[Rarebooks] FS: SUDDEN, VIOLENT OR GRUESOME DEATH SCRAPBOOK NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

[A.E. Tishman]

Ezra and Josh from Aardvark Rare Books offer this strange, sensationalist cut-and-paste death memoir from Northern California:


The Siskiyous News editor(s) (c. 1902-1908) / Unknown collector

DEATH SCRAPBOOK NORTHERN CALIFORNIA (c. 1902-1908): PRIVATE COLLECTION OF SISKIYOU COUNTY (CALIFORNIA) NEWSPAPER OBITUARIES, POETIC ELEGIES, AND WEDDINGS

Private folio journal with newspaper clippings, most from 1902-1908, from The Siskiyou News in Northern California’s Siskiyous County, which includes the communities of Yreka, Oro Fino, Quartz Valley, Scott Valley, Fort Jones, and Crystal Creek; collected and bound by unknown person. 12.75 in. x 9.75 in. Unpaginated: 17 leaves. Commercially-produced scrapbook with red cloth boards stamped on front with gilt and black flower and frame design, with printed drawing of cozy farm pasted inside the frame. Rubbing to journal’s edges and corners; a few light scuff marks to boards. Nine of the brown card-paper leaves have, on both sides, a total of about 100 newspaper clippings of varying length, pasted in four columns, mostly 2.25 inches wide. Leaves 4-9 are in a single disbound signature. The final eight leaves are blank. Age-toning to newspaper, but all clearly legible.

This collection of article are cut from the Siskiyous County Journal, which published from 1895-1941; the undated articles appear to be from 1902-1908, and detail about 90 deaths and 20 weddings. Several of the death announcements are longer stories of twelve or more column inches; wedding announcements tend to be brief. As well, there are 16 printed poems cut from the same newspaper, mostly romantic elegies.  

Many of the death notices report openly on the gruesome nature or duration of the death, with an editor’s eye to tell the story. While many articles tell of the deceased's manner of death, other focus on the rich lives of elders, or the immense pain in the loss of a child. Many notices highlight the legacy of local pioneers.

Headline titles include: 
•	Death of a Young Wife (“...It was a Godsend to have her out of her misery, as her disease was incurable...) 
•	Miner Killed by a Cave-In  (...neighbors were summoned and they dug the body out...”) 
•	Passing of a Noted Woman: The Oldest of Five Generations Passes to Her Reward – A Tribute to Grandma Hobart 
•	C.H. Member Is Drowned : His Boat Sucked Down By A Whirlpool: The Body Not Recovered 
•	Homes Made Sad: The Grim Reaper Death Carries Away Loved Ones 
•	Takes his Life : Hans Hansen, a Pioneer of Scott Valley, Ends His Life : Becomes Despondent from Suffering Intense Pain : Leaves Beautiful Ranch and Large Fortune to Comfort His Wife and Two Children
•	Whip and Reins Laid Aside 
•	Child Fatally Burned : No Physician Delivered Her Pain - No Prayer at Her Grave - but Angels Were There (...Mr. 		    Hoopengarner was sent for a doctor but he was told to see Supervisor O’Connor first and get an order. In the name of God, what do the taxpayers of Siskiyous County pay that hospital tax of $2.00 every year for? ... The kind neighbors did all in their power to relieve the child’s suffering...”) 
•	Murder and Suicide at Mott: Kills Sweetheart and Self (the story is a full 20 column inches) 
•	Meets With Horrible Death : Not Able to Hear Approaching Train He Is Run Over and Killed  (“...we larn [sic] that the body was horribly mutilated. Both arms and a leg was severed from the body...) 
•	Accidental Drowning (“...He told his son to wait in the wagon while he went down to the riverbank to get some dogwood. He was not seen again until the 9th, when his body was...”) 
•	Death of James Wiser Chase : A Scott Valley Pioneer Passes to the Great Beyond After a Long and Useful Life. 
•	Little Margaret Zitzman Dies at Age of Three Months and Two Days (“...the cause of her death being whooping cough ... The sunshine of love could not warm the little child nor the affection of parenthood beguile her from drooping...”) 

Original Poem titles include: 
•	Creeping Up the Stairs 
•	Alas! Twas But a Dream 
•	In Memory of My Boy 
•	A Marriage Feast 
•	In Memory of Mary Pitz

Laid in: An additional three dozen or so notices from the same era "waiting for the glue." Also Laid-In: Nine printed funeral announcements, dated 1896-1932, from the region. 

SEE PHOTOS:   https://www.ezrabook.com/pages/books/86462/the-siskiyous-news-unknown-collector-s-c/death-scrapbook-northern-california-c-1902-1908-private-collection-of-siskiyou-county

																		$225 postage paid
																		Subject to Previous Sale
																		
If you want it, try me at 541-520-9821, but best to call Josh at 541-484-4133;  I’m headed to the coast with a couple of boxes of books to catalogue, to escape the thick smoke rolling down the valley from the Outlook Fire, near Mackenzie Bridge



Aardvark Books, ABAA 
&
Ezra Tishman Book Appraisals, LLC

3650 Chambers Street
Eugene, OR  97405
541-520-9821/Cell: B. E S T

thebookfinder at gmail.com   
bookappraisals at gmail.com
http://ezrabook.com
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Archives Sold, Consigned & Appraised, since 1995.
Member ABAA, ILAB, IOBA 
Accredited Member, Books & Manuscripts
   American Society of Appraisers (ASA)