NW Okie's Corner

The photo to the left is a picture of two football players with the following info on the backside: "Pillow Top, manufactured by The Harry M. Muller Co., Mfgs of Photo Pillow Tops, 411-413 Montrose Ave., Chicago, Ill." It also states, "Stick on back of photo, Size - 18x18; color - blue; copies - 1; Agents Name - Phillips; ship by mail; town & state - San Francisco, Cal.; remarks - Zenobia satin. The football has "Pug Ugly Twins" written on it. Is the writing on the backside of photo, at the bottom "(either 104 or P04) Kanis 148 CO?" What is the symbol on the shirt of the player on the left?

I do not know the year the photo was taken and do not know the names of the two football players. Maybe … Someone out there doing genealogy & family research has seen this photo before and can help us identify the people and the date of the photograph. Thanks!

Here it is … The crispness of a Rocky Mountain Fall is upon us! We have had reports to expect a freeze report here in SW Colorado moving into Tuesday. That Montana cold front is moving into our area. I love the cool, crispness of the Fall! AND … It means it is that time of year to bring in my tender houseplants and disengage my outdoor waterfall feature, huh?

Perhaps many of our readers the last couple of weeks have had a slow turn at loading the "OkieLegacy eZine." I am here to tell you that it "ain't" your computer. It had/has something to do with the our server and the loading of the ASP pages. We are working to see what we need to do! Thanks for the following letting us know their problems with loading the OkieLegacy eZine/Tabloid!

John says, "For so many years we here in our home in Oregon have been eager and wait for our Okie Journal. However, this time it came it came in and would not allow us to open and read it. Tech looked at my computer and found nothing wrong at this end. Please send it again so we can see if it will open."

James says, "Hi Linda, Has anyone reported NOT being able to load the OkieLegacy?

"I click on either link and get the message, "Loading … message with the spinning wheel." However, nothing happens with either link, tabloid or ezine. I am using a Mac PowerBook G4 and Mail/Safari. Just a question to see if it is me or is a bigger problem."

Have a cool, crisp Fall break in your neck of the woods!
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This week's letters from John C. McClure brings us into January 4th, 8th & 23rd, 1906 with three letters from John. John is still doing accounting at the First National Bank, in Alva, Oklahoma Territory and Constance is teaching in one room rural school. John's father and sister were in Oklahoma Territory in the Capron, Oklahoma area visiting, but John had not had time to visit with them because accounting work at the bank was keeping him busy.

In John's second letter he mentions it being to cold to take in a show in Alva. That brought to mind the Old Opera House open shows on Barnes Avenue, in Alva, that were held shows outside in the open air.

Do you remember ... the Old Opera House murder of 1910 ... where Mable Oakes was found dead and allegedly murder in the back dressing room.

January 4, 1906 -- "Alva, O.T., Jan. 3, 1906, Miss Constance Warwick, Dear Connie, I really do not know what to say to you, because I think you deserve something nicer than I have power to say. I rec'd your most elegant present, and considering the terms we were supposed to be on. I appreciate it all the more. I wrote you a letter two or three weeks ago, asking you if I I wish you would tell me just exactly what you think of me. I have been working hard for this is the first of the month. Your friend, Jno McClure."

January 8, 1906 -- This second letter is type written on First National Bank stationery and begins, "January 8th, 1906, Miss Constance Warwick, Alva, Okla., R.F.D. #1 (?). Dear Friend:

"This is to inform you that I landed here last night right side up, and while I feel as good as new I realize that I will never look like anything again. Knowing the disposition of women as I do I know you will be worried about me until you hear that I am not frozen to death, so I feel that it is my Christian duty to let you know I am O.K. Do you see?

"Well, I suppose you have been teaching the young minds how to shoot today. It was not as cold for you as you anticipated was it?

"Say, there is a show in town tonight and if it was not so pesky cold I would come out and get you (or try it) and we would go. I do not mind to go out in the cold to go to religious services, but when it comes to show - well that is altogether different. Did you notice Mr. Hughes remark Sunday night that when young people would come out at night like last Sunday night it showed that they were in earnest?

"Well he said it any way whether you heard him or not. I guess I was in earnest myself but as to you it is rather doubtful. But you do not want to forget what the Brother said about home being as good as any place, and should you feel a change taking place for the better you may know what it means.

