On Monday, September 19, 1927 Bonnie Elmore wrote: Cooler-Sunny. My 36th Birthday. Arose at 6:50. Made a fire. Dumped ashes. Left home 7:50. Got Ollie Hampton's ring from Henebry's at noon $1.00. Sent it to her (Registered -21 cents). At 5:30 p.m. walked home. Mrs. Chapman's baby born today. Talked to Harry Smith at the office. Read until 9:30. Went to bed about 10:30. (Chilly).
On Tuesday, September 20, 1927 Bonnie Elmore wrote: Cool-Pleasant. Roanoke Fair opened. Arose at 6:50. Made a fire. Dumped ashes. Left home 7:45. Took a walk at noon. Sunny and Pleasant today. The children didn't go to the fair. Mary is still suffering from pains in her side. I got home about 6:00 p.m.. Read after supper. Got to bed about 10:30. Pleasant weather.
On Wednesday, September 21, 1927 Bonnie Elmore wrote: Sunny-cool. Arose at 6:50. Made a fire. Shaved. Dumped ashes. Left home at 7:55. Nice, pleasant weather. Very busy at the office. Took a walk at noon. The fair is in full swing. Walked home at evening. Cut grass before supper. Read until 10:00 p.m. Got to bed 10:20. Tired.
On Thursday, September 22, 1927 Bonnie Elmore wrote: Cool-Sunny. Dempsey-Tunney fight. Arose at 6:45. Made a fire. Dumped ashes. Left home at 7:55. Got off at noon. Reached home at 1:40. Cut grass with sickle and mower. Hot and sunny. Hard work. Shaved after supper. Bathed. Went up town at 8:00 p.m. to hear news of the fight. Norman went along. We got to bed about 12 0'clock.
Wow, ok so this is one of those posts where I find several things interesting. First, Happy Birthday to Bonnie and I also know that he was 36 when writing this. Second, Registered mail in 1927 was 21 cents!!! Today: 44 cents for a stamp and the United States postal service is talking about cutting back service and some are even questioning the future of the postal service. Third, Bonnie shared a birthday with a Chapman child who today would be 84. I wonder where they are now? Fourth, the Roanoke Fair opened! I wish Bonnie had written more about that. Today the Salem Fair is quite big, but I bet it is still a lot different from a fair in 1927.
And then, this Dempsey-Tunney fight that Bonnie writes about was HUGE! It was a rematch between popular fighters for a heavyweight championship. It was held in Chicago at Soldier Field and there were over 100,000 people in attendance for the fight! The gate for the fight was over 2.5 million dollars which would be more than 22 million dollars in today's money. This fight set records for the first sporting event gate to reach one million dollars and the first to reach 2 million dollars simultaneously! It is called the "The Long Count Fight" because of some controversy over new rules concerning the 10 count after a fighter is knocked down. Some think Dempsey would have won had he gone directly to his corner. Tunney's gloves from this fight are even in the Smithsonian. It's a good read about the fight if you wanted to check it out on wikipedia. Pretty cool that after I wrote last time about Bonnie going out with the girls to a movie, that he went with Norman to I suppose listen to the fight on a radio somewhere. And, it's no wonder they didn't get to bed until midnight. Great memories I am sure where made and how awesome that Bonnie wrote that down so that they could still be shared today.
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