Centennial Anniversary: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the fire that ravaged the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. It was the deadliest industrial disaster in New York City's history and ranks fourth in loss of life in industrial accidents in the U.S.

The Asch building, whose eighth, ninth, and top floor housed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, lay in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. In case you're curious, shirtwaists are basically just blouses. The factory specialized in making them and mostly employed young immigrant women. Most who worked there were either Jewish or Italian. The factory typically worked five hundred women total who worked an average of nine hours on a weekday, and seven on Saturday.

Smoking was banned in the factory, and for good reason. They were working in a textile mill and a single spark could ignite clothing. That didn't stop some of the workers though, who sneaked cigarettes in and tried to smoke without getting caught. On March 25th, 1911, the worst thing that could of happened, happened. Someone had thrown the but of their cigarette into a trash bin which had scraps in it and eventually the whole thing caught fire. The fire quickly spread in the environment and people on the eighth floor started to panic. There was a phone line to the tenth floor from the eighth, but none to the ninth and no audible alarm for a fire, so there was no way the eighth floor could tell the ninth what was happening. That's just bad planning. Unfortunately for the people on the ninth, who found out about the fire when it was clearly visible, the fire had enveloped the stairs going downward that they could use to get out and the other staircase was locked to keep people from stealing. The foreman who had the key had already escaped. Some of the women either went up the stairs to the roof or crammed into the two freight elevators while they were still working. After three minutes, the stairs became unusable.

Many of the women from the ninth tried to escape the fire by getting out onto the fire escape which was a flimsy iron structure that may of been broken before the fire. It soon twisted and collapsed from the heat and overload and spilled victims nearly 100 ft to the concrete below. The elevator operators took many trips to get as many women from the ninth but during one of the trips some of the women had forced the elevator doors open on the ninth and jumped down the elevator shaft, making the elevator unable to be used anymore. By this time a crowd had gathered outside the building. The first person to jump was a man, and another man was seen kissing a young woman at the window before they both jumped to their deaths. The crowd witnessed sixty-two more people jumping or falling to their deaths from the top floors, who piled upon the already large amount of bodies around the building. There were so many bodies that the fire department had extreme difficulty getting close to the building. The fire department didn't have a ladder that could reach over the sixth floor and were not able to put out the fire in time to save any of the people that chose to stay inside the burning building.

In total, 146 people died from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. 129 women and 17 men. Six of the victims remained unidentified until 2011. The owners were indicted on charges of first and second degree manslaughter for locking to doors of the stairway, thereby dooming many people. After their lawyer destroyed the credibility of one of the survivors however, they were acquitted. It was determined that the owners did not know that the doors were locked at the time. In a later suit brought against them, they ended up having to pay $75 each to each victim's family. One of the owners was later punished for locking the doors in his other factory. His fine: $20.

While some saw this as an opportunity to band together into unions, others saw this as a time to take a good long look at factory conditions. In 1915 an investigation was started to look at the conditions of different factories around the city. New York City's Fire Chief John Kenlon told the investigators that his department had identified more than 200 factories where conditions made a fire like that at the Triangle Factory possible. Thanks to the investigation, there was a huge push to modernize labor laws and to improve factory conditions and their fire safety. It's too bad that we have to go through a terrible tragedy to wake us up and tell us we need to change how we do things.

D.B. Cooper

"In today's post 9-11 society, the possibility of an airliner being hijacked by a lone criminal who escapes without ever being caught or positively identified is both deeply disturbing and highly unlikely. But on November 24, 1971, before the days of airport metal detectors and other stringent security regulations, one polite, well-dressed man did exactly that. "

"What's more, his apolitical and 'stick-it-to-the-man' motivations, relaxed threats, and willing release of innocents earned him a community of supporters who deemed him a modern-day Robin Hood. And, at the time, anti-establishment types were in vogue. Thirty-five years later, with no new leads, the FBI is still trying to uncover the true identity of "Dan Cooper," the man behind the only unsolved commercial skyjacking in U.S. history, a man who seemingly vanished into thin air."

