Today -100: January 12, 1915: Of militias, warrior women, polygamy, and coyote (the other other white meat)

A few days before he is due to leave office, SC Gov. Coleman Blease abolishes the state militia. He’s been quarreling with the federal War Department for years, which he says has left the militia in such bad morale that it would just be wrong to turn it over to incoming Gov. Manning.

A colony of Belgian refugee farmers will be settled in Cuba.

Turkey has evidently given up on the idea of invading Egypt.

Fog of War (Rumors, Propaganda and Just Plain Bullshit) of the Day -100: The Russians claim to have captured seven women who were fighting in German army uniforms. According to the Daily Chronicle (London), “They are fine specimens of Teutonic womanhood, and the Russian nurses greatly admire their finely developed muscles, which seem to indicate that they have belonged for years to German gymnastic societies.” The story is nonsense, but what purpose does it serve?

Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan expresses his understanding of military matters: “If the president of the United States needed one million men for the national defense, he could call for them at the rising of the sun, and they would answer the call by sunset.” This will give rise to much comment.

Secretary of War Lindley Garrison, appearing before the Senate Philippines Committee, is asked about a provision in the eventual-independence bill banning polygamy. Garrison is against forcing the ban on non-Christians, and anyway, he says, Jesus never spoke against plural marriages and there’s lots of polygamy in the Bible.

Headline of the Day -100 (LA Times): “Drinks His Blood and Eats Coyote. And Yet Prospector, Lost on Desert, Perishes.” Or maybe it was his diet that killed him.

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