Episodes Nearest to January 1, 1890 to May 30, 1890: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Debate over McKinley Tariff
    date January, 1890 to May, 1890map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Agriculture, Economy

    Republican Congressman William McKinley from Ohio introduced his plan for the tariff in the Spring of 1890. The legislation set the tariff rate at fifty percent, the highest in United States history. Congressman McKinley and its supporters designed the tariff to protect agriculture. However, the group forwarding the interests of the farmers, the Farmers' Alliance, called for the removal of...

  2. The Changing Structure of the Cattle Industry
    date March 11, 1890 to March 13, 1890map TARRANT, Texastags Agriculture, Economy, Government

    A letter ran in live-stock and farm journals and various western newspapers in the months leading up to March of 1890, calling those interested to attend an interstate convention of cattlemen. Formal delegates to the convention were to be appointed by the governors of those states which held an interest in the cattle industry. The letter, which was signed by Wm. L. Black, chairman (and others),...

  3. Debate over Sherman Anti-Trust Act and Sherman Silver Purchase Act
    date January, 1890 to June, 1890map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Agriculture, Economy

    The Sherman Anti-Trust Act represented the first action by the federal government to curb business monopolies. The Act declared the illegality of any contract or combination between business entities that resulted in restraining trade. The Act also granted government attorneys and district courts the authority to investigate these trusts. The Farmers' Alliance actively supported government...

  4. Journalist Kincaid Shoots and Kills Former Congressman Taulbee in U.S. Capitol
    date February 28, 1890map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Crime/Violence

    In the 1880s, Louisville Times journalist Charles E. Kincaid reported that married Congressman William Taulbee was seen in a “compromising way' with a young woman in the United States Patent Office. As a result, Taulbee's political career ended. On February 28, 1890, Taulbee came across Kincaid in Washington, D.C. and threatened the journalist. According to a Capitol doorkeeper who...

  5. Governor Nominating Conventions in Tennessee Spark Exchange between State Democrats and Republicans
    date April 3, 1890map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags Race-Relations

    In the time leading up to both the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions for state governor, each party attempted to sort out its ideal choice for candidate. Each party faced the recent legislative actions regarding enfranchisement and elections. As a whole, the Democrats backed the poll-tax law recently enacted by the state legislature and favored the pending registration law. On...

  6. The Debate Over Colonization
    date February 28, 1890map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Government, Law, Politics, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Bishop H. M. Turner decided to pick up a copy of the Evening Star on the night of February 28th, 1890, when a certain headline caught his eye: Bruce on the race issue. The Honorable Blanche Kelsoe Bruce was an old friend of the Bishop's who had become a Senator of the state of Mississippi and moved to Washington D.C. Each man greatly admired the other for his work and his distinguished accomplishments....

  7. Farmers' Alliance Leaders in Tennessee Work to Influence Democratic Party before State Governor's Election
    date January 1, 1890 to July 15, 1890map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags Agriculture

    After its establishment in July 1889, membership of the Farmers' Alliance grew rapidly and reached over 100,000 people in 1890. The Alliance widely proclaimed their goal to influence the Democratic Party. Throughout the year the Alliance engaged in a publicity campaign to sway Party actions and nominations. Newspapers played an important part in this publicity campaign. The Nashville Banner...

  8. Bloody Fight in Alabama between White Stone-cutters and Bridge Builders and African-Americans
    date February 6, 1890map BIBB, Alabamatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Race-Relations

    The growing presence of racial intimidation and violence marked the decade of the 1890s, also known as the “height of mob frenzy.' Private mobs punished alleged offenders for both attempted and committed crimes of violence, murder, and rape. Failure of local officials to protect prisoners adequately contributed to this vigilante mob justice. <br /><br />Increasing power of...

