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The Bull Moose Party
I think everyone knows my utter admiration for the badass that was Theodore Roosevelt. If you do not know why he was an amazing man, please go here and read so you can know the extent of his awesomeness. However, there were some times when the sound of how awesome he was deafened him to the realities of the situation. Roosevelt had declared he would not run again after winning his own term in 1904. He claimed the term he finished for the assassinated president, William McKinley, would count as his second. He handpicked William Howard Taft as his successor for the Republican nomination and bowed out. But Taft alienated…
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Victoria Woodhull
There has been a lot of talk about how Hillary Clinton was not the first woman to run for president. Technically, this is correct, however, the main historic thing about the 2016 election is that Clinton is the first woman to be nominated by a major political party. Alas, we still are primarily a two party system for good or for ill. We will get into the Bull Moose party at another time… Anyway, back to women running for president. The first in American history was Victoria Woodhull, and she was running at a time when she could not even vote for herself. Victoria Woodhull was born September 23, 1838…
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Elizabeth Naramore
During a random google search, I stumbled across this tragic story and decided to write it because of the similarities, it feels close to home. I live near a small rural town called Oakham, in the county of Rutland, which you may be becoming familiar with through Phoebe’s series on historic towns and villages and a few local articles I have added myself. The sad event takes place in a small village near Oakham, Massachusetts; the next along is called Rutland. Ironically, the village of Coldbrook Springs no longer exists, as with much of my own neighbourhood, it was sunk during the making of a reservoir. From St Andrews, New…
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The Homestead Strike
Henry Clay Frick was one of Pittsburgh’s toughest and most notorious CEOs in history. The grandson of Henry Clay, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives known as “The Great Compromiser,” his father was hopeless at business. However, the younger Henry took after his mother’s father, who ran a successful distillery. His business acumen brought him wealth, and brought him into the gaze of Andrew Carnegie. Frick was soon Carnegie’s right hand man. Frick was one of the managing partners of the Carnegie Company until 1889, when Carnegie retired from active management and Frick was elected chairman. In 1892, he introduced a more centralized management system that improved efficiency…
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The Fool Killer- The submarine in the Chicago River
William “Frenchy” Deneau was a minor celebrity in Chicago. He was a diver who recovered 250 bodies from the Chicago River in the Eastland disaster in 1915. His expertise in the water put him in demand, and the next November Deneau was back in the water to lay electrical cables underneath the Rush Street Bridge. While there, his shovel brushed against something metal. Further excavation found a metal submarine, forty-foot long and made of iron. Some reports say it was found under the Rush Street Bridge, others say it was found Wells Street Bridge and still other say it was under Madison Street bridge. Submarines had been the news…
