The Tragic Death of Agnes Daubert

There is a popular saying that promotes the idea that not all heroes wear capes. In 1881, Agnes Daubert of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, proved that is true.

Born on November 11, 1854, Agnes was the daughter of Jesse Thompson and eventually married Thomas Daubert, having three children. But it was what happened to Agnes on the night of November 18, 1881, that would result in a most cruel end to the woman’s life of twenty-seven years, but would also show that she was willing to sacrifice her own life for that of her child’s.

Instead of trying to summarize Mrs. Daubert’s fate, the story of her death is presented in a rather detailed way in the November 19, 1881, issue of the Reading Eagle. To my knowledge, the article is out of copyright due to its age. Please know that I’m rewriting the text verbatim, but I’m adding paragraph breaks to make its reading a bit easier.

ROASTED TO DEATH
Horrible Fate of a Pottsville Woman — Her Body One Mass of Crisped and Seared Flesh

POTTSVILLE, Nov. 19.—A horrible accident occurred at this place last evening by which a woman was roasted to death. The particulars are about as follows: 

About 7.15 o’clock the family of Augustes Umholtz, living on Coal, near Mauch Chunk street, heard a loud cry of “murder” coming from the adjoining house, occupied by the family of Thomas Daubert, baggage-master at the Philadelphia and Reading depot. Thinking that the cry had been made in jest, no attention was paid to it. On repetition of the cry, Mr. Umholtz placed his ear against the wall, and heard again the cry “murder,” accompanied by that of “fire,” and the exclamation, “Oh, my God,” seeming to come from cellar of Daubert’s residence.

He ran to a door of this cellar, and saw a bright light through a crack in the door. He tried in vain to burst the door in. A stranger burst in the panels of the door, revealing an awful sight.

Mrs. Daubert stood in the middle of the cellar a mass of flames, which leaped above her head and licked the wood-work of the ceiling. Umholtz obtained a pail of water and dashed it over the shrieking woman, who sank upon the ground. Every stitch of her clothing was burned to ashes. Her body was a mass of crisped and seared flesh. She moaned wildly as she was carried upstairs and placed on a bed. Her arms were burned to the bone. The flesh was hard and black. Her face was burned to a yellowish whiteness. 

Her sufferings were terrible, but her first words were: “How is the child?” She appeared greatly relieved when told that the child was uninjured. Her reference to the child gave a clue to the manner in which the accident occurred. She was ascending a narrow stairway leading to the upper part of the house when she stepped upon a sleigh bell with which the children had been playing. In one hand she carried a glass coal oil lamp. She carried the child in her arms. In her efforts to save herself from falling she threw the lamp from her. It fell upon the stairs and was broken into fragments. The oil ignited and in a moment her clothing was in flames. With great presence of mind she threw the child from her. The baby fell upon the kitchen floor unhurt. The helpless mother screamed “murder” and rushed into the kitchen, but as the child, rising from the floor, toddled towards her, she ran into the cellar. There she stood, encircled by fire, compelled even to breathe it, until the flames, having no food but the naked flesh, died of inanition. 

Death terminated her sufferings at 20 minutes after 11 o’clock.

Deceased was a daughter of the late Jesse Thompson, who died a couple of years ago. She was the mother of three children.

Henry Brell's 1897 Hymnal

A few years ago we found a German hymnal at a local antique store. Inside was written “Henry Brell, 1897.”

After coming across the History of Schuylkill County, PA with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers (W.W. Munsell & Co., 1881), we ascertained that Mr. Brell was one of the first people born in Klein Township, which was originally part of Rush Township and was given its name to honor Jacob Klein, an associate judge in the county.

According to the book, the first marriages in Klein Township belonged to Casper Brell and John R. Sewell, in 1854 and 1859, respectively. Casper Brell was Henry’s father.

The book is available for free on Google, but does not offer any information beyond the year 1881. With that said, it’s been a wonderful resource for information on local history up to that point.

Dress Me Up, Take Me Out

Gone are the days of the commonplace men’s and boys’ clothiers, but we can still look back on those that used to exist.

I first came across a small advertisement for Kempner’s in the 1948 edition of the Mauch Chunk Bruin yearbook. I couldn’t find much about the store itself, but a little detective work led me to the owner being Stanley J. PoKempner from Lansford (later Kentucky and New Jersey). In a book entitled Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series: 1953: January-June, it showed that Mr. PoKempner had something copyrighted in the Evening Record.

