| Bangkok Then
and Now |
| News Items |
| These articles, a few of the book's 100+ items, appeared
in the pages of the 1900 and 1901 editions of the Bangkok Times,
the leading newspaper of the day: |
 |
| One evening a short time ago, the
Manager of the Paknam railway was returning to Paknam on a trolley.
Near the second bridge out from Bangkok, the trolley bumped into
and was stopped by an obstruction on the line. It was dark, of course,
but the Manager proceeded to investigate the matter and found the
obstruction down the bank washing a bad wound on his head. It was
a policeman who had gone to sleep on the line. |
|
| An advertisement: For Sale. Light
Singapore-made Victoria carriage in good condition with strong black
Siamese pony and harness. The asking price is 700 baht. |
|
| A couple of Europeans, both in an
inebriated condition, caused quite a stir at the top of Oriental
Avenue last evening. They were showing their affection for one another
by a free use of a walking stick and an umbrella. |
|
| Bangplasoi in Chon Buri is excited
over a tale about a tiger. It seems that on the 9th instant, a man
and his wife and child were walking into the town from their home
some 500 sen [20 km.] away in the jungle. They had got to the Bangplasoi
hill when the woman disappeared. She had fallen behind and the man
sat down and waited until he began to get alarmed. He went to investigate
and found blood leading from the road along a jungle path. That
scared him and he cleared out for Bangplasoi with his child as quickly
as possible. Four men who were out hunting rabbits on the hill next
day, startled a tiger close to the very spot where the woman was
last seen. The animal roared and then bolted. Since then, the people
of Bangplasoi have been afraid to go near the place. Evil-minded
people are saying that the lady may have eloped and that the presence
of the tiger the next day was only a coincidence. |
|
| On the north side of Klong Number
5 in Klong Rangsit district, 30 buffaloes belonging to one cultivator
were stolen on the 15th of last month. The gang of thieves numbered
some 13 men, most of them riding ponies. The buffaloes were grazing
about 10 sen [400 meters] from the owner's house. A herd of elephants
proved something of an obstacle in the way of the thieves, but they
succeeded in getting past and the owner of the buffaloes failed
to catch them up. These cattle robberies in the Klong Rangsit district
are far too frequent and it is high time the Department responsible
took more effective steps to make the robber's trade less ridiculously
easy. |
|
| The newcomer has not been in Bangkok
very long before he is struck with the very loose manner in which
the traffic in the town is conducted. In places of the size and
importance of Bangkok where sidewalks for foot passengers are an
unknown quantity, regulations for the control of the vehicular traffic
are an absolute necessity. In taking a walk, say, along New Road,
one is at a loss to know which way to turn in order to effectively
dodge the rikshas and gharries [horse-drawn taxis] or probably a
couple of galloping ponies, to say nothing of the "Bangkok Express",
the local tram. With the rapid improvement of Bangkok perhaps it
is not too much to hope that some means of regulating the traffic
will follow. The sooner the better. |
|
| The police have at last taken action
against the women who prowl about New Road at night from Bush Lane
[Captain Bush Lane] to New Klong Road [i.e. New Road from approximately
the Central Post Office to the bridge crossing Klong Padung Krung
Kasem] accosting passers-by. The Chief Inspector sent out a number
of his men last night and they arrested four women and a man who
were taken before the magistrates today. There should be no difficulty
in putting a stop to this practice in Bangkok. |
|
| A steam organ is, we understand, being
procured by Mr. Tilleke to play to his customers in the Oriental
Hotel at meal times. |
|
| An elephant has been causing trouble
in the City again though on this occasion it seems to have been
the fault of his driver. It was being driven along Rajani Road [paralleling
Klong Lawd] and opposite the Ministry of Public Works it met a riksha.
The driver of the elephant said the riksha puller abused him as
he passed and he is alleged to have ordered his elephant to turn
and attack the Chinaman. Anyhow, that is what the elephant did,
squeezing the man with his trunk. Of course, the animal must have
acted carefully and, one would think, without anger otherwise there
would have been very little Chinaman left and apparently the man
was not seriously injured |
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