Eyewitness to America

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Diary entry:
I presented some of them with red caps and some strings of glass beads which they placed around their necks, and with other trifles of insignificant worth that delighted them.

3rd person account:
The king's dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head in her arms, and laid her own upon his to save him from death.

First person account:
It was noted that in her, as in others like her, that if the afflicted went to approach her, they were flung down to the ground. And, when she was asked the reason of it, she said, 'I cannot tell. It may be the Devile bears me more malice than another.'

Unofficial transcript:
I have always observed, that in every Colony the more plenty the means of remittance to England the more goods are sent for, and the more trade with England carried on.

Letter to a relative:
Before nine o'clock in the evening, every chest from on board the three vessels was knocked to pieces and flung over the sides. They say the actors were Indians from Narragansett.

Diary of John Adams:
When Congress had assembled, I rose in my place, and in as short a speech as the subject would admit, represented the state of the Colonies.

Press account:
Asked if they were prepared, being answered in the affirmative he gave the word present as has been agreed on, and both of the parties took aim and fired in succession. The intervening time is not presented as the seconds do not agree on that point.

A soldier's recollection:
Finally, the place remained in the power of the Mexicans, and all the defenders were killed. It is a source of deep regret, that after the excitement of the combat, many acts of atrocity were allowed.

Diary entry:
Mrs Murphy said here yesterday that thought she would commence on Milt. & eat him. I don't that she has done so yet, it is distressing.

Journalist's diary:
Soon afterwards there entered, with a shambling, loose, irregular, almost unsteady gait, a tall, lank, lean man, considerably over six feet in height, with stooping shoulders, long pendulous arms, terminating in hands of extraordinary dimensions.

Journalist's account:
When we arrived at the lake shore we found thousands of men, women, and children, and hundreds of horses and dogs, who had already fled there for refuge. The grounds were dotted all over at short intervals with piles of trunks, chairs, tables, beds, and household furniture of every description.

Laboratory journal:
As it was I could not make out the sense- but an occasional word here and there was quite distinct. I made out 'to' and 'out' and 'further' and finally the sentence 'Mr. Bell do you understand what I say.'

Newspaper report:
Then the houses, nearly all crowded with people, crashed, one after another, until the terrible wreckage extended half a mile up the stream. No pen can tell the horror of the shrieks of the thousands who were in the mass of floating ruins.

Personal recollection:
I sat erect at my desk and said aloud: 'If he can't run with the ball, we don't have to tackle; and if we don't have to tackle, the roughness will be eliminated.' I can still recall how I snapped my fingers and shouted, 'I've got it!'

Diary entry:
Will made the second trial. The course was like mine, up and down but a little longer over the ground though about the same in time. Dist. not measured but about 175 ft.

N.Y. Times report:
It is one of the few things that Leonardo da Vinci, Roger Bacon, Jules Verne and other masters of forecasting failed utterly to anticipate. It is only within the last few years that prophets have been busy in this field.

Recollection of Daniel Inouye:
And then we saw the planes. They came zooming up out of that sea of gray smoke, flying north toward where we stood and climbing into the bluest part of the sky, and then came in twos and threes, in neat formations.

Pilot's memory:
To the men who fly the bombers, targets are inanimate, consisting of buildings, bridges, docks, factories, railroad yards. The tragic consequences to humanity are erased from one's thoughts in wartime because war itself is a human tragedy.

Journalist's account:
Suddenly we heard three loud, almost painfully loud, cracks. The first sounded as if it might have been a large firecracker. But the second and third blasts were unmistakable. Gunfire. One sees history explode before one's eyes and for even the most trained observer there is a limit to what one can comprehend.

First person account:
Beyond those words I don't recall any particular emotion or feeling other than a little caution, a desire to be sure it was safe to put my weight on that surface outside Eagle's footpad.