1881 Sees Garfield Assinated, First Red Cross Relief Effort
'New Jersey tries to claim Noah, because he was a New-ark man." That's the way it was in October 1881!"

Get into a conversation with a longtime Queens resident and you're likely to discover a subscriber of the Long Island Star-Journal, a daily paper that informed the community about local and world news until it folded in 1968. A banner across the Star-Journal masthead reminded readers that the newspaper's name came from the merger of the Long Island Daily Star (1876) and the North Shore Daily Journal--The Flushing Journal (1841).

All photos public domain. Columns left to right. President James A. Garfield

Welcome to October 1881!

On September 19, 1881, President James A. Garfield died of a wound incurred when he was shot by Charles Giteau in the Baltimore and Potomac railroad terminal in Washington, D.C. on July 2, 1881. A memorial service hosted by the Garfield and Arthur Campaign Club of 1880, attended by over 400 persons, was held at Washington Hall in Astoria.

On October 19, Garfield's remains were transferred from the casket in which they came to Cleveland to an air-tight one made of sheet bronze. Mayor Rensselaer R. Herrick of Cleveland had received a letter, on September 9, stating that on the representations of the Union League Club and prominent citizens of New York that the body had not been placed in the proper receptacle. The Metallic Burial Case Company of New York offered a casket, which was specially made for this purpose. Mrs. Garfield had been much pleased with the casket and, in accordance with her wishes, the transfer of remains was done.

Charles Giteau

On September 5, a gale swept in from the southwest toward the "Thumb" of Michigan. A devastating forest fire, raging for three days, resulted. A million acres were devastated in Sanilac and Huron counties alone. The disaster cost 282 lives, and did more than $2,250,000 worth of damage. "The flames ran faster than a horse could gallop," said one survivor of the devastating blaze. Its hurricane-like fury uprooted trees, and blew away buildings. This disaster was the first relief effort led by a newly formed organization, the American Red Cross, founded by Clara Barton.

In October, the Ladies Michigan Relief Association gave a musical entertainment to collect Long Island City's relief quota at Smithsonian Hall, a local meeting hall. A festival, where ice cream, cake and other items were provided at nominal cost, was held after the musical entertainment. The use of the hall was provided by the Star Athletic Club, which was headquartered there. The ladies had already received a large quantity of clothing and were engaged in packing and forwarding it to Michigan.

Clara Barton

On the evening of October 10, everyone who could get away crossed the East River to witness the magnificent spectacle of an immense fire in Manhattan. At the same time, an alarm was sounded at the Gas Works in Ravenswood. The roof of the old retort house was discovered ablaze at about half past seven. Messrs. F. and W. Muchmore ran over to the house of Hook and Ladder on Main Street in Astoria and sounded an alarm on the fire bell. At the first pull, the bell rope broke and a man had to be stationed in the top of the tower to ring the bell. The fire was extinguished in about 30 minutes, but caused damage estimated at $500. The incident caused extensive excitement in Ravenswood, as the close proximity of the gasometer (the gas storage tank) to the burning roof made residents in the area dread an explosion.

The Star quoted some statistics on world population from the London Times. The world had a population of 1,455,923,000. Of these, 837,707,000 lived in Asia, 205,679,000 in Africa, 315,929,000 in Europe, 95,405,000 in the Americas, 441,000 in Australia and Polynesia, and 82,000 in the Polar regions. The most populous country in the world was China, with a population of 434,900,000. The largest country in Europe was Germany, with a population of 43,943,000. The United States population stood at about 50,000,000.

The Star protested: "The most disgraceful job connected with the Long Island City government is the contract under which the street lamps are managed... The lanterns are dirty and dilapidated. There is no system or regularity in the lighting...In order that our readers may know something of the manner in which the present contract is carried out, it is only necessary for us to say that the Commissioner of Works has deducted from the bills for August and September a total of 4,748 lamps. This figure although apparently large is, we believe, far below what it should be. Numerous lamps in out of the way corners are habitually neglected. Many of the lanterns are broken or so badly out of repair so as to be utterly useless. It is utterly impossible for the Commissioner to follow up on the tricky employees of the unscrupulous 'company' and he therefore cannot do the matter justice. It is enough to know that a large proportion of the lamps are never touched-that there is a settled purpose to hoodwink and cheat the city-and that there is no hope of any change for the better from the present manipulators of the contract."

On October 3, an unknown man of about 40 years of age jumped from the ferryboat Yorkville as she crossed the East River from 92nd Street in Manhattan to Astoria. When the man boarded the ferry in Manhattan, he immediately went to the bow of the boat, where his suspicious actions attracted the attention of the pilot, who kept his eyes on the man until the boat was near Flood Rock in the middle of the river. Here the pilot's attention was directed from the man by the signal of a passing steamer. At that instant, the man jumped. The man did not come to the surface, and it was thought that he must have been struck by the paddle wheel. His hat was picked up by the tugboat General Humphreys, but his body was not recovered.

Some homespun humor from 1881: "The minister asked the Sunday School class: 'With what remarkable weapon did Samson at one time slay the Philistines?' For a while there was no answer and the minister, to assist the children a little, commenced tapping his jaw with the tips of his fingers, at the same time saying, 'What's this? What's this?' Quickly a little fellow, quite innocently, replied, 'The jawbone of an ass, sir.'"

And of course: "New Jersey tries to claim Noah, because he was a New-ark man."

That's the way it was in October 1881!

Greater Astoria Historical Society exhibits are open to the public on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. at Quinn's Gallery, 4th floor, 35-20 Broadway, Long Island City. New exhibit, "Lager, Leisure, and Laughter: Long Island City at Play", now on view. For more information, call the Greater Astoria Historical Society at 718-278-0700 or visit www.astorialic.org.