"On a rainy afternoon at Oregon's Portland International Airport, a middle-aged man wearing a dark suit with a slim tie and mother-of-pearl tie clip purchased a one-way ticket on Northwest Orient Airlines to Seattle, Washington. He paid $18.52. The name on the reservation was Dan Cooper. After taking his seat in the last row of the Boeing 727 aircraft, he ordered a bourbon and Coke from an attractive flight attendant, 23-year old Florence Schaffner. Then he lit a Raleigh filter-tip cigarette and settled in for the ride. According to the flight staff, Cooper was cordial, tipped generously, and had a smooth demeanor. In fact, when he handed Florence a piece of paper to let her know that he was toting a bomb in his briefcase, she slipped it into her pocket unopened, assuming he'd simply passed along his phone number, as many male passengers before him had done. But Cooper urged her to open the note. The note threatened to blow up the plane if Cooper's demands weren't met:

$200,000 in unmarked $20bills, four manually operated parachutes (two chest and two back), and a fuel truck waiting in Seattle to refuel the plane. "

"Northwest Orient president Donald Nyrop instructed the pilot to cooperate, and the FBI scrambled to meed Cooper's demands, while at the same time preparing to apprehend him. When the plane finally landed in Seattle, Cooper released all 36 passengers and two flight attendants, leaving only himself and four airline employees on board as the plane was refueled. Bags filled with the cash, weighing a total of 21 pounds, were delivered as promised. As the plane left the runway, this time in a heavy storm, Cooper gave the pilot specific instructions: Keep the plane under 10,000 feet, wing flaps at 15 degrees, and speed under 200 knots. He then ordered everyone into the cockpit, strapped the money to his waist, put one chute on his chest and one on his back, opened the plane's rear door, and plunged into the darkness somewhere over the dense pine forests and deep canyons of the Cascades in southwestern Washington."

"The search for Dan Cooper, or any shred of his whereabouts, was on. For several weeks, the FBI scoured miles of forest for a body or any evidence of a landing-successful or otherwise. But the case code named NORJAK, offered investigators precious few clues. They knew that Dan Cooper was an alias. But police brought a man named D.B. Cooper in for questioning shortly after the hijacking and alerted the media, who confused his name with the name used by the jumper. Although D.B. Cooper was quickly ruled out as a suspect, his name would be forever linked with the crime. The FBI also worked with a composite sketch and personality profile of the suspect, based on the flight crew accounts, and-decades later-a DNA sample from his tie (he took it off before he jumped), obtained in 2001. The number of suspects totaled close to 1,000 over 30 years. Many who couldn't possibly have been Cooper falsely confessed to committing the crime, often just before their final breaths. Of the handful of suspects who were seriously considered, Kenneth Peter Christiansen was a favorite. To many, Christiansen seemed to be an obvious match."

"A former paratrooper in the army, Christiansen had extensive sky-diving experience and was accustomed to no-frills equipment and brutal landings. As a retired flight attendant and purser for Northwest Airlines, he was obviously well-versed in airline procedures-plus, he was living in Washington at the time of the crime. He smoked Raleigh cigarettes and collected bourbon. And he supposedly bore an uncanny resemblance to the composite sketch-at lest according to his brother Lyle, who recognized his face while watching Unsolved Mysteries on television. Civilian researchers theorized that Christiansen's motive was retaliation against an airline known at the time for unfair employment practices (mainly against women) and layoffs that led to frequent strikes, which helped to further fuel the Robin Hood syndrome. FBI investigators, however, were not convinced. Deviating form their original assumption that the hijacker was an experience jumper, they ultimately ruled that only a novice would have jumped under those impossible conditions, and without first checking his chutes. (He jumped with one designed for training, which had a sewed-shut reserve chute.) They also contended that Christiansen, who died in 1994, did not resemble the man in the sketch after all and therefore could not have been Cooper. And so the search continues."

"Although, they firmly believe that Cooper could not have survived the jump, the FBI is still determined to get their man, at least on paper. On December 31, 2007, the Bureau revived the 36-year old case by releasing to the press and public details and evidence surrounding the case, including photos of the deteriorating $20 bills ($5,800 total was recovered) that were found on the banks of the Columbia River on the Washington-Oregon border in 1980. (The FBI matched the serial numbers on the bills to those delivered to Cooper, but nothing more came of the discovery.)"

"Immortalized through books, movies, music, airline safety features, and even an annual festival in Cowlitz County, Washington, the man known as Dan Cooper continues to elude capture, if only in spirit."

