OLDE BALTIMORE STUFF

WHY A GREAT MANY PLANTS SHOULD BE DESTROYED

Nov 14, 1915, pg. S5

WHY A GREAT MANY PLANTS SHOULD BE DESTROYED

There is a constant search throughout the world for plants which may become useful or ornamental or both. Florists are continually placing new and handsome flowers on the market, and many new types of vegetables are being found. At the same time science is continually finding plants which are useless and dangerous, and which should be destroyed, or prevented from spreading.

Some of our most noxious weeds have been imported from distant lands, and, strange as it may seem, these are the most rapid multipliers. Some of these weeds threaten to destroy our most valuable grasses for grazing. In a number of instances it has been found that horses and cattle are sometimes fatally injured by eating certain weeds.

One of the most dangerous of these weeds is the marihuana. It is found in many parts of Mexico, and is said to have recently made its appearance in the United States.

The habit of smoking this weed is indulged in by many Mexicans. Its dry leaves, either alone or mixed with tobacco, make the smoker wilder than a wild beast. The effects of the marihuana plant upon the smoker are worse than those of pluque or mescal. Three or four draughts of the smoke are enough to cause a slight headache. Later everything seems to be moving and finally there is a loss of the control of the mental faculties.

In the next stage of the intoxication troops of ferocious wild animals pass before the vision of the smoker. These animals are attacked by hosts of devils and monsters of unheard-of shapes. The idea seems to possess the smoker that he is endowed with superhuman strength and bravery. At this stage of the debauch the murderous mania is often show.

An American, who was the superintendent of a mine in Mexico, became the object of hatred of one of the men in his employ. The Mexican mixed marihuana with the American’s tobacco. The latter became wildly insane after smoking the mixture, made a vicious attack upon a party of his own men, and was shot and killed before he could be overpowered.

As a result of smoking a marihuana cigarette a peon in the city of Mexico ran amuck and killed a native policeman and wounded three others before being subdued. The wildly intoxicating properties of the weed have long been known to the natives. The orgies it has frequently produced are so hideous that they defy description.

The weed is found growing wild in the southern part of the country. So dangerous is it that a constant watch was kept by the Governmental authorities during the Diaz regime to prevent it from being marketed.

Another weed that is similar in its effect to the “loco weed” of the Western states of this country is found in the Mexican state of Michoacan. It is called “totrache.”

The seeds of this plant boiled and drunk produce violent intoxication, ending in insanity. There is a story among some classes of the Mexicans to the effect that Carlotta, the former Empress of Mexico, lost her mind as a result of drinking totrache, which was secretly administered by her enemies.

A vigorous campaign should be instituted against these and other plants which are known to be detrimental to human beings as well as animals. A united movement to eradicate such dangerous plants would soon result in their complete removal or control.

The common nightshade, buck or strap-leaf plantain, and other useless plants found growing each season in almost every garden are familiar forms of useless plant life that might as well be destroyed.

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I could find absolutely nothing about this “totrache” plant except a brief mention in the footnotes of an article entitled “The Origins of Cannabis Prohibition in California” published by California NORML in 1999, which references an article much like the one above, published in the Washington Post in 1913. I did however find this post mortem portrait of Empress Carlota on her deathbed: http://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/21811

**apparently totrache is this stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datura_inoxia

BOY WORKS ALL DAY, PINBALL TAKES PAY

Apr 11, 1937, pg. 18

BOY WORKS ALL DAY, PINBALL TAKES PAY

Lad’s Losses Lead To Arrest Of Gabriel Demetry, Cafe Proprietor

Police Get Tip And State Raid—Report Finding Lottery, Bookie Evidence

A 14-year-old boy worked all day parking automobiles yesterday at Bowie race track, and then took all the money he had earned as tips and lost it playing pinball games and punchboards in a lunchroom in the 100 block Commerce street.

An anonymous telephone call to police headquarters sent two plainclothes policemen—Sergt. Frank Schmidt and Patrolman William J. Hennick—to the scene. They learned from the boy that he had lost more than $8 and they arrested the proprietor of the lunchroom, Gabriel Demetry, 42, of the 1600 block Barclay street.

