Archived edition
Published 2026-09-18 · New Orleans after the war, 1866–1875 · 20 stories
The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger · June 16, 1872
A tongue-in-cheek item about a Delaware man's plan to hover motionless in a balloon while the earth rotates beneath him, letting California come to him — an amusing bit of 1872 pseudo-science whimsy.
The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger · June 16, 1872
A Baton Rouge correspondent reports the community's celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of a beloved pastor's first Mass — a small but heartfelt local church tribute.
The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger · June 16, 1872
An audacious attempt to blow open a safe at a county treasurer's office in Indiana using a rigged 'jewelry box' torpedo ends in a botched explosion and a foiled burglar — a forgotten small-town crime story.
The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger · April 10, 1870
A priest recounts hearing the deathbed confession of an aged soldier who had utterly forgotten the faith of his childhood, and the astonishing moment the Our Father and Hail Mary came back to him word by word — a small, intensely human scene of memory and belief recovered from a crumbling column of old newsprint.
The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger · June 16, 1872
A local correspondent's letter to the Morning Star describes an elaborate parish celebration for a priest's twenty-five years at the altar, then turns to grumbling about politics and hopes for a good corn crop — a small, human slice of Reconstruction-era Louisiana life.
The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger · April 10, 1870
A harrowing account, reprinted from an English paper, of a husband's fatal beating of his wife and the son who tried in vain to save her — a stark record of ordinary domestic violence largely forgotten to history.
The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger · June 16, 1872
A short piece of agricultural philosophy urging farmers to temper long hours of manual toil with study and planning, illustrated by the image of men straining against a stone they could have moved with leverage.
The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger · June 16, 1872
A French physician's chance observation of a butcher salting pig's blood led to a startling reduction in yellow fever deaths among troops in the West Indies—an obscure but consequential medical discovery worth remembering.
The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger · June 16, 1872
A German correspondent examines why Pomeranian villages are emptying as peasants emigrate to America, arguing that paradoxically the best-paid laborers leave soonest — and that landlords' own self-interest works against improving conditions at home.
