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On the date

Thursday, May 31, 1906

From the day

Perspective: The Anxious Local · Sound

The scratchy strains of "You're a Grand Old Flag" drifting from a neighbor’s pricey Victrola Phonograph can’t drown out the terrifying chatter about that poor insurance manager’s automobile plunging thirty feet off a Bronx embankment. Every time I hear the roar of a passing machine, I clutch my five-cent loaf of bread tighter and wonder if some blockhead driver is about to lose control right into the storefront. I’ve heard talk of sonar concepts and the potential for AM Radio Broadcasting to fill our homes with news faster than the papers, but the thought of more wires and crackling static just keeps my nerves on edge. Everything is moving too fast and costing too much, making it impossible for a man to feel fit as a fiddle when death is just one steep hill away.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

REUBEN J. TAYLOR KILLED IN AUTOMOBILE CRASH; Insurance Manager's Machine Plunges Over Embankment. HIS WIFE ESCAPES UNHURT While Mounting a Steep Hill in the Bronx, the Machine Ran Backward and Dropped 30 Feet.

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

You're a Grand Old Flag

George M. Cohan

The must-have

Rook (Card Game)

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

bullyfit as a fiddleblockhead

Aristocrat

capitalmy wordbally

Working Class

gadzooksblimeychump

Catchphrases of 1906

  • The Jungle

Tech Check

AM Radio Broadcasting, Victrola Phonograph & Sonar Concepts.

Cost of Living (1900)

Loaf of Bread

$0.05

Gallon of Gas

$0.10

Average Home

$3,200

New Car

$1,000

Time Elapsed

43,835 days ago

(120 years, 35 days)