Secret Message in Abraham Lincoln's Watch

Did you hear about this cool story of the secret message that is contained inside Abraham Lincoln's watch?

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History announced a few days ago that it had found a "secret" message engraved in President Abraham Lincoln's watch by a watchmaker who was repairing it in 1861 when news of the attack on Fort Sumter reached Washington DC.

In an interview with the New York Times in 1906, Jonathon Dillon recalled that he was working on the watch in 1861, and when he heard that the first shot of the civil war had been fired, he said in the article that he unscrewed the dial of the watch and wrote on the metal beneath: "The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try"

After being contacted by Dillon's great-great-grandson, the museum agreed to remove the dial to see if the message was inside. The message was found! It differs a bit from what Jonathon Dillon said in his interview, but it is fascinating..... click here to see a photo and read more about this amazing story! Apparently Lincoln never new of the inscription!

Be sure to check out the comments to the blog that accompanies the article. They add another element and some controversy to the story!

I'm from Missouri - You'll have to show me..

I was downloading patents today and ran across this watch fob patented in 1906. I thought, gee, kinda cheeky to say that about Missouri! And the guy that patented it was from Arizona. Here's the patent drawing:

Well, a quick google brought up an explanation of the saying and the story is kind of fun. Basically it says that in the 1800's Westerners liked to refer to Missouri as the "Show Me State" implying that Missourians were slow and not very bright. Missourians turned the definition around and claimed that "show me" meant that they were not easily fooled. You'll find more of the story here