Today -100: March 25, 1912: Of final tests, nominations, assassinations, and governors in sombreros on horses

Foreshadowing Headline of the Day -100: “Final Tests for Titanic.” I believe it failed the math portion of the tests: 3,000 passengers and crew divided by 20 lifeboats...

The Montana Republican state committee rejects the Rooseveltian proposal for a primary and will just go ahead and endorse Taft without asking the voters.

Taft wins delegate conventions and primaries in Indiana. A rumor which is “generally believed” holds that Roosevelt’s managers in the state received $15,000 in soft money (hey, that was a lot of money then), part of which they spent on newspaper ads warning of fraud in the primaries and conventions. The Rooseveltians will contest all of Taft’s wins at the state convention, possibly planning to bolt and hold a separate convention if the decisions go against them. In other words, the Taft people hold the levers of the party, here and in other states as well as nationally, and are using them ruthlessly against Roosevelt. TR’s supporters, who aren’t averse to pulling the same tricks where they have the power to do so, are establishing a narrative of a party machine using trickery to suppress the wishes of the majority of party members.

The Ottoman Empire’s prince-governor of the Aegean island of Samos is assassinated by a Greek.

Oregon Governor Oswald West has exhausted his travel budget and must now travel by horse instead of train to the convention of Western governors, 500 miles away in Boise. He will wear a sombrero.