Most of you have probably never heard of D.B. Cooper unless you are my parents age. His name does come up these days though, as evidenced in his most recent portrayal in the 2005 show "Prison Break." A character in the first season of the show, Charles Westmoreland, is popularly believed to be D.B. Cooper, though he denies that fact. At the end of the season he later confirms the claim.


*D.B. Cooper Update*
I just read in the news that there has been a new person implicated in the search for the identify of the hijacker. A woman named Marla Cooper claimed that her uncle, Lynn Doyle Cooper was the infamous D.B. Cooper. When Marla was eight she remembered seeing her two uncles planning something suspicious at her grandmother's house, then coincidentally flight 305 was hijacked the next day. She remembered seeing her uncle come home the same day with a bloody shirt and claiming that he was in a car accident. Her parents even surmised that he was the infamous hijacker later in life. She also remembered that her uncle, who died in 1999, was obsessed with the Canadian comic book hero, Dan Cooper, to the extent that he had an issue of the comic thumb tacked on his wall. Marla submitted a photo and a guitar strap to the FBI for fingerprinting but the FBI has yet to find any fingerprints on the items. The investigation is ongoing.

Article from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader: Golden Plunger Awards, 2008.

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is unlike any other religious holiday. It has by far gone the farthest away from its roots, and by that I mean now-a-days many don't go to church on the day or do anything religious. Instead, we all wear green and celebrate the Irish. Oh, and we all get totally hammered. I mean drunk out of our minds. It's supposedly not as bad as New Years but I have my doubts. I worked at an Irish Pub for a few years and I can say without a doubt that St. Patty's Day causes people to get loud, surly, or actually pretty happy. This is a classic example of a religious holiday mainly becoming secular. People still go to church for Easter and Christmas, though there is more focus on Santa and the Easter Bunny now. St. Paddy's Day lets us all pretend we're Irish for a day, if being Irish means you get drunk and fight people. I actually am Irish, and resemble a leprechaun, so there you go!

St. Patrick's Day comes from the Patron Saint Patrick. Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the 4th century to a wealthy family. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. According to his confession, he was told by God to flee from captivity and return home to Britain. Upon arriving back to Britain, he quickly joined the church and studied to be a priest. In 432, he again said that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to Christianize the Irish from their native polytheism. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of evangelism, he died on 17 March 461, and according to tradition, was buried at Downpatrick. Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish Church.

Blue was actually the official color of St. Patrick, but as the years went on he became more associated with the color green. Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn for St. Patrick as early as the 17th century. The color was further used in a 1798 rebellion in which the Irish wore green to stand out to the Irish people.

It wasn't until the 9th century that St. Patrick's Day came into being. It was at this time that people plainly associated St. Patrick with Ireland and dubbed him the Patron Saint of Ireland. A feast to commemorate St. Patrick was started in the early 1600's and continues to this day on the 17th of March unless it falls on the Holy Week. The Holy Week consisting of Fat Tuesday, Palm Sunday, and Ash Wednesday. This has only happened twice though, as the date of observance changed in 1940 and again in 2008. This change however only affects the Catholics and Protestants that observe it as a holy holiday. It didn't matter that the date had changed for Catholics and Protestants in 2008, people still celebrated on the 17th, as more of a secular party.

St. Patrick's Day became an official holiday in Ireland in 1903. It was later decided that drinking was getting out of hand on the day so they made it illegal to have bars open on the 17th. That lasted until 1970 when it was finally repealed. Though there is a secular side to the celebration in Ireland, it's still mainly a religious holiday there, celebrated by members of both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland. A day long festival was started in Dublin in 1996 though parades had taken place for many years before. The day long celebration has now grown to a five day festival that attracts over a million people.

St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated in America since the thirteen colonies. Early Irish immigrants celebrated the day to celebrate their heritage, though they were mostly Protestant at that time, not Catholic. The celebrations became more commonplace in the late 1700's and were centered in Boston and New York City. Since 1991, March has been declared Irish-Heritage month in the USA. This is of course due to St. Patrick's Day falling in the month. This follows in the tradition of America making it up to groups of people we have wronged by giving them a month.

St. Patrick's Day today in America is marked with a bunch of people wearing green (or else they'll get pinched), and the tradition of drinking with friends at bars and pubs. Several cities dye their rivers green in celebration, most notably in Chicago. Parades in celebration of Irish heritage take place in countless cities and even sports teams get in on it and wear green if they are playing on the day.

