Friday, February 7, 2025

One Hundred Years Ago in Lorain – the End of the World That Wasn't

One hundred years ago today, the headline of the Lorain Journal was about an anti-trust drive being undertaken by the justice department. But the really big story was the fact that the end of the world hadn't taken place, as predicted by Robert Reidt, the "Apostle of Doom."

The fact that the world did not come to an end was covered in several stories, with the lead story reporting that "Lorain had two victims who went insane over the predicted millennium." There were reports from other locations across the country under the heading, "Doom Day Doings Elsewhere in America." There was a story about an employee of the National Tube company who was run down by a car on Lake Road near Stop 84 in Sheffield Lake, who had thought that the end of the world had indeed come. And at the bottom of the page, United Press Staff Correspondent Frank Getty followed up with Mr. Reidt.

Elsewhere on the front page: A photo of a pretty young lady as part of the "Lorain Girl Series," photographed by Rudy Moc; a dog saves his master and friends from being asphyxiated by gas fumes down in Greenville, Ohio; and James Bond – not the secret agent, but a Lorain man – was apparently not shaken or stirred up after crashing his car into a telephone pole at 28th and Fulton, since he attempted a getaway.

Other than that, just the usual mayhem, tragedy and chaos.