Paraphernalia Found

A search of the lunchroom revealed twenty punchboards, several pinball games, a number of lottery slips, and evidence that Demetry operated a handbook on the races, the two policemen reported.

At the Central district stationhouse Demetry was charged with selling punches on the punchboards, with operating a lottery rack, with accepting bets on horse races and with paying the youth 10 cents as a prize on one of the pinball games.

The boy, John Selinski, of the 1600 block Gough street, was released in the care of his parents to appear as a State’s witness today when Demetry is given a hearing by Magistrate Elmer H. Miller, in the Central Police Court.

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I decided to search for articles about pinball after hearing about the National Pinball Museum opening soon in Baltimore: http://www.nationalpinballmuseum.org/

ILL LUCK FOLLOWS THEM

Jan. 25, 1913, pg. 14

ILL LUCK FOLLOWS THEM
Two Deaths And Five Accidents In Mrs. Mercen’s Family.
THEY FEAR THE NUMBER “13”
She Has Escaped But Father, Husband, Son, Daughter And Sister Have Met With Accidents.

Ill luck has been a visitor at the home of Mortimer Mercen, Winters avenue, Catonsville. Two members of the family have died since last August and serious accidents have befallen five persons.

Mrs. Mercen alone has escaped. She has buried one son, a baby 6 weeks old, and her brother, while her husband, daughter, another son, father and sister have been stricken in one way or another and she has been in constant dread of another catastrophe.

All members of the family fear the number 13. Some of the accidents have happened on that date of the month and its approach is regarded with fear.
Following the death of her baby last summer Mrs. Mercen was surprised a few days afterward when news came that her son Wilton, who is a painter, was injured in a fall from a ladder. His bruises soon healed.

Accidents Start on Christmas.
Last Christmas Day the second series of accidents began. The fire under the Christmas dinner needed much attention and Mr. Mercen was delegated as fireman. He was in the yard splitting wood when the family was startled by a yell from him. The ax had glanced off, nearly severing one of Mr. Mercen’s thumbs from his hand. The parts were so torn that a physician had to bind the wound in a cast. Yesterday Mr. Mercen delcared that the wounds had almost healed. The thumb was saved.

The year 1913 had hardly started when on January 2 Miss Esther Mercen, the daughter, was severely scalded on the ankles and feet while preparing a meal. She attempted to empty some boiling water from a tea kettle, the steam burned her hands and she dropped the container. When it struck the floor the boiling water splashed over her feet. Her wounds have healed.

A brother of Mrs. Mercen, whose name is John Davis, of Savage, Md., was the next victim of fate. He was in a Baltimore hospital at the time of the injury of his niece. A week later he died, following an operation for stomach trouble.

Got A Double Shock.
A few weeks’ respite made the family hope that peace had come again. They had reached the conclusion last week that their fear of 1913 was groundless when they got a double shock within a few days.

George Davis, father of Mrs. Mercen, was visiting her, consoling his brother-in-law and niece and mourning the death of his son. Last Wednesday he attempted to go down the steps leading to the yard from the kitchen and fell. Two ribs were broken and his body badly bruised. He was taken to the home of another daughter, Mrs. Laura Ward, of this city.

Mrs. Ward was in the Maryland University Hospital at the time. She is still there convalescing from a peculiar affection that made an operation necessary. When a child Mrs. Ward, who was then Laura Davis, was playing in the orchard of her home with her sisters, one of whom threw an apple, striking Laura in the face. Little attention was paid to the hurt. With passing years at intervals the pain returned. recently, believing it neuralgia, home remedies were applied, but a few months ago she was forced to enter the hospital, where it was found necessary to remove part of the jawbone. The place where the apple struck her in childhood will probably be marked by a lifelong scar.

Her father is out of danger, but is unable to go about as usual. He is under a physician’s care.

PROTECTING CARS BY ELECTRICITY.

Aug 17, 1885, pg. 1

PROTECTING CARS BY ELECTRICITY.

