Lorain Journal Front Page – Jan. 23, 1934

 

Ninety years ago today, this is what greeted readers of the Lorain Journal on January 23, 1934.

Now that's a front page. It has two headlines and each one is a humdinger: a daylight robbery at gunpoint that took place at the Hotel Antlers, and the tragic death of Earl R. Morris, the mayor of Oberlin, due to pneumonia.

There's an interesting article about the decision to delay widening Oberlin Avenue. It reveals that at that point, the street had four different widths: 33 feet wide from West Erie to the Nickel Plate railroad tracks; 28 feet from the tracks to 19th Street; 21 feet from 19th to 22nd Street; and 18 feet from 23rd to the city limits (at Meister Road). The same article notes an intention by the county to extend Oakdale Ave. from the city limits to North Ridge Road. (That never happened.)

As was often the case, there's a juicy story with pictures on the front page: "Another Woman Doctor on Trial." The story asks, "Did Dr. Sara Ruth Dean, comely 33-year-old specialist, knowingly serve Dr. John Preston Kennedy, her former medical associate, a poisoned highball while he was a midnight guest in her home last July?" Dr. Dean was going on trial for murder that week. It would take five weeks to finally convict her. Her sentence, however, was commuted years later by the governor.

From Virginia, there's a sensationalized story of a 'gas man,' so called because he supposedly attacked homes in this region by unleashing clouds of deadly chlorine. You can read more about these gas attacks – which eventually were determined to be a classic example of epidermic hysteria – here, here and here.

Lorain was experiencing some sharp lake winds, after a weekend with spring-like weather. The thermometer dropped 20 degrees in less than 24 hours.

And from Cleveland came the story of a taxicab driver who received a ten-cent tip from the father of a baby born in his cab while they were rushing to the hospital.