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Post by helrunar on Dec 24, 2022 15:13:23 GMT
That was a good one, Dem, although of course I saw the end coming from a mile off. Very evocative nonetheless.
I'm curious about the slang term "sapper" which I guess means an ordinary non-officer soldier (rather imprecise, but I received neither the military, nor the firearms, nor the gaming genes at birth). There was some writer who used Sapper as a pseudonym--the word is obscure to me.
Yuletide cheer,
Hel.
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 24, 2022 15:42:45 GMT
That was a good one, Dem, although of course I saw the end coming from a mile off. Very evocative nonetheless. I'm curious about the slang term "sapper" which I guess means an ordinary non-officer soldier (rather imprecise, but I received neither the military, nor the firearms, nor the gaming genes at birth). There was some writer who used Sapper as a pseudonym--the word is obscure to me. Yuletide cheer, Hel. This was my general idea of what a sapper is:
"A sapper, also called a pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses, and road and airfield construction and repair."
I thought "Sapper" was A. M. Burrage but it seems I was wrong. It seems to be the pseudonym of Herman Cyril Mcneile:
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 24, 2022 16:30:49 GMT
".... So here, take his dogtag, son. I know he'd want you to have it now ..." F.G. H. Salusbury's "The Ghost of El Ageila" a "true" ghost story from Daily Express, December 1942. Reprinted in Maria & Andrew Hubert [eds.], A Wartime Christmas, Sutton, 1995 I enjoyed them both very much, especially The Man Who Was Not Afraid. Thanks, Dem!
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Post by Shrink Proof on Dec 24, 2022 16:42:55 GMT
Here in Britain the Royal Sappers & Miners were the army unit that eventually became the Royal Engineers. As well as military engineering in wartime, they are highly regarded for their peacetime activities - building emergency bridges after floods, that sort of thing.
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Post by helrunar on Dec 24, 2022 18:47:59 GMT
Thanks, Malcolm and Miss Scarlett, for those notes about the term sapper. I remember looking up the author Sapper after hearing Mark Valentine praise him years ago on that youtube tour of his library--I still have only a really vague idea about this author. Partly because I have completely forgotten what I read about his work; floruit 1920s?? Even that's quite a woolly impression now.
And thanks Dem for the Xmas goodies! Last night I watched "Too many Xmas Trees" from The Avengers, always a holiday treat.
cheers, Hel.
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Post by ripper on Dec 24, 2022 19:41:37 GMT
Re Dem's Victoria Park ice-skating disaster. There was a similar incident in Regent's Park in January 1867, when 500 people were skating. The ice cracked and around half fell in, with 40 fatalities.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 24, 2022 20:21:26 GMT
I'm not sure Tatler ever published Birkin's debut, but it is almost certainly the same groan-inducer surfaced in The Bystander for 15 Feb 1939 as Psychical Research. The influence of his beloved Paris Grand Guignol is evident in Paul Saltpeter's Party ( The Tatler, 12 July 1939), although on this occasion the author takes inspiration from the comedies as opposed to bloodthirsty horrors. In memory of Charles Black
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Post by dem bones on Dec 24, 2022 22:53:51 GMT
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Post by Swampirella on Dec 25, 2022 0:09:22 GMT
Thanks, Dem! A bit too melancholy and sweet for my taste, but still enjoyable.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 25, 2022 11:42:06 GMT
Boggart on a TreadmillCOMMITMENT OF A GHOST TO THE TREADMILL. — The neighbourhood of Winsford, near Middlewich, has, for the last three years, been disturbed by an apparition of rather strange character, which in that part of the country is termed by the country folks "a boggart." This apparition appeared in the shape of a naked man, generally at dusk, on the roads adjacent to Winsford, sometimes three or four months intervening between the appearance of this much dreaded "boggart." At length the terror created by his appearance so much scared the female part of the community that they dared not venture out of doors after dark. On Saturday night, the 4th instant, between the hours of seven and twelve, as a female servant at a beer-house was washing the floor, all the family but herself being in bed, she heard a gentle tapping at the window. She lifted up her head, and, to her terror and amazement, there beheld the much dreaded "boggart" standing before the window. The terrified girl uttered a scream, and fell insensible on the floor. The noise awoke the master, who ran through the back door to the front of the house, where he came in contact with the apparition, but being in no way daunted by his ghost-ship, he seized him, when be stated that be had merely come for a glass of ale. The individual who had been behaving in this disgusting and extraordinary manner turns out to be a member of the Primitive Wesleyan chapel, in Winsford, named George Barlow. Of course he was brought before the magistrates, who regretted that the law did not empower them to punish him further than by sending him to the treadmill for three months. He is now undergoing that punishment at the Knutsford House of Correction.— Macclesfield Courier. Hampshire Advertiser & Salisbury Guardian, 25 January 1934_____________________________
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Post by helrunar on Dec 25, 2022 13:56:52 GMT
Poor boggart! Chap just wanted some fresh air and a glass of something comforting. Bigots and prudes are so tiresome.