Strips of wood to afford protection against the third rail on the Hampden Railway are being laid along the whole length of the road, on which electricity is used as a motive power. When the rail is charged with electricity it will shock cows, horses, dogs, and other animals which may step on it. Some amusing incidents have been reported of dogs being knocked over by the current. On one or two of the cars of the Union Passenger Railway, which is connected with the Hampden line, electrical apparatus has been put by which the driver keeps the car clear of boys who sometimes steal a ride. It is surprising to note how quickly the small boys on the route have spotted the protected cars. The device, however, is effective. No sooner does it appear to the driver that a boy is hanging on than by touching a button the current is sent through the hand-hold and into the iron of the steps, and the boy tumbles off into the street as if he had been stung by a swarm of bees.

THE NEGROES DREAM OF THE PROMISED LAND, IF GAITHER IS ELECTED.

Nov. 3, 1907, pg. 4

THE NEGROES DREAM OF THE PROMISED LAND, IF GAITHER IS ELECTED.

The Republican managers who are trying to arouse the darkies to enthusiasm do not agree with Sancho Panza in his invocation of “blessings on the man who invented sleep.” The colored orators seem unable to keep the colored voters from going to sleep, and to rouse them seems to require white orators who will call them “gentlemen” and “brethren” to make them sit up and take notice.

Though a large concourse of fifteen dusky patriots gathered to hear the ebony prophet, Isaiah Hamilton, Friday night in the cellar of the Seventh Ward Century Republican Club, he couldn’t keep them awake. Though he discoursed about the eminent Mr. Gaither and discredited the race issue, a section of the vast audience slept soundly, punctuating his speech with eloquent snores. Even his concession to the white people—“Of course, we are as good as they, but we won’t domineer over them”—failed to cause a “rousement.”

Perhaps the colored voters preferred to close their eyes and dream about the good day that is coming for them if Gaither is elected. In their dreams perhaps they see negroes in the Legislature; negroes in the Baltimore City Council; negroes in many fat jobs, with their feet on the desks and good cigars between their lips. They see the visions that Orator Fitzhugh so graphically depicts—the overflowing flour barrel flanked by the fat and juicy ham, ham, ham.

Can you blame them if they dream of long stretches of Gaither watermelon patches, of chickens roosting on every fence, and on the corner in blue uniform a colored policeman whom a fellow feeling makes wondrous kind. With “protection” from a government that they themselves elected, with a friend in the District Attorney’s office with the hand of fellowship outstretched, why shouldn’t they dream that if Gaither is elected they will enter the promised land?

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George R. Gaither was the Republican nominee for governor of Maryland in 1907. He lost to the Democratic candidate, Austin Lane Crothers. Isaiah Hamilton was an African American politician, but I found very little information about him. I’ve tried to figure out who “Orator Fitzhugh” refers to but my research has come to naught.

A School Full Of Young Santas

Dec. 24, 1911, pg. L4

A School Full Of Young Santas

“The happiest Christmas I can remember,” said a pretty Baltimore debutante yesterday, “was a few years ago when I attended a small private school for boys and girls right here in Baltimore. We scholars wanted a Christmas festival and the teacher wasn’t very keen about it at first, but finally hit on the happiest and most inspiring idea. She offered to provide the tree and a turkey for a Christmas dinner on conidtion that each of us bring a poor child to her house to enjoy the day. The little guest child should be one who would otherwise have no other Christmas, not even an institutional one.

“We were all children of rich parents and the idea was a novel one to us. Miss F—- went on to say that each scholar should bring two gifts—one a useful one and one a toy for his or her little protege. Then, too, each should bring something from mother for the feast and each rich child was to wait on his or her own particular little stranger, and later each of us was to recite a verse, tell a story or sing a song to amuse our visitors. The plan was agreed upon with the greatest enthusiasm, and it would have been hard to say which were the happiest—the little waifs whom we collected or we rich, spoiled children, unused to thinking of anything but our own fun on the great holiday.

“There were about 15 of us pupils of the school, and our little Christmas friends were got together through the help of the police, and one or two were just picked up accidentally. There were no questions asked as to honesty, worthiness, or anything but the fact that they had no other hope of a Christmas. Our mothers were somewhat alarmed at the danger of our catching some disease from the less-cared-for youngsters, but the teacher argued that the true Christmas spirit would protect us, and it did.

