Today -100: September 29, 1913: Of insulted flags, elections, and boys

Chinese Gen. Chang Hsun accedes to Japan’s ultimatum and personally goes to apologize at the Japanese consulate in Nanjing for the insult to the Japanese flag (and the deaths of some Japanese people), averting the threatened military occupation. For now.

General elections are called for Italy, under a new election law doubling the electorate to nearly universal male suffrage, including illiterates if they have served in the army or are over 30. So, illiterates, but no women (until after World War II). Deputies, previously unpaid, will now receive a salary. The Catholic Church will allow Catholics to vote for the first time (not that the ban ever stopped many people).

You can kinda tell when the NYT used local stringers for its stories from the South, as in this one, datelined Harriston, Mississippi: “A reign of murder, started early this morning by two negro boys who were crazed by cocaine, developed into a race riot which ended only after three white men, four negro men, and a negro woman had been killed, a score of persons wounded, and the two boys lynched.” They were 20 and 18, if you’re wondering what constitutes a “boy.” If the story is to be believed, the Walter and Will Jones did go on quite a shooting rampage before the mob got hold of them.

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