"I expect you will think I am about out of employment when you get this letter, but that is not the case. I have more accounting to do here than I will get done all of this next week, but this separation is, it seems, so unbearable that I just must write and relieve my mind.

"I desire to thank you for those peanuts you left in my pocket last night. They were sure good. I got about half way home and 'thinks I to myself,' I'll get those peanuts out and eat them and I ran my hand down in my pocket and lo and behold there was nothing to it. I did not know we had eaten them all. I think you got the most of them.

"Well, how is your curiosity (the second U is silent so sayeth Webster) getting along today? You said last night that it had reached the limit so I feel sure you are no worse.

"I expect I had better call this off for in case you do not condescend to write me anything I will not feel as bad as if I had prepared a flowery letter and sent you so I will proceed to 'ring off.'

"Hoping to hear from you just as soon as possible so I can get in another letter this week, I am… Say, I have not got room to sign my name on this sheet so I will have to write some more."

January 23, 1906 -- The third letter of January, 1906 begins, "Jan. 23, 1906, Alva, O.T., Miss Constance Warwick, Dear Connie,

"I have been reading all your letters with the greatest of pleasure. Now, Connie, why don't you tell me what in the world is the matter. I have written several letters but have never heard from you. I don't know whether you have got the letters or not. I would have come out to see you, but I did not want to get hurt.

"Of course, I am not getting any more than I deserve, but please write me a letter.

"My father is here from Illinois. So is my sister, but I have not seen her yet. Now please pretty please write me a letter. Jno McClure."

Also in the same envelope with the January 23rd, 1906 letter was the following one page note written in a different handwriting which was slanted to the left. John's penmanship was slanted to the right. I am presuming that this one page note was written by Constance. read below:

"You wanted to know what was the matter. Now really and truly, don't you know?

"I came to the conclusion some time ago that my letters were unwelcome guests and your hand, and as I would rather be led to the stake a true girl. Then throw my self in a gentleman's way. As I have seen some girls do.

"Therefore I thought you would hear from me no more. Alas! When I received that precious note of the 23th, the temptation was too great. So I have made a feeble attempt at answering.

"There are a great many things I might say, but as letter writing is a mere mockery, I will not attempt to say any more this time. Sincerely."

There was no signature accompanying this second page note. I am only presuming that it was written by Constance.
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Origin of Paris Family Name

Paris is an ancient Anglo-Saxon surname that came from the Saxon tribe called Parisii who originally lived beside the Humber river in Lincolnshire.

The Paris surname has been recorded under many different variations, including Paris, Parish, Parris, Parrish, Pares and others. First found in Lincolnshire where they were seated from early times and their first records appeared on the census rolls taken by the ancient Kings of Britain to determine the rate of taxation of their subjects.

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that shrouded England made the far away New World an attractive prospect. On cramped disease-ridden ships, thousands migrated to those British colonies that would eventually become Canada and the United States.

Those hardy settlers that survived the journey often went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Analysis of immigration records indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the name Paris or a variant listed above: Thomas Parris, who settled in Virginia in 1623; Edward and Eleanor Parish, who settled in Virginia in 1635; Thomas Parris, who came to Massachusetts in 1635.

Origin of the Name Parisii

The name Paris derives from that of its inhabitants, the Gaulish tribe known as the Parisii which comes from the Celtic Gallic word parisio meaning "the working people" or "the craftsmen." Names similar to Paris are: Pariss, Parrish, Baris. The original bearer of the name Paris, which is a local surname, once lived, held land, or was born in the beautiful region of Lorraine. In France, hereditary surnames were adopted according to fairly general rules and during the late Middle Ages, names that were derived from localities became increasingly widespread. Local names originally denoted the proprietorship of the village or estate.

The Paris family originally lived at the town of Paresse or Parez, in the Lorraine. Although one would at first assume that the name is derived from the city of Paris, evidence suggests that the names of both the town in the Lorraine and the French capital are derived from a Gaulish tribe called the Parisii.

First found in Lorraine where this distinguished family were seated at Paresse or Parez in that province, and were important members of the aristocracy. The main stem of the family became the Barons of Dagonville, Comtes de Sanpigny, and the Marquis de Bruney in 1730.

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: Edward Paris who settled in the Barbados in 1679 with his wife Elisabeth; Isaac Paris arrived in Philadelphia in 1751 with his wife Rachel, and sons Pierre, Isaac, Jean-Martin and Daniel.

