The Washington critic., 1886-03-26
WASHINGTON CRITIC
WASHINGTON. MARCH 90. 1885.
An oLD-T,ME NEWSPAPER.


Excerpts From the Baltimore "sun"
of Fifty Years Ago.
Mr.. VIM. II. Alvatcr of this city,
prominent contractor and builder,
while tearing down an old frame build
ing not long ago, on the corner OF
Ninth street and Boundary, chanced to
find copy Of the Baltimore Sun of
Wednesday, August 30, 1887, which
he presented to Captain w. Gibson, a
representative Of TIE Critic. 1t is a
small four.pagc sheet and then, as now,
well filed with advertisements. The
terms of subscription were six cents n
week, payable to the carrier at the end
of the week. The first page Is taken up
by an advertisement of patent pills, a
gruesome story about "The Murdered
Warrior" and few small scraps. 1t
was noted that the Lexington IntelH.
geRcor would not be surprised IL Mr..
Clayton, who proposed to make bal.
loon ascension from Philadelphia,
should land on the Atlantic coast or be
found towing the Pennsylvania to sea
with graphing iron attached to the
nose Of her figure. head A correspon
dent wanted his landlady to take notice
Of the fact that sprinkling the bed
clothes with a decoction of tobacco was
n sure "cure" for bedbugs. There is
paragraph which the considcratc editor
headed as "An Anccdote" so that the
reader might know what 1t was after
perusing It, There was one editorial
in the paper and 1t treated of the
speech of Queen Victoria, who had
been crowned but short time before.
The editor said that young Victoria
was very sensible and gave promise of
n reign of reform and prosperity. She
would devote herself to the welfare of
her people and undertake no vain
glorious wars abroad. He was not
very good prophet it will be seen, but
the Queen has not had her own way in
all things. Following the editorial
were items Of local interest. One of
them said that "some villains" had
forcibly entered and robbed Mrs.
Kinks dwelling at an early hour the
morning before. The diorama man
was also abroad and among his mag
nifcent paintings were such cheerful
subjects as Death on Pale Horse"
"The Destruction of Jerusalem" and
"Belshazzar's Feast" The Sun had
heard from New York, at which port
three vessels had arrived from London
on the 2Sth of July. They brought
first drawing room on the Goth of July
at st. James Palace. There were a
great many more present than at any
drawing-room for many years. All
wore mourning, which the Sun
thought must have made "a rather Gu
rious scene" The people of
Munich had been surprised at
seeing men ON the roofs of the
highest houses in the city stretching
wires. The wires were intended to
exemplify project of Professor Stein.
he'll for the conveyance of intelligence
by means of electric magnetism. 1t was
stated that by Professor Steinheil's pro-
| ject ii might be possible to convey in
| telligence from Lisbon to st. Peters
burg in two seconds. There were of
course reports Of conspiracies in Spain
and France. The Carlists were the
cause of Spanish and the eXiled fam
| lily the cause of the French uneasiness.
The cholera was raging in Naples and
Palermo, the deaths averaging from
500 to 1000 daily. The Sun quotes
from its esteemed contemporary, the
Americaa, statement made at st.
Johns, that one thousand persons lost
their lives by the recent hurricane
among the different islands. 1t
was announced that r. M. Johnson,
Vice. President of the United States,
had arrived at Washington, and that
was all the news from the National
Capital that the Su,, had on the Both OF
August, 1887. Flour was said to be
coming down." it having been sold ir
Boston within a week at six dollars 6
barrel. The Sun in those days had {
funny man, too, one of whose exploits
reads as follows: "a man was seer
taking his geese home the other day
He was literally driving the quill"
Times have changed considerably il
fifty years. The Sun "do move"
|