Today -100: September 12, 1913: Of assassinations, votes for Northern Irish women, and cocaine

Remember how New York City Mayor William Jay Gaynor was shot in the throat three years ago as he was about to sail for Europe? Well, a few days ago he finally started on that belated vacation, and has now dropped dead in a deck chair onboard the ship as a result of the bullet fragment that was never removed.

Gaynor’s assassin died in prison a few months ago.

The Women’s Social and Political Union announces that it will hold Sir Edward Carson, leader of the Ulsterites who is now threatening to go to war, literally, with the British government over Home Rule, responsible for giving votes to women in Northern Ireland. Christabel Pankhurst writes in The Suffragette that Carson has appealed to women to share the risks and penalties of rebellion, and that every excuse he could give for denying women’s suffrage would be a negation of his own arguments against Home Rule.

Carson replies, and very promptly too, by including votes for women in his draft Ulster constitution.

Japan issues an ultimatum to China regarding the deaths of three Japanese citizens and the mistreatment of others: it wants an apology for insults to the Japanese flag, punishment of those responsible (including the commander of Chinese government forces in Nanking), and an indemnity.

The War on Drugs, 1913 version: a black drug dealer, convicted in New York of selling cocaine to children, is given the maximum: 1 year in prison and a $500 fine.

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