  9. Alligators Protected to Improve Economy
    date April 26, 1890map PLAQUEMINES, Louisianatags Agriculture, Economy, Government, Politics

    In April of 1890, the Police Jury of Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana made the decision to prohibit the further killing of alligators. This decision was unfortunate for the fashion industry, as purses, reticules, traveling bags, and footwear were all accessories that could be made out of alligator hide. Apparently, it was fashion's mandate to do so. In Louisiana and Florida, their abundance of...

  10. Thirty-eight Sheriff Sales Reported in Local Missouri Newspaper
    date February 2, 1890map COOPER, Missouritags Agriculture, Economy

    Many Missouri farmers lost their farms in sheriff's sales during 1890. The Boonville Semi-Weekly Star reported 38 sales on February 2, 1890. Sheriff sales occurred when individuals failed to pay taxes on their property to pay taxes to some other creditor. The sheriff then sold the seized property on the courthouse steps. The locality listed the seized properties in the newspaper in an attempt...

  11. Another Train Wreck
    date April 30, 1890map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Economy, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism, Women

    Rather than going to bed early Sunday night after a long day of church and family time, the city of Staunton spent the evening putting out a fire, only to then have a serious train wreck in the early hours of Monday, April 28, 1890. The No. 2 train on the C&O line from Cincinnati had cars derail after losing air power to the brakes. The train picked up even more speed because there is a descent...

  12. Publication of the “Shell Manifesto'
    date January 23, 1890map LAURENS, South Carolinatags Agriculture, Economy

    On January 23, 1890, G. Walsh Shell, president of the Farmers' Convention published the widely distributed “Shell Manifesto.' The Manifesto called for a convention to select candidates for state office that the Farmers' Convention would recommend to the Democrats before their party convention. The publication stressed the importance of farmers trying to influence government at...

  13. Dirty Elections
    date January 23, 1890map ROCKBRIDGE, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, Government, Law, Politics, Race-Relations

    On January 23, 1890, a small county newspaper printed in Lexington, Virginia published an article discussing the corruption of the election process with the memory of the prior year's November election fresh in the mind. The writer of the article was disgusted with the corruption of the election process, and was fed up with the continuing corruption. The congressional seats of important mining...

  14. The Prospector
    date January 23, 1890map ROCKBRIDGE, Virginiatags Economy, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    The Prospector

    On the sixth of January, 1895, northerner H.C. Hovey, remembering his past trip to the Luray Caverns in Page County, Virginia, wrote a letter to the cavern's newly appointed Manger Superintendent, Lemuel Zerkel. Hovey filled the letter with friendly words and personal anecdotes referencing the caverns, to hopefully illicit a feeling of mutual interest from the newly appointed...

  15. Farmers' Alliance Political Agenda Published in National Economist
    date January 18, 1890map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Agriculture

    On January 18, 1890, The National Economist published the political viewpoints of the strengthening Farmers' Alliance. The article indicated that Alliance leaders remained skeptical of the political system and its ability to represent all parts of the population (especially farmers). In response to the closed two party system of the time, the Alliance strove to create a third movement in accord...

  16. Going North for Education: Nothing Exceptional
    date May 17, 1890map COLBERT, Alabamatags Health/Death, Education, Politics, Migration/Transportation, Women

    Was the cat out of the bag? Would the Chicago news reach her parents back home in Tuscumbia before she made it home to tell them in person? On May 17, 1890, the Chicago Tribune ran a special on the miraculous case of Helen Keller; a blind, deaf and dumb child from Alabama. Keller's wealthy parents had sent her up north to a special institution for the blind. According to the article, Keller's...

  17. Anti-African-American Sentiments Spur State Pursuit of Segregation Laws
    date January 11, 1890map PULASKI, Arkansastags African-Americans, Race-Relations

    Events across the south served to reinforce the southern state legislatures efforts in pursuing segregation and separate coach laws. One such incident happened in Atlanta, Georgia. Three business men A.W. Boggs of Chicago, E.D. Gilmore of Pittsburgh, and P.E. Brady of Tiffin rode the Pullman sleeper train from New Orleans, Louisiana to Atlanta, Georgia. On the ride the lower berths filled, so...