Possible Sources of Paris

It was recorded as Paris, Parrish, and Parish, there were at least three possible sources for this early medieval surname. * First … is that it is locational, and as such describes either somebody from the French capital of Paris, itself a derivation from the Gaulish tribe of the "Parisii." It maybe English from one of the villages called Paris.

* Second … possible origin is that it may derive from the rare medieval given name Paris, which could be associated with the Trojan prince of the same name. This is ancient enough, but it has been traced to an original Ulyrian personal name "Voltuparis" meaning "hawk."

* Third … it may derive from the pre medieval word "parysche", the modern parish, and describe a religious division. Early examples of recordings include: Willemus de Parysch in the Poll Tax rolls for Yorkshire in the year 1379, and the christening of Winnifride Parrish on October 1st 1602, at the Holy Trinity in the Minories.

In the earliest registers of the New England colonies, Thomas Parrish was recorded as living in "Elizabeth Cittie, Virginiea", on February 16th 1623. Perhaps the earliest recording of the surname is that of Lotyn de Paris of the county of Lincolnshire. He appears in the Hundred Rolls for the year 1273. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation.

In England this was usually known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

European Origin of the Paris Name

According to family histories in general the name of Parish evolved from two main distinct origins. In other words, there are at least two families branches, unrelated, namely:

Of French extraction or from Paris - evolved from "de Paris", (of Paris) from the city of Paris, as a Norman French name, originally "de Paris" which translates from French into English as "of Paris", and eventually became Parish, Parys, etc. One Englishman, Matthew Paris, the English chronicler of the early part of the thirteenth century, acquired his name from his study at the University of Paris. Paris sometimes added an h to his name to make it Parish or Parrish.

Of a locality or church parish - Parish or Parrish as a name taken from locality or even a church parish. A name local in origin, persons from this branch are not necessarily French in origin as the lines which derived from Paris above. Also in the 17th and 18th centuries, the surname was occasionally bestowed on foundlings brought up at the expense of the parish ... the young person who was an orphan of the church - in the days before welfare and state aid, an orphan with no surname may have picked up the last name of Parish as being "of the Parish."

A third, less common origin of the name comes from the rare medieval given name Paris, probably a form of Patrick, but associated with the name of the Trojan prince, Paris, which has been speculatively traced to an original Illyrian form Voltuparis or Assparis "Hawk."
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Remembering September 1943

What were you/your ancestors doing around the 12th of September 1943? NW Okie was not born yet. Not even a twinkle in my parents eye, but my older sister Dorthy was 12 days old!

WWII had been unraveling for a few years and my Uncle Bob McGill was off being trained at Kentucky University and other military camps across the USA before he was finally shipped out, November or December, 1944 -- Bob's Timeline of WWII .

Here are some 1943 history tidbits from the September 1943 edition of our local Northwest Oklahoma newspaper, The Alva Review Courier. It was found amongst my grandmother's stored treasures and memories of yesteryear.

If someone out there reading this has any other memories or treasures to interject here, please send them along for us using the "HELP! NW Okie" email link in this newsletter below. It doesn't have to be about Oklahoma! Thanks!

I'm going to jump through some of the pages and start with pg. 1, section C, Vol. XLIV, "1943 Alva Review-Courier". There was a short paragraph concerning the first school taught in the Cherokee Strip and it reads as follows, "J. W. Buckles, a young man from Harper, Kans., began a subscription school October 6, 1903, in a little building on a residential corner in Alva. This was believed to be the first school taught in the Cherokee Strip."

Does anyone out there know where this building in the residential corner of Alva stood?

Going to section B, front page, of that same newspaper, as you scroll down the page you run across an article about the first election of 1894, "The first election to vote bonds for waterworks in Alva was called June 14, 1894, was held on July 6, and for the sum of $13,000. However, the bonds were cancelled before any work was done."

On that same page, at the lower righthand corner, the small headlines reads, "Hollywood's Best Brought to Alva By Three Theaters." Homer Jones was the manager of the Jones Amusement company and a native of Texas. He entered the show business at Atoka, Okla., in 1919. In 1923 he sold his interests at Atoka and entered the theater field at Kingfisher, coming to Alva in 1929. After a short time Mr. Jones bought the interest of the Momand Enterprises, co-owners of the theater businesses here at that time.

"In July, 1923, Mr Jones built and constructed the Ritz theater which opened November 19, 1933. In the spring of 1936 he built and constructed the Ranger theater which opened December 6, 1936. The Ranger was named after the football and basketball teams at Northwestern State College."

