From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 27, 1913:

• “Because he had some liquor in his home and because his friends insisted on his selling them some, an old soldier of 70 years was brought into the city police court this morning and is now obliged to pay a fine of $100 and costs. ‘Yes, I sold them the liquor,’ he told the police. ‘But it was only to accommodate them. I had it and my friends insisted that I must sell them some.’ When his case was called this morning the veteran pleaded guilty to one count and the other three contained in the complaint were dismissed by the city…. The offender was released on a promise to pay upon receipt of his pension in January…. The case is one of the most pathetic that has been on the police docket for some time. This old veteran is living alone on the east side.”
• “During the five days of Christmas week, beginning Monday and ending Friday night, the parcel post wagons at the Lawrence post office delivered thirty-five loads of packages, the loads averaging 390 packages to the load, or a total of thirteen thousand and six hundred and fifty parcels in the five days…. It was by far the heaviest work the post office ever did, and had there not been perfect organization, with a willingness to work to the very limit that was shown by every employee of the post office, the task could not have been accomplished.”
• “A thief who left only the print of a stocking foot in the snow as a clew to his identity made an ineffectual attempt to burglarize the office of the city superintendent of schools in the Manual building Tuesday night. All evidence points to the work of an amateur, but who the amateur burglar is who belongs to the footprints in the snow, the city authorities are still wondering…. The thief made three attempts to enter the building before he succeeded by boring a 3/4 inch hold in a window sash on the north side of the boiler room and unlocking the window. Next he proceeded to Supt. Smith’s office and began boring holes around the lock on the door…. Only two of the holes went all the way through. The curious thing about the work here was the fact that the door opens outward and might easily have been lifted off the hinges without going to so much trouble…. The footprint in the snow is that of a medium large food.”
• “H. T. Martin, assistant curator at the University of Kansas, is showing some very interesting specimens from the ruins of ancient Babylon. They are little stone tablets bearing inscriptions in the ancient hieroglyphics which when translated tell of the receipt of a certain number of cattle and sheep at the temple to be used for sacrificial purposes. They range in date from 2,000 to 3,000 years before Christ. The tablets will be on display at the University museum.”