Today -100: July 26, 1924: Of refugees and kidnappppings

Greece tells 50,000 Armenian refugees that