The newspaper article below was featured in The Illustrated Police News, etc. London, Greater London, England on Saturday October 1st, 1870. According to Wikipedia, “The Illustrated Police News was a weekly illustrated newspaper which was one of the earliest British tabloids. It featured sensational and melodramatic reports and illustrations of murders and hangings and was a direct descendent of the execution broadsheets of the 18th century.” It was founded in 1864 and was in print until 1938.
Sounds right up my alley!
Today on Weird News Wednesday we have what I look forward to being when I grow up: a crazy cat lady.
The article says that the “We are glad to say, after much exhortation, the visiting clergyman of the district has succeeded in getting Mrs. Joyton in a better frame of mind. She has consented to see the doctor, and to have a nurse, if necessary.” This made me wonder what was going on with her. Was she sick? Did she have a mental illness? The article doesn’t mention any physical ailments, but the “better frame of mind” makes me think it might be depression, possibly a depressive episode of bipolar disorder. Regardless, she clearly wanted to be left alone with her cats.
I’ll admit that I used AI to create the image below (left), uploading the image of the newspaper article, simply asking it to create an illustration. I did not tell it what newspaper the article was from or when. When I looked at Page 1 of the newspaper, I found the original illustration for the article and they are quite similar. Clearly AI was able to find the newspaper article and illustration but made some minor changes. I’m not sure which one I like better but leaning toward the AI created image.
Other headlines on the same page of the newspaper include The Ballet Dancer Burned At Manchester, A Boat-Race Between Women, Shameful Abduction of a Young Girl, and Daring Highway Robbery By A Derbyshire Innkeeper.
“Surrounded by her cats seems to be her greatest happiness.”
Bonus pics of the cats I’ve had so far in this lifetime.
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