Lawton Bryan Evans (1862–1934) was a prolific American author known for his engaging works that blended history and literature, often tailored for young audiences to foster a sense of national pride. His 1920 book, America First: One Hundred Stories from Our Own History, remains a classic collection of patriotic narratives drawn from key moments in the nation’s past. As seen in a previous excerpt from the same volume—detailing the infamous pirate Blackbeard (real name Edward Teach), whose terror on the high seas off the Virginia and North Carolina coasts ended in a dramatic showdown with Lieutenant Maynard—this book vividly captures the perils and triumphs of early American maritime adventures. That tale of piracy’s downfall highlighted themes of justice and resilience against lawless threats.
Building on that seafaring drama, the following chapter shifts to a heroic episode from the War of 1812, focusing on the USS Constitution, affectionately nicknamed “Old Ironsides.” ...
In the mid-19th century, American newspapers often featured colorful anecdotes from police courts, blending humor, social commentary, and cautionary tales about everyday life. This piece from the Sunday Dispatch, published in New York in 1852, exemplifies the era’s satirical take on romance and marriage. Drawing from a supposed real-life account, it warns against hasty unions driven by idealized notions of love, highlighting the perils of mismatched expectations in a time when economic stability often trumped affection.
https://humblymybrain.substack.com/p/marry-for-love-a-hilarious-1852-cautionary
In the late 19th century, tales of maritime disasters often blended the harsh realities of seafaring life with elements of the supernatural, capturing the imaginations of readers in an era when ships were the lifelines of global trade. The story of the Alfred D. Snow, a majestic clipper ship lost to the treacherous Irish coast in 1887, stands out not just for its tragic end but for the eerie premonitions and ghostly apparitions that reportedly haunted its final voyage. Drawing from a contemporary newspaper account, this historic article recounts a chilling sequence of events involving a prophetic dream, a suicide, and spectral sightings that seemed to foretell the vessel’s doom.
https://humblymybrain.substack.com/p/the-haunting-voyage-of-the-alfred
In the late 19th century, newspapers often chronicled tales of the macabre and the mysterious, blending factual reporting with elements of the supernatural that captivated Victorian-era readers. One such account, originally from the Boston Herald and reprinted in The Salt Lake Herald, details the eerie near-death experience of a young woman named Hattie C. Craig in East Boston. Suffering from consumption (what we now know as tuberculosis), Hattie’s story unfolds with moments of apparent death, revival, and visions of heaven, raising questions about the boundaries between life, death, and the afterlife.
https://humblymybrain.substack.com/p/the-eerie-1882-near-death-revival