Today Homer's son, Johnny Jones, still operates the Rialto Theater on the north side of the square. The Ritz and the Ranger Theater no longer exist as theaters, but the buildings remain. They have seen many changes since they closed their doors. Alva is down to one theater with multiple screens today.

Continuing on in the 1943 newspaper and on the same section is an article about Essie (McKitrick) Nall that my grandmother (Constance Warwick McGill) went to Northwestern Normal School with and continued their friendship as long as they lived.

The article headlines read, "Mrs. Nall long active in NW Alumni Group."

It goes on to say, "A long-time member of the Northwestern Alumni association and one of its most enthusiastic workers is Mrs. Essie (McKitrick) Nall. Mrs. Nall enrolled at the college on the day it opened, in 1898, and attended her first classes in the Congregational church before any college buildings were erected. Twice president of the Alumni association -- In 1933 and 1934 -- she is its secretary at the present time (1943). Mrs. Nall plans some day to write a history of the college."

Did Essie (McKitrick) Nall ever write a history of the College? Has anyone out there run across this history?

I would love to know more. Meanwhile, here is a picture of Essie Nall that appeared 12 September 1943 newspaper with the article. Also, I found a group picture of Essie (McKitrick) Nall (left), Grace Brooks (center), & Constance Warwick (right) that was taken in the early1900s. Notice the hats the three ladies are wearing.

As we briefly scan through section D, frontpage of the newspaper, you can't help but read about the McClure Insurance & Loan Agency and how it started in 1919 at Capron, Oklahoma.

It catches my eye, because Uncle Alvin Paris is mentioned a few lines into the article. The article tells that George McClure (graduate of Northwestern State College, 1917) moved to Alva from Capron in 1937. The McClure Loans and Insurance Agency got its start in Capron in 1919, after which Mr. McClure moved to Alva and located in the Bell Hotel building. The Bell Hotel still stands today at 5th & Barnes in downtown Alva. the only residents, the pigeons, that used to occupy the upper floors have been kicked out due to remodeling being done today by the Ryerson family.

Anyway ... McClure took Alvin Paris (My uncle, one of my mother's older brothers) as a partner in the company. During 1943 the McClure Insurance company was located at 509 College Avenue. Mr. McClure was well known in Alva, having played basketball at the college, playing in all of the states west of the Mississippi and five east of the Mississippi. He had been a representative for the Hartford Fire Insurance Company for twenty-four years. During 1943, Miss Betty Ratzlaff was the stenographer for the company, coming to Alva from Ringwood, Oklahoma, in May of 1943.

At the present time McClure Insurance is still in business and operated by the McClure descendants. It is located up on the southside of hwy. 64 (Oklahoma Blvd), just west of Logan street and east of Noble Street.

Let us flip the pages back to section B, pg. 4, for a few minutes and read about the first elections and sheriff of the County.

The first election was held 13 years before statehood (1894). H. Clay McGrath was one of the first to reach Alva on September 16, 1893, and in 1894 was elected the first sheriff of this county. Two years later he was elected to his second term in that county office. McGrath was one of the first Alvans to offer land to be used by the Normal School.

During that first election some of the elected officials were:
* James P. Renfrew, treasurer 1894;
* Fred Hardy, registrar of deeds;
* J. P. Gandy, first territorial councilman, 1894 and 1898;
* Joseph Porter, county attorney;
* James Walker, probate Judge;
* W. S. Ross, county clerk;
* W. E. Oxley, county superintendent;
* J. H. Gilmore, county surveyor;
* A. E. Frazier, coroner; and
* J. W. Lappin, J. J. Bishop & A W. Stone, county commissioners.

* L. D. Williams was the 1st trustee of Alva township, appointed in 1894 by the county commissioners and at the first election of town trustees on May 7, 1894. He was also chairman and first mayor of Alva and re-elected in 1895.

* Other important founding fathers at the time were: J. D. Scott, John C. Roberts, S. B. Share and William Whitworth, trustees; L. H. Bougham, Jr., clerk; E. Rall, treasurer; J. D. Carwile, justice of peace; W. H. Dunkin, assessor; and Fred B. Jones, marshal.
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1943 - Northwestern Normal & Sabin C. Percefull

Young in Years, Percefull has long record at Northwestern - Sabin C. Percefull is counted one of the old-timers around Northwestern State College, having been connected with the college since before the outbreak of WWI.

