Louisiana Incident - Newspaper Clippings

The **newspaper clippings** comprise the second section of the *Louisiana Incident* book. They are divided below into the locales identified in the handwriting on each clipping.

## Transcription

### Massachusetts

A queer game has been being played in Holyoke, MA, by the name of Mintonette, featuring knocking a ball back and forth over a net. Seeing the invention of the so called "basket ball" not four years before in Princeton, one can only wonder how many odd ball games will emerge from this region in the coming century.

### Washington

President Cleveland was heard making the following remark in regard to the Venezuelan Boundary Controversy: *"Gold beneath controversial soil does not always hasten the resolution of uncertain or disputed boundary-lines. Mysteriously, sometimes they even move."*

### El Paso

The trial of John Selman for the murder of notorious outlaw John Wesley Hardin is ongoing. New testimony was brought forward today asserting that Selman committed multiple rapes during the Lincoln County War. We, at the Gazette, could not comment on the defendants clear guilt.

### Latrobe

The first professional game of so-called 'American Football' was played here two weeks ago, between the Latrobe YMCA and Jeanette Athletic Club (Latrobe won 12-0). Could this be the birth of a new American past time?

### New Orleans

A new bout of Yellow Fever has claimed the lives of 100 citizens over the last several months, and shows no sign of slowing down. This could mark the first outbreak in the city since the devastation of 1878, and is another sorry chapter for the history of a city which has already suffered.

### Chicago

The recent Labor Day celebrations were confirmed to be the largest in the country. This being the holidays first anniversary since its nationwide adoption, in light of the Pullman Strike.

### Atlanta

Booker T. Washington delivered a notable speech today, announcing the compromise that blacks will receive basic education and due process, while the whites will continue their rule of the southern whites, thereby ending decades of agitation in the tiresome pursuit of equality.

## Notes

* Mintonette was the original name for volleyball, invented in Holyoke on February 9, 1895.
* The Venezuelan Boundary Controversy was known as the Venezuelan crisis of 1895.
* John Selman was an outlaw/lawman who killed well-known outlaw John Wesley Hardin in the summer of 1895. Though he and his men were accused of rape during the Lincoln County War, no charges were ever brought against them.
* There is some debate as to the first "official" game of American Football, according to the early history of the sport. However, a game did take place between the Latrobe Athletic Association and Jeannette Athletic Club on September 3rd, 1895.
* The year of the newest bout of Yellow Fever mentioned in the New Orleans clipping is hard to pin down, but judging from the other clippings, likely 1895. New Orleans actually had Yellow Fever almost every year, with the highest fatalities occurring in 1853 (almost 8,000 killed).
* The 2nd national Labor Day following the 1894 Pullman Strike was on September 2nd, 1895.
* Booker T. Washington's speech was known as the Atlanta compromise, which he delivered in September 18th, 1895.