So, however you choose to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, either by going to church and remembering St. Patrick's sacrifice for the Irish, or by drinking with friends and wearing green, be safe and have fun being Irish for a day. Oh, and eat some Lucky Charms! MMMMM red balloons.

Recommended St. Patrick's Day movies:

-Darby O'Gill and the Little People (you know you want to see Sean Connery sing!)

-Waking Ned Devine

-Far and Away

-The Quiet Man

-Leprechaun (not really...unless you like horror movies with a young Jennifer Aniston)


Additional Recommendation:

-Any episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Master Sergeant "Bull" Graham

Graham is one of the many forgotten men of the Korean War. Though he is largely forgotten today (I could only get information on him from David Halberstam's The Coldest Winter, as there is no information about him on the internet), his story is no less amazing.

"Bull" Graham got his nickname, like many other NCO's with the same nickname, from his tough demeanor. He was a lifer who had never married, going on the maxim that "If the Army wanted you to have a wife, it would of issued you one." Though he was extremely tough, his men liked him. He felt that he could not be very personable with his men, as he didn't want to get too attached to anybody. For him, it was hard enough to see his men die, but it would be far worse to see friends die. Graham was the leader of the first platoon of Company C, or Charlie Company, later named, "The late Charlie Company."

This was still early in the war, in September, 1950, and the North Koreans were pushing their way farther and farther into South Korea. Their last big push was going to be going across the Nakdong River and spilling into the Puson perimeter. This was seen as an essential thing to stop to keep the North Koreans from literally driving the Americans and South Koreans off the peninsula. It was essential for the Americans to hold their ground at the east bank of the Nakdong River, though they had very little men and ammunition. The situation was grim for the American forces, but they realized that if they held off the North Koreans here, they might be able to push them back north. To make matters worse, when the North Koreans were amassing, it was during terrible weather, so the Air Force could not help the Americans. The North Koreans outnumbered the Americans greatly and started to push through the desperately thin American lines. Charlie Company was one of the companies that was basically fighting to buy time until hopefully some other troops or air support could help them. It was no use, as the North Koreans were quickly forming a proverbial noose around the American's necks.

When commanders from Charlie Company asked command if they could retreat and let the men get out of this grave situation, the answer came back that they must hold their ground. Communications were abruptly cut by the North Koreans and Graham and the other commanders decided that they had to leave, that this was suicide. Having already lost twelve to fifteen soldiers from his platoon, he gathered the rest of them to get onto higher ground so they may be able to stave off being overrun by the enemy. They quickly scavenged for ammunition, as they were completely out for most of their guns. The only thing they had were a Quad 50, which was four fifty caliber machine guns put together, and a Dual 40. They used these until they had to retreat further and watched as their own machine guns were turned against them. Taking very heavy fire, they got to the top of a large hill, but unfortunately there were North Koreans on an even higher hill, and Charlie company found itself being rained down upon with bullets. There were only twenty-five men left out of the company, which included Captain Bartoley, Corporal Jessie Wallace, Lieutenant Wilson, Private First Class Arnold Lobo who was the medic, and Private First Class David Ormand who was the radio man. Ormand was considered living on borrowed time, as he had is radio shot clean off his back. Captain Bartoley had to crawl over and carry a badly shaken Ormand to safety.

Upon realizing that they were not out of the woods yet, Graham was shot in the rear. The company used all the bullets they had, but they could do nothing against the massive North Korean force. Graham was shot again in the rear, but from a different angle. He instantly lost feeling in his legs. He took his undershorts off and had Lobo fold them in half and use them to stanch the bleeding. As far as Graham could tell, all of the men left of Charlie Company had been hit. A few men asked Graham what they should do; should they fight, run, or surrender. Surrender would of been a viable option in any other war, but the men had heard stories, true ones it turned out, of American prisoners found with their hands tied behind their backs with wire and shot in the head, then buried in shallow graves. They wondered though how they could fight without any ammo. He told them he was dying, and that they had to make the decision on their own. Graham noticed a halt in fire and realized that his men had decided to surrender. Graham was relieved that no one was killed outright, but later heard that Wilson and Lobo had been killed while prisoners. The rest of the men were later recaptured by American troops.

