Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Today -100: May 30, 1912: Of lepers and falling window-washers


Headline of the Day -100: “Back Porch for Leper.” Health authorities will let a leper in Bay City, Michigan stay in his own home, but he has to build a new back porch, stay off the front porch and not leave his property. His wife will stay with him and be similarly quarantined, but their four children can’t live with them.

Headline of the Day -100, Runner Up: “Hurt by Falling Workman.” A window-washer fell from the 8th floor of a Chicago office building onto a Rev. Henry Heck (!) breaking his ankle. The rev’s ankle, that is. The window-washer died, although that part didn’t make the headline, and his name didn’t make it into the story. Priorities.

3 comments:

  1. I wonder if the good reverend had a descendent who became a US Army Chaplain, probably during WW2. When I was at an English boarding school in the pre-history of the 1950s, we had a visiting preacher one Sunday by name of Col O Heck, which name in itself was cause of severe giggling. His sermon however was no giggling matter - it lasted 3 hours when our normal outside limit was about 25 minutes. What I do remeber from all those years ago was his much repeated theme: "If I had my way I'd build a monument, a mile high and a mile wide and on it I'd inscribe 'Samson, a faaailuuure'" Obviously the spelling would have been correct, I'm just trying to reproduce his intonation. Heady stuff, though I cannot remember why Samson was supposed to be a failure. Just saying.

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  2. I believe that would be Col. Lewis O. Heck of Heck Hall.
    http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2005-11-11/news/0511110042_1_severna-park-episcopal-church-church-service

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  3. Wonderful - thank you for digging that up!

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