In 1915 Percefull came to Northwestern to teach physics and chemistry, spending two years as a faculty member before the US entry into the war. He entered the army and served in the chemical warfare division for two years. After the war he returned to Alva and taught economics before succeeding to the deanship.

In 1923 he became dean of faculty, and in the summer of 1928 served as acting president, a position he held again from April, 1935 to February, 1936.

In 1938-39 he took a leave of absence for study at Iowa state university and at the end of the leave was appointed president of Northwestern Oklahoma Junior college at Miami.

On January 1, 1943, Percefull returned to Northwestern as president, succeeding Chester O. Newlun, who became president of the Wisconsin State Teachers college at Platteville, Wisconsin.
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The Western Normal College - by The Pilgrim Bard

The Pilgrim Bard, O. Scott Cummin, was living at Winchester, Oklahoma Territory. He wrote and dedicated the following musing May 12, 1903, page 39, Pilgrim Bard's poem about Northwestern Normal School - "The Western Normal College"

"Look ye! Once that hill was bare, sunset rested on a prairie; short the space since buffalo o'er the spot grazed to and fro; has Alladin's lamp and fairy caused the change so wondrous there? Look ye! Once upon that hill stood the roving red man's tepee; There at pow-wow and at dance roasted dog was served per chance; squaws and bucks, in blankets creepy, sought repose when all was still. Gone, the shaggy bison wild -- Gone poor "Lo," his business busted; far away the gray wolf's yell of the past the funeral knell; farmers, with the east disgusted, claim the place of nature's child. Look ye! Towering o'er yon slope stands a monument of knowledge; thing of beauty, massive, grand, builded by skilled workman's hand -- Alva's Western Normal College, nucleus of our country's hope."
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2009 - 116th Anniversary Cherokee Strip Celebration

Roy in Perry, Oklahoma says, "Yesterday (Tuesday, September 15, 2009) saw the opening of the Noble County Fair and the beginning of our celebration of the 116th anniversary of the Cherokee Strip Land-run.

It was also the day of the 25th annual FREE barbecue served by the Exchange Bank of Perry, which took place in their Drive-thru area with a fantastic meal catered by Sooners Corner Restaurant and with continuous music provided by The Country Travelers western swing band. This event is an annual 'party' provided by the directors and employees of the bank in appreciation of their customers of 113 continuous years.

Today (Wednesday) saw the opening of the carnival, located again this year just one block south of our historic courthouse square. It will be open through Saturday, September 19th, which is the BIG day of the annual Cherokee Strip Celebration.

"On that day there will be continuous entertainment in and around 'the square beginning about 8 a.m. and lasting until after dark. The big parade should begin at 10 a.m. and usually lasts until about 11:30 a.m. just in time for folks to line up at the various food booths where we can find highly delectable ethnic foods of all kinds.

"The entertainment will continue throughout the afternoon with local and nearby talent performing at the band-stand. It's capped by an annual rodeo that takes place at the rodeo grounds (just behind the football stadium) and usually a street dance near the Noble County Courthouse. Naturally, it's all for fun and fun for all.

"The weather guys said there was no possibility of rain! The moisture was just beginning to come down when I fed my dogs a little before 8 a.m. and was raining hard enough that I had to use the wipers as I drove to my shop.

"Then I discovered that there were enough cars parked in front of my place that I almost couldn't find a parking place, but went past and turned around in order to squeeze in (from the other direction) in a tiny space they left just in front of my 'no parking' sign.

"I picked up my video camera and the tripod along with a jacket and umbrella, and then walked over to Jim Franklin's sculpture studio where I set up (under an awning) to photograph the parade. The rain quit just as the parade was beginning and I moved my camera closer to the street.

"The parade lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. It had been shortened some because at least one band canceled due to the weather and there were some other folks who also didn't show up. All in all though, it was a good performance and even had our own Travis Brorsen and his dog Presley (the winners of "THE GREAT AMERICAN DOG" show that ABC had a short series on) plus the second place winners (who also performed for us in the park later) and afterwards, I shot another four hours of the entertainment in the park.

"Our 'big band' shortened its performance at the band-stand by cutting a couple of numbers in order to give some extra time to the acts that followed, and to give some of their members some spare 'traveling' time. Even though our 'big band' is composed of former students and some out of town band directors, some of the guys and gals travel 60 to 90 miles each way to practice (on Thursday nights) and to perform (and they do it for the love of playing music. No one gets paid and they are non-union).

