Episodes Nearest to February 9, 1883: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Boys and Baseball
    date February 9, 1883map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Adolescence, New York City 1880s, City Life

    Boys do not like sitting around and talking. They would much rather be running, jumping, throwing, and screaming.

    So it comes as a complete surprise to see that on February 9, 1883, a group of adolescent boys, aged anywhere from ten to sixteen, gathered together as delegates of eleven of New York's grammar schools to form a baseball club. The boys came from the city's schools, known...

  2. Farmer's Alliance as a Political Alliance
    date February 6, 1883map GRANVILLE, North Carolinatags Agriculture, Government, Politics

    The threat of a trust formed between cigarette manufacturers in order to control the price of Bright Leaf tobacco grown in the North Carolina Piedmont greatly alarmed the members of the Farmer's Alliance living in the Bright Belt region of North Carolina where this tobacco was grown. In order to prevent just five individuals or corporations from dictating the price of a product whose production...

  3. Calvin Gray's Murder
    date December 24, 1882 to December 30, 1882map HAWKINS, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Law, Race-Relations

    On the night of December 24, 1882, near the town of Mooresburg in Hawkins County, Tennessee, African American Calvin Gray was accused of stealing hogs on Mrs. Joseph Gill's farm. He was later released for lack of evidence. On the following Saturday, December 30, an unknown group of people sought retribution for the alleged robbery and bombarded Gray's home, pounding violently on the door...

  4. Southern Baptists Demand Total Prohibition
    date March 29, 1883map TALLADEGA, Alabamatags African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence, Law, Politics, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations

    On March 29, 1883, the Baptist journal, Christian Index, implored the citizens of Talladega County, Alabama to support the outlaw of alcohol trafficking. In 1881, Talladega County proposed a vote on the outlaw of alcohol consumption and the African American population allegedly voted in a bloc against the prohibition. The article blamed the African American population for the failure...

  5. African American Lynched During Prison Transfer
    date May 8, 1883 to May 13, 1883map CADDO, Louisianatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death

    On May 8, 1883, a Texan was arrested at the ferry landing in Shreveport, Louisiana for the murder of William H. Lyon. The Texan's name was D.C. Hutchins, and he was an African American. The paper described Hutchins as a desperado and noted that he had been a terror to the decent citizens of Bossier parish, La. The citizens of Bossier parish were indignant at the crime. The paper also noted with...

  6. Thomas E. Watson elected into Georgia General Assembly
    date November 1, 1882map MC DUFFIE, Georgiatags Race-Relations

    Early in his career, Tom Watson was influenced by many leaders of the Confederacy, and he was drawn to local politics. After attending the Convention of 1800, he was determined to run for legislature. He appealed to Georgians as a defender of the old way of life and he was first elected to the state legislation representing McDuffie County in 1882. <br />During the campaign, he discovered...

  7. Women's Christian Temperance Union
    date October 28, 1882map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags Church/Religious-Activity

    Liquor, as Edward Ayers explains, took a heavy toll on the South, especially since alcohol became much easier to get as the numbers of towns and stores increased. Often, churches went on the offensive, trying to reform what they saw as the “greatest threats to their moral standards.' In the New South, women had an increasingly important role on church committees, and thousands of younger...

  8. Uncommon Access and Consumerism
    date May 24, 1883map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Science/Technology, Economy

    The souvenir booklet distributed by merchandiser Frederick Loeser during the initial weeks of the opening of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge on May 24, 1883, represented an early example of direct marketing. The crush of pedestrian traffic that gathered on the bridge's promenade deck was anxious to experience what was described as the "Eighth Wonder of the World", and no doubt contained shoppers....

  9. Alumni meeting at the Male High School to protest changes in the studies
    date June 9, 1883map JEFFERSON, Kentuckytags Education

    On June 9, 1883, the alumni of the Male High School in Louisville, KY had a meeting in their high school's chapel to discuss and protest the future of the school's academic studies. The goal was to prevent the school board from changing the school's current curriculum. The school's alumni had many attendees, including many important and influential men. <br />At this time,...

  10. Memorial Day Address at Staunton
    date June 9, 1883map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Health/Death, War

    It was a day to honor the memories of those who died in battle and to think about the history of their great nation. Captain Micajah Woods of Charlottesville delivered a stirring Memorial Day address to the people of Staunton, just twenty-two years since the Civil War. Captain Woods spoke as one who had fought in the fields as a Southern soldier during the war and could relate to the experiences...

  11. Yellow Fever Epidemic
    date August, 1882 to November, 1882map CAMERON, Texastags Health/Death

    The Montgomery Advertiser mentions that on August 11, within twenty-four hours, there were thirteen deaths from yellow fever in Brownsville, Texas. As a result Fort Brown was under strict quarantine. At that time, there were about fifty cases of yellow fever at Brownsville and the health authorities believed that it might become epidemic. The State mentioned that on the day August 28, there were...

  12. Lynch mob justice claims Wesley Warren in Prospect, Tennessee.
    date June 21, 1883map WARREN, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Law, Race-Relations

    A small party of men lynched Wesley Warren for the murder of James Trice, a clerk at the town store in Prospect, Tennessee, which was located 76 miles south of Nashville. J.M Neal purchased a large amount of corn from Trice and stayed at the store until 1A.M. when he boarded a train for Pulaski, Tennessee. Authorities suspected that Warren and his accomplices entered the store at 2 A.M and killed...

  13. Duel Outside Waynesboro
    date June 30, 1883map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Law

    They decided to meet in a wooded area around two miles outside of Waynesboro in the mist of the early morning. At six o'clock on June 30, 1883, Mr. Elam and Mr. Beirne met one another to settle the score as gentlemen always had before - with a duel. The procedure was decided in advance, specifying the use of Colt's six-shooters at eight paces. All men not directly involved with the business...