Two North Korean troops passed by without stopping at Graham. The third took notice and stripped him of his boots, watch, socks, cigarette lighter, and his little black book in which he had wrote down all the names of the men that had pissed him off in any way shape or form. The book wouldn't be any good to him now. Most of the men listed in the book were dead now, and he felt that he was about to join them. He was asked if he was an officer and he told them no, that he was a GI (remember that these are communist forces who declared any higher up military man to be a worse capitalist than the regular GI's. If you were captured, you were to say you were poor and were just a GI). Unfortunately for Graham, the North Korean troop had a "Smart John." "Smart Johns" were officers who seemed smarter and meaner than the other men in the troop. The officer put the end of his gun against Grahams forehead and motioned for him to get up. Graham motioned that he was unable to get up. The officer than made a mocking stabbing motion towards Graham's genitals. Graham again motioned that he could not get up and pointed toward the bloody area under his waist. The officer left to look at other survivors, though Graham wasn't alone for long. Other soldiers came up and started mocking Graham, asking him in primitive English how old he was and if he wanted some water. Graham tried to get a drink from the, but the soldiers refused. The "Smart John" came back and, perhaps realizing that Graham was too far gone to bother with, took his dog tags and left.

Miraculously, after twelve hours, Graham finally felt strong enough to crawl off. For the next twelve nights he crawled and limped towards what he thought was American positions. He hid out during the day and moved as quietly as possible at night. In the first twenty-four hours he believed he may of only gone one hundred yards. Eventually he found a stick and used it as a crutch. He drank water when he could, often resorting to drinking the dew off the grass. By the time he got to an American position, he had a heavy beard and mustache that he swore was so long that it was curling at the ends. He looked gaunt as hell, having lost some fifty pounds. To the officers in the camp, it was as if a ghostly apparition had appeared. Major Butch Barbaras, having just opened a beer, saw the ghostly figure and decided to give the beer to him. "Best thing I ever tasted," Graham told Barbaras. For Graham, his Korean War was over. Only fifteen men made it in Charlie Company. The company then gained it's infamous nickname, "The late Charlie Company." To all those who were wondering, the Americans were able to hold the line in the end and the coast of the Nakdong River was the farthest that the North Koreans ever got. The push to the north had started.

*Note*: The above picture is not of "Bull" Graham, as there are none that can be found on the internet. This is a common theme among Korean war commanders .The picture is of a soldier from Charlie Company though, but I'm sure Graham looked much tougher.

All information gathered from The Longest Winter by David Halberstam. I'm only a little ways into the book but it's extremely good and very informative on the Korean War.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's day is one of those holidays that either you celebrate or you don't. It's easier to forget than other holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and Halloween...unless you're in a relationship. If you don't have a significant other, then you probably hate this holiday and wish it would just get over with. If you do have someone...well....the day can still be painful. If you forget this holiday while in a relationship, you lose. I'm almost just talking to guys. This is an important day, unless your interest doesn't care, then you're off the hook! But don't assume that they don't care. That's a big mistake. Ugh...this holiday is stressful. It didn't used to be like this. Surprisingly though, valentine's day isn't a very old holiday. It's only really come into it's own as a holiday in the 1800's. But what about before that?

Valentine's day, or Saint Valentine's day is based off this specific saint. There are many St. Valentine's in history, so nobody is really sure which one is attributed to the holiday. The legend of one of the St. Valentine's goes like this: St. Valentine is a persecuted Christian and is interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius is impressed with Valentine and tries to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refuses and tries to convert Claudius instead. This leads to Valentine being sentenced to death. Before he was killed though, he performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer. Since this story still provided no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail. The most popular version of the story, though there is no historical evidence, is that Valentine gave a card to the jailer's daughter whom he healed, whom he considered his beloved, and signed it "From your Valentine."

A day being attributed to Valentine wasn't mentioned until Geoffrey Chaucer mentioned it in a poem. After that, the actual day was pegged on February 14th due to the establishment of the "High Court of Love" in Paris in 1400. The court dealt with love contracts, betrayals, and violence against women. The day further became a day of courting during the Renaissance and further on.

