On the seventh day, Dr. Edson said, Let there be light and there was for the blind man John Martin in 1897. Dr. Edson administered X-rays to Martin every day for a week as a treatment for blindness. He based his hypothesis on the improvement patients with atrophied muscles had when they received massages. Dr. Edson believed X-rays would accomplish the same for an atrophied optic nerve. Before the...
For the first time, William Cabell voted Republican and broke his loyalty to the
Democrats. 1896 was a major year for presidential elections, and silver was the major
political issue of the election year. At the time there were three political parties:
Republicans, Democrats, and Populists. In a letter to his wife, William D. Cabell wrote
about a conversation he had...
On January 7, 1897 the Rockbridge County News released its weekly edition in the town of Lexington. One specific article presented the news of a new tariff bill to be passed by the United States House of Representatives. This bill was designed to protect young American manufacturers and the economy from competing foreign markets. The article also gave insight into the fact that many...
1897 was an important year for the educational system of Maryland, and subsequently, the South as a whole. Mayor Hooper of Baltimore, Maryland was becoming upset with the members of the school board. He strongly felt that the board of school commissioners were becoming too political in their decisions and straying from the board's intent to deliver the best quality of education to all public...
During the late nineteenth century, urbanization prompted mass migrations of
southerners to cities. This caused crowding within the cities and soon sanitation became
an issue. Despite the problems, it was not until the last two decades of the 1800's that
cities started addressing this problem. However, once it started in one city, others started
following suit....
"We will be unable to give our children any remnant of our patrimony unless the whole oyster industry is restored without delay." William K. Brooks wrote these words in 1891, fifty-six years and 400,000,000 bushels of oysters after the beginning of commercial oyster revolution. The natural beds of the Chesapeake were being depleted so rapidly that Brooks predicted a complete extinction of "a free...
The streets of Richmond were no place to be at night.Chastain Riggins found this out the hard way as he was attacked while returning to his home on New Year's Eve 1896.At approximately 10:30 at night, Mr, Riggins was attacked by a large black man.The man grabbed Mr. Riggins by the neck and attempted to take his watch with his free hand.Mr. Riggins fought the man for a period of time until a...
On the last day of February 1897, according to The State, John Yochum was shot and killed by a coworker from the Richland mill, Bryce McComb. When McComb, a young man not yet of age, approached Yochum, a man of 53, to reprimand him for his treatment of another worker, Owens, the elder retaliated with violence. Owens had approached a group of his coworkers asking them if they would have...
The bloomer was booming in Alabama. Passing by a young lady on the street one fine afternoon, an elderly Alabama politician caught an eyeful. Was she wearing an article of male clothing? The Greeneville Advocate documented the growing women's fashion trend with a sense of urgency: THE BLOOMER IN ALABAMA. The article informed the readership of the so-called Alabama Bill in the December...
The black man would have hope on this Tuesday evening.On November 17, 1896, Booker T. Washington addressed a large crowd of people at First Baptist Church in Richmond.The event was covered by the Virginia Planet, an African American newspaper based in Richmond.The subject of the speech given by Mr. Washington centered around industrial force.According to the Planet, the event attracted the largest...