Today -100: November 7, 1911: Of acquittals, prohibition, ultimata, women’s voters and women candidates

Back in March, Booker T. Washington was beaten up in NYC. Henry Ulrich, the man who did it, is acquitted, although he is immediately re-arrested on an outstanding desertion warrant. Ulrich, who found Dr. Washington in his apartment building looking at door plates, suggested he was a burglar, a pervert, or both. Washington said he was trying to locate a friend of his. The defense lawyer insisted, over the prosecutor’s objection, on asking whether that friend was white or black (he was white). One of the justices who acquitted Ulrich commented that Washington had no business in the building.

A recount of Maine’s September election decides that the state did vote for prohibition after all.

Russia sends an ultimatum to Persia. Something about an insult to its vice consul during the seizure of the house of the brother of the deposed shah (its guards were Cossacks). Russia wants an apology or it will occupy the provinces of Ghilan and Mazanderan.

Women’s suffrage came to California a little late for some of the 1912 elections, depending on local registration requirements, so that women will be barred from San Francisco’s municipal election tomorrow -100 but not LA’s election next month.

Taft goes to Ohio and votes early, including for a Miss Edith Campbell, running for the Cincinnati school board. This was the first time a president voted for a female candidate for public office. Campbell was elected. (She was also the first woman elected to a public office in Cincinnati.)