A glance in the rearview mirror: August 1921—Overcrowded livestock. Stitching a beating heart. Girl hero resents publicity.

by Mary Jo David

The following excerpts are from August 1921 editions of the Stockbridge Brief-Sun newspaper. In general, these news excerpts are reproduced in the original, without edits or corrections.

State Fair Like Great University: Few universities are enabled to disseminate as much knowledge along the lines of all of life’s activities as does the Michigan State Fair, which will hold its 72nd annual exhibition in Detroit, Sept 2-11. … The state fair exhibits show the best that is produced in agriculture, livestock, dairying, poultry, automotive trades, machinery, industrial work of varied sorts, road building, arts and sciences, city and country school work, home work such as needlework, handicraft work, garment-making, canning and numerous other sorts of endeavors. … –8/4/1921

 

Dutch Colonial Home for Farm: This style of architecture is most appropriate for farm homes as its lines fit well into country landscapes. … To paraphrase a song that was popular a couple of years ago, “How you going to keep the boys on the farms when the girls are going away.” In other words the solution is to make the farm home so attractive that the girls will stay. … Practically every present-day home design has a bathroom; the other rooms are planned so that they will accommodate the modern household conveniences, such as water under pressure and electricity. … –8/4/1921

 

‘Twas the Room Went Upstairs: Teddy had returned from the city and was describing a large apartment [department] store he had visited. He seemed greatly impressed by the height of the building and the number of floors. One of his playmates who had been listening attentively finally inquired: “Did you go away, ‘way upstairs?” “No,” said Teddy. “We just went into the tiniest, tiniest little room and stood still and the little room went upstairs.”  –8/4/1921

 

Livestock Dying in Crowded Cars: Thousands of head of hogs and other livestock will be lost in Michigan and other surrounding states during the next four months unless measures are taken to prevent overcrowding and consequent overheating of animals being shipped to market. …More than 2,000 hogs on their way to Chicago yards died in a single week during a recent spell of hot weather due to overcrowding. –8/18/1921

 

LOCAL & PERSONAL NEWS

August 4, 1921 edition:

  • W. Berry delivered 16 dozen factory brooms to Jackson Monday.
  • From observation of the latest styles, it is a positive fact that ladies have knees.
  • J. Kranzfelder returned from his auto trip of over 2,000 miles into northern Wisconsin and Minnesota Sunday night.
  • The sound of the thresher is again heard in the land, Ralph Chipman being in Plainfield at present.

 

August 11, 1921 edition:

  • Fred Moffat has received his bonus check for $250.00 for over-seas service.
  • Watch out for two young men traveling about selling joke books and claiming the proceeds are for the benefit of disabled soldiers. They are a fake.
  • Last Saturday afternoon the Howell officers passed through here en route to Jackson with three of the four criminals who were convicted of robbing Christina and Fred Schaible in Oceola township. We understand they were sentenced to 30 years.
  • Ralph Bradery fell from a barn where he was working near Howell last week, breaking his arm and receiving other serious injuries.

 

August 18, 1921 edition:

  • Four thousand dollars in Liberty Bonds and other securities belonging to Christina Schaible, 74, which were stolen by four men who attacked her May 16, were recovered by Sheriff Teeple and Judge Joseph H. Collins, Friday. The bonds were concealed in a sand pile near the Highland Road.

 

INTERNATIONAL / NATIONAL NEWS

August 4, 1921 edition:

  • Four stitches were taken in the beating heart of a 16-year-old Brooklyn, New York, boy who had stabbed himself with a stiletto. The operation required 35 minutes, as the stitches could only be taken when the heart was contracted, at the end of a beat which pumped the blood into the arteries. Two hours after the operation, which was performed through an opening between two ribs, the boy asked permission to sit up. … This was the first operation of its kind ever performed.

 

August 11, 1921 edition:

  • Fear Epidemic of Typhus. L. Haden Guest of London, who has been investigating conditions in Russia, reports to the Lance (London) that the whole of [Russia] has been swept by typhus and relapsing fever, and that all indications point unmistakably to a formidable epidemic in the coming winter. Cholera also has made its appearance and smallpox is widely prevalent. …

 

August 18, 1921 edition:

  • This Girl Resents Hero Stuff: Rose Breedlove, a nine-year-old girl at Alba, near Fort Worth, who stopped a burglar with her father’s six-shooter after he had gathered up the silverware in the home of her parents, says “hero stuff makes her tired.” After one day of it she has declared a strike against having her picture taken, publicity, and explaining to visitors. One day the family was away from home, leaving Rose playing with her dolls alone in the big house. She saw a burglar enter … When she saw him walk across a section of the floor just varnished, which her mother warned her not to step upon, she slipped from her hiding place, got her father’s big weapon and … ordered the robber to hold up his hands.
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