“It was a great day for all of us, and we had no sooner reached the teacher’s house, each laden down with gifts and accompanied by our little friends, than one small boy burst into tears. Sidney, one of the bigger boys, was sent to inquire into the cause of the grief, and came back to the teacher himself sobbing. ‘Whatever ails the child?’ asked Miss F—-. ‘He says,’ sobbed Signey, ‘nobody ever wanted him before. His father and mother ran away and left him and he’s go nobody in all the world to want him.’ This boy was afterward sent to the Junior Republic and is going to make a fine man one of these days,” said the debutante in parenthesis.

“One small girl who had been brought by Mary S., a lovely curly-haired blonde child, never took her eyes off her little benefactress, and every now and then would clasp her hands and exclaim: “That’s my little girl; don’t she look like a angel?”

“A sturdy lad who had brought a pair of slightly worn shoes for his particular friend announced that he had had a fight with his brother over them ‘because I had them on yesterday and he kicked me on the toe, and I told him those were Charlie’s shoes—and then we had a fight over it.’

“A pathetic little crippled lad who had been picked up on Lexington street and given 5 cents to come in the car to the house came, accom by his father, who asked if the lady had truly asked his son to come and had she given him the nickel. On being assured that it was all right, the father broke down and muttered: ‘T’ank Gott! T’ank Gott! I thought he stole that money, though he said his mother could buy milk with it and he could walk to the lady’s house.’

“In almost every case the girls and boys at that Christmas feast have remembered their less-fortunate little friends and gifts and visits come each year to keep the memory of it fresh in the hearts of both rich and poor. The boy who found the little cripple now lives in England, but he never forgets the Christmas gift for his helpless friend

EDITH STOWE.”

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Who knows what happened to the “pathetic little crippled lad” and these other sad souls, but Miss Edith Stowe eventually married Mr. Edward L. Conn, a newspaper man five years her junior. The couple were in Japan when the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923 struck. Over 100,000 people died in the disaster, but they survived, and in the 1930 census in Washington, DC, Edith was listed as a manager of the YWCA.

Saved From Death In The Water.

Aug. 1, 1898, pg. 11

Saved From Death In The Water.

About 2 A. M. yesterday Sergeant Reth heard cries of “Help” coming from the basin at the foot of Exeter street. He made a hasty search and found a colored man struggling in the water. Calling the assistance of several citizens the sergeant soon had the man out of the water. He gave the name of Noah Carey, colored, and his home as 2138 McElderry street, where he was sent in the eastern district patrol wagon. Carey said he lost his way and accidentally walked overboard. He is believed to be demented, as he frequently spoke of himself to his rescuers as the “Banana King.”

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He made sure to point out his race as he gave his name and address?

DIVORCE.

Jan. 4, 1901, pg. 4

DIVORCE.

The statement that there were 29 fewer marriage licenses issued and 35 more divorces granted in Baltimore in 1900 than in 1899 is unpleasantly suggestive of the growth of the divorce evil in this city. The figures of one or two years cannot, of course, be accepted as conclusive evidence on the subject, since the causes which produced the results may have been exceptional and temporary in character. Nevertheless, on their face the marriage and divorce statistics of Baltimore during the past two years, as published in THE SUN on Tuesday, furnish food for thoughtful consideration, not because they are in themselves unusually startling or sensational, which they are not, but because the moral conservatism of Baltimore gives them a special significance. This city, as well as the State in general, has been comparatively exempt from the disgraceful divorce scandals which are common in New York, Chicago, and many other large communities, and we may well regard with anxiety even the slightest indications of the growth in our own borders of the deplorable conditions in this respect which prevail elsewhere, the causes leading to the increase in the number of applications for divorce and in the number of divorces granted are not to be found in any changes in Maryland laws on the subject, nor in any greater latitude of construction on the part of judges. Our laws do not put a premium upon divorce, as is the case in some other States, and our judges are eminently careful and conscientious. It is, therefore, with justifiable concern that we note even apparent evidences of the spread among our own population of the spirit of laxity on the subject of marriage that has become the reproach of some other sections. Unquestionably such a spirit is more or less contagious, and plague centers of easy divorce become more or less of a menace to every other part of the country. The facility with which divorces may be obtained in Chicago and in Dakota and other States has become so notorious and so familiar that we scarcely realize how great an influence for evil these legally constituted divorce mills may exert upon the moral life of the whole country. How great this influence has been in all directions is indicated by the changed attitude of society toward divorced people. Three or four decades ago divorce was considered little short of disgrace. Now, if not a distinction, it is at least no bar to social consideration, and even, in many cases, to religious standing. New York and Chicago society includes numerous wealthy leaders of fashion who have changed matrimonial partners almost as often as people change partners in the course of an evening’s dance. This condition of affairs is scandalous and demoralizing. No wonder with such examples before them that people of less prominence and pretension resort to the divorce courts on any and every pretext.

