The Origin of Wall Street...

First off let’s investigate where the name Manhattan derives from. It comes from the word Manna-hata, the European name given by the settlers to the Native American people who lived there (now believed to be the Lenape tribe). A ship from the Dutch West India company with an officer named Robert Jeut were sent on a mission to discover a Northwest Passage to China;  it set out on the mission and landed in the Upper New York Bay instead on September 11, 1609. The Ship anchored off the northern tip of Manhattan. The ship’s captain, Henry Hudson, named the river “Mauritius River,” later changed to the Hudson River.

In 1625 the fortress town of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island was founded by Wilem Verhulst, director of the Dutch West India Company. This making Manhattan Island the first permanent European settlement in what we now know as part of New York City, or as I call it, the heart of New York City. In 1626 Verhulst’s successor bought the Island from the Lenape for 60 guilders worth of goods. The value of these goods equaled $24.00, which in today’s currency works out to about $500-$700 dollars!

Now, bear in mind, the Lenape people had no concept of  land ownership. As far as they were concerned land could not be owned by anyone. Land, in their mind was like water, and air, there for all to partake in, freely. They saw the goods as a gesture of appreciation to them for sharing the land with the Europeans. They lived in peace for a little while. When the Lenape people later wanted the land back, the settlers built a wall to keep them out. That wall later became what we know as Wall Street where the New York Stock Exchange stands today. Think about that when you visit Wall Street next time.

The Salem Witchhunts and Drugs...

After researching the Salem Witch Hunts, I’ve come to the conclusion that teenagers will be teenagers regardless of when they existed in History. Teenage girls circa 1690’s living in colonial Salem had a pretty drab life. All these girls did was chores and attend church.  And “an idle mind is the devil’s work shop”…no pun intended.  Can you imagine today’s teenagers doing just that? Boredom filled their days until they met a slave from the West Indies named Tituba. Tituba had thrilling and spellbinding stories she shared with these girls. The stories of faraway places and exotic people captivated the girls. As the days progressed, the more peculiar Tituba’s stories got. With a lot of drama, and flare, Tituba spoke of forbidden practices such as witchcraft, sorcery, voodoo, and other dark practices. This made an impression on these young girls.

Soon the girls exhibited odd behavior at home. They’d kicked and screamed, had fainting spells, spoke to apparitions, and complained of being bitten, and strangled by unseen hands. The more attention their families gave them, the more bizarre the outbursts. Just like a teenager… Soon the families and church became concerned and the only explanation they had for this was…it’s the devil’s work, and it must be stopped. After being questioned by their families and the church elders, the girls claimed that “witches” were the cause. The church leaders went on the hunt for the witches. They identified who they thought was a witch, most of which were elderly women. The poor women didn’t stand a chance…they all were tried (if you want to call it a trial) and hanged. In all, 20 women were hanged. These hunts and hangings went on for 2 years. The frenzy in these hunts was so bad that soon dogs were being accused of witchcraft. Two poor dogs were found guilty of witchcraft and were hanged.

How did this travesty happen? What motivated these young girls to do such a thing? The answer may lie in drugs. Some historians believe that the problem was Ergotism. Ergot is a fungus which grows in moldy grain and contains a mind-altering drug. Ergotism outbreaks, which affected entire regions, were common in Europe during the middle ages. But little was known of Ergot’s hallucinogenic effects in 17^th century America. Today, ergot is used in drugs that help those with migraine headaches. If ergot is taken in its pure state, it becomes a powerful hallucinogenic. It is known to also cause disorientation, and even death.

The theory is that Tituba knew about the powerful drug in ergot, and introduced the young girls to the drug. Since Tituba knew a lot about sorcery, and voo-doo, it is speculated that she also knew of toxins, their sources, and effects. Historians believe that the girls were introduced to the grain and that they continued to consume it in greater quantities on their own. This can very well explain their bizarre behavior. Can we say that Tituba was also responsible for the 20 innocent women who were hanged? I believe that Tituba was playing with fire when she dabbled with the dark world and the drug world as well.  I don’t think she ever expected what happened. But 20 innocent women paid the price nonetheless.

