This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Editor's note • Every Saturday, Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Kirby digs into the state's past to enlighten or, at least, entertain Utahns in the present. Have a story to share? Visit Facebook.com/DisturbingHistory or email rkirby@sltrib.com.

From 1890 to 1925, Utah newspapers featured news briefs received by wire from various parts of the state in a column form. Typically, the columns were referred to as tips, happenings, clips or some other way of describing news briefs.

The stories in these columns were no more than a paragraph long. As such, they probably served more as a source of entertainment than real news. They could at times be both, though.

Today's historical disturbance features some of my favorite clips from this time period. I like the brevity and the writing. Keep in mind that what you read is the entire story published in the newspapers in question. Here we go:

• "Julius Jensen who attempted to assault a daughter of George Q. Cannon has been declared insane and is now an inmate of the state insane asylum." — American Eagle, May 28, 1898

• "In the future the Western Union messenger boys of Salt Lake City will not be permitted to enter saloons or houses of ill repute. — Davis County Clipper, Jan. 30, 1903

• "L. Huber of Salt Lake City met his death by falling from a moving train near Lehi, all limbs being severed from the trunk and the head carried at least 150 feet from the mangled mass. He was riding on the brake beam when the accident occurred." — American Eagle, Aug. 17, 1901

• "Mrs. Maggie Croft, aged 70, suicided in Shenandoah, Iowa, by swallowing a dose of strychnine which she purchased in Salt Lake City twenty-five years ago. The vial had been kept in a tin spectacle case all that time." — American Eagle, April 5, 1902

• "Joseph McMahon, the aeronaut who fell a distance of 200 feet while making a parachute descent in Salt Lake City, is dead from his injuries." — Emery County Progress, Aug. 11, 1906

• "Failing to digest a bucketful of white paint, which she drank, a cow belonging to an Ogden man had to be shot to end her misery. While browsing about the yard the animal concentrated her attention on a bucketful of paint, which had been left nearby." — Davis County Clipper, May 14, 1909

• "Rescued each time by a woman, George Cocheron, aged 85 years, of Salt Lake City, attempted suicide four times on the tracks of the Salt Lake & Ogden railway. He was finally taken to his home, and promised to make no more attempts on his life." — Carbon County News, May 27, 1910

• "Nick Sophilias, a demented Greek, caused a scattering of pedestrians in Salt Lake when he began shooting in the direction of imaginary Turks who were in reality peaceable pedestrians. He will probably be sent to the asylum." — Carbon County News, April 4, 1913

• "Inability to obtain work caused Andrew Moe, aged 28, to attempt suicide in the rear of a saloon at Salt Lake. Moe used his suspenders in an attempt to hang himself, but the suspenders broke, he was discovered by a policeman and placed under arrest." — Davis County Clipper, Feb. 20, 1914

• "Gust Johnson, a Swedish laborer, was killed by a passenger train at Lakeside, his body being literally ground to pieces." — Carbon County News, May 27, 1909

• "George Ballard attempted suicide at Payson, discharged his revolver three times, aiming each time at his head. He did no harm to himself except to blast a few powder marks across the side of his head, singing the hair. Ballard was out of employment, and despondent." — Carbon County News, April 4, 1913

• "Samuel Boyer, a well-known young man of Silver City, died from injuries sustained while out horseback riding. The horse he was riding was going at a fairly good clip, and in some way which cannot be accounted for ran into a cow." — Davis County Clipper, Oct. 2, 1908