Did you know?
One hundred years ago today, a clear sign spring had finally sprung, was the discovery — of all things -of a snake. Don’t believe me?
“J.O. Clark captures poisonous snake alive,” read a prominent headline on the front page of the May 12, 1914, edition of the Uniontown Morning Herald.
Mr. Clark’s find was described as a “monster snake” and a “remarkable specimen of the poisonous blowing viper 25 inches long.”
He’d found it while inspecting coal holdings in West Virginia, and he was having the snake, which “lives on live chickens,” shipped to him in Uniontown.
I wouldn’t have paid much attention to that article if it hadn’t been for another article I found that was published the following year. It seems snake sightings had, in those days, become quite the annual grist for front-page news.
“‘Doc'” Odbert ‘Fords’ 15 Miles with 56 Inch Blacksnake Coiled Under Seat,” was a headline on the front page of the Morning Herald on May 18, 1915.
Dr. Obbert had apparently discovered the snake under the seat of his Ford Roadster while he was part of a picnic party in White Rock. According to the article, “Nobody in the party exhibited the proper amount of nerve to dispatch the reptile,” so they ended up driving the 15 miles back to Brownsville with it under a seat cushion.
And the first paragraph of that story explained the importance of publishing “snake stories,” as something of a springtime ritual.
“In these times of bitter competition in newspaper circles, ‘country correspondents’ of metropolitan newspapers are instructed in the spring of each year to keep their ‘eagle eye peeled’ for a snake story that carries with it even a semblance of the truth. So here goes the first snake story of the season ….”
Some people would like to think of snakes as “monsters,” but, that year, there was one man who earned the title — Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm. Eleven days before that blacksnake was found in White Rock, an event took place that shaped world history.
“900 die without warning on the liner Lusitania,” read the headline on the front page of the May 8, 1915, edition of the Morning Herald.
The British luxury liner, thought to be the world’s biggest ship, had been torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat. The final death toll was 1,198 passengers, including 128 Americans. There was immediate worldwide outrage because of the attack.
Uniontown’s newspapers understandably published every aspect of the attack.
“Violent decline in all stocks on Wall Street’ resulted when “Sinking of Lusitania by German Submarine Causes Tremendous Excitement in Financial District.”
“Action of the U.S. still undetermined,” read a headline on the front page of the May 10 edition of the Morning Herald.
It still wasn’t clear if the United States would get involved in the growing hostilities. But there was one thing for certain, The Fayette Title & Trust Company, oddly, had a few choice words for Germany and its leader. On May 13, Fayette Title & Trust Company ran an editorial/ad that left no doubt about its feelings in the matter on that day’s editorial page.
“Kaiser Wilhelm, Monster,” read the headline. “When the Titanic sank, the world stood aghast at the magnitude of the disaster. But that was an accident. The sinking of the Lusitania, however, was the result of a cold blooded, deliberate design to murder, whereby 1300 innocent men, women and children were needlessly hurled into eternity. Kaiser Wilhelm is a monster, the like of whom in high position the world has not seen in a century,” in part said.
Although, after six terse paragraphs, which left no doubt about the company’s repulsion of the German attack, at the bottom of the text, and below the words, “Fayette Title & Trust Company,” were the words, “4 per cent Interest — 100 per cent Safety.”
Of course, there were many other times when local businesses openly engaged letting their feelings be known about world events. The most interesting I’ve found came just days after Germany surrendered near the end of WWII.
“Nazis Quit,” read the massive headline on the front page of the May 8, 1945, edition of the Morning Herald. That front page was covered with the good news that Germany had finally been forced to throw in its hand against allied forces.
That was the front page. There were 103 more pages that day. And many of those pages were full-page spreads with patriotic, congratulatory messages from local businesses.
It was, indeed, a good day for America!