Collateral Discovery

Having recently learned of the existence of mineral springs in Stottville and the Columbia Springs Hotel, Gossips predictably went in search of more information about this nearby 19th-century watering place. Consulting a favorite resource, Fulton History, led to the discovery of this news item, which appeared in the New York Daily Tribune on July 18, 1860:

A young lady named Miss Hudson, of this city [i.e., New York], one of the guests at the Columbia Springs Hotel, Columbia County, on Tuesday last, during a heavy shower of rain, stepped to the window of her room to empty a washbowl, and while in the act of so doing, was suddenly seized with a fainting turn. She dropped the bowl instantly, and at the same time losing her balance, fell after it on to the verandah, some thirteen feet below. The only serious injuries she received were in consequence of striking upon the fragments of the bowl, which cut her face and one hand quite badly. She is now rapidly recovering from the effects of the accident.

The image shows a generic antebellum lady in a faint. It is not Miss Hudson of New York City.