In 1797, a book called The Young Man's Valentine Writer was published, which gave men scores of sentimental verses to recite to their sweethearts. The business of valentine's day cards was born around this time too, as people were able to send these valentine's cards to people anonymously through the mail if they chose. Even though it was Victorian times, people were sending racy cards anonymously through the mail. The Victorian age in Britain also promoted the giving of flowers and chocolates to your sweetheart on the day. By the 1840's, the valentine's day fever had spread to America. Not much has changed since then. We still are encouraged to buy chocolates and flowers for our other half. We still give out a bunch of cartoon valentine's day cards to all of our friends in school and hope that after all the effort we put into making that shoe box look nice and cutting a hole in the top, we might just get the most cards. I'm having terrible elementary school flashbacks. Why did I buy Lion King ones so many years?

The biggest addition to the "things you're supposed to give your loved one" is jewelry. In the 1980's, jewelry stores realized that they could be cashing in off this holiday too and insisted that if a women didn't get an set of earrings or a necklace from her boyfriend/husband then he's just a cheap jerk. Counting children valentine's day cards, America produces about 1 billion valentine's day cards a year. With the rise of the internet, some people have chosen to keep it simple and just send an e-card, though I haven't seen one those in eight years.

Though Valentine's Day has kind of a murky beginning and it's hard to really associate it with love and affection, it has turned into just that. Sweetest Day is the cousin to Valentine's Day, but nobody really cares about that holiday. Don't forget Love Day, made up by the greeting card companies after the success of Christmas 2.

Abraham Lincoln: An extraordinary life

I have already given you a glimpse at Lincoln's life in the time that he was president. To honor his memory on his birthday, I will give you the rest of Lincoln's story.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. -Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln, who was given no middle name, was born to Thomas and Nancy Lincoln in a one room log cabin in Harding County, Kentucky. Lincoln had a somewhat happy childhood at first, living in a religious household (though Lincoln in the future never joined a church), and the family enjoyed Thomas' well known status in the community. This all changed when they lost all their property and had to move to Perry County, Indiana to start anew. Then Nancy Lincoln died from the dreaded milk sickness, a deadly sickness that happens when a person drinks milk from a cow that fed on White Snakeroot, which is poisonous to humans but not to cows. Not long after, Lincoln also lost his older sister Sarah, who died while giving birth. His father married Sarah Johnston and Lincoln and her became very close. The same did not happen between Lincoln and his father however, as he was embarrassed by his father's lack of education and the amount of farm labor that he had to do under him. Though he loathed it, he still worked hard on his family land and gave all the money he earned from working outside of their land to his father, as was customary until a man was twenty-one years old.

The family moved, fearing a milk sickness outbreak, to several different places in Illinois, ending in Coles County, Illinois. This is where Lincoln, at the age of twenty-two, decided to strike out on his own. He worked on a shipping boat on the Mississippi, taking goods down to New Orleans, but only for one trip. He got to New Orleans, saw slavery firsthand, and walked back home. Lincoln's formal education only lasted eighteen months, and the rest came from self-education. He was known as a rough and tumble wrestler as a young man, but was considered lazy by his family and their friends.

Lincoln's love life was an interesting thing. It started out great, then went downhill, never to come back again. His first love was Ann Rutledge. People who lived in the area claimed that Lincoln and Rutledge were incredibly happy together and it was assumed that they were to be married soon. All Rutledge had to do was get acceptance from a past love. Their marriage was not to be though, as Rutledge died of what was most likely typhoid fever. He next met Mary Owens, but it was a long distance relationship, and they grew apart. Then, the worst thing that could of ever happened to Lincoln reared it's ugly head; he met Mary Todd. Mary was from a wealthy slave-holding family in Kentucky and was used to the rich lifestyle. Lincoln was not and the two didn't seem to be the greatest match. Lincoln courted Mary however, and they were all set to be married. Then Lincoln got cold feet and called it off. They met up months later and decided to give it another go, with this marriage date sticking.

At twenty-three, Lincoln opened a small general store with the help of a partner. Though the economy was booming in the area, the store struggled and Lincoln and the partner had to close it, amounting in a large debt for Lincoln. He then tried his hand at politics, which thankfully stuck, though it would take a long time. He campaigned for the Illinois General Assembly but finished eighth out of thirteen candidates. Shortly before the election, Lincoln served in the militia during the Black Hawk War, though he never saw any combat. Lincoln had some success early on in politics as he served as part of the state legislature for a time, then becoming a lawyer. After being admitted to the bar in 1837, he moved to Springfield, Illinois to practice under Mary Todd's cousin. During this time he also served on the Illinois House of Representatives for four consecutive terms. It was at this time that he started to form his opinion on slavery, feeling that slavery should not be expanded, but not taken away. He supported Henry Clay however, in his cause to make the abolition of slavery practical by helping slaves go back to Africa.

