Hellish Fiends, and Brutish Men

I discovered the following two stories while trawling through newspapers.com. Both articles were featured in the Thursday, 8 August 1872, edition of Stockton, California’s Daily Evening Herald.

Driven to Desperation

Smith Johnson, of Detroit, driven to desperation by the wiles of a widow, promised to marry her, and then attempted to get out of it by tipping her out of a boat into the river; but she wouldn’t drown, and so, rowing into a marsh, he helped her out upon a log under the pretext that the boat needed bailing, and then jumping into the boat made for the shore. After much screaming the deserted woman was rescued from her damp and perilous position; but Johnson has not been heard from since.

Mr. Cyrus King Finds Relief

Mr. Cyrus King, of Barre, Massachusetts, a well-known and respected gentleman, seventy-five years of age, has suffered forty years from a distress in the stomach which he thought came from some living creature which he had swallowed while drinking at a spring. Last week he was relieved of a brown snake, fifteen inches long and three-eights of an inch in diameter, and he feels better.

© Mark Young 2025

Source

https://www.newspapers.com/image/488530611/?fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjQ4ODUzMDYxMSwiaWF0IjoxNzU5NTI2NDk5LCJleHAiOjE3NTk2MTI4OTl9.ura7LGWhpJ195IAvcpk5xsUamx4z2CTdZFffe52aWTs