A Break For Some Local News

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While on a holiday break at the Columbia County Fair, I'm sharing this special episode featuring local news stories from the Chatham Courier newspapers of the 1800s, available through the Hudson River Valley Heritage Historical Newspapers Archive.

I'll be back to normal programming in the next episode. Watch out for the horse thieves!

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"The Jiffy Audio Newsletter Podcast" is an audio documentary zine – the official podcast of The Jiffy – exploring the odd histories, cozy mysteries, and surprising characters of upstate New York. Each episode is a small adventure, told with curiosity, humor, and the occasional text message from a stranger.

New episodes drop every other week. Subscribe, share, and take the scenic route with us.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey James here.
The podcast is taking a breakfor the holiday weekend.
I'm at the Columbia County Fair, hopefully getting some really
good seats for the tractor pull,which is always very exciting.
But to keep posting podcastepisodes consistently, because I
hear that's very important, Iwanted to do something a little
different for this episode.
I'm working on this upcomingguide to the many Chathams,

(00:26):
chatham, new York, and I cameacross in my research some old
newspaper scans of the ChathamCourier, which is its one-time
major newspaper of the day.
These are all available onlineas part of the Hudson River
Valley Heritage HistoricalNewspapers Archive, which is
administered by the SoutheasternNew York Library Resources
Council.
I will link to this database inmy show notes.

(00:51):
But there's some really funstories so I thought it would be
fun to present a bit of localnews here on the podcast feed.
So here we go.
It's news literally as it wasprinted in the printed page.
This is what I would think theChatham Couriers podcast would
sound like if they had a dailyheadline news podcast.
So let's get to it the headlinenews from the front pages of

(01:12):
the 1800s.
I'm James Cave and this is theJiffy In local news and gossip.
Dog days have ended and catnights appear to have just
commenced.
A couple horse thieves, whowere decamping with the team
they had stolen in Troy, stoppedat the Columbia Hotel about 10

(01:32):
o'clock on Sunday evening andwhet their whistles when they
went forward again.
It is reported that sinceleaving Buffalo a few days since
they had stolen, threedifferent teams and officers in
pursuit of them reached Troyonly 10 minutes after the
thieves had left.
They were followed down theriver as far as Hudson where all
trace of them was lost untilthey turned up here.
As soon as the facts were known, certain parties started in

(01:55):
pursuit but returned withoutovertaking them.
It is said.
A freshly made wagon track withdouble team turned from the
highway into the woods nearGreen River and was followed for
some distance until lost sightof, and the pursuing party feel
confident that thieves weresecreted in that vicinity on
Monday.
Half a dozen convicts madetheir escape from the state

(02:17):
prison at Sing Sing on Sunday byseizing a small sloop just as
she was approaching the wharf todischarge a load of blasting
powder and securing the twodeckhands in the hold of the
vessel.
While a portion of the partyput the sloop about and headed
her for the opposite shore ofthe river.
The others pinioned the guardand held him in front of them,
thus shielding themselves fromthe fire of the guard on the
wharf.
They reached the opposite shoreand disappeared.

(02:39):
An exchange tells how ColonelBrown was induced to excuse a
young lady from waltzing withhim.
Colonel Brown is a good-lookingand a famous dancer, patronizes
all the country balls andadores the rosy-cheeked,
unsophisticated country girls.
At a late ball on the frontier,the gallant colonel approached
a blushing damsel and asked herto waltz.
When she replied no, I thankyou, I don't like to waltz, it

(03:00):
makes me puke the colonel didn'tpress her, saying that he
feared the consequences.
An English-married lady hasconsulted her lawyer on the
question whether whether, havingmarried her husband for his
money and that money being allspent, she is not a widow at
liberty to marry again and inrailroad items.

(03:21):
A week or two ago, as the wayfreight train on the New York
and Lake Erie Railroad wasrunning at full speed east of
Friendship Village, a smallchild was discovered on the
track ahead of the train andseemed indisposed to attempt to
get off.
The engineer did his best tostop the train but seeing his
inability to do so, the fireman,whose name is Ellis, got on the
cowcatcher and as the trainneared, the child leaped off and

(03:44):
caught it jumping off just intime to save his own life and
that of the little one In BoatsNow the People's Line of Hudson
River Steamers proposes to putan electric light on the bow of
each of their night boats, andthe steamer Drew took to New
York one day last week 9,000boxes of cheese as 300 tons
worth $90,000.

