Evening star., 1946-08-18
Fifty Years Ago
Quoting the Record, The Star on Au-
gust 7, 1896, announced that: The last

~dotAih tiic lIcCUiu, 1Ue SLdE on Au-
gust T. 1896, announced that The last
of the four gigantic
City Holl bronze eagles that will
Ornaments perch on the top of the
City Hall tower" in
Philadelphia 'for ages to come will be
hoisted up to It's dizzy position before
the week closes. Including the big figure
OF William Penn, which weighs $4,000
pounds, the entire weight of all the
bronze statues and groups on the tower
is 10000 pounds. This weight is three
times in excess OF the amount that it
was estimated the tower would have to
carry, and the cost of the figures was
underestimated by $3.50 900. The height
Of the tower had to be increased 20 feet
to accommodate them, which entailed
an additional cost of S45 5000. However.
now that the immense and costly shaft
Is near completion, it is believed to be
good for a life Of 1000 years, at least"
The tower in 1916, according to this
estimate, has approximately nine and
half centuries to go.
+
Atlantic City half century ago was
safe to visit, according to M. E. c., au-
thor of "a Woman's
Seaside Resort View" published In
Not Deproved The Star on August
8, 1896. mo one,"
she declared. "can be hurt morally, So
cially, sanitarily or intellectually by q
sojourn here. = : = The summer girls who
flock to this shore appear to be quite as
decorous and circumspect as their more
aff1uent sisters of the 400 who inhale the
artstocratic atmosphere at Newport,
some of whom, If we can put any faith
in press illustrations, wore circus rigs
on their wheels last summer. Nothing
of the kind is seen here. So far I have
discovered nothing risque in bathing at
tire. Very few stunning or extravagant
costumes are seen. OF course, the
females who dress for the beach onlv.
and they are not few, get all of the
exhibition and dubious admiration for
which they bid Meanwhile, the Saliva
ton Army staged "a cornet-and- banjo
entertainment near the pier" for a
larger public.
Traffic crashes were common in
grandpa's youth. Such q disaster was
one in Pennsylvania in
Trolley Car which seven persons
Accident were killed and so in
jured when trolley car
on the Columbia & Donegal Railway
ran away. The Star for August TO- 1896,
reported: "The car was returning to Co.
lumbia from Chickies Park, when the
brake rigging broke while descending a
steep grade. There were about 80 pas
sengerS aboard who became panic
stricken when they saw the car was
beyond control. The hill was a long one
and every moment the runaway gath
cred additional speed, until it is esti-
mated by those on board that it was
running fully mile minute when it
struck sharp curve and left the track.
1t ran across the turnpike running
parallel with the trolley road and struck
against tree and then toppled over
into deep ditch, being turned upside
down. - = To add to the horror of the
situation, there was no light of any
kind until some time after the wreck"
William Jennings Bryan, Democratic
candidate for the presidency, on Au-
gust II, 1896, passed
Mr. Bryon through Pittsburgh on
SpeechIess his way to New York
to be notified officially
of his nomination. The Star of that
date said that "the boy orator" appeared
his voice had failed him. "Mr. Bryan
has done what he has been frequently
warned by Mrs Bryan he would do
that is, he has talked himself hoarse.
This morning he was practically
forced to restrain his inclinations to-
ward volubility and enter upon system
Of vocal culture" His friends feared
that "if he does not mend his voice be-
fore Wednesday night it will materially
affect the. force of his anticipated
speech at Madison Square Garden
Meanwhile, Mrs. Bryan. during the stop
over in Pittsburgh, suffered the loss of
the engagement ring which her husband
had given her when he won her in 1884
\
The Star of August IL, 1896, chron-
icled the passing of George H. Miller,
first assistant to
Death of Copitol the Architect of
Architect the Capitol from
1852 onward. A ma
miner in California in the days of the
gold rush, he was regarded as "an expert
in all lines Of architectural engineering"
and had charge of much important and
responsible work" He built the great