Today -100: December 23, 1910: Of bodies in barrels, invasions, duck hunting, and opium

A body found in a barrel marked “poultry” in Montreal has been identified as one Matthew Johnson. The case turned out not to be one of murder, but of grave robbery by an amateur medical student, who insists that the barrel, which was discovered after he failed to collect it at the railroad station, contained turkeys and not dead janitors.

For some reason everyone in the US government is issuing denials that the US plans to re-invade Cuba.

French aviator Hubert Latham went duck hunting from his airplane. Another aviation first.

Members of the Chinese National Assembly are demanding a reduction in the production of opium and a ban on its importation from India. The British government is trying to prevent these “sentimental” measures which threaten state revenues in India, and they did after all fight the Opium Wars to force open the Chinese opium market.