; Ricky Williams / Texas
…6,279; Tony Dorsett / Pitt…6,082; Charles White / USC…
5,598.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday….more on James Buchanan (including
why Roger Brooke Taney sucked)…Ken’s excellent adventure
…and Johnny Mac’s MVP and Cy Young picks
