Today -100: May 24, 1914: Of con artists, fleeing princes, panaceas, mummies, and Paris trends

Two con men are arrested for raising funds ostensibly for a orphanage in Syria. The interesting thing is that the first people they scammed were Woodrow Wilson, Sen. William Stone, and Secretary of War Garrison, who provided letters of recommendation the men used to con people out of donations.

Albania: Essad Pasha’s supporters (I was beginning to wonder if he had any) attack Durrës, forcing Prince William to seek sanctuary on an Italian warship.

There have been a series of letters to the NYT about why twenty years of women’s suffrage in Colorado didn’t prevent the coal wars. Today, Alice Stone Blackwell admits that woman suffrage has not prevented labor troubles, but “If this proves it to be a failure it must be on the principle that ‘only panaceas need apply.’”

London police raid the offices of the Women’s Social and Political Union. In response, a few paintings are slashed at the National Portrait Gallery and a case in the mummy room of the British Museum is smashed, as was the custom.

Headline of the Day -100 (L.A. Times): “Norway Women Equal With Men.” Not only do they have the vote, but can enter any profession except the army and of course the priesthood. There is even a lady judge.

The Niagara Falls conference is happily negotiating away in its little bubble. Talks are going so well that they may be wrapped up early. Right now they’re working on solving the Mexican land problem as the Constitutionalists come closer and closer to Mexico City. The NYT says that the mediators “are almost convinced that the rebel leaders will be virtually obliged by the opinion of the great nations of the world to accept any plan of settlement which is brought forward by the Ambassador of Brazil and the Ministers of Argentina and Chile and is assented to by the representatives of President Wilson and Gen. Huerta.”

St. Louis businessman and amateur aviator Albert Lambert volunteers to help the Navy develop its aviation wing. Lambert already organized a “reserve corps.”

When she shot the editor of Le Figaro, Henriette Caillaux started a fashion: pistol shooting. Shooting ranges have been crowded all over Paris and new ones have been started. The place where Madame Caillaux bought and test-drove her pistol on that fatal day is now a chic spot for women.

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