Mary Lincoln & Marie Antoinette...

What did Mary Todd Lincoln and Marie Antoinette have in common? Let’s just say that these two loved to spend money. Money, I might add which didn’t belong to them. Diaries from the Illinois Historical Library, which were hidden from the public, were released in recent years which disclose Mary’s awful spending. The diaries were written and kept by President Lincoln’s close friend, Senator Owen Hickman Browning. When the Senator died his family donated the diaries to the Illinois Historical Library with the condition they not be made public. The Library kept their side of the bargain until 1994 when it succumbed to the pleas of curious Historians.

What was written in these diaries have enough material for a good book on Todd’s mental state during the Lincoln Administration. But let’s talk about her spending. It is disclosed in the diaries that Mary had expensive taste and didn’t spare any expense to get what she wanted.  The first lady basically engaged in outright “misappropriation of public funds.” Among the items she bought, the diary mentions, 300 pairs of expensive kid gloves, dresses in the amount of $2000 each, some she never even wore! And when she left the White House she took everything that was not nailed down. Bear in mind she is doing this while an expensive war is being fought, and the soldiers fighting it were getting paid a mere $13.00 a month. Had the nation known she was doing this, they would’ve taken to the streets. I can see how they wanted to protect the image of the First Lady.

Before we pass judgment on poor Mary, we must understand she was mad. In these same diaries there is talk of her violent temper, public outbursts, and horrible treatment of her husband. There is mention of her physically and verbally abusing her husband. Her mental instability was no secret however, all of DC knew it.  Her bizarre behavior had no limits, if you crossed her, she’d let you know. Early Lincoln biographers took great care of protecting Mary’s image. Some historians say that these early biographers felt that a lot of the information they gathered about the Lincolns was “considered improper for publication” at the time. Things like Mary throwing coffee at Lincoln’s face in public, throwing potatoes at him, and smacking him in the face with a piece of firewood.

Mary Todd Lincoln wasn’t liked in DC by many because of her mental instability. Lincoln however, remained with his wife. But I can’t say he did it because he “loved” her. I think he felt responsible for her condition and so took care of her. A rumor at the time spread all around that Mary became mad because of a sexually transmitted disease she got from her husband early on in their marriage. Although this is a rumor, it may be true. This was very common in those days.

Source: That’s not in my American History Book-
Thomas Ayres

A Damned Yankee Wrote “Dixie”...

Most of us know the song or anthem of the South, “Dixie.” What if I told you this song was written by a damned Yankee? Well it was.  On a rainy Sunday night, composer Daniel Decatur Emmett wrote “Dixie,” for Bryant’s Minstrels. Bryant Minstrels was a “blackfaced” minstrel which was popular at that time. Once Bryant wrote the song it became a hit and soon other minstrel shows used it too.

How did it become the South’s anthem? On the inauguration of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States, “Dixie” was played, and he must’ve liked the tune so much because it became the marching song for the Confederate army. This tune spread like wildfire across the south and soon everyone was whistling “Dixie.”

The damned Yankee, Emmett, was aghast because he was a staunch Union supporter. He is quoted as saying, “If I’d known to what use they were going to put my song, I’ll be damned if I’d have written it!” Hum…a damned Yankee he truly was.

I think Lincoln may have had a beef with this because the day after Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, a band outside the White House was asked to play the famous “Dixie.” And Lincoln is quoted as saying, “I have always thought Dixie one of the best tunes I ever heard.” He continues, “Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but we have fairly captured it.”  The song continued its popularity for quite a while, in fact, at age 80 Emmett made a farewell tour and sang the song to standing ovations all across the country.

Source, The Greatest Stories Never Told

Unknown History: Election Day Deaths...

You hear today how biased the media is and how politicians use the power of the media to push their agenda. This is scary, and unfortunately it happens. But one politician in 1902 took this to the extreme. In the Caribbean island of Martinique, Election Day was heating up, but so was the island’s volcano, Mount Pelee. It was spitting up smoke and fire as if to warn the inhabitants it was going to let out steam Election Day or no election day. The residents of the city of Saint-Pierre, which sat at the foot of the volcano took this warning quite seriously and became concerned.

