Today -100: January 31, 1914: My alphabet has been the sight and trigger of a rifle

The British Labour Party’s annual conference again supports women’s suffrage, only 2 of the 600 delegates voting no.

Headline of the Day -100: “Villa To Adopt Civilized Warfare.” He will stop executing Federal prisoners unless they had been captured once before, released on a promise not to fight again, and broken that promise. Villa denies wanting to be president: “I never went to school a day in my life, and I am not educated enough for the post. My alphabet has been the sight and trigger of a rifle; my books have been the movements of the enemy.”

More military-civilian conflict in Germany’s most recently acquired provinces: at a concert for the Kaiser’s birthday in Metz, Lorraine, a lieutenant orders two locals to stop speaking French. They leave the concert hall but he follows them to a restaurant, where he is outraged to find that they (and two others) are persisting in not speaking German to each other. He calls in a major, who is outraged that they do not remove their caps in the presence of a royal Prussian major and knocks the cap off one of them, as is the custom with royal Prussian majors. The four Lorrainers are arrested and turned over to the police, who release them.

At the United Mine Workers convention, the Illinois secretary-treasurer accuses Samuel Gompers of having gotten “gloriously drunk” at the Seattle convention and having a “snoot-full” at the Atlanta convention. Miners are pissed that the AFL hasn’t given sufficient financial support to the striking Michigan copper miners.

The steamship Monroe goes down after being hit in the fog by the Nantucket in the Atlantic Ocean, 50 miles off Virginia. 41 die. Much is made of the heroism of the wireless operator, who stayed at his post signaling for help after giving his life preserver to a “hysterical woman.” His mother had had a premonition and begged him not to go to sea.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.