Christmas 100 years ago, and more, as portrayed in newspapers

I'm curious about how people who walked where we walk now functioned in times past, and that includes during the Christmas season. I go to old newspapers to get an idea of what it must have been like then. I love to pore through old newspapers, distracting myself with all of those stories, and marvel at the kind of information that newspaper readers found to be of interest and importance.

Many years ago I dug through some December 1898 issues of the Iowa City Weekly Republican for a column I wrote when I was The Gazette's Iowa City editor. In one particular issue I read about a Morse area farmer named Thomas Flynn. The newspaper reported that Flynn "became exhilarated by the winter air, and 'went down to Jericho and fell among the thieves'" who beat him and a companion and stole $25 from Flynn.

I wrote about this episode, and others, noting how newspaper writing was far different then from what you read now. Flynn could not identify who beat him, the paper reported. "He was conscious but not very clear in his mind, owing to indulgence and a wicked gash on the right side of his head over his eye," the newspaper said.

That “indulgence” the newspaper artfully noted was a big deal at the turn of the 19th century. The head of an entity called the Iowa Anti-Saloon League had its sights set on what it called a problem in Iowa City back then – the bar scene. The group's leader, the Rev. H.H. Abrams, sued several bars that he said were selling alcohol illegally.

The style of writing may have been different all those Christmases ago but some of the issues seem to be familiar.

Christmas 2011 column

I went back to the archives last week to write a column for the Sunday, Dec. 25, Gazette. It was an exercise in personal indulgence that yielded some interesting insights into the city of Cedar Rapids 100 years ago. One of the episodes I am sharing in the column also relates to over-indulging in alcohol during the holiday season:

It involves a guy named Robert Kunzman, who went to the Cedar Rapids Police Station the morning of Dec. 24, 1911, to report that a blind horse was in the stall where his horse belonged. "He was certain he owned a much better house, with two good eyes, and came to the conclusion that it had been stolen," the Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette reported.

A few hours later A.G. Moorhead showed up at the police station to report that his horse, too, and a wagon had been stolen.

Police investigated and learned that Kunzman had been in what the Evening Gazette called “a condition where all horses looked alike” the night before and had taken the wrong horse and buggy. “He started across First avenue (sic) bridge, ‘the blind leading the blind,' when the horse ran into the side of the bridge and stopped,” the newspaper reported. A friend took Kunzman and horse and buggy to Kunzman's home, while a policeman found Kunzman's horse in the street.

“Kunzman insists that he walked home Saturday night, and has no idea as to how the blind horse came to be in his barn,” the Evening Gazette reported on Christmas Day, letting all of its readers enjoy a holiday chuckle at Kunzman's expense.

The story still has legs 100 years later. Happy Holidays.