From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 20, 1911:

• “What came near being a serious fire broke out in the Central Hotel yesterday evening about 7:15 and continued for nearly an hour. The flames were discovered breaking through the roof by one of the boarders who turned in the fire alarm. It was but a short run for the department but the building is old and dry and the flames spread rapidly over the entire roof…. The damage to the building is estimated at being about $250 and is said to be covered by insurance. The Central Hotel is one of the old buildings of Lawrence. It is a frame structure throughout and dry as it was, a total destruction to the building would have been certain had the fire been allowed a little more headway.”
• “Useful gifts are far more appreciated than any kind that can be presented at Christmas time. Gradually the American people are coming to realize this more and more and the only idle useless presents are given only to children…. A man gets far more out of a half dozen silk hose or a necktie than is possible to derive from a gift of far more value, but of little or no use. Perhaps he would like an umbrella or a belt or suspenders.”
• “In a collision between two trolley cars on the Kansas City – Leavenworth line head on in a dense fog near Wolcott, Kansas, this morning, two persons were killed and ten injured.”