Told in a Line – January 23, 1884

The St. Paul and Minneapolis Pioneer newspaper of January 23, 1884 included a feature called “Told in a Line”.  It was simply a list of one-line news items. 

 Some are very straightforward:

West Point has another negro cadet.

The Greely relief bill passed the house.

St. Louis has 8,000 idle iron mill men.

But a few of them are quite curious:

Mrs. Colton has more letters in reserve.

Was she the Vanna White of 1884?

Senator Allison is practically re-ellected

Almost re-elected? Re-elected in a practical manner?

Steubenville, Ohio has caught a wild man.

Jim Nutt was not too insane – just insane enough.

Mrs. Nicholson is feeling for the major’s property.

How insane is “just insane enough”?

And I think this one line tells me more than I want to know about Mrs. Nicholson. Whatever does that one line mean?