A little OT: sad story from the past

[jnyork]

Occasionally our Wyoming statewide newspaper, the Casper Star-Tribune (known to all as the Casper Red Star for their progressive/socialist leanings) runs some articles from their archives. Here's one:

CASPER TRIBUNE-HERALD, 1935

Deviated from the facts -- "The motion picture, 'Annie Oakley,' which was shown this week at the Rialto theater, held especial interest for Sheriff R. Jack Allen, for it depicted the career of Buffalo Bill Cody. ...

"Jack Allen traveled with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. He was a member of the Congress of Rough Riders personally headed by the famous Wyoming hunter and Indian scout. ...

"'I was particularly reminded of one incident that was introduced in the picture, even though the actual characters were different than in the picture.'

"He referred ... to the incident when Sitting Bull, the famed Indian chief, spent his first night in a metropolitan hotel. They burned gas for illumination in those days ... and the picture depicts Sitting Bull's amazement upon discovering the open flames glowing in his hotel room.

"'Such an incident actually occurred, but it involved a young cowboy by the name of Brennan, not Sitting Bull,' Allen related. '... Where he came from they had candles and kerosene lamps but no gas lights, and he was new to New York hotels. ...

"'When he walked into his room Brennan was surprised to see a flame jutting from the fixture beside the door. He hurriedly fanned out the flame, then hung his hat on the fixture. ... When his buddy got in the next morning, Brennan was unconscious. He died a couple of days later from the effects of the fumes he had breathed for hours.'"

[AJMD429]

Wow, that's terrible. Easy mistake to make, though, if you've been taught about natural gas. I wonder if they had the 'scent' in it in those days...?

[Alan Wood]

Might not even have been natural gas. There have been places in the past that had carbon monoxide instead!

[Buffboy]

Most gas for lighting in those days was made on site with carbide + water (acetylene). Our old farmhouse had the electric wires going through the gas light pipes from the 1890s to the newfangled electrics that replaced them. Everyone else in that hotel was very lucky that night.