  18. Company Buys Cotton Plantations in Twiggs, Georgia
    date January 9, 1890map TWIGGS, Georgiatags Agriculture, Economy

    On January 9, 1890, Colonel Thomas P. Stovall closed a deal on one of the largest land transactions in the state of Georgia in recent history. His company, the Union Real Estate Trust, purchased 24,000 acres of plantation land used for cotton cultivation located in Twiggs County, Georgia. The land was not being used to its highest potential, which was a significant appeal to the Trust company. Their...

  19. McNeilly Shoots Jenkins in Self-defense
    date January 8, 1890map MECKLENBURG, North Carolinatags Crime/Violence

    On January 8, 1890, an intoxicated H.O. Jenkins approached J.H. McNeilly, an employee of Jenkins's distillery, with a drawn knife. McNeilly had boarded with the Jenkins's family while also working for them, and had fallen in love with Jenkins's seventeen year old daughter. The teenage girl, however, did not have reciprocal feelings for McNeilly and did not appreciate his advances. ...

  20. Georgia Outlaw Escapes from Jail
    date January 5, 1890map HARRIS, Georgiatags Crime/Violence

    Many masked men broke Willie Wallace, the infamous outlaw of Harris County, Georgia, from jail in Hamilton at eight o'clock in the morning. The group of masked men rode quickly into town and disposed of guards on the roads leading to Hamilton. Ten of the masked men remained outside the sheriff's house. The men broke in through the front door of the jail and proceeded to find Wallace's...

  21. The Cigar Industry: Florida's Livelihood
    date January 1, 1890map MONROE, Floridatags Agriculture, Economy

    An 1890 article from the Manatee River Journal clearly noted the importance of the cigar industry in Florida. Following the cigar manufacturers' strike in Key West that same year, Florida was forced to recognize cigars as a major agricultural product. The opportunities that the cigar industry offered, as well as the profits, made cigar factories in Florida as valuable as tobacco...

  22. Opposition to Freedom
    date December 31, 1889map ROANOKE, Virginiatags African-Americans, Government, Politics, Race-Relations, War

    On the last day of 1889, an editor of the Roanoke Daily Times criticized "the relations of the races," which, he avowed, "do not appear to be at all improved by the election of a Republican president." The editor continued, affirming that black people had "become restless and arrogant in a large measure, and ready at any time to enter on the work of bloodshed and murder." ...

  23. Black Prisoners Taken and Killed
    date December 28, 1889map BARNWELL, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations

    Authorities in Barnwell, South Carolina had arrested and jailed a group of black men, accusing them of the murder of a pair of white men in the area. As the eight suspects sat in their jail cells one night in late December 1889, a group of masked men entered and forcefully removed them from the jail. The masked men took the accused and slaughtered each and every one of them. While the law enforcement...

  24. Potentially Fatal Train Wreck near Ivanhoe, Virginia
    date June 14, 1890map WYTHE, Virginiatags Health/Death, Migration/Transportation

    On Saturday, June 14, 1890, a serious accident between a passenger train and material train occurred on the Cripple Creek division of the Norfolk and Western railroad near Ivanhoe, Virginia. The material train ran under orders to meet the passenger train at a switch approximately fourteen miles outside of Ivanhoe. The passenger train apparently ran under no such order and continued toward Ivanhoe....

  25. American Tobacco Company Established
    date January 1, 1890 to December 31, 1890map DURHAM, North Carolinatags Economy

    In the several years preceding 1890, brothers Ben and Buck Duke initiated several reforms of their tobacco manufacturing business. The brothers' company W. Duke and Sons experienced great success after the innovations. Then in response to concern about other manufacturers, in 1890, the Dukes joined four of their tobacco competitors to the form the American Tobacco Company. The American Tobacco...