What "Inst" means in old newspapers

See, it pays to do crossword puzzles incessantly.  The clue was 59 down: "In or of the present month".  A-ha!  While we've seen "inst" used often on the Chronicling America website, we're usually so interested in the actual story reported that that small abbreviation is just a curiosity...but now we KNOW, and so do you ☺.

Added much  later:
... 15th inst. = the 15th of the current month ( short for instant)

... 15th ult. = the 15th of last month.  (ultimo: Of last month)

... 15th prox. = the 15th of next month  (proximo: of next month)

A Trachowfsky Mystery

When you're working on your family history online, one thing that's maybe not top-of-mind is to re-check sources you've checked before...UNLESS you're Larry.  He periodically stuns me with additional info, like yesterday ☺:
(Backstory: Our great grandpa Paul had a brother named Mathias.  Mathias Hesch married Agnes Trachofsky in Waumandee, Wisconsin in August 1879 and they eventually moved to Pierz, Minnesota about 1910.  They're buried in Pierz).

Larry found a small article in the San Francisco Morning Call from the 12th of March, 1892 with two very familiar names mentioned--


Mrs Trachowfsky's Will
Elizabeth Trachowfsky died on the 2d inst., leaving an estate of $1683.33 in cash.  By a will of the 25th ult., she left everything to the executrix, Mrs Annie E Bullis, in trust to bury her, to expend $50 for masses for the repose of her soul, to pay all debts, to retain $50 as a mark of esteem and as a small recompense for her kindness and attendance, and deliver all the rest to the testatrix's sister, Mrs. Agnes Hesch of Waumandee, Wis.


Wow!  Agnes had a sister in San Francisco.  In 1892, Agnes was 39...and Elizabeth was 41.  Evidently, too, she was in California by herself (no relatives):

TRACHOWFSKY--In this city, March 2, 1892, Elizabeth Trachowfsky, a native of Bohemia, Germany, aged 41 years.
Friends and acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend the funeral THIS DAY (Friday) at 8:30 o'clock A.M. from the parlors of the United Undertakers 27 and 29 Fifth Street; thence to St Boniface Church, 123 Golden Gate Avenue, where a requiem high mass will be celebrated for the repose of her soul commencing at 9 o'clock A.M. Interment Holy Cross Cemetery.

Thinking about how a single female immigrant might have found her way across the ocean and the country, it's likely she worked for another family and traveled with them to wherever they were going.  Sadly, since she had no offspring, her story ended in 1892 (until now).
We couldn't find Trachowfsky or variations of it in the censuses, so we tracked the other person mentioned to see if anything seemed pertinent...and also, cuz we COULD, ya know? ☺

According to the 1900 census, Annie E Bullis was 4 years older than Elizabeth, and was the wife of Edward A Bullis.  They had 4 living children, two of whom were still at home.  Ed was retired from a career that had to do with the interment of deceased Ex-Union soldiers /maybe just part of his duties.  We found his name and comments in a book called "San Francisco municipal reports Fiscal year 1898-99, ending June 30, 1899" where Ed was identified as "Superintendant".   
...............................
New info, same afternoon:
COOL! Larry found Elizabeth listed in the San Francisco city directory in 1880, working as a domestic at 1104 Post.  Of course he looked-up that address: it was the home of George O and Margaret McMullin, grocers.  He found them in The Elite Directory for San Francisco and Oakland from 1879.  So, we know more about Elizabeth, but
...............................
  
As usual, new info brings more questions.  Now, when we go back to the church books in Bohemia from those years, maybe we'll find more than Thomas Trachofsky as Elizabeth's parents (Agnes's mom wasn't named in her birth account).  Also, since a brother named Alfred wasn't mentioned in the obit, was the man by that name in Pierz related...or was it just that her sister was closer to her?  
I'm hoping someone will google Trachowfsky/Trachowsky/Trachofsky and arrive here...and let us know.

Another Sauk Rapids mystery

 We find the following in the Sauk Rapids Sentinel of the 18th inst.: Day before yesterday, while the quarrymen, employed by the Sauk Rapids Water Power Company, were engaged in quarrying rock for the dam which is being erected across the Mississippi at this place, they found embedded in the solid granite rock the remains of a human being of gigantic stature.  About seven feet below the surface of the ground, and about three feet and a half beneath the upper stratum of the rock, the remains were found imbeded in the sand, which had evidently been placed in the quadrangular grave which had been dug out of the solid rock to receive the remains of this antedeluvian giant.--The grave was twelve feet in length, four feet wide and about three feet in depth, and is today at least three feet below the present level of the river.  The remains are completely petrified, and are of gigantic dimensions.  The head is massive, measures thirty one and one half inches in circumference, but low in the osfrontis, and very flat on top.  The Femur measures twenty six and a quarter inches, and the Fibula twenty five and a half, while the body is equally long in proportion.  From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, the length is ten feet nine and a half inches.  The measure around the chest is fifty nine and a half inches.  This giant must have weighed at least about nine hundred pounds, when covered with a proportionable amount of flesh.  The petrified remains, and there is nothing left but the naked bones, now weigh three hundred and four and a quarter pounds.  The thumb and fingers of the left hand, and the left foot from the ankle to the toes are gone; but all the other parts are perfect.  Over the sepulchre of the unknown dead was placed a large flat limestone rock that remained perfectly separated from the surrounding granite rock. 

Finders keepers

The wonderful remains of an antideluvian gigantic race are in the possession of a gentleman who has started with it to his residence east.
         ..................................................
NOTE:  
The above article was found in the Winona Daily Republican 24  December, 1868.  We figure it's total BS, of course (who quarries rock IN the river, in December?)  
Turns out there was a rash of giants "discovered" around the country in the late 1800s, including one 'found' by Mark Twain.  After reading a few accounts, you realize there were slow news days and bored reporters then too.  
Who could prove this sort of "report" was a fabrication?

BTW, here's north Sauk Rapids today, via Google Earth.  The red tag (upper right) is a former quarry that had filled with water by the time we were kids.  In the spring of 1962, a body was found frozen into the ice there.  Larry and I are researching the story (another post, another day).    Just below that quarry is a large open patch in the trees--see?--it's the abandoned quarry we found by following those old railroad tracks.  It was used later as the town dump.  Maybe it's the compost site now.  Does anybody know?