"Oh yes. While shooting video of the parade, I also shot 25 stills with my little pocket digital camera. This way you can see some of the stuff you missed by not being here.

"The weatherfolks on channel nine this evening said that there was some rain after all, but that it happened about 30 miles southeast of us. We should have had them here to watch some folks sliding around on the wet pavement.

"Also, I noticed that the local Conoco station had raised the price of regular gas from $2.33.9 up to $2.39.9 as of Friday, just in time to make some extra profit from the crowd that came to our celebration."
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William J. Magill of South Carolina & Georgia

This is not NW Okie's Magill, but Glen Baldwin, of Wilmington, DE 19880-0025 - EMAIL: glen.s.baldwin@usa.dupont.com, is inquiring, "If you have any information on a William J. Magill, a gentleman I am researching for a history project. I have this information on his history and am looking for a family connection who may have a picture of him.

"William J. Magill, a member of the first class to graduate from the Citadel, the South Carolina Military Academy, graduated in 1846 and served with distinction as a lieutenant in the 3d U.S. Dragoons under General Zachary Taylor in the Mexican War.

"Magill later served as Commandant and professor of mathematics at Georgia Military Institute, and during the Civil War served in the First Georgia Regiment rising quickly to the rank of Colonel before being seriously wounded at the battle of Sharpsburg. -- Thomas, pp 472-473."

"Any information on W. J. Magill and a family connection would be greatly appreciated."
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The Scot Family of NE Kansas

James Bradley writes, "Where I live here in NE Kansas is the homestead of a Scott family. They came directly from Scotland in 1870 and purchased the farm from an early day real estate broker. The house is built from limestone quarried on a pasture hill to the northeast of the house.

"That same quarry provided the stone for the County's Courthouse. The house was built in 1889 and has been lived in continuously since then. Just recently we replaced all 18 windows with low R windows that make for a tighter home. The Oregon-California Trail crosses the farm and the swales, or ruts, can still be seen in the pasture.

"There is a historical park on the property which highlights the trail.

"We have visited the farm at Burnfoot Farm on the Ale Water near Ashkirk, Rocksburgshire, Scotland. It was striking how the terrain there was similar to the terrain on this farm. They raised sheep both places. However, we don't. These are my wife's ancestral homes."
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1882 - Memories & Energy

Many things happened in 1882! It was October 20, 1882, that a young girl, an oldest child was born in Monterey, Virginia to John Robert and Signora Belle (Guinn) Warwick. Eleven years later, 1893 John and Signora Warwick packed up their young family (Constance, 11 years, and Robert, 6 years) and moved westward settling in the Coldwater, Kansas area where John R. Warwick taught school while waiting for the Oklahoma Run of 1893.

Also … Energy and electricity was illuminating parts of London, England beginning January 12, 1882 as power from the Edison Electric light Company at 57 Hoblurn Viaduct turns on street lights between Holborn Circus and the Old Bailey and incandescent bulbs go on in at least 30 buildings.

Electricity also illuminated parts of New York beginning September 4 as Thomas Edison throws a switch in the offices of financier J. P. Morgan to light the offices and to inaugurate commercial transmission of electric power format he Morgan-financed Edison Illuminating Company power plant on Pearl Street. The company would soon supply current to all of Manhattan and it would develop into the Consolidated Edison Company, prototype of all central-station U.S. power companies.

The Electric Light Act passed by Parliament empowered local British authorities to take over privately run power stations in their areas after 21 years. By making it virtually impossible for a private electric company to recoup its investment, the new law would discourage development of power stations (no private company would generate electricity for the next 6 years and although the new law would be amended in 1888 to permit private ownership for 43 years such major cities as Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, and Nottingham would still have no power stations in 1890.

A draper's shop at Newcastle yon Tyne, England, was lighted by Swan lamps and became the world's first shop to be lighted by incandescent bulbs.

The world's first electric fan was devised by the chief engineer of New York's Crocker and Curtis Electric Motor Company. The two-bladed desk fan was the work of 22 year old Schuyler Skaats Wheeler.

The world's first electric flatiron was patented by H. W. Seely.

The world's first electrically lighted Christmas tree was installed in December in the New or house of Thomas Edison's associate Edward H. Johnson.