The subject is one of great public importance as well as private interest, because the strength and permanency of our civilization rest upon the integrity and stability of matrimonial relations. Loose views with regard to these relations characterize the savage at the bottom of the ladder of civilization and the decadent nation which is toppling to its fall. The alarming increase of divorces has been engaging the anxious attention of various religious organizations of recent years, and efforts have been made and more stringent regulations are proposed with a view to checking the evil. A powerful influence for good can undoubtedly be exerted in this way. The careful education of the young to a clearer appreciation of the significance and responsibility of marriage would result in a higher moral and matrimonial standard. Whether uniformity in divorce laws would or would not contribute to this end is a point upon which there is a wide difference of opinion. The present conflict of State laws and authority results very frequently not only in legal complications and injustice, but offers a temptation to divorce to those who are inclined to throw off the marriage bond for slight reasons. If a reasonable and uniform national law could be secured, which, while recognizing certain just grounds for separation, should eliminate the trivial causes and scandalous methods which are now accepted in too many States and before too many tribunals, much would have been accomplished for public welfare as well as for private happiness. The practical difficulty is to agree upon and secure such a law. Yet if the whole moral and religious sentiment of the country were behind the effort and our public men were made to realize how intimately connected with national greatness and strength is the home life of the people, it might not be so difficult to secure it.

Max O’Rell, the French writer of humorous and satiric fame, makes some unusually serious remarks on the subject of marriage in a recent issue of the New York Journal. Matrimonial reforms, he thinks, will be among the special achievements of the twentieth century. “I believe,” he says, “that people will not be allowed to get married just as they please and simply because they please. The state will interfere with the private lives of the citizens far more than it does now, for the good of the community at large. Private interests will have to yield to national interests. Old men of 75 and 80 will not be allowed to marry young girls of 20. Old ladies, in a temporary state of insanity, will not be allowed to be taken to the altar by money-seeking young men of 25, whatever indemnity these old ladies may be wishing to settle on these young men for the pleasure of adopting them. Nay, more than that, I believe that sickly persons will not be allowed to marry and thus be enabled to spoil the race, which is already threatening to overcrowd the earth. And so will be the case with men or women having insanity in their families. Before the laws allow couples to marry they will require them to pass an examination and prove that they are fit persons for the undertaking, that their bodies and minds are sound and that they have means of existence. Their antecedents will be examined thoroughly. By the adoption of such laws, with the constant improvement of sanitary arrangements, with the progress of the science of medicine, with healthier and more intelligently led lives, disease will disappear, the human race will get more and more strong, healthy and beautiful, and men and women will, more and more, be in love with each other. Thanks to these laws and a better understood education of the people, the sexual relations will improve in every respect. I say education! Yes, girls will be told, as before, that they should think of preparing to become one day good wives and good mothers, but boys will also be told to devote a few moments of their youth thinking of preparing to become one day decent husbands and tolerable fathers. Indeed, I believe that the principles of a happy, useful and healthy matrimonial life will be included in the curriculum of schools and colleges, both for boys and girls.”

Whether the world will ever compel candidates for matrimony to pass examinations and whether, if it did, such examinations would generally prove effective is a question open to debate. But that a higher matrimonial education is essential in many cases is evident from the records of our divorce courts. Marriage is too often a lottery, followed by disappointment and dissension, because people treat it as such, entering upon it recklessly and without any regard either to the dictates of common sense or to the solemn obligations which they assume. The best remedy against divorce is the creation, through educational influences, of a higher standard with respect to marriage, so that, not being lightly contracted, it will not be regarded as an ordinary partnership, to be dissolved at pleasure or on slight ground, but as a union which involves not merely the present happiness of the principals but that of future generations, as well as the best interests of the highest civilization.