Lorain Times-Herald Front Page – May 10, 1901

The Lorain Times-Herald from 1901 are the oldest Lorain newspapers on microfilm at the Lorain Public Library. I thought it'd be kind of interesting to see what was going on in Lorain a hundred and twenty-two years ago this month – so here goes.

Here's the front page of the paper from May 10, 1901. (Click on it for a larger, hopefully readable version.)

There's some interesting stuff. The first item is about the shooting of... a duck.

Under the heading of FESLER'S STORY: "Mrs. August Fesler raised the money necessary to pay her husband's fine for violating the game laws and he was released today. While Fesler was technically guilty of a misdemeanor under the law and pled guilty, and while it is true the mayor could do nothing but impose the lowest fine named in the statute, which is $25 and costs, it is also true that Fesler's story seems to put a different phase on the case from that which appeared first. Fesler is an industrious man, although on account of sickness, he is not able to do hard work. He had made a living such as it was, by fishing and taking pleasure parties out in his sailboat. He says he shot the duck, but the bird was already wounded, and a man in a row boat was trying to pick it up. Finally the other man told Fesler to shoot it and he did so.

"Then came near being a tragedy when Game Warden Whitford first went to arrest Fesler. Fesler refused to go, and had a hammer. Whitford drew his revolver and Fesler got his shot gun. Mrs. Fesler got hold of the gun and Whitford skipped out. That is, he did not exactly skip; he just flew. This is Fesler's story for it, and he feels very badly to think he had to be locked up when he did not intend to do any wrong. He fears his good name has suffered as a result of the trouble."

Another interesting item concerns what I believe was a fraternal organization called the Red Men. Under the heading "Indian Village," the article states, "It is estimated that there will be at least 6,000 Indians in Lorain on the Fourth of next July. The Red Men have received notifications from tribes with a membership aggregating 2,000 and letters are being received from new ones every day, so that 5,000 is a low estimate of the number of Indians who will be here on that day. The Public Square will be turned over to them and the entire park will be covered with teepees. They will cook, eat and sleep in their tents for at least a couple of days and the fun they will have will fill a book. The Indians will come from all parts of the state.

One item of interest to me concerns the Lorain City Band, which appears under 'Local News.' It notes (no pun intended), "The members of the Lorain City Band, 26 in number, met at the band room last night and under the direction of J. W. Shirk, district representative of the American Federation of Labor, organized a branch of the American Federation of Musicians."

By George, Lorain was and still is a Union town. And I used to be a member of the American Federation of Musicians Local #146 for a time in the 1980s. (BTW, 'Shirk' is a terrible name for a labor executive.)

Also on the page are some pretty good examples of women getting the short end of the stick. Under the heading "Says His Wife is to Blame," a man named James Foley, in jail for being drunk, blamed his wife for the breaking up of his family and his children being turned over to the county. According to him, "She was stubborn and at times refused to listen to reason."

Another nugget guaranteed to offend appeared under "A Brilliant Idea." It reads, "A young man, who is employed in a bank in this city, who is very fond of dancing and loves a game of cards occasionally received an idea this morning. He drove a tack in it and it was found to be like this: "I believe that some of the ladies who devote most of their time to playing cards, etc., could do more good by holding afternoon parties and visiting the lawns of their friends. They could do much good by picking off the dandelions and weeds growing in the grass."