Friday, February 17, 2023

Today -100: February 17, 1923: Of governors, undreamed of splendors, and memels


Puerto Rico’s governor E. Mont Reily resigns. Because of ill health and definitely not because of all the corruption and the fact that every single person in Puerto Rico hates him. Although he says he’s too sick to do his job, and has been since December, he wants his resignation not to come into effect until April 1.

The French arrest the Essen police chief after an incident at a beer house which refused to serve some French and Belgian soldiers and called the cops when the soldiers started to serve themselves. Anyways, two soldiers and the cop get shot, and the French raid the police station. Elsewhere in the Ruhr, newspapers are shut down, cops are arrested for not saluting Frenchies, private autos are requisitioned, and the burgomaster of Oberhausen is sentenced by a French court-martial to 3 years for sabotage for refusing a French order to supply electricity to the railroad station after the French occupied it (3 years rather than the 10 possible under the, ahem, French law under which he was tried, because he was obeying the orders of the German government). The burgomaster of Dortmund (a name I can never read without thinking of Donald E. Westlake’s character John Dortmunder; just me?) is also imprisoned for ignoring French orders.

A Belgian military court tries Duisberg prison authorities for refusing to accept prisoners arrested by the Belgians. The prison staff are now on strike and the prisoners have had to be removed. 

The lower house of the Idaho Legislature votes to ban Japanese people leasing lands.

King Tutankhamun’s inner tomb is opened, “revealing undreamed of splendors.” Undreamed of splendors are the best kind of splendors.

The Council of Ambassadors awards Memel to Lithuania, which is good since Lithuanian forces occupied it weeks ago.
 
Abel Gance’s film La Roue is released. A reminder that I haven’t seen the super-long restoration yet.

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