Today -100: October 1, 1912: Of Balkan wars, perfume, and fake lynch mobs

Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece are mobilizing their armies.

Latest fad in Paris: injecting perfume.

I mentioned that the US gave Mexico permission for some of its troops to travel through American soil to fight rebels. Texas Gov. Colquitt was asked to give his permission too and he did, but has changed his mind, though too late to do any good (especially since he sent his message to the departments of State and War on a Friday, and they are closed for the weekend).

The sheriff of Kenosha County, Wisconsin stages a fake lynching in which a fake mob pretends to overpower the sheriff and puts a noose around the neck of a black prisoner to coerce him into confessing to stealing a gun. It worked.

Want to know what William Howard Taft sounded like? The Library of Congress has two brief recordings dated today -100.

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