An internal combustion engine powered by gasoline was invented by German engineer Gottlieb Daimler, 48, who had worked with Eugen Langen.

The Standard Oil trust incorporated by John D. Rockefeller and his associates to circumvent state corporation laws brought 95% of the U.S. petroleum industry under the control of a nine-man directorate. Pennsylvania lawyer Samuel C. T. Dodd had shown Rockefeller how the idea of a trust employed in personal estate law could be applied to industry and the oil trust would soon be followed by other trusts. The richest company of any kind in the world, the Standard Oil trust controlled 14,000 miles of underground pipeline and all the oil cars of the Pennsylvania railroad.
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1882 - Politcal Events

1882 - Politcal Events -- Ireland's Charles Stewart Parnell and his associates were released from Kilmainham Prison May 2, 1882 after agreeing to stop boycotting landowners, to cooperate with the Liberal Party, and to stop inciting Irishmen to intimidate tenant farmers from cooperating with landlords.

Four days after Parnell's release the new chief secretary for Ireland and his permanent under-secretary were murdered by Fenians in broad daylight in Dublin's Phoenix Park and while the murder of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Burke was repudiated by Parnell, it lead the British to suspend trial by jury and to give the police unbridled power to search and arrest on suspicion. Public buildings in England were dynamited in a campaign of terrorism that was also disavowed by Parnell.

Canada's District of Saskatchewan was created and the town of Regina was founded on the route of the Canadian pacific Railway being constructed by Cornelius Van Horne. Regina would be headquarters for the 9 year old Northwest Mounted Police.

A Triple Alliance was signed May 20, 1882 by Germany, Austria, and Italy. Each promised to come to the other's aid should the ally be attacked by France within the next 5 years (1882-1887).

Alexandria was bombarded July 11, 1882 by the British fleet under Sir Beauchamp Seymour. British troops were landed to protect the Suez Canal from nationalist forces, the Egyptians were defeated September 13, 1882 by Sir Garnet Wolseley at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir. Cairo was occupied by the British September 15, 1882, and dual control of Egypt by France and Britain was abolished November 9, 1882.

Ethiopia's northern town of Assab was taken over by Italian forces who would make it the basis of Italy's Eritrean colony in 1890. Ethiopia's Johannes IV made a pact with his vanquished rival Menelek of Shoa and designated Menelek as his successor.

The International Association of the Congo was created out of the 1878 Belgian Comite d'Etudes du Haut-Congo and several companies were organized to exploit the region.

France claimed a protectorate over the entire norhtwestern portion of Madagascar. An insurrection against the French in Indo-China was launched in Tonkin.

A 3-mile limit for territorial waters was agreed upon in a Hague Convention signed by the world powers.
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1882 - Medicine

1882 - Medicine -- The tuberculosis bacillus was discovered by Robert Koch who established that the disease was communicable. Koch's findings along with those of many other bacteriologists would lead physicians to believe that certain diseases such as beriberi were caused by bacteria rather than by dietary deficiencies.

Psychoanalysis was pioneered by Viennese physician Josef Breuer, 40, who discovered the value of hypnosis in treating a girl suffering from severe hysteria. Breuer induced the patient to relive certain scenes that occurred while she was nursing her sick father and he succeeded thereby in relieving her permanently of her hysteria symptoms, a success he would communicate to colleague Sigmund Freud.
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1882 - Transportation

1882 - Transportation -- The St. Gothard tunnel that opened May 20, 1882 was the first great railroad tunnel through the Alps.

Union Switch and Signal Company was organized to manufacture railroad signals invented by George Westinghouse who had made a fortune from his Westinghouse Air Brake Company.

"The public be damned," says U.S. railroad magnate William H. Vanderbilt to a Chicago Daily News reporter who asked, "Don't you run it for the public benefit?' when told that the fast Chicago Limited extra-fare mail train was being eliminated. "The public be damned," says Vanderbilt October 8, 1882 to reporter Clarence DResser. "I am working for my stockholders. If the public want the train, why don't they pay for it?"

Electric cable cars were installed in Chicago where they travel 20 blocks along STate STreet in 31 minutes, averaging less than 2 miles per hour.

