BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: AMERICANA

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"We are the first nation in the history of the world to go to the poorhouse in an automobile."
                                                  Will Rogers
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AN AMERICAN OLD WEST OUTLAW

John Peters Ringo (May 3, 1850 – July 13, 1882) was an American Old West outlaw loosely associated with the Cochise County Cowboys in frontier boomtown Tombstone, Arizona Territory. He took part in the Mason County War in Texas during which he committed his first murder. He was arrested and charged with murder.[1] He was affiliated with Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan, Ike Clanton, and Frank Stilwell during 1881–1882. He got into a confrontation in Tombstone with Doc Holliday and was suspected by Wyatt Earp of having taken part in the attempted murder of Virgil Earp and the ambush and death of Morgan Earp. Ringo was found dead with a bullet wound to his temple which was ruled a suicide. Modern writers have advanced various theories attributing his death to Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Frank Leslie or Michael O'Rourke.

from WIKIPEDIA

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In 1900, the average payroll check taken home by a male working a 59 hour week was $12.74.
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"I have heard it said that there are only four things you need to fear in California -- earth, air, fire, 
and water."
             Alex Stone. Fooling Houdini (New York: HarperCollins, 2012)
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                UNCLE JOE AND THE FROGGERS

 In Sturbridge, Massachusetts, persons who enjoy cookies may purchase Joe Froggers.  Joe Froggers, the Publick House Bake Shoppe informs us, are large, flat molasses cookies.  They take their name from a man from Marblehead, Mass. – Uncle Joe.  Uncle Joe, who was quite fond of rum, would bake his cookies as large as the bullfrogs in his pond and would trade his cookies for a jug of rum.  Fisherman soon discovered that “Joe Froggers” kept fresh for long periods of time and so they would take enormous batches of them to sea.
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May 19, 1780: New England’s Dark Day

"This Friday in May started out like any other, with the sun rising and bringing daylight with it. But if you happened to be in the northeastern United States or small parts of southeastern Canada, the sky was yellow by midmorning and completely darkened by noon. This would be disorienting at best even today, but in the 18th century, without the benefit of modern science to explain what happened, it was even more harrowing. 
People left work and school and flooded into churches and taverns. Some believed it was the second coming of Christ. Others decided to stay put; one state legislator famously said, in response to his colleagues calling for adjournment, “The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought.”
The moon came out around midnight that night, much to the relief of those who thought it was judgment day. Nobody knew what caused the darkness at the time, but the likely culprit, based on reports from the period and physical evidence on older trees, was wildfire smoke blowing in from Canada."

HISTORY FACTS WEBSITE (JANUARY 6, 2024)
https://historyfacts.com/world-history/article/5-of-the-strangest-days-in-history/
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COLORFUL AMERICAN NAME

	Chicken Blue is the name of one of the most famous potters in the United States.
 
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VERONICA  LAKE'S ICONIC HAIR STYLE

During World War Two, the rage for her peek-a-boo bangs became a hazard when women in the defense industry would get their bangs caught in machinery. Lake had to take a publicity picture in which she reacted painfully to her hair getting "caught" in a drill press in order to heighten public awareness about the hazard of her hairstyle
iMBd trivia -Veronica Lake

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140 Edison Avenue, Detroit, Michigan -- the home of Henry Ford
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PUZZLE MAKING IN THE COLONIES

WILL SHORTZ. “Early American Word Puzzles” for Word Ways. See T. Cambell at https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQZSZHpbzgBLBzwWGdBqfHVJsWQ

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WHY ‘DIRTY WATER” IS NOT OFTEN HEARD IN BOSTON

“Dancing on My Own” is the most unexped update to the  Red Sox’ 21st century song catalog,which includes mainstays like Neil Diamond’s“Sweet Caroline,” which Fenway Park has playeid n the middle of the eighth inning, and the Standelis’ “Dirty Water,”: which is played after every win”

Joe Lemire. “Sorry, Caroline, The Red Sox Have Moved On,” in The New York Times (October 17,2021)

BELLRINGER’S LAMENT

I have tugged heavy ropes
In the cathedral’s bell tower,
Our Lady of Sacred Wounds.
All morning, I have signaled
Approaching disasters,
Threats unheeded,
But what good does it do
My blistered hands,
My exhausted arms
When so many of our citizens,
Old & young are tone deaf.

Louis Phillips