Tuesday, February 17, 2009

King Tutankhamen and a Jug Of Moonshine

Although I have not mentioned it for some time, I am still a grateful recipient of NewspaperARCHIVE.Com's Daily Perspective Newsletter. Today's features story was the discovery in February 1923 of the tomb of King Tutankhamen and the featured newspaper was the splendid "Daily Northwestern". The lead story is headed by the rather terse headline "Reach Sarcophagus of Ancient Pharaoh", but as always with these old newspapers, it is the minor stories on the same page where all the interest is to be found.
For example, there is a piece headed "Hearing In The Todd Divorce Case Is Set For Wednesday In Winnebago County Court" which tells part of the story of the divorce between the Rev, Edwin W Todd and his wife Jeanne. The final paragraph on the page is headed "Gossip Has Been Active For Some Time" and gets to the point where the gossip is about to be discussed and states "continued on page 2". There is a strange story about a California man, Phil Katz, who had been left 1,000 Francs in the will of a Frenchman for whom he once explained the meaning of the word "pershicacity". One can only assume that Mr Katz's perspicacity did not extend to spelling. There is a story about a Bellot policeman, one Walter Lovelace, who had been arrested on charges of selling moonshine whiskey (Prohibition was well underway in 1923). 
Like all old newspapers, it is a fascinating read with the ability to bring history to life. Where else could you find King Tutankhamen enjoying a jug of moonshine whiskey.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous2:00 PM

    Hi Alan,
    Just wanted to drop in and say thanks for the nice words. You are right, many of the true gems in a paper are the smaller articles, connecting lives and stories from the past. Keep up the great writing!

    ReplyDelete

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