Tuesday
July 27, 1926
Daily Kennebec journal (Augusta, Me.) — Augusta, Maine
“The Last Lincoln Dies: Abraham's Son Passes at 82, Ending an Era”
Art Deco mural for July 27, 1926
Original newspaper scan from July 27, 1926
Original front page — Daily Kennebec journal (Augusta, Me.) — Click to enlarge
Full-size newspaper scan
What's on the Front Page

The Lincoln family line has come to an end. Robert Todd Lincoln, the 82-year-old eldest son of Abraham Lincoln and the last surviving member of the Great Emancipator's immediate family, died peacefully in his sleep at his Vermont summer home, Hildene, just days before his 83rd birthday. The man who served as Secretary of War under two presidents and U.S. Minister to Great Britain will likely be laid to rest in Springfield, Illinois, where a crypt has been reserved beside his father's tomb. Meanwhile, religious tensions are exploding in Mexico as all American Mormon missionaries have been ordered out of the country, and 37 Catholic archbishops and bishops face arrest for issuing a pastoral letter protesting new religious regulations. Closer to home, tragedy struck South Gardiner when 7-year-old Evelyn Lewis died from a bullet wound after finding a revolver atop a cupboard while her parents weren't looking. Even Red Grange, the football legend, couldn't outrun trouble—Chicago police nabbed him for driving 45 mph, though he posted a $25 bond and walked free.

Why It Matters

This front page captures America in 1926 at a crossroads between tradition and modernity. Robert Todd Lincoln's death symbolically closes the book on the Civil War generation, while the religious persecution in Mexico reflects the broader post-revolutionary upheaval that would drive immigration northward. The casual mention of Red Grange's traffic stop shows how celebrity culture and automobile ownership were reshaping daily life—getting pulled over for speeding was becoming a middle-class rite of passage. These stories unfold against the backdrop of Coolidge prosperity, when America was flexing its economic muscles globally while grappling with social changes at home. The mix of international diplomacy, domestic tragedy, and celebrity news reveals a nation increasingly connected to the wider world yet still rooted in local communities.

Hidden Gems
  • The stewards on the ship carrying the young Rockefeller sons reported receiving tips '100 times as large as the famous Rockefeller dimes'—a playful jab at John D. Rockefeller Sr.'s notorious habit of handing out dime tips
  • Philip J. Peabody just completed his 102nd Atlantic crossing, having visited 83 countries and been to England 92 times—making him perhaps America's first frequent flyer in the steamship age
  • The sunrise was at 4:20 AM and sunset at 7:12 PM on this July day in Maine, with the day already decreasing by 41 minutes as summer began its slide toward autumn
  • Red Grange's cash bond for speeding was exactly $25—about $400 in today's money for going 45 mph
  • Senator Borah is attempting to mediate the Passaic textile strike, with predictions that the American Federation of Labor would take over from the more radical strike committee
Fun Facts
  • Robert Todd Lincoln was present at three presidential assassinations—his father's in 1865, James Garfield's in 1881 (as Secretary of War), and William McKinley's in 1901, earning him the grim nickname 'the jinx'
  • That Mormon missionary expulsion from Mexico mentioned on the front page was part of the Cristero War, a bloody conflict that would claim 90,000 lives and inspire Graham Greene's novel 'The Power and the Glory'
  • Red Grange, busted for speeding at 45 mph, had just returned from Hollywood where he was pioneering the athlete-to-movie-star pipeline that wouldn't become common until decades later
  • The Leviathan mentioned in the liquor scandal story was actually a seized German ocean liner—the world's largest ship at the time—that the U.S. converted for passenger service after World War I
  • Senator Borah, mediating the Passaic strike, was known as the 'Lion of Idaho' and would become the only senator to vote against the Kellogg-Briand Pact that supposedly outlawed war
Sensational Roaring Twenties Prohibition Obituary Politics International Religion Crime Violent Sports
July 26, 1926 July 28, 1926

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