“As is invariably the case, a woman was the cause of the difficulty.”

Chicago Tribune, October 30, 1871. This is rather an ungenerous little bit of reportage on several counts. Imagine that you’re just out of the city lockup, your ex-boyfriend shoots your current beau in front of you, and then the newspaper blames for you and all your sex for it, and then calls you “an old Bridewell hag” in the bargain. All told, a pretty rough week for poor Rose Clark.

A fool there was

Chicago Tribune, January 18, 1921. Well, this scenario isn’t exactly as described in Mr. Kipling’s famous poem “The Vampire,” but the basic message is the same: Men are boobs, see?

Vampires Among Us 2:The Blathering

Chicago Tribune, November 14, 1909. Actress Katherine Kaelred (left) starred in the Broadway version of the hit play A Fool There Was, based on  Rudyard Kipling’s  famously anti-uxorious poem Bitches Ain’t Shit of the same name. But in the Hollywood film version, the role of The Vamp went (as previously noted) to Theda Bara (right). More of Kaelred’s musings on the state of domestic vampirism after the jump.

“Thirst for the blood of the female sex of Williamsburg has become epidemic”

Chicago Tribune, February 9, 1871. When and why did Williamsburgh lose its terminal “h”? Shouldn’t some hipster conservationists be battling for its restoration? Anyway, it’s awesome to contemplate all of those Gilded Age harness bulls dragging up to catch a vampire.