History Confidential

When I was a kid in school studying history, I’d always imagine Benjamin Franklin like this: a chubby man flying a kite in the middle of a nasty storm. “What was everyone fussing about?” I thought. I grew up and got wiser and now know better.

Benjamin Franklin was a founding father, inventor, scientist, philosopher, and Statesman. Born January 16, 1706, Franklin left school at the tender age of 10 to help with the family candle-making business. At the age of 12 he entered into an apprenticeship to his older brother’s print shop. Problems with his brother led young Ben to run away to Philadelphia.

With a passion for reading, he taught himself to speak and write in five languages. He also taught himself: Algebra, geometry, grammar and logic. At the age of 22 he opened his own print shop with which he had great success. He later bought a failing newspaper and made it prosperous.

With his new found wealth, Ben married and started a family, 2 boys and a girl. At about age 26 Franklin also published a witty almanac which became so popular it was the most widely read material in the colonies second only to the bible.

Other accomplishments: Helped establish the University of Pennsylvania, started the first volunteer fire fighters, started the first public library in Philadelphia, invented bifocal glasses; the cast iron stove and more.

And I thought all he did was fly a kite…a wonder of a man indeed.

I know you’ve heard the phrase “the dog days of summer,” dozens of times, but where did this phrase come from? The ancient Romans coined the phrase, calling the hot sultry weather of early July through September “caniculares dies” or “days of the dogs” after the constellation of Canis Major, within which Sirius, the Dog Star, is found. As the hottest and most humid days of summer generally coincided with the period Sirius rose and set with the sun, the Romans believed that heat from Sirius was increasing the heat of the sun.

We some times believe or think that history started when we were born. You’d be surprised how long phrases have been used and who coined them.

Fashion in a sense is dictated to the masses. For the fashion conscious types, the styles are dictated, and they become “slaves to fashion.” Thankfully that happens by choice today. Back in the 19th century men could not be seen in public without a top hat. It didn’t matter whether they were conducting business, or pleasure, they had to wear a top hat. The black hat was allowed anytime of the day. The gray hat was only to be worn in the daytime. However, when the hat was first made and worn by its designer in public, (the day’s runway) it caused a stir.

John Hetherington was a London haberdasher, and is thought to be the designer of the first top hat in 1797. What he did was make modifications to the day’s riding hat, which was round, and flat. He increased the height and size of the brim, used silk instead of the traditional beaver fur used on the riding hat. He wanted to show the world his new design, and he did to his detriment.

The haberdasher walked proudly down the streets of London and noticed women looking, but then screaming and fainting. Men would take one look and practically booed him out of London. Pup dogs yelped and ran away. A mob trampled a boy and broke his little arms. Finally a crowd surrounded the poor pioneering designer.

The riot was caused by the hat’s height and shininess. The public found his hat atrocious, offensive, and disturbing. The designer was taken to court and charged with disturbing the peace by, get ready for this, “appearing on the public highway wearing upon his head a tall structure having a shining luster and calculated to frighten timid people.” He was found guilty and fined 50 pounds, a lot for the day. A new law was also passed, “The Haberdasher Act,” no just kidding, but a law was passed which forbade people from ever wearing top hats.

It took another 22 years before the public was ready for top hats, and even then they had to be made of beaver fur. It wasn’t until the 1850’s when the public relaxed and allowed silk to be used on top hats. All I can say is, what would these “timid people,” do if they saw today’s fashion?

The man which was convicted and executed for killing President James Garfield back in 1882 argued that he didn’t kill the president because the president died due to his own doctor’s neglect. Was he right?

Guiteau shot the president with two bullets on the morning of July 2, 1881. Guiteau was a religious fanatic who figured if he shot the president he would unite the Republican Party and save the nation. One bullet grazed the president’s arm and the other was lodged somewhere in his body. The president was taken immediately to the White House to be treated by the “best emergency doctors.” But what happened for the next 10 weeks in the White House would prove to be the worst case of medical negligence and incompetence.

Garfield had several doctors treat him, they all guessed, and it was their guessing that killed him. The first doctor Willard Bliss put an unsterilized finger in the wound, and then inserted a probe to try and locate the bullet; this making the wound much larger. When the second set of doctors came the wound was much larger, and they themselves misdiagnosed where the bullet was. They claimed the bullet was lodged in the president’s liver. The third set of doctors which were surgeons poked around around the wound with unsterilized hands and actually punctured the liver!

The doctors were clueless, enter an inventor, Alexander Graham Bell was called. Mr. Bell came up with a crude metal detector which would be used to find the bullet. The surgeons operated when Mr. Bell declared that he had found the bullet. What he really found were the coil springs of the mattress! But before we burn Bell at the stake, coil springs were a rare and expensive luxury in the day, in fact, very little people knew what coil springs were. Graham was one of them.

