Came across this blurb in the Leader Herald from Fulton County NY. They have a feature occasionally where they pull stories from old newspapers and reprint them or pieces of them. I found this one of particular interest to firearms owners.

 

The Oct. 27, 1895, Utica Tribune’s “Women of Today” column encouraged female cyclists never to ride alone, but if they must, to arm themselves with one of the popular, small “velo-dog” or ‘velocipede anti-dog’ revolvers for protection against both dogs and tramps. Should a lone female cyclist be menaced by a tramp and have to shoot him, the Utica Chief of Police stated, “she was encouraged to notify authorities at the conclusion of her ride.”

Today, the lady cyclist would be arrested, charged on multiple counts and would then spend at least 100K defending herself in court, quite probably leading to her financial ruination. The "tramp" meanwhile would be raised to hero status in the press, with endless interviews of his grieving momma, etc.

Yeah, times have changed!