Lincoln was a Whig during his early years in politics and served as one in the U.S. House of Representatives for one two-year term. In that time he opposed James K. Polk and his decision to go to war with Mexico, and decided that when Henry Clay couldn't get nominated, supported war hero Zachery Taylor. Going back home, he became a well known lawyer. After the wedding between Mary Todd and Lincoln, they moved into a house near Lincoln's law practice and quickly started a family. Robert Todd Lincoln was born in 1843, and their second son, Edward Baker Lincoln, was born in 1846. Edward did not live long however, as he succumbed to tuberculosis in 1850, though his death was largely assuaged by the birth of William "Willy" Lincoln. Willy however died during Lincoln's first term in 1862 of a fever, which further plunged both parents into what is now considered clinical depression. Lincoln was especially close with Willy and his death struck a hard blow on him. Tad Lincoln, their last son, was born in 1853.

In the mid-1850's, Lincoln's loyalties began to falter. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, which had repealed the Missouri Compromise, had basically split the Whigs over the issue of slavery. The split led to the creation of the Republican Party, which included people from the Know-Nothing party(the anti-immigrant party), the Whigs, and the Free-Soil Party (a party that supported the abolition of slavery). Lincoln decided to go along with the Republicans, and then set his sights on a Senate seat for Illinois. His opponent was Stephen A. Douglas, the "Little Giant." Douglas was the incumbent and preached the notion of popular sovereignty to decide what new states were free or slave. Lincoln opposed him by making his speeches about the stop of the expansion of slavery. The debates between them became the famous "Lincoln-Douglas debates." Though Lincoln put up a good fight, Douglas kept his seat. This flung Lincoln into the limelight, and he soon was in talks to try a hand at being president. Lincoln gained support, but many didn't feel that he would even get close to a nomination for president. Lincoln however received the nomination for his moderate view on slavery and support of internal improvements. Lincoln, though was considered a moderate to Republicans, was an extremist to the United States. His view against the expansion of slavery still didn't jive with southerners, though he never claimed he wanted to get rid of slavery outright. Even though Lincoln's name was not on almost any ballot in the south, he still won the election.

To learn more about his presidency and assassination, I would recommend my other article on Lincoln. To finish this one, I will go about giving additional information on his home life and his funeral. Mary Todd didn't make things easy for Lincoln. They really didn't get along on many levels and she was constantly buying clothes, and I mean hundreds of dollars a day of clothing. Mary went further into her weird shopping habits and bipolar behavior after Willy died. The stress of dealing with an insane wife, losing two sons, and a bloody war had aged Lincoln terribly in his time as president. Lincoln, like I had mentioned in my other post, had many strange dreams. He would always have the same dream that would trumpet big happenings. The strangest dream he had, though this is only a rumor, as it came from a second hand source, showed Lincoln that he would die soon. In the dream, he is walking around the White House and sees a group of people grieving over a casket. He cannot see who it is and no one in the rooms seems to notice him. Finally, Lincoln begs a soldier present to tell him who that poor soul is that has died. The soldier looks at him with a frightful face and declares that the president has been assassinated. This supposedly took place only a few days before Lincoln's assassination.

Mary Todd's behavior did one good thing for history however. Her bipolar-ness was not very attractive to others and Mary did not have many close friends. One person that could not stand her was Ulysses S. Grant's wife, Julia. When the Grant's were asked to accompany the Lincoln's to see a play at Ford's Theater, she refused because she didn't want to be around Mary. This refusal may have saved Grant's life, as he would have been a target of assassination had he been there with Lincoln that night.

Though Lincoln and Mary had a very strained relationship, there is no record of Lincoln ever cheating on her, making him one of the few presidents not to cheat on his wife or take up a mistress. One of the last things they did together, besides see the play at the Ford's Theater, was take a carriage ride together, as it was one of Mary's favorite things to do. Lincoln probably regretted marrying Mary Todd, but he did love her no matter how crazy she was.