  14. Race Relations and Labor Unions in Nineteenth Century New Orleans
    date 1883map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Labor Union, Race Relations

    The history of the nineteenth century United States rarely speaks of racial cooperation, however evidence of a few such scenarios are historically documented. The end of slavery in the United States all but destroyed the agrarian economy of the southern states, and even with the constitutional abolition of slavery racial hostility ran high throughout the country. Yet as the country attempted to...

  15. American Women’s Social Status in 1800’s
    date January 1, 1883 to December 31, 1883map NEW YORK, New Yorktags poverty, Women, social status

    Emily Faithfull, an English women right’s activist and writer, discovered an interesting phenomenon during her trips to the United States in 1872 and 1882. Many middle class and upper class women she met were leading a harsh life after losing their fathers or husbands. In two cases, the daughter of a navy Commander and the wife of a General of the United States Army were not able to make a living...

  16. More to the WCTU than Meets the Eye
    date 1883map SUFFOLK, Massachusettstags Temperance Movement, Temperance, woman's suffrage

    In a letter to a temperance friend in the late 1800’s Francis Parkman, a Temperance supporter, called a woman who was part of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union out on what he thought the Temperance Movement was about. He writes to the woman saying that temperance was nothing more than, “A wedge to universal woman suffrage”.

    In the late 1800‘s people began to become concerned...

  17. Petition for Mercy
    date January 5, 1883 to 1883map ISLE OF WIGHT, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Government, Law

    Governor Cameron received a petition from a substantial number of Virginia citizens who were concerned with the injustice of a court decision in Virginia. The petitioners wanted a commutation of the sentence of the black man Preston Harris, who was sentenced to be hung for arson. Harris sent fire to the jail where he was housed, though no one seemed to know if it was accidental or purposeful. All...

  18. Marsh J Polk Defrauds The State of Tennessee of four hundred thousand dollars
    date January 6, 1883 to 1883map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags Government, Law

    Marsh J Polk, the treasurer of the state of Tennessee and the nephew of President Polk, raised suspicion when he refused to pay interest on bonds enacted by the state. Tennessee needed the revenue from the bonds to repay the forty million dollar deficit created by Civil War devastation. A committee from the general assembly investigating Polk's personal accounts discovered that he transferred...

  19. The Building of Many Firsts: Ergood's Hall
    date September, 1882 to 1882map ORANGE, Floridatags Winter Park, Florida

    In 1882, Oliver Chapman and Loring Chase, founders of Winter Park, erected a 30x65 foot store making it the third building in Winter Park at this time. Both Chapman and Chase decided they would rent it out to Washington D.C. natives, John R. Ergood and Robert White Jr., officially opening the store to the small public of Winter Park in September of that same year. Located at the corner of North...

  20. Jewish Population in the South
    date September 14, 1882map PERRY, Alabamatags Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence, Economy, Migration/Transportation

    On the morning of September 14, 1882, Philip Henry Pitts ran various errands around town. He needed to make a few purchases, namely tools and home goods. While in town Pitts noticed a few stores had closed signs in the window. Upon returning home to his plantation, Pitts entered in his diary, Thursday Holy day among the Jews - All places of business closed among them this day...and this is new year...

  21. Jewish Presence in Alabama
    date September 14, 1882map PERRY, Alabamatags Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence, Economy, Migration/Transportation

    On the morning of September 14, 1882, Philip Henry Pitts ran various errands around town. He needed to make a few purchases, namely tools and home goods. While in town Pitts noticed a few stores had closed signs in the window. Upon returning home to his plantation, Pitts entered in his diary, Thursday Holy day among the Jews - All places of business closed among them this day...and this is new year...

  22. Flood of Ben Ficklin, Texas
    date August 23, 1882 to August 24, 1882map TOM GREEN, Texastags Health/Death, Migration/Transportation

    On August 23, 1882, heavy rains poured down on Dove Creek, Spring Creek, the Middle Concho, and the South Concho which were already high due to summer rains. By the morning, the Middle Concho was seen to be thirty feet above its level and rapidly rising. They overflowed and destroyed the town, Ben Ficklin, on August 24. As recorded in the article “Swept Away by a Flood,' the office register...

  23. A Son Worries over Fathers Corn Harvest
    date April 16, 1882 to 1882map SCOTT, Virginiatags Agriculture, Economy, Education

    Very few young men in the nineteenth century had the privilege of going to college, much less to the University of Virginia. One not only had to be intelligent, but also wealthy. James N. Greear of Scott County, Virginia was one such man. In a letter home, Greear informed his father of his great interest in medicine and of the recent examinations he had taken. He noted that he had taken the examinations...

  24. End of Cumberland Coal Strike
    date August 22, 1882 to August 24, 1882map ALLEGANY, Marylandtags Agriculture, Economy

    As reported in the State, on March 1, 1882, the coal companies decided to make the following changes: “For digging coal, 50 cents per ton and 1.65 per day for driving in the mines, and all other labor to proportion, and that twelve hours would constitute a day's work.' The Knights of Labor refused to accept this offer and the “great strike' began on March 14, 1882. Edward...

  25. Accident on the Virginia Midland Railroad
    date August 23, 1882map NELSON, Virginiatags Health/Death

    As Edward Ayers explains in the Promise of the New South, even though the railroad had an “aura of glamour' in the South, working on the railroad was dangerous. Many accidents occurred, varying from simple unimportant incidents such as a hand crushed, to as serious incidents such as a black man's head cut off when a train ran over him. Often accidents happened on the tracks, and trains...