Today -100: September 9, 1917: Spurlos versenkt

Japan starts making cars.

Secretary of State Lansing releases secret dispatches sent by the German chargé d’affaires in Buenos Aires to Berlin via Swedish channels, in which he advised that two Argentine steamers sailing for France should either be let go or sunk without trace (“spurlos versenkt”). They were let go. He also called the Argentine foreign minister an “ass.” The US doesn’t say how it acquired the documents (British Naval Intelligence?). The US plans to use this incident to pressure Sweden to pick a damn side already.

The grand jury looking into the East St. Louis, Illinois race riots indicts Mayor Fred Mollman and 37 others.

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