Last night I watched the George C. Scott film of A Christmas Carol (shot in Shrewsbury in 1984) and the treadmill was mentioned. Who knew that thanks to Jane Fonda in the 1980s it would become an altar for the exercise cult of American matrons.
I looked up Primitive Wesleyan Methodists (talking of cults) but see no reference to an element of naturism in the movement--perhaps that was something of a side-branch phenomenon.
Holiday cheer!
Hel.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 25, 2022 22:08:28 GMT
It just wouldn't be Christmas without something from the glorious Illustrated Police NewsMAN COMMITS SUICIDE AFTER A CHRISTMAS PARTY. WIFE'S TERRIBLE SHOCK How a man dressed up for a Christmas Day merrymaking and afterwards committed suicide was described at an inquest at Woolwich on Charles William Hayes, aged thirty-nine, a cable worker, of Speranza-street, Plumstead. Mrs. Hayes said her husband had worried because he could not get work. They spent the evening of Christmas Day at a neighbour's house, and her husband, who was a jolly fellow," and always one for a lark," dressed himself up "for a bit of fun. At midnight he said he would go home to take his things off, and as he did not return she went to see what had become of him. At first she could not open the front door, and called out, "Open the door, you fool." There was no reply. She forced the door open, and then saw her husband behind it, and smacked his face, exclaiming, "You fool. What are you doing?" She had no idea he was dead because his eyes were open, but then saw he was hanging by his scarf from a hook. The verdict was "Suicide while of unsound mind." Illustrated Police News, 7 January 1926SHOCKING FATALITY AT A CHRISTMAS PARTY At St. Bartholomew's Hospital Mr. S. F. Langham, the City coroner, held an inquest concerning the death of Sarah Uridge, aged forty-two, the wife of a printer, living at 24, Coburg Street, Clerkenwell, who was fatally burned through a paraffin lamp explosion at that address on Boxing Day. William Uridge deposed that he had a party on Christmas night, there being so many persons present that the room would scarcely accommodate them. About two o'clock on Boxing morning the deceased was refilling a paraffin lamp whilst it was alight when the lamp, which had a glass reservoir, suddenly exploded. Her clothing was seen to be on fire, and she was so severely burned about the body that she died soon after she was taken to the hospital on a fire engine. Frederick Faulker, a lodger in the house, stated that upon hearing the sound of the explosion he ran upstairs and burst the door of the room open. He rescued several children from the flames, which had spread amongst the party, and in doing this he severely burned his right arm. Several other persons were also burned and had to be medically treated for their injuries. Thomas Pearch, foreman fireman at the Farringdon Road station, said that on arriving at the house he found the deceased lying outside on the pavement, an ambulance having been sent for. Finding the fire was extinguished, the witness at once carried the deceased into the house, and treated her burns with such things as he had on his engine — oil and lint, &c. — and as the ambulance had not arrived the witness had the woman taken to the hospital on the engine. Mr. Gibbons, of the County Council (petroleum department), deposed that he had investigated the case, and found that the explosion was due to the fact that, the lamp having burned for ten hours, the reservoir became filled with heated vapour in the place of the oil, and when it was refilled the flame came in contact with the vapour. Mr. Gibbons said that during last year there had been no fewer than 43 deaths in London through the explosion of lamps with glass reservoirs. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death. Mr. Arthur E. Langham, the deputy-coroner, held an inquest at Guy's Hospital with reference to the death of Caroline Mayers, aged six years, the daughter of a Royal Mail cart driver, residing at 294, Tabard Street, S.E. From the evidence it appeared that the deceased and her sister on Tuesday evening last went to the house of a neighbour at 290, Tabard Street, and while playing there with other children they lighted some Christmas candles. The deceased had a knitted shawl over her head, and the flame of one of the candles caught it and set her alight. The screams of the children brought assistance, and the little sufferer was removed to the hospital, but died very shortly after from the shock. The coroner said it was often the case that these toys made to amuse children at Christmas were a source of danger. Illustrated Police News, 9 January 1897
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Post by ripper on Dec 26, 2022 11:00:38 GMT
