The Best New York Times Articles Published on Leap Day – The New York Times
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Times Insider
A leap year brings 366 days — and daily newspapers. Times Insider scoured the archives to find the most significant or silliest New York Times headlines published on Feb. 29.
Maria Newman and
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Most years have 365 days and accordingly, 365 daily editions of The New York Times. But it takes Earth slightly longer than 365 days to fully orbit the sun — about a quarter of a day longer per year. Over time, without adjusting for the difference, our calendar would drift further away from astrological time and our seasons. So in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII implemented the Gregorian calendar, and with it, a bonus day roughly every four years on Feb. 29
In honor of today’s leap day, Times Insider went back in time to find some of the quirkiest, or most noteworthy, articles published in those bonus Feb. 29 editions of The Times.
THE BRIDE WAS NOT THERE. (1884)
The wedding of a couple in “fashionable society” might have made front-page news in any circumstance, but it secured its Page One spot after the bride “mysteriously disappeared” before the nuptials, The Times reported. The article described the bride and groom, Miss Lizzie Glenn and Col. Miller, as “among our most respected citizens.” But with Miss Glenn a no-show, “the disappointed lover was compelled to return home without his bride.” Brutal.
WIFE MAY PICK YOUR POCKETS (1912)
Of course, not all couples who make it to the altar live happily. A magistrate in Philadelphia “decided that a wife has a perfect right to rifle the pockets of her husband, take his last cent, and the husband has no redress,” The Times reported. The decision was made after a man was arrested “on a charge of non-support, brought by his wife.” His bail was set at $300 — we’re going to guess his wife didn’t visit the jail with her purse.
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