The governor of Martinique was a lot more concerned with his party winning than saving people from the impending doom. Governor Louis Mouttet figured that if a warning was put out, it would create a panic which would hurt the candidates of the ruling Progressive Party. He went to the local paper and told the editor to down play the danger of the eruption! And to add insult to injury, he went to the city of Saint-Pierre three days before the election and told the people there was nothing to worry about. All was safe, go to the election booths and vote. It’s all good.

The next morning at 8:00 AM Pelee erupted on the city. An ominous cloud of hot gas and ash more than one thousand degrees centigrade moved through the city at 100 miles per hour. No one had a chance. It killed 30,000 people including the governor in less than 2 minutes. The volcano didn’t care what party you were, if you were in its path, it would swallow you whole.Only two people survived, one of which was a prisoner which was due to get executed that night! Later this prisoner’s sentence was commuted and he landed a gig with Barnum and Bailey Circus.

The governor didn’t think of the people for one second. It was about his agenda, and he used the media to push it and the media did it. And 30,000 people paid with their lives. Like an eye witness said, “This date should be written in blood.”

Unknown History Fact: Postage Stamps Used As Legal...

Can you imagine postage stamps being used as currency? That is exactly what happened during the Civil War. When the Civil War started most people believed that it would end quickly. We all know differently. As the war dragged on, people went into panic mode and started hoarding their silver and gold coins. The country needed metal for weapons and machinery and so they restricted the production of new copper coinage. This metal hoarding on both ends caused a metal shortage.

To help with the problem, Congress passed a law permitting the use of postage stamps as currency! Huh? You can imagine the headaches this caused both those that used them, and the Post Office. The Post Office didn’t enjoy selling stamps as legal tender, and when customers came in with dirty or damaged stamps, the post office refused to replace them. After all, stamps were not made to be handled from person to person, and as small as they were, they were easily lost. One inventor tried to remedy the problem when he invented a protective encasing for the stamps and that helped for while. But the demand for the stamps increased, thus causing yet another shortage. What to do? US Treasurer F.E. Spinner, asked the government to produce fractional currency and on July 17, 1862, Abe Lincoln approved the Postage Currency Act. This act approved bills of five, ten, twenty-five, and fifty cents be produced and put in circulation.

The bills were much smaller than the ones we use today, in fact, they were postage stamp size. I might date myself here, but they looked like the sheet of small little stamps my mom used to get from the A & P. The first fractional bills produced were easy to counterfeit, so they came up with the idea of producing new ones that were more colorful and were printed on both sides. The bills came to be known as “shinplasters” because the soldiers were paid in fractional bills and they stuffed these bills into their boots to keep their feet warm. Some bills survive today.

Unknown History Fact: Albert Einstein’s Slip...

I once saw a great movie with Loretta Young called “Cause for Alarm!” a 1951 movie about a woman who frantically needs to get a hold of a letter, her crazy husband wrote and sent out to the prosecutor. Her husband commits suicide, and the letter incriminates her as his killer. A terrific movie. But what am I getting at? I thought about this movie when I read about Albert Einstein’s greatest mistake. In 1939 Einstein wrote a letter to FDR when he became concerned that Germany had been doing some nuclear research that could lead to Germany’s creation of “extremely powerful bombs of a new type.” In the letter he encouraged research be expedited in the US, or else the Germans would do it first. He also encouraged the US secure an ample supply of Uranium.

Well this letter made the US scramble and ultimately led to what is known as the “The Manhattan Project.” The Manhattan Project was basically an arms race. Did you know that there were 10,000 people involved in this project and only a handful knew what they were trying to accomplish?

By 1945 some scientists were concerned with the power of the atomic bomb, and by now they knew Germany wasn’t building any bombs of their own. Einstein wrote FDR another letter urging him to meet with those opposing scientist, but the letter got there too late. FDR died before he read it, and on August 6, 1945 the US dropped the bomb in Hiroshima. And we all know what happened there.

