Accessible Archives Inc.

Two of our collections – Godey’s Lady’s Book and Frank Leslie’s Weekly – contain many travelogue articles from all over the world. Many of the later articles contain early photos or illustrations of the scenes described by the travel writers.

The description of Halloween in Scotland below appeared as part of a longer travel piece titled Scotland the Playground of Royalty and Americans by Gilson Willets, special correspondent for Leslie’s Weekly. The description of how Halloween in Scotland contrasts with Halloween in America caught my eye.

Halloween Customs in Scotland

All Scotland is preparing even now for All Halloween . People are being invited for house parties where, on the first of November, all the customs of Halloween known in the United States, and many that are not known there, will be observed here. For this is the place where the custom of celebrating Halloween originated, and where the evening was given its name. Superstitious Scotchmen still believe that to be the night on which the invisible world has peculiar power. His satanic majesty and witches generally are supposed to have great latitude on this anniversary. (more…)

Whether or not the Federal Suffrage Amendment is ratified by a sufficient number of the States in time to permit the women of every State to vote in the next Presidential campaign, there will be 15,492,751 women eligible to vote in 1920. Leaders of women in this country are endeavoring to increase the number to 29,000,000, by securing the ratification of the Federal Amendment by thirty-six States within the next few month.

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(Frank Leslies Weekly/July 25, 1907) The automobile has worked a great change in mining in the desert regions of the West. Formerly many mines could not be opened because of their distance from a base of supplies and the difficulty of hauling food by mule-power. Now the automobile is used both for passenger and freight purposes, and it is possible to reach in hours claims that were a little while ago days away from the railroad. It is possible in level districts to make a mile a minute over the sandy wastes, for no speed laws hamper the mining men. It is reported, however, that the friction on the hot sand occasionally melts the cement of the tires.

COMPLAINT is made by some automobilists (chiefly the speed enthusiasts) that the oiled or tarred road, by reason of its dark color, is difficult to follow after nightfall, whereas the light surface of the clay or macadam road is comparatively plain to view, even on rather a dark night. The average automobilist, however, using good lights and maintaining a reasonable speed, should have no great trouble from this cause.

On June 20, 1893, Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother.

A summary of the case in Frank Leslie’s Weekly’s June 29, 1893 issue was read by Americans coast-to-coast and helped shape American views of the event and ensuing trial. Miss Borden, in court, was featured on the cover of that issue.

THE BORDEN CASE.

THIS cause célèbre will pass down into the annals of criminal jurisprudence as one of the most remarkable on record—in fact, taken in all its details and aspects it has no equal in the world’s history of crime; and that is saying a great deal. Here were two old people, living the final chapter of their lives in peace and plenty, apparently without a known enemy, who are found in their own home literally hacked to pieces, and without a visible clew to the murderer or murderers. All this took place in Fall River, Massachusetts, noted for its thrift, its steady going, quietly industrious, and frugal people. After a few days’ search the police authorities, bound, of course, to arrest somebody for the crime, bring the focus of their detecting faculties to centre upon the daughter of the murdered man and the step-daughter of the murdered woman, and place her under arrest, charged with the awful crime of killing first her step-mother and then her own father. And they kept her in jail for eight long, weary months before the slow-moving wheels of criminal procedure in the old Bay State could revolve and bring the accused to the bar of justice, to be tried for her life.

By Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.,
Assistant Secretary of the Navy

“There is another type of thought which is represented by dreamers who see in every new invention a subversion of all present conditions. In this class are the individuals who assert that the airplane has rendered obsolete and unnecessary either infantry or capital ships.”

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Navy

The United States is a republic. Every citizen has an equal vested interest in its government. Therefore, every one of its public institutions belongs in the last analysis to the individual citizen. If an individual has an interest in any piece of property in ordinary everyday life, that individual keeps informed of the manner in which that property is handled. The same thing should hold true in so far as our governmental activities are concerned. Every citizen should take an active and intelligent interest therein. Certainly one of the most important of these is the navy, for the navy is the first line of defense of our country. When the test comes it is on our navy that we must largely depend to maintain our policies and ideals. All men and women should inform themselves in general concerning it. If they will do this they will be in a position to intelligently advise their representatives in Congress concerning their wishes. If they do not, many and grave errors may be made.