While we might never go back to a time when stores like this existed — at least not the near future — we can look back at see what was. Below I’ve attempted to enlarge and clean up the logo from the original yearbook version. In an effort to make it look a bit more defined, I had to use a different script typeface for the name and swash, but the basics of the original are all here.

Do you remember Kempner’s? I admit that it was long before my time, but I would have probably shopped there had I been around in the late-1940s and early-1950s.

Christmas in Lansford, 1958

My wife and I found these photos inside a Lansford High School yearbook from the 1950s at a local antiques store. They’re marked as being from Christmas of 1958. 

A few years ago we attempted to give our own Christmas tree a retro look by applying cascading tinsel, similar to that of the photo above, but quickly realized our mistake when two of our three cats came to the conclusion that the tree was a new-found super-sized toy.

Christmas in Panther Valley

A Christmas in Coaldale, Pennsylvania, circa 1975 or 1976. My grandparents were looking over a gift, the Tie Rack-O-Matic. I'm not sure whatever became of it, but I trust that my grandfather got a great deal of use out of it.

Throughout my childhood, it was tradition to celebrate Christmas day by having dinner at my grandparents’ house — which later became my aunt’s house — in Coaldale. My family would wake bright and early, my brother and I would unwrap the gifts that Santa brought us overnight, and we would eventually make our way to Coaldale for a one o’clock dinner with the extended family who came from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, and California.

Looking back on it, I can’t lie to you — Christmases were a good time of year. We got together, caught up on who was doing what, had a great meal, many laughs, a few drinks (after I was of legal age, of course), and enjoyed the company of each other.

As the years went by, things eventually changed. Family members passed, family members changed, family members drifted. From what I’ve been told, it happens to many people.

With that said, I still look back at the Christmases in the 1980s fondly, because — oddly enough — the 1980s are now my era of which I can reminisce and enjoy immensely.

Radio Silence

The WYNS logo from 1965. As you can see, the frequency was then 1150 instead of 1160.

It’s been a year since my last post, simply because between work and cleaning up a new property that my wife and I purchased last autumn, I haven’t had much time to wax nostalgic. In recent times, however, I’ve found myself feeding a recent need for nostalgia by occasionally listening to WLSH, a local station that has been on the air since 1952.

During Decembers, it was common to hear Christmas music playing on my parents’ radio; the other times of the year were easy-listening tunes from the 1950s to the 1970s, with an occasional 1980s soft-rock song thrown in to catch you off guard. If we didn’t have WLSH on, however, the radio was tuned to 1160 AM, which was WYNS located in Lehighton. In the 1980s, WYNS played hits from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, and had a daily trivia contest in the morning, in which the winner could get a free Egg McMuffin at the Lehighton McDonald’s. You could only win once a month, and I — as an 8-year-old — would “win” once a month with the assistance of my parents. 

Along the way, WYNS became WBYN and bore no resemblance to how I remembered it as a youth. WLSH, however, has been consistent, by and large, for decades. That might change, though, because it was announced recently that the station has been purchased by new owner and the future of the station, as of this writing, is unknown.

I don’t write this to lament change, but to rather wonder if the changes that we’re going through with regard to the concept of radio are really for the best. Regardless of whether or not terrestrial radio was something that could have endured for generations beyond mine, the question is whether or not it’s something that is “good” for us in terms of a sense of community. While technology is exploding and the Internet — via streaming and podcasting — has helped the reach of many “radio” shows, the size of the reach also increases the size of distance between the host/station and the audience. Instead of the audience being the town in which the station is located, the audience is now anywhere on the globe. A “community” has gone from the counter of the local diner to an online message board or Twitter account.

I’m sure that if I grew up in the 1930s, I might have taken a similar view of radio; after all, their audience went from the diner to several towns away. My concern would have no doubt been the same, but for different reasons.

I’ll always have the memories of monthly trivia, oldies songs, and an Egg McMuffin from Lehighton.

Mystery Lehighton Couple

I came across this photo recently while visiting an antique store with my wife. We’re not sure who the couple is, but we do know that the photo came from Miller’s Art Gallery in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. A different photo near this one had the name Steigerwalt written on the back of it, and Steigerwalt is a common name in the Lehighton area. Who this couple is, I do not know. But for the price of $2, I didn’t want to leave them behind.

