12th May

The Baltimore American runs a feature about the life and work of Silas Leachman, a Chicago man who makes a good living - around $50 a day - by recording songs on wax cylinders at home for the phonograph. The article reveals that, "He prepares three 'records', as the wax cylinders are called, at one time," by using three recording machines simultaneously. His repertoire includes ballads, negro melodies [aka coon songs], irish, Chinese and Dutch dialect songs.