(04:04):
This is the largest load ofcheese ever taken down the river
.
The Hudson Star says that onSunday night the 13th S Critsman
Esquire merchant tailor of thatcity was robbed of his vest
containing $10 in money whileasleep in a stateroom on board
the steamer Traveler.
The thief apparently enteredthrough the window and in
fashion items today, ladies nowornament their notepaper with

(04:27):
small photographs of themselves.
They fashion supersedemonograms.
If they are pretty, it will dovery well.
Otherwise the fashion should bediscarded.
It is not advisable to go outof doors without anything on
your head or into societywithout anything in it.
Ladies should be on the lookoutnow for the autumn leaves which
decorate drawing rooms soprettily in the winter.

(04:48):
They're advised not to look outfor the sear and yellow leaf,
as they fall to pieces, and thisunder the headline A Valuable
Secret.
The Scientific American says theunpleasant odor procured by a
perspiration is frequently thesource of vexation to persons
who are subject to it.
Nothing is simpler than toremove this odor, much more
effectually than by theapplication of such onguents and

(05:10):
perfumes as are in use.
It is only necessary to procuresome of the compound spirits of
ammonia and place about twotablespoonfuls in a basin of
water.
Washing the face, hands andarms with this leaves the skin
as clean, sweet and fresh as onecould wish.
The wash is perfectly harmlessand very cheap.
It is recommended on theauthority of an experienced

(05:30):
physician and now in items ofthe near vicinity.
Captain Joel Minor of Canaan,connecticut, is nearly 90 years
of age and milks six cowsmorning and evening, pitches off
loads and hay over the GreatBeam and does other remarkable
feats for a man of his age.
The New Haven Palladium says,quote we are informed of the
best authority that PT Barnumhas nothing to do with Mr

(05:54):
Allen's lecturing tour.
He is no longer in the showbusiness and if he were would
not countenance so dubious acharacter.
And Henry Finley and MrsElizabeth W Fox, two spiritual
mediums arrested in Hartford,connecticut, for adultery had
their trial in the police courtof that city.
They said they had been livingas man and wife for some time
past and pleaded injustification of the higher law

(06:16):
and the spirits.
The judge said that the higherlaw of Connecticut made it a
state prison offense for everymarried man and woman to commit
adultery and as they hadacknowledged themselves guilty,
he placed them under $400 bondeach for a trial before the
Superior Court.
To this Mrs Fox meekly repliedthey were remanded to jail.

(06:38):
A boy, only four years old, wasfound drunk in Albany Saturday
last week.
In Schenectady the same night a12-year-old lad was picked up,
so drunk that he had becomeutterly unconscious.
The old elm on the village greenat Pittsfield, massachusetts,
has been cut down and sold atauction for $10 to a person who
received 100 pounds for smallpieces of it.
Within a short time later thetree was at least 300 years old

(07:00):
and had been struck severaltimes by lightning.
The distance from the ground toits first limb was over 100
feet and everybody in Pittsfieldregretted that safety made its
removal necessary.
A live fox was caught inWashington Street, poughkeepsie,
on the night of the 24th.
Three bald eagles have beenshot in New Hamburg within a few
weeks past, two of them on onetree.
These are rare visitants inthis section of the country.

(07:22):
And some good news to close usout.
It looks like we have a curefor dysentery.
In a teacup half full ofvinegar, dissolve as much salt
as it will take up, leaving alittle excess of salt at the
bottom of the cup.
Pour boiling water upon thesolution till the cup is
two-thirds or three-quartersfull.
A scum will rise to the surfacewhich must be removed, and the

(07:43):
solution is allowed to cool.
As for your dosage, take atablespoonful three times a day
until cured.
Well, this concludes the localnews from the Jiffy.
This was all real news asprinted in the pages of the
Chatham Courier in the 1800s.
It's the paper of record forthe many Chathams.
The Jiffy will be back tonormal in our next episode, but
until then I guess I'll see youover on the james key instagram

(08:05):
feed.