From the Archives of Western Newspapers

By Samantha Johnson
Southern Alberta Newspapers
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Thursday, September 17, 1908 – Advertiser and Central Alberta News

Wanted: 40 billy goats to butt our town council. Communicate with Plaindealer, Souris, Man. A number of prominent ratepayers have expressed the opinion that half of the above consignment should be sent there.

A protest has appeared in an English daily against fancy dress nuptials. Brides and bridesmaids run riot in medieval robes, with sandals on their feet and wreaths on their person. Small boys are dressed in any fearful and degrading manner that happens to please their parents. The theatrical pageant has the bridegroom as the only one in a modern wedding who appears as a proper English gentleman.

According to the American Medical Association, there were 5,623 people killed or injured during the July 4 festivities. Recent efforts in education have lowered the number of national deaths from tetanus but deaths from other causes are increasing. Doctors assert that the present civilization is the worst since the days of the gladiators.

Thursday, September 16, 1909 – Trochu Times

In White Creek, Chris Reinke was missing some cattle and thought they’d been rustled. He eventually found them wandering in the bush about a mile and a half from home.

Red Lodge in White Creek need not brag about their telephone. There are five miles of line here that connect four families and others are talking about installing boxes soon.

Can someone invent a new rumour concerning Chas Lund’s disappearance? It has been twice reported that his skeleton has been found and two arrests have been made, yet the mystery is as far from being solved as ever.

This edition of the paper was only two pages long and only four editions of the Trochu Times are on file, two for September and two for October of 1909. The editor apologized for the lack of local news, saying staff were still getting organized and need the community’s cooperation in the matter.

Thursday, September 15, 1921 – The Chinook Advance

One of the difficulties faced by the Employment Service of Canada is the unemployment conditions across the country. During the week of Aug. 20 in Victoria, B.C., 1,600 men were registered for harvest work in the prairie provinces. When the call came up, only 600 expressed a desire to go. This despite there being any local present or prospective work.

A Montana rancher and one of the cowboys in his outfit were on trial in Coutts on the charge of stealing cattle from the Wallace, Ross and Webster outfits on the Alberta side of the line. Eight cattle have been rounded up by Montana sheriffs and returned to their Canadian owners. Brand running was the method used in the operation and when the two were arrested admitted their guilt.

Capt. Janney, who is being held in a Lethbridge jail, is staging a hunger strike. A trial is pending for Janney on the charge of obtaining money under false pretenses when he claimed to be raising money to start an aircraft company. In his 37th day of the hunger strike, Janney says he drinks lots of water and smokes his pipe regularly.

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