The Telegraph Operator Who Stayed at His Key
On 6 December 1917, Vince Coleman had ninety seconds to warn the incoming trains. He used them, and then he was gone.
Read the story →An era
Modern
1900 – 1945
Two world wars, the collapse of the old empires, the beginning of mass media.
4 stories in this era.
Two Minutes, Two Survivors
On 8 May 1902 a volcano on Martinique destroyed a city of thirty thousand. Two men lived to tell about it. One was in a dungeon.
Read the story → The Coroner’s Report June 9, 2026 · Chicago River, between Clark and LaSalle Street bridges, Chicago
The Picnic Boat That Tipped Over at the Dock
On 24 July 1915 a steamer chartered for a Western Electric company picnic capsized at its Chicago River mooring. 844 people died in twenty feet of water.
Read the story →The Morning the Siberian Sky Caught Fire
On 30 June 1908 something exploded above central Siberia with the force of a hydrogen bomb. It took the first scientists nineteen years to reach the site.
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