After Lincoln died, there was a question of how to pull off the funeral. They couldn't allow millions of people to crowd into Washington D.C., for it would cause pandemonium. It was decided that instead, they would bring Lincoln to the masses. They would have a funeral train that went through all the big cities of the north. The last stop would be Springfield, Illinois. This was risky, as methods of keeping Lincoln from looking like a gross corpse were in their infant stages. They pumped him with as much embalming fluid as they could to have him keep through the journey and the funeral train set out. Many of the cities decorated their areas in mourning colors and made a huge celebration out of the funeral, most notably New York City. There were public viewings allowed but people had to wait in line for hours just to see Lincoln for a few seconds. As the train went further on it's journey, many began to see Lincoln's body become less life-like due to the heat. Makeup was put on him so as not to scare people when they saw him. The funeral train did not go off without a hitch though, as there were many southern sympathizers who were in northern cities. Random people would shout pro-south slogans as the train passed, or would say something against Lincoln, and were promptly beaten, many to death. Such was the fervor and air of anger and sorrow that gripped the nation after the Civil War. Lincoln's final resting place is at Oak Ridge Cemetery, in Springfield, Illinois.

What became of Lincoln's family? Well, Tad ended up dying in 1871 at the age of eighteen, which basically left Mary completely insane with grief, having lost three sons and a husband. Her last remaining son, Robert had her committed to an insane asylum in 1875. Robert went on to become a lawyer and Secretary of War under Presidents Garfield and Arthur. The Lincoln lineage is sadly no longer around since Robert's grandson, "Bud" Beckwith died in 1985.

Lincoln's life was extraordinary in the sense that he had more weight on his shoulders than probably most men in history. One thing I remember in history classes growing up was seeing the poster with all of Lincoln's failures, and then the last one being him becoming president. The poster, of course was showing kids that you should never give up, no matter how many times you fail. This, of course is a very good lesson, and served Lincoln well during his life. He had many disappointments, but he worked hard and kept at it when others would of probably quit. Lincoln also had more tragedies in his life than most. He lost two sons in his lifetime, had an insane wife, and was trying to fight one of the bloodiest wars in history. There is a certain time when perseverance is directly attached to a person, and that undoubtedly is Lincoln.

Many will forget Lincoln's birthday, as it is often overshadowed by Washington's birthday, which is now called President's day. We sort of associate both presidents with the day, but on that day we choose to go out and save on mattresses and dinette sets then remember anything that Lincoln or Washington did for us. So, to celebrate, learn more about Lincoln. Read other articles. Read his speeches, especially the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln is far bigger than anything I could write about him.

The Winchester Mystery House

After the death of William Winchester, the famous inventor of the Winchester rifle, his wife Sarah Winchester was inconsolable. Not only had she lost her husband, but also their daughter only a short time before. A close friend told Sarah that she should talk to a medium about her dead daughter and husband. The medium told Sarah that her family was cursed because of William's invention of the Winchester rifle. Her family had been cursed by all the people that had been killed by Winchester rifles and they wanted vengeance, so they had killed Sarah's baby and husband. The medium told her that the only thing she could do was to move out west and to start building a house. The catch was that she had to keep production of the house going at all times or she would die.
Sarah followed the medium's guidance and moved to San Jose, California and began construction on her house. She had inherited $20 million dollars after her husbands death and made $1000 a day from gun sales, so she had no problem hiring a bunch of people to build the house. This all started in 1884. Sarah required that production never halt, so workers were cycled in an out constantly. As would any house that had to be continually built, the Winchester House started to look a little funny. Staircases went to nowhere, doors opened to brick walls, hallways doubled back, and many doors led to the outside no matter which floor you were on. Sarah also had a thing about the number 13 and had it incorporated in many aspects of the house. Candelabras, window panes and stairs steps all came in thirteens.

While the house appears to be chaotic to a normal person, the house made sense to Sarah, as she had it made maze-like to confuse the evil spirits that haunted the house. Construction of the house went on for 38 years until Sarah died in her sleep. Construction abruptly stopped, with the house taking up about four and half acres of land. After 38 years, the house had cost $5.5 million dollars to build ($71 million in 2010 dollars). The confusing house was deemed worthless and ended up selling for $130,000 to a local investor. The house is now owned by Winchester Investments LLC and is deemed a Historical Landmark where tours can be taken of the supposedly haunted house.