1

Émilie’s Plan

By Antoine Marie Chamans, Comte de Lavalette

The night before the Comte de Lavalette was to be executed, his wife Émilie came to visit him with a proposal that left him speechless.

2

The First Steam Whistle

By Clement Edwin Stretton

After an accident at a level crossing, the bosses of the Leicester and Swannington Railway acknowledged that drivers needed more than lung power.

3

Byron Swims the Hellespont

By Thomas Medwin

Byron felt compelled to set the record straight after it was alleged that he had swum the Hellespont the easy way.

4

My Long Walk to Beaver Dams

By Laura Secord

A ‘slight and delicate’ Canadian woman defied twenty miles of rugged terrain in sweltering heat to warn of an impending attack by American invaders.

5

Surrey vs Hampshire

From Sporting Magazine

‘Rain stopped play’ but it did not stop the ladies of Surrey and Hampshire from finishing their epic struggle at the Newington ground.

6

A Right and a Duty

By Daniel Webster

The tighter the US Government’s stranglehold on dissent grew, the harder Daniel Webster fought for freedom of speech.