Just Another Day in Lorain – August 26, 1918

The front page of the Lorain Times-Herald of August 26, 1918 above – published 100 years ago yesterday – originally caught my eye because of an article about a well-attended Irish picnic (of interest to an Irishman like me who likes pic-a-nics).

The Ancient Order of Hibernians (America’s oldest Irish Catholic fraternal organization) had held a big picnic at Lincoln Park, featuring Irish music and dancing. There were also a variety of foot races in which attendees of various age groups could compete. All in all, a day of fun in the sun enjoyed by hundreds.

But as interesting as the picnic story was, a quick glance at the rest of the front page reveals a whole lot of juicy mayhem going on in Lorain at that time, no doubt keeping the newspaper’s reporters scurrying for their notepads.

Some of the happenings included: a woman attacked by a man with a razor in a South Lorain poolroom; raids by state inspectors resulting in arrests on liquor charges (remember, it was Prohibition times); a “Peeping Jack” peering into windows on East 29th Street; a police chase and arrest of two suspected pickpockets near the B. & O. railroad yards; a car crashing through a bridge at the bottom of a hill near Oak Point and rolling over; a woman knocked unconscious by a baseball while attending the Eagles - Knights of Pythias baseball game. We also see some Lorainites injured when their “machine” (car) went off the road near Conneaut while on their way to Toronto, Canada.

All that, and war coverage too, in which those huffy Huns were objecting to aerial bombing by the allies – even though they’d been doing the same thing.

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If you like to read about local crimes – specifically murder – from the pages of vintage newspapers and crumbling courthouse records, consider picking up a copy of Murders, Mysteries and History of Lorain County, 1824 - 1956 by author Don Hilton of Oberlin.

Don is a nice guy who I met at the Lorain Public Library while he was working on his research. He has a nice, light writing style that is fun and easy to read, despite the sometimes gory subject matter.

As the back of the book notes, “Murders, Mysteries and History is an entertaining, fast-paced and unique mix of forgotten killings, investigations, and criminal trials culled from court record and mixed with the news of long ago.

“Get the scoop on hundreds of real crimes and unsolved murders. Follow the clues to identify the unknown washed up on Lake Erie shores. Work your way along sometimes twisted paths to imprisonment or freedom.”

The book was the subject of a nice front-page article in the Morning Journal written by Keith Reynolds, which you can read here.

The book is available as a softcover or E-Book through the publisher, AuthorHouse here. You can order it on Amazon, through Walmart, or various other book websites.

It is available locally at the Lorain County Historical Society.