In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...
The South Carolina legislature passed a new and improved lien law on March 1, 1878, to help farmers get credit in order to plant. This law and the benefits it brought helped the agricultural sector of South Carolina's economy to survive following the havoc of previous years. Also the lien law boosted Gov. Wade Hampton's popularity with voters even higher during a reelection year campaign...
Communicating with the General Assembly, Governor Holliday of Virginia spoke about the dismal financial situation of the Old Dominion. According to The Washington Post he declared “he could find no excuse for the denial of the debt' and that the state was “bound morally and legally to pay this debt.' In response to calls for a constitutional convention to solve remedy the situation,...
In February 1878, delegates of leaders in the medical profession from all over the South met in Jacksonville, Florida for a convention about yellow fever. Yellow fever is a viral disease carried by mosquitoes and affected the South from time to time in the nineteenth century. The convention's purpose was to “consider the matter of a uniform system of quarantine, and to take steps to prevent...
A murder of some black men was regarded by many as the work of the Klu Klux Klan in Shelbyville, Kentucky. According to the Daily Dispatch, “masked men set fire to the cabin of some negroes, compelling the inmates to come out and call aloud their names;.and as he uttered his name they literally riddled his body with buckshot.' Reaction to this event and other like it stirred varied reactions...
A male Virginian delegate spoke at a Women's Suffrage Convention on January 9, 1878. According to the Daily Dispatch, he made the well applauded comment that “those engaged in the women's movement were the advanced guard of civilization.' Also according the newspaper he spoke about a broad range of subjects that was long and rather boring to the audience. However, this does not...
In New Orleans, the beginning of 1878 saw a tumultuous case played out in the press about the returning board of elections scandal. The charges were that the board had committed some foul voting practices during the 1876 election of President Rutherford Hayes. Louisiana was in sad situation politically at that time due to the end of Reconstruction and a deplorable financial state, and charges of...
Unrestrained Florida landscapes surround the large, white plantation home on Fort George Island, now called “The Princess House.” Echoes of past voices in celebration, in labour, and in daily life resound through the hollow rooms, the large covered porch, and the plantation grounds. Once home to an African princess, wed to a Spanish plantation owner, the home stands as a piece of living African...
“We have paid an insane tax to the government says the North and East. We of the West and the South have complained true, but not unreasonably, our burdens are heavier than we can bear, heavier than we ought to bear, or than we will bear.” The northern and southern parts of the state debated tax policy during an 1878 session of the state legislature in Raleigh, North Carolina. Both sides...
The evening of February 11, 1878, many concerned citizens of Petersburg, Virginia met to discuss the future of the Petersburg Railroad. The main issue at hand was whether the city would control it or not. Citizens were fiercely divided on this issue and the meeting of February 11 was to oppose city control of the railroad. Discussion was lively and detailed about the issues merits.<br />Concern...