Members of an eclipse aerial expedition ready to Roosevelt Field to climb 30,000 feet to photograph the eclipse. Left to right: Aaron “Duke” Krantz, Pilot; Herbert Partridge, Technical observer; Robert Donahue, movie camera operator; and Buck Baron, camera operator.
Excerpt From: Get That Picture! The Story Of The News Cameraman
By A. J. EZICKSON
The steel strike disorders everywhere were terrifying experiences for the news photographers. At Warren, Ohio, three cameramen, Charles Wilk, Cleveland manager of Wide World Photos, Mack Baron, of International News, and Jack Hines, Associated Press staffer, were fired upon and dropped into a ditch as bullets whizzed over their heads. At the time, they were taking pictures of a food airplane landing in the Warren steel plant enclosure.
Hiram Gregg Smith was born in New York State circa 1864 to Caroline E. and Benjamin H. Smith. He was one of 10 children. Somewhere between 1873 and 1878, the family picked up and moved out to the Humboldt, Iowa area.
On December 17, 1884, Hiram Gregg Smith married Julia Geeslin in Rutland, Iowa. There first child, Caroline (Carrie) was born shortly thereafter sometime in 1885. Their second child, Leta Ethel Smith was born May 30, 1887. Following Leta was John William Smith on August 3, 1889. Benjamin H Smith was then born sometime in 1891 followed by Franklin (Frank) Edward Smith on February 27, 1893. The sixth and final child, Sumner (or Summer) Smith was born sometime in 1896.
Many years ago, my Uncle told me a story of my Great, Great Grandfather Henry William Lewis and how he had witnessed the beginning of the Civil War. This story was always very interesting to me so I decided to do some research into the events of that day. There are actually many very interesting stories about Henry William Lewis that I will write about in the future, but today’s story is about his time aboard “The Nashville” and it’s role in the start of the Civil War. The history books and buffs have many versions of how things happened that day in Charleston Bay in relation to the Nashville. But thanks to an interview with H. W. Lewis, published in “The Sun”, a New York newspaper, on May 16, 1897, things become much clearer.
On April 18, 1906 San Francisco was wrecked by a Great Earthquake at 5:13 a.m.. The subsequent seventh Great Fire burned for four days. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of trapped persons died when South-of-Market tenements collapsed as the ground liquefied beneath them. Most of those buildings immediately caught fire, and trapped victims could not be rescued. The total earthquake death toll topped out at more than 3,000 from all causes. Damage was estimated at $500,000,000 in 1906 dollars. The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was one of the great natural disasters in American history. The quake and ensuing fire left a city known as the “Paris of the West” in ruins.