It just wouldn't be Christmas without something from the glorious Illustrated Police NewsMAN COMMITS SUICIDE AFTER A CHRISTMAS PARTY. WIFE'S TERRIBLE SHOCK How a man dressed up for a Christmas Day merrymaking and afterwards committed suicide was described at an inquest at Woolwich on Charles William Hayes, aged thirty-nine, a cable worker, of Speranza-street, Plumstead. Mrs. Hayes said her husband had worried because he could not get work. They spent the evening of Christmas Day at a neighbour's house, and her husband, who was a jolly fellow," and always one for a lark," dressed himself up "for a bit of fun. At midnight he said he would go home to take his things off, and as he did not return she went to see what had become of him. At first she could not open the front door, and called out, "Open the door, you fool." There was no reply. She forced the door open, and then saw her husband behind it, and smacked his face, exclaiming, "You fool. What are you doing?" She had no idea he was dead because his eyes were open, but then saw he was hanging by his scarf from a hook. The verdict was "Suicide while of unsound mind." Illustrated Police News, 7 January 1926SHOCKING FATALITY AT A CHRISTMAS PARTY At St. Bartholomew's Hospital Mr. S. F. Langham, the City coroner, held an inquest concerning the death of Sarah Uridge, aged forty-two, the wife of a printer, living at 24, Coburg Street, Clerkenwell, who was fatally burned through a paraffin lamp explosion at that address on Boxing Day. William Uridge deposed that he had a party on Christmas night, there being so many persons present that the room would scarcely accommodate them. About two o'clock on Boxing morning the deceased was refilling a paraffin lamp whilst it was alight when the lamp, which had a glass reservoir, suddenly exploded. Her clothing was seen to be on fire, and she was so severely burned about the body that she died soon after she was taken to the hospital on a fire engine. Frederick Faulker, a lodger in the house, stated that upon hearing the sound of the explosion he ran upstairs and burst the door of the room open. He rescued several children from the flames, which had spread amongst the party, and in doing this he severely burned his right arm. Several other persons were also burned and had to be medically treated for their injuries. Thomas Pearch, foreman fireman at the Farringdon Road station, said that on arriving at the house he found the deceased lying outside on the pavement, an ambulance having been sent for. Finding the fire was extinguished, the witness at once carried the deceased into the house, and treated her burns with such things as he had on his engine — oil and lint, &c. — and as the ambulance had not arrived the witness had the woman taken to the hospital on the engine. Mr. Gibbons, of the County Council (petroleum department), deposed that he had investigated the case, and found that the explosion was due to the fact that, the lamp having burned for ten hours, the reservoir became filled with heated vapour in the place of the oil, and when it was refilled the flame came in contact with the vapour. Mr. Gibbons said that during last year there had been no fewer than 43 deaths in London through the explosion of lamps with glass reservoirs. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death. Mr. Arthur E. Langham, the deputy-coroner, held an inquest at Guy's Hospital with reference to the death of Caroline Mayers, aged six years, the daughter of a Royal Mail cart driver, residing at 294, Tabard Street, S.E. From the evidence it appeared that the deceased and her sister on Tuesday evening last went to the house of a neighbour at 290, Tabard Street, and while playing there with other children they lighted some Christmas candles. The deceased had a knitted shawl over her head, and the flame of one of the candles caught it and set her alight. The screams of the children brought assistance, and the little sufferer was removed to the hospital, but died very shortly after from the shock. The coroner said it was often the case that these toys made to amuse children at Christmas were a source of danger. Illustrated Police News, 9 January 1897 Three very grim accounts. Quite shocking how many people were killed due to lamp explosions. These snippets from IPN, together with others Dem has reprinted, remind me so much of the News of the World sunday newspaper when it was still a broadsheet. It would print lurid accounts of crimes and tragedies that didn't make it into other newspapers or radio/TV news.
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Post by helrunar on Dec 26, 2022 13:19:04 GMT
It's interesting that in the drawings of the man who committed suicide after frolicking at that party, he's shown en travesti. That seems like a very strange and unpleasant way to commit suicide. One has to wonder.
The stories about those old lamps that could so easily turn into bombs are really scary. We were still using oil lamps at my friends' farm in the early 2000s. My buddy instructed me frequently in how to handle the lamps. I don't think in the 1890s anyone received paraffin lamp safety instructions, alas.
Happy Boxing Day all!
Hel.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 30, 2022 10:57:02 GMT
Because it isn't a proper Christmas annual without Misty.
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