From the Archives of Western Newspapers

By Samantha Johnson
Southern Alberta Newspapers
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Wednesday, July 11, 1883 – Prince Albert Times

Under items of interest are the following: The Dominion police force have been supplied with rifles. The Military College in Kingston has closed. Official returns give Quebec 4400 schools with 236,000 pupils. Key West is shipping 50,000 pineapples to New York. It is said that a sum of $2 million is lying in the Halifax banks. 2,000 barrels of whisky were destroyed at the burning of the Gibson’s distillery in Gibsonton, PA last week. The route selected for the second Suez Canal is via Alexandria and Cairo to the Red Sea. Ship owners representing 4 million tons have joined the English Committee and half the capital has been subscribed.

Captain Webber arrived on the steamer Northcote on Monday from Grand Rapids carrying 150 tons of freight for points upriver. On the trip, Northcote had to lie up for two days at the foot of Cedar Lake owing to severe weather. She left for Edmonton on Tuesday morning.

Officers from the Hudson Bay Company were in town meeting with council to discuss business matters. They have completed their arrangements and most have left now for their homes.

Thursday, July 13, 1911 – Bowden News

Sir Walter Gilbey celebrated his 80th birthday at Elsenham Hall. Gilbey has tried many things, from a clerkship for less than one pound pay per week, to working in an estate agent’s office, to service in the Army Pay Department in the Crimea. After Crimea he joined his brother in a modest wine and spirit venture, which has since become a successful business.

For the first time on record, two American women have offered to die in place of another condemned to execution. The case of Angelino Napolitano is being followed by millions of Canadian and American women with intense interest. Napolitano killed her abusive husband at Sault St. Marie, the first case in Canada to use the battered woman defense and igniting a public debate about domestic violence. The Ottawa Journal carries a cable with a hint from Sir Wilfred Laurier that the chances are against her going to the scaffold. Note: Napolitano was found guilty and sentenced to death but following a public outcry the federal cabinet commuted her sentence to life imprisonment, of which she served 11 years before being paroled.

In Kingston, ON, the charter of Queen’s University has been found after being lost for many years. The charter was signed by Queen Victoria in 1841 and was recently discovered in the vault of the Frontenac Loan and Savings society. It has been handed over to the registrar at Queen’s.

Friday, July 12, 1918 – Claresholm Review-Advertiser

The most outstanding event of the past week has been the assassination of the German ambassador in Moscow. Germany’s efforts to punish Russia for this act will in all likelihood bring the Russians to arms again. Whether the allies will help the Russians is yet to be determined.

K. Stinson has flown her flying machine from Calgary to Edmonton, a distance of 196 miles, in two hours and 5 minutes. She was carrying a parcel of mail from the Edmonton post office.

An interesting case was decided at Wetaskiwin on July 2. Chas H. Swanson, one of the oldest residents of the district, was refused the right to vote by deputy returning officer Barnard in the last Dominion election. Swanson produced his naturalization papers for the enumeration and had his name placed on the list. Barnard refused to allow him to vote and had constables remove him from the booth, despite the fact Swanson has voted in every election since 1896. Barnard was ordered to pay Swanson $200 and all costs of the case or face six months in jail.