KELLEYS ISLAND 1872-1876
The hotels, the telegraph & the Lime Company
by Leslie Korenko, book 4 in the series
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Here is just a sample of what you will find inside:
A HUSBAND STRUGGLES – The first lot of cakes stuck to the griddle The second dittoed, only more so Maria came down and asked me what was burning She advised me to grease the griddle I did it One end of the griddle got too hot and I dropped the thing on my tenderest corn while trying to turn it around Finally they were ready for breakfast and Maria got the other things ready We sat down My cakes did not have exactly the right flavor I took one mouthful and it satisfied me I lost my appetite at once Maria would not let me put one on her plate I think those cakes may be reckoned a dead loss The cat would not eat them The dog ran off and stayed three days after one was offered him The hens won’t go within 10 feet of them I threw them into the back yard and there has not been a pig on the premises since Eat what is put before me now and do not allude to my mother’s mode of cooking February 1872
WINTER LIFE – In the Summer we all have our labors to perform and each one is busy with his own affairs We see but little of one another till we almost forget that we have neighbors But in winter it is different We have but little else to do but renew old friendships and contribute our share towards making up the grant total of our happiness That we could improve these opportunities for social enjoyment is our duty A selfish one perhaps, but in contributing to others happiness, we enhance our own. March 1872
ELECTIONS & VOTING – Let women vote and they become interested in political affairs Men would not have to go to taverns and street corners to talk politics and get drunk Citizens of the United States, please do not talk of ‘this free and enlightened country’ when a husband, beastly drunk, knowing not a Republican ticket from a Democratic ticket, can vote and hold office and his poor wife, who in every way is his superior, is not equal in politics. January 1873
HOW COLD WAS THE WATER – On Tuesday last, while working on the dock at the North Side, Mr John Dean fell into the lake up to his neck The boys, thinking that was enough, collared him out when he resembled very much a candle wick when it is dipped in the tallow for the first time. January 1873
SUNSTRUCK – A workman, named John Hutchinson, in the employ of Captain Webb of Kelley’s Island, came very near meeting with death on Friday He was digging a ditch in Captain Webb’s yard, when the earth caved in, burying him, literally up to his eyes and rendering him utterly powerless to move The hired girl happening to see the occurrence ran to Hutchinson and with her hands for a shovel instantly removed the dirt so as to allow him to breath again the pure atmosphere of Kelley’s Island. July 1873
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HORSES – A little skirmish took place in the lake between the Butcher boy and his horse Owing to the good sense of the horse, they were rescued from their perilous position. August 1873
THE HORRORS OF TOBACCO – …he was too busy to enforce much regularity among the tobacco chewers A very mean trick was tolerated there this day, by their firing their supuratum and salivary excrescence at the red hot stove, which would glance off and strike the pantaloon legs of the checker players, which not only took the starch out of their pantaloons but created a smell that would knock the buttons off from a livery stable door An unusual number of school children were knocked down at the store today by being struck in the head with tobacco quids. December 1873
LOAFERS AT THE LODGE – Wanted – 150 loafers at the store of E Huntington who can smoke and all who apply will be received and given a place No particular hours for work, any time between opening and closing of store will do, as they help to keep up an appearance of business and make it agreeable for ladies while doing shopping. January 1874
WINE ECONOMICS – About ½ of the crop is made up by the grape grower, the other half being sold to manufacturers The Wine Co making 120,000 gallons, J Rush about 52,000 mostly purchased, L Baty [Beatty] next in quantity 20,000, then H Koster 19,000, mostly of their own raising There are some 23 other persons making 10,000 and less, each mostly of their own raising At least 2/3 of the population live out of the grape crop The Doctor and Catholic priest derive about 3/5 of their living from wine and the Protestant priests 9/10 of their support Without wine, grape growing would be abandoned and 2/3 of the inhabitants would leave the Island and the balance would be too poor to support either priest [or] Doctor The produce of the grape crop amounts to more than that of stone, other crops and public houses together. January 1875
HOW COLD WAS IT – We are often asked, ‘Is it Cold?’ Well, the mercury in the thermometer does not sink as low in winter as it does even in Mansfield But when the winds blow, they are terribly in earnest, attending strictly to business; now coming in fitful gusts for a few moments, fill your eyes with the dust and passing away But with a continuous blow for a week at a time from one direction, without changing from a single point of the compass, when these gentle zephyrs move with force sufficient to lift one from his feet, with the thermometer at zero, our experience is; the most eligible place to be found is within hailing distance of a red hot stove. January 1875
LEGAL ADVICE – Lawyers – All members of the Lodge too numerous to mention, they all have more law than practice, advice given ‘are gratis and for nothing.’ Go there and be enlightened in all matters pertaining to law as well as medicine, theology and science and some claim that scandal is there taught, in advance of the age or even sewing societies or tea parties Parliamentary rules are better understood there than observed. February 1876
FIRE AT THE WINE CO – The superintendent [Charles Farciot], who with his family lived in the building, had retired for the night, after looking over the premises as usual He was shortly afterwards aroused by the barking of the watch dog, when the entire front of the building was discovered to be in flames The alarm was instantly given and large numbers of men, residents of the Island, and quarrymen, were soon at the scene of action There was a lack of water and the flames made great headway, although some of the material was saved Numbers of the men took advantage of the confusion to drink to excess of whatever they could lay their hands upon and were soon scattered about on the ground helplessly drunk In this way many baskets of champagne, which might have been carried out, were left prey to the flames The wine escaped from the burning, bursting casks, and ran down to the lake in a stream. August 1875