BEVERLY, MASS. (WHDH) – The owner of a construction company made a historic discovery while working on his own property in Beverly.
Jonian Beqo said he was clearing out his home’s carriage house when he came across some old newspapers but, all of the articles seem like they were ripped from today’s headlines.
“Right away I said, ‘Wait a minute, war in Ukraine against Russia. This is what’s happening right now,’” he said.
But, these copies of the Haverhill Evening Gazette with the latest on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are dated from 1918.
“People getting killed and injured- innocent people getting killed and injured. And these people are reliving the same exact thing,” Beqo said.
Beqo said his family is from eastern Europe and that his grandfather is excited to get his hands on these pieces of history.
“He’s lived through some of this stuff; his parents have lived through some of this stuff. So he’s waiting eagerly to read through this, kind of refresh what has happened,” Beqo said. “To him, this is almost nostalgia.”
Though history often repeats, Beqo said it is still shocking to see the similarities a century later.
“You would think that people are more civilized; things are just easier to be dealt with diplomatically, rather than with a war,” he said.
And it is not just war in Ukraine that is the same. There is an article about the ongoing pandemic — in this case, the Spanish flu.
Beqo said there is only one thing that sticks out as being different between these old papers and today’s news.
In a 1918 edition of the Boston Herald, he pointed out a list of produce for sale at Faneuil Market. As it happens, things were just a little cheaper back then. According to the paper, people could buy steak for just $.38 a pound and complete the meal with seven pounds of potatoes for just $.25.
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