He Wrote His Will on the Wall

Newspapers are struggling in the internet era. They have lost their role as "news aggregators." The good, grey New York Times used to play that role in surprisingly lively fashion, judging from front pages of a century ago that Kellogg's is reprinting. (Corn Flakes have been around for more than 100 years!)

The front page of The New York Times of Thursday, November 4, 1909 was a veritable fountain of information. Tammany Hall was in trouble, the NYC criminal court building was falling down, and – according to a dispatch from London – the Montagu who ran away with Lady Crofton was not the Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. And alas, the "aristocrat" Miss Ada Durlacher just married in Paris was not a marquis.

Better yet are the collection of news tidbits that fill out the page, including the one shown below.

Peter Leist, who claimed a dozen trades and professions, but who was a hermit, was found dead at his home near Savannah to-day …. He was seated in a chair apparently staring at the wall of his room, on which he had written his will, leaving his property, which is considerable, to his son …."