Freaky Friday - Two Claim Dead Woman as Wife

Kewaskum Statesman,
Sat. 04JAN1908, pg1

Oh how we women love to be fought over, preferably before we die. Truly an odd story. It was another I came across during my research and photocopied because it looked interesting. After reading it through I wish I had gone to the next issue to see what the police discovered!

"Two Claim Dead Woman as Wife

Janesville witness declares on stand his real name is Lanuette.

Another says he's husband

Prisoner at Fond du Lac Tells Remarkable Story That Tallies with That Related at Inquest.

The police are sorely puzzled.

Janesville, Wis., Jan. 2. - (Special.) - Frederick Clayton, husband of the Chicago clairvoyant whose body was found in this city recently, declared today that his real name was Lanauette and that he and his dead wife, Madeline Odell, were married in St. Joseph, Mich., on September 17 last and not in February as he had previously stated to the police and also testified on the stand.

The police here today received the startling information from Fond du Lac that a man had given himself up to the sheriff there declaring he was F. G. Lanauette and that he married the Odell woman in St. Joseph, Mich., in September. He says that they parted, and that he went into the copper country. The Fond du Lac report tallies almost identically with that told by Lanauette on the stand here and the officers are sorely puzzled and are unable to explain the remarkable coincidence. The Lanauette here will be questioned late this afternoon and it is expected that before night the mystery will be cleared up. The authorities do not seem to doubt the story told by the witness but in no way can they account for the report from Fond du Lac."

Freaky Friday - Dead Mother Lives

Kewaskum Statesman, 01FEB1908, pg1

I can't imagine the story behind this article. OK...I can imagine, but it's all so extraordinary and the article certainly doesn't give a lot of details. At least there's a happy reunion at the end of it all, but what circumstances could have caused this separation of 30 years?

It sounds like quite an interesting story is behind this little blurb in a 1908 newspaper.

"Supposed Dead Mother Lives

Fleischer Family Reunited After Thirty Years Plan Celebration

Manitowoc, Wis., Jan. 30. - (Special.) - To hear from the mother whom he had believed dead for thirty years ad (sic) to be reunited with his parent and a brother is the happiness that has come to Daniel Fletcher of this city. Fletcher has just received a letter from a brother at Cornish, N. Y., and in it is conveyed the intelligence that the mother, long thought dead, is alive and residing with his brother. Fletcher has been trying for years to locate his brother and succeeded through an uncle at St. Paul, who chanced to learn the whereabouts of the missing man. A reunion of the family is now being planned in this city."

Freaky Friday - Woman Convicted for Hogging Phone Line

The Fond du Lac Commonwealth
Reporter, 06FEB1962, pg 10

Today I'm sharing another one of those accidental articles. The ones that I just accidentally came across when researching and couldn't help hitting the "copy" button on the microfilm reader. Once again, it's not something I'd share on a Funny Friday post. While the clipping's title sounds amusing once you get into the article itself there is little funny about it. You're wanting to turn your head from the train wreck. Wanting to look away from the crash on the highway. Wanting to...but you can't and you just have to ask yourself, "What. The. Hell?!?!"

"Woman Convicted For Hogging Phone Line

Stockton, Calif., Feb. 6 - (AP) - Virginia Irene Plumb, 44, was convicted Monday of attempting to hog a telephone line during an emergency last July.

Mrs. Plumb was charged with refusing to relinquish her rural party line to Mrs. Ora Smith who was attempting to summon aid for her baby, whom she believed critically ill.

The defense contended that no real emergency existed since the baby was dead at the time of Mrs. Simth's (sic) attempted call. The prosecution held Mrs. Plumb should be judged guilty of an attempt to commit the crime.

Judge William Dozier set sentencing for Feb. 20."

Wow. And what a freaking defense! The one thing this clipping shows us is that not being able to get off the phone is nothing new...and it's apparently not just something that only teenagers have a problem with! The 21st century doesn't corner the market on stupid...1962 had it going on as well!

Freaky Friday - Woman Dies In Plunge

The Fond du Lac Daily Reporter,
16APR1926, pg1

Sometimes when I'm scrolling through microfilm I come across articles that aren't related to my family, but strike me as odd. I know there's a "Funny Friday" blogging prompt, but some of the articles I have wouldn't really be appropriate. I mean it isn't quite funny what happened here. It's just plain odd! See for yourself...

"Woman Dies in Plunge

Sets Self Afire, Falls From Roof While Walking in Sleep

New York, April 16, (RLW) - Believed to have set herself afire while walking in her sleep, Teresa Ferrara, 33, plunged in flames from the roof of her apartment house early today and died on the operating table shortly afterward as surgeons were attempting to remove a garden stake on which she was impaled. The dead woman was a somnambulist, according to her sister. A partly burned match found on the stairs leading to the roof led police to believe Miss Ferrara struck a match while walking in her sleep."

I don't have any siblings or children that would sleep walk so I'm not very familiar with it, but it is truly horrifying to think that someone could do all of this to themselves in their sleep. I have to admit that part of me wondered if there had been someone else involved. To sleepwalk off a roof is tragic. To set yourself on fire and sleepwalk off a roof is horrific. To set yourself on fire, sleepwalk off a roof, and impale yourself on a garden tool is unbelievable.

It's like death was coming for her and he wanted to make sure she wasn't getting away. Too many things happening at once, any of which could have killed her.

What is the most unbelievable news clipping you've seen?