Einstein is quoted as saying that the first letter he sent FDR was “the single greatest mistake,” of his life. I assume the loss of life with his creation weighed him down. I’ve not done extensive research on WWII, but I know how hard it was for America to fight multiple fronts at once, and Japan was a strong foe. It doesn’t justify it, but war is ugly, and there was nothing Einstein could’ve done differently to change that…bomb or no bomb.

Black History Unknown Fact: Jack Johnson...

You might know Jack Johnson (1878-1947) as the first black heavyweight champion of the world (1908-1915), but did you know he also patented a wrench in 1922? However, Johnson is known more for his boxing abilities, and for all the controversy he caused back in the day, than he is for his patent.

Can you believe that because he beat a couple of white boxers, riots soon followed through-out the United States? Some were celebration “riots” by blacks, while the whites tried to stop the celebrations, and in fact, police intercepted some lynchings. It’s hard to even imagine this. But someone once told me that in order to understand history, you have to see it through the eyeglass of the time. Johnson was known for his love of white women, in fact, he married 2 white women in a time white and black marriages were illegal in many states. When he married his second wife, he was forced out of the country, when two ministers in the south recommended Johnson be lynched.

In 1920 Johnson returned to the US and opened up a club in Harlem and sold it 3 years later to a gangster Oweny Madden who later renamed the club to “The Cotton Club.” Johnson had a few fights in Mexico and later returned to the US to only be arrested for “transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes.” He did one year in the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth. It was in prison when he came up with the idea of a tool to help tighten loosening fastening devices, the wrench. Several proposals to grant Johnson a posthumous Presidential pardon have been requested, the latest being one to President George W. Bush. This one has passed the House, and a companion bill is going through the Senate.

How A Classic Film Star Revolutionized Communicati...

Those of you, who know me, know that I am not only a history buff, but a classic movie buff as well. Visit cine classics, my blog on classic film for more on that. So why am I saying this? Well, because this little history secret has do with a beautiful classic movie star named Hedy Lamarr. Hedy is remembered mostly for her roles in classic film from the 30’s and 40’s. One in particular comes to mind, a pre-code film where Hedy has a nude scene, scandalous for the day, in the movie “Ecstasy.” The movie was condemned by the pope and banned in the United States. The movie tamed by today’s standards, was considered immoral back in the day of Hayes Enforcement. Hedy wasn’t just looks, and she had that plenty, but she also had brains.

Hollywood called her “the most beautiful woman in the world.” It was WW II that changed Hedy and she decided to use her brains to help her adopted country, America. In the summer of 1942 Lamarr got together with composer George Atheil and patented a secret communications system to prevent the jamming of radio-controlled torpedoes. Hedy came up with this idea on the back of a cocktail napkin: frequency hopping. Basically its radio signals that constantly switched frequencies to make interception impossible.

It was an invention ahead of its time and it wasn’t used until the Cuban missile crisis some years later. Today this is called spread spectrum technology and is an important part of cell phones systems, satellite encryption, and other modern technologies.

Hedy once said, “Any girl can be glamorous; all you have to do is stand still and look stupid.” She fooled the world with her looks, but shocked the world with her brains. You go girl!

For more on Hedy click here

History of “Auld Lang Syne”...

We hear this little tune come the end of a year, but where did it come from and why do we sing it? “Auld Lang Syne,” is a Scottish Poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to a tune of a traditional folk song. The song is well known in many English-speaking countries. It is often sung to celebrate the start of a New Year, or at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Day.

“Auld Lang Syne” translated into English is, “old long since,” or “long long ago,” or “days gone by.” The phrase “Auld Lang Syne,” had been used by other poets predating Burns. There is some doubt as to whether the melody used today is the same one Burns originally intended, but it is widely used both in Scotland and in the rest of the world.

Singing the little tune on New Year’s Eve became a Scots custom that very quickly spread throughout the British Isles. And as the Scots and Brits emigrated around the world, the song went with them.

Band leader Guy Lombardo has been given the credit for popularizing the song at New Year’s celebrations in America through his annual broadcasts on radio and television beginning in 1929. The song became his trademark, and he recorded it twice. And that is why we sing it 220 years later, and for many more years to come. Happy New Year!