Fishing for Vintage Advertisements

Enjoy these vintage advertisements that came from the 1950 issue of Outdoorsman magazine.

"Pennsylvania Angler" - August, 1948

I'm trying to convince my wife to wear this outfit for our next fishing outing.

Mystery Photo

While at an antiques auction, I found this in a bag of photos that were said to be from the Lehigh County and Northampton County areas. I have no idea where this is, however. Judging by the car, the era is either the late-1930s or some time in the 1940s.

This may be one of those mystery photos that I'll never know where it is.

The Flood of Portland, PA

Bucky's and the Portland House, across from Starner's Pharmacy. If I'm not mistaken, the pharmacy is now an auto parts store and title/tag service. The Portland House is now a furniture store.

The current location of the Portland Market and an antique store.

From what I've been told, these final three photographs are of the Portland-Columbia covered bridge, which was eventually destroyed in the flood of August 1955. At the time of its destruction, it was said to be the longest covered bridge in the United States.

I'm not sure if these photos are of that flood, prior to the bridge being destroyed, or if these are images of a different flood prior to 1955. Given the severity of the flooding in these photos, I'm going to assume that these are of the 1955 flood and were taken just before the bridge was destroyed by the raging Delaware River.

Schuylkill County History: 1906

After purchasing this photo from an antiques auction, we discovered the names of the students on the board backing. I’m listing the names exactly as they appear and apologize for any spelling errors, as this is how they are written on the board.

It should be noted that a piece of paper accompanying the photo states that the school is in either Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, or Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania. The previous owner was not sure. After checking burial records, it appears that the location could have been either town. In addition, the accompanying note stated that the photo was “circa 1900.” After double-checking birthdates of a few students, it appears that the photo is most likely from 1905 or 1906.

We’ve tried to decipher the letters in the names as best as possible, but many are hard to read due to the pencil fading and the quality of the handwriting itself. From what we can tell, the teacher’s name was not listed.

FIRST ROW: Mabel Diebert, Mary Haeseler, George Kauffman, Mary Lessig, Paul Sell, May Yeager, Lester Fisher, Anna Stauffer, Robert Moyer, Mabel Fryer, Anna Sterner

SECOND ROW: Grace Diebert, Edith Moyer, UNKNOWN, UNKNOWN, Raymond Rudloff, Robert Douglass, Ruth Boyer, Helen Croll, Gerald Wagner, Emily Gerhard, Walter Gerhard, Ida Boyer

THIRD ROW: UNKNOWN, Miriam Scharadin, Elizabeth Deibert, (UNKNOWN) Yeager, Ida Reigel, UNKNOWN, H— Moyer (child's name is partially erased on the board but does start with an H), Ralph Gerber

FOURTH ROW: Lafayette (?) Schaffell (child's first name was partially erased), Walter Greenawalt, Clyde Schaffner, Rutherford Bachman, George Fisher, Paul Brown, UNKNOWN, Leon Scheife (?), Luther Reed, Luther Hartman, Paul Himmelrich (?), Guy Eisenhardt (?), UNKNOWN, UNKNOWN

Vintage Panther Valley Football Programs

McAdoo High School vs. Lansford High School
October 6, 1945
Lansford High School Stadium

Panther Valley Big Green vs. Shenandoah
Pennsylvania Professional Football League
Sunday, November 24, 1946

Panther Valley Big Green vs. Allentown Buccaneers
Pennsylvania Professional Football League
Sunday, November 10, 1946

Coaldale High School vs. Lansford High School
1946
NOTE: At the bottom of this post, I've included a link to a living history video that was done as an extra for this collection. It should be known that the message from Evan Evans of Lehigh Coal & Navigation was, to my knowledge, never read aloud nor read on the radio. I simply wanted to give it a little something extra instead of just posting images of the program. Hopefully the end result captured a small piece of Americana and an essence of days-gone-by.

Note the message at the bottom of the page: After the game, you are all invited to attend the annual Turkey Day Hop in the Coaldale High School gym. Music is by Os Wesley and his orchestra. Dancing is from eight o'clock until whenever you feel like taking a break. If you happen to know anything about Os Wesley and his orchestra, send me a message or comment on YouTube. The only other reference I could find on the group was when they played a show near Hazleton in 1937 with Sterling Mayer and Jack Breslin as entertainment.