From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 21, 1912:

• “A new project is being discussed in Lawrence and there is quite a probability that a company will be organized to establish it here…. The promoters of the scheme propose to sell oil for heating purposes to the merchants. This will be furnished through a pipe into the business houses and supplied from large tanks located on the corners. Meters will be installed and each patron of the company would pay for just the amount of oil that he uses…. Oil is becoming a popular fuel, especially with the passing of natural gas seeming to be a certainty. Already many oil burners are in operation in Lawrence and in some sections of the country it is being very extensively used.”
• “Although you probably have not noticed the shortening of the days to any extent, nevertheless a gradual change has been taking place and today, according to the almanac, is the shortest day of the year. After today, a few minutes will be added to each day and winter will be gradually sliding by, until March the 21st, when this winter will be a thing of the past.”
• “The Eighteenth annual reunion of the New England Society was held last night and the old settlers and their children spent several happy hours together. Charles S. Gleed of Topeka, who came to Lawrence when a small boy and grew up with the town, talked most entertainingly…. Mr. Gleed told of the town in its early days when there was no paving, no drainage except that provided by nature, no gas, no street lights, few sidewalks and what there were were made of native lumber, which writhed and crawled; but there were sixty-five saloons besides gambling halls and other places of that character. Yet in spite of all this the early settlers were possessed of a high character and Mr. Gleed paid a stirring tribute to their worth.”
• “Jerry Simmons and Frank Dodds had a close call for their lives and their cars are at present both in the shops in need of various repairs as a result of a collision that occurred this morning about 11 o’clock at the corner of Tennessee and Warren [now Ninth] streets. But the two escaped with only slight scratches, a fright, injured cars and the experience. Dodds was thrown from his machine to the pavement and although he was shaken up as a result of the collision he suffered no noticeable injuries. Simmons stuck with his machine, and sustained a cut on his hand, but otherwise escaped the wreck unharmed. The collision was a broadside affair. Simmons was traveling east on Warren street in his big new Olds. Dodds was going south on Tennessee in his taxicab. The two cars seemed to be so timed that they met at the corner and neither driver saw the other in time to avoid the coming together and the crash followed. The taxi struck the other machine amidships. The Simmons car was badly damaged…. Both hind wheels were torn off, the side of the body broken in, a fender demolished, and the car otherwise sprung and jammed. The Dodds machine, which acted as sort of a battering ram, was badly shattered.”