By the time the surgeons operated, the wound had gone from three inches to twenty. The wound was horribly infected, and the president ended up dying of a massive heart attack. But the plot thickens; the surgeons said that the president died of a ruptured blood vessel in his stomach. However, the autopsy revealed that the bullet was in a fairly harmless position, well away from his spine. What is the irony here? The president would have lived if they had just left him alone.

One of history’s worse despot, the Emperor of Rome Caligula was so distraught about his sister Drusilla’s death that he imposed a national year of mourning. The citizens of Rome were not allowed to conduct business, eat with family, cut their hair, or even take a bath! Not for a day, or week, but for an entire year! Do you think the citizens obeyed? I would think so, if they didn’t he’d have them killed.

Caligula is best remembered for his weirdness, depravity, and cruelty. When he first became Emperor of Rome he called for “change” and everything seem promising. He later went on a downward spiral. Caligula got drunk on power. He is alleged to have had incestuous relationships with 3 of his sisters. But his favorite was Drusilla. He appointed his horse, Incitatus a member of the senate! In fact, he wanted Incitatus in a position of consul. When Rome ran out of convicts in the gladiator games, Caligula would throw a few spectators into the den of lions instead. In the late evening hours he’d pace the palace floors commanding the sun to rise. These are just a few of the Emperor’s insane actions. Basically Caligula terrorized his own country for a short, but in a sense long, 4 years.

Caligula was assassinated by his own guards in A.D. 41.

In 1860 president Lincoln walked into Corneau & Diller drug store in Springfield, Illinois and purchased 50 cents worth of Cocaine. The alkaloid had only been isolated from the cocoa plant 5 years earlier and had just been named “Cocaine,” by Albert Nieman a year before. Lincoln was one of the first Americans to use the new drug.

Harry E. Pratt found this fact when researching for his book, The Personal Finances of Abraham Lincoln published in 1943. Pratt studied Corneau & Diller’s order books and found that on October 12, 1860 an order was filled for Lincoln in the amount of 50 cents for Cocaine. In fact, other historians found in earlier order books from the same drug company, that the Lincoln family had bought other powerful drugs in 1853, and 1854. The drugs they purchased in 1853 and 1854 were camphorated opium tincture used at the time for its anti-diarrheal and pain relief properties. The main ingredient in this drug was Morphine, a highly addictive and dangerous drug. But one must understand that little was known about drugs and their side effects at the time. Mary Lincoln experienced depression, mood swings, and hallucinations due to the drug use.

Source: Curious Events in History
Michael Powell

Attention Glenn Miller fans… Remember that famous song PEnnyslvania 6-5000? Well did you know that this telephone number is said to be the oldest and continuing phone number in New York City? The number still belongs to the Hotel Pennsylvania where the Glenn Miller Orchestra played many times and where he got his inspiration for this song. Of course, the days of rotary phones are behind us and so the number reads 736-5000 now. In fact, the PE exchange was the first to switch from letters to number system.

The hotel has been around since 1919. Ah, if the walls could only speak.

We always see our 16th president, President Lincoln in pictures with the stovepipe hat, but did you know that not only was the stovepipe hat stylish for the day, but he used it for practical reasons as well? President Lincoln used to carry letters, bills, and notes in his hat. You can take a man out of the backwoods, but you can’t take the backwoods out of a man. Gee, I wonder if that’s where he carried the Gettysburg Address.

For more information on this visit encarta.com

Did you know that women fighting wars is not a modern thing? During the American Revolution there were many women that served not only as cooks, or nurses, but as soldiers as well. The best known is Mary Ludwig Hays, AKA “Molly Pitcher.” Her husband was wounded in a battle and Molly traded her pots and pans for a cannon! She took her husband’s place at his cannon during the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. Another woman named Margaret Corbin also fought in the Battle of Harlem Heights in 1776. She was badly wounded in this battle. Thousands of other women served in Washington’s army in other capacities.

Mary Ludwig was issued a warrant as a noncommissioned officer by General George Washington, and then after she was nicknamed “Sergeant Molly.”Margaret Corbin was the first woman in the United States to receive a pension from Congress. This pension was given to her because she was wounded and for her service.

Some Historians have different opinions about Molly Pitcher. Some don’t really know if there ever really was a Molly Pitcher at all. Some Historians regard her as a legend, folklore, and not history. Oh well, I choose to believe that if the women of the Revolution were anything like we women are today, they fought and fought hard to defend their land.

The Revolution recruited anyone who wanted to fight for freedom. Maybe, just maybe, these women thought like the slaves did, that if they fought, it’d be their ticket to freedom. It took another 100-150 years for women to even begin to feel free. I guess we can say that these women opened up the door for the emancipation of women.

How much did The Boston Tea Parties cost the Brits? Yes, I meant the plural. Did you know that there were 2 Boston Tea Parties? The first one took place in 1773 when “The Sons of Liberty,” protested the 3 cents per pound of tea tax. The second one took place in 1774. These two parties cost the Brits the equivalent of 3 million bucks today!!!!

The forefathers knew how to get the Brits’ attention… hitting them where it hurts most, the pocket.

source [theamericanrevolution.com]