Matson Navigation Company was started by a 33 year old Swedish sailing captain with a loan from California sugar magnate Claus Spreckels. Matson buys shares in a ship he names the Emma Claudine after Spreckels's sister and he begins to build a near-monopoly in San Francisco-Honolulu shipping as trade booms in Hawaiian sugar.
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1882 - Human Rights & Social Justice

1882 - Human Rights & Social Justice -- Brtain's Married Women's Property Act was passed by Parliament following efforts by women's rights champion Richard Marsden Pankhurst, whose widow Emmeline would campaign for woman suffrage after his death in 1898.

A wave of strikes for higher wages in the United States was touched off by higher prices that had resulted from 1881's poor crops.
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1882 - Education

1882 - Education -- Oscar Wilde arrived in New York in January and said, "I have nothing to declare by my genius." Irish-born essayist Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, 27, had made himself the apostle of an art for art's sake cult. Gilbert and Sullivan burlesqued his affectations in 1881 in their opera Patience with its character Bunthorne. Wilde would tour North America for a year lecturing on such subjects as "The English Renaissance of Art."

The University of South Dakota was founded.
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1882 - Communications & Media

1882 - Communications & Media -- Western Electric Manufacturing Company of Boston won a contract February 6, 1882 to produce telephones for the Bell Company. Publisher Charles Scribner had invested in the company that the Bell Company would acquire.

Harrison Gray Oi]tis acquires an interest in the Los Angeles Times at age 45. A union Army enlistee who rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, Otis moved to California in 1876 and ran the Santa Barbara Post until 1879. The Times had absorbed the Los Angeles Weekly Mirror. Otis would gain full control of the Times-Mirror Company by 1886, and he would make it a powerful voice of Republican conservatism in opposition to labor unions.

"When a dog bitters a man that is not news, but when a man bites a dog that is news," said New York Sun city editor John B. Bogart.
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1882 - Crime

1882 - Crime -- Jesse James dies April 3, 1882 at age 34 of a gunshot wound in the back of the head. A fugitive since the Northfield, Minnesota, bank robbery attempt of 1876, James had been living quietly at St. Joseph, Missouri, under the name Thomas Howard. The governor had offered a large reward for the capture of James dead or alive, James had befriended fellow outlaw Robert Ford, who had shot him to get the reward, and his murder inspired a ballad that would make future generations regard James as a Robin Hood figure.

The Hatfield-McCoy feud that had simmered for years in the southern Appalachians of West Virginia and eastern Kentucky boiled over in the election day shooting of Kentucky storekeeper Ellison Hatfield, brother of William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield, 43, who mortally wounded Harmon McCoy of the Union Army while fighting with Confederate forces in the Civl War.

Hatfield's son Johnse had precipitated the quarrel by attempting to elope with Randall McCoy's daughter Rosanna, and when Ellison Hatfield died of his wounds three of McCoy's sons, captured earlier by an armed posse under Anse Hatfield, were murdered in retaliation, beginning a blood-bath that would continue for years as local influence was used to obtain quick release of any arrested participants.

Kentucky authorities would invade West Virginia in 1888 and would seize several Hatfields, ending open warfare between the clans. "Devil Anse" Hatfield would live until late in 1921.
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1882 - Agriculture

1882 - Agriculture -- Drought continues on western U.S. ranchlands.

Edinburh's Prairie Cattle Company pays $350,000 to acquire the Quarter Circle T Ranch of Texas Panhandle rancher Thomas Bugbee who in 1876 drove a small herd from Kansas to the Canadian River and established the ranch.

The Farmer's Alliance claimed 100,000 members in 8 state alliances and 200 local alliances. The Alliance was headed by Milton George.

The bacilli that produced swine fever (hog-cholera), swine erysipelas, and ganders (another livestock disease) were discovered at Berlin's Friedrich Wilhelm Institute by German bacteriologist Friedrich August Johannes Loffler, 30.

Germany would assume leadership of European industry in the next two decades, but the Germans would attempt to maintain self-sufficiency in food production where the British had not. The Germans would plant another 2 million acres to food crops and would use high tariffs to protect German farmers from foreign competition even though such a policy meant keeping domestic food prices high.
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1882 - Immigration

1882 - Immigration -- U.S. immigration from Germany reached its peak. The first U.S. cacti restricting general immigration was passed by congress. The new law excluded convicts, paupers, and defectives and it imposed a head tax on immigrants.

The 1880 Chinese Exclusion Act took effect and barred entry of Chinese laborers for a period of 10 years. The loss of chinese labor spurred development of machinery to clean and bone fish in California's salmon canneries.
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