Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-05-10
Some Queer Statistical Facts Pointed
Out by the Compiler.

Some queer Statistical Eacss EOInte0
Out by the Compiler.
For variety of information it is hard
to find anything that can beat an al
manac, says the New York Press. One
popular little pamphlet of that descrip-
ton that is just now circulating among
New York drug stores illustrates the
wide sympathieS of the man who ar
ranges the table of events.
Like most persons engaged in statis-
teal tasks, that particular compiler
had strong leaning toward mortuary
records. Out of all the Gays of the
year 122 are marked by the death of
some prominent person. According to
the almanac those ulnfortunates met
their doom in almost every way known
to the modern health bureau. Aside
from those who yielded up the ghost
in a natural way, three of them ''suicid
ed" four were hanged, two were gull
Iotined, three were ''asSaSSinated," one
was murdered" two were shot, dough
ty old Capt. Kidd was executed"
while one man just passed out of ex-
lSleuce ny getting lOSt
After the obituary notices births are
next in Importance, although in the
opinion of the almanac man the replen-
fishing of the earth is a trivial matter
compared with its depopulation. At
any rate, only thirty-nine days are i'm
pressed upon the mind as natal ami
versarieS.
As for marriages, they scarcely count
at all. OF all the people who have en-
tered into the state of matrimOny since
the beginning of the Christian era only
three of them made sufficient ado about
the matter to get into the almanac.
They are Anne Boleyn, Napoleon Bona
parte and Charles Stewart Parnell.
The great battles of the world re-
ceiye discriminating attention from the
almanac historiographer, as do fires,
famous speeches, the browning of SOW
ereign heads and industrial strikes Re-
markable trials also receive fiattering
notice, the latest judicial drama being
| the case of Nan Patterson, who has
gone down in almanac history along
| parchment of Warren Hastings
In the almanac OF 1906 education
and religion receive their due, the for
mer in notice of the publication of
JohnsOn's dictionary, the latter in the
revision of the Presbyterian creed. AS
to the relative value of the stage and
the pulpit, the almanac writer evident
! ly has pronounced opinions. In his ar
gument the drama gets the best of it,
at the odds of two to one, for he de-
votes eight pages to theatrical celebri-
ties and only four to pulpit orators
Lovers of sports will find something
to tickle their vanity in the record of
the Paris automobile race of 1903, the
! Corbett- JeffrieS prize light, and the
achievements of the Boston baseball
| team which won the pennant in 1897.
Unfortunately, the almanac scribe is
| doomed to anonymity, but it is safe
! to say that he halls from Ohio. At
any rate, that is the only State whose
| admission into the Union is considered
! worthy of comment.
Among detached persons and events
that help make the lowly almanac a
book of pleasure and instruction
should be mentioned the baccarat scan
dial, the destruction of the Charter Oak,
the invasion of New York by Alex
ander Dowie, the attack on Russell
Sage reception" to Nine. Blavatsky,
the conviction of Sam Parks and the
death of Nero, which, by the way, is
the earliest date recorded in the whole
chronological table.