Today -100: April 3, 1915: Of zeppelin failures, daring Lusitanias, offenders against the law of nations and common humanity, colon riots, and wiener dogs

Headline of the Day -100:

Germans really want London to be bombed (according to an anonymous source in the London Times).

Headline of the Day -100:  

Germany hears that Britain is keeping captured submarine crews segregated from other POWs. Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey says that those crews were engaged in sinking innocent merchant ships and killing non-combatants, so they can’t be considered honorable opponents but rather as “offenders against the law of nations and common humanity.” Germany threatens that if those prisoners receive worse treatment than other captives, one British POW will also receive harsh treatment for every German submariner POW.

Fog of War (Rumors, Propaganda and Just Plain Bullshit) of the Day -100: The British press claims that there is a reign of terror in Austria-Hungary, especially Prague, with ordinary citizens who make even slightly critical remarks about the war being arrested. Also, Czech troops are said to be in mutiny.

Headline of the Day -100:  

Those are the worst kinds.  The soldier, who was drunk, got into a fight with a Panamanian cop, who shot him. The LA Times calls it a “race riot,” without offering any details that suggest race was a factor.

The West Virginia Legislature adjourns without appropriating funds for the government. So the governor isn’t getting his salary, schools are closed, and if I’m reading the story correctly, there aren’t funds to pay for the Legislature to come back and pass the appropriation bills.

The daughter of Ambrose Bierce, who disappeared in Mexico in December 1913, never to be seen again, receives a (fake) letter from him. Fake Ambrose Bierce is supposedly in England (or France) right now, working for Lord Kitchener.

A writer (or possibly a letter) in the Daily Mail (UK) complains about the “cruel and senseless manner” in which people are now treating dachshunds in Britain because of the German name (yeah, this was a real thing). The writer claims that dachshunds, rather than being German, are good old-fashioned English turnspit dogs. I happen to know from an episode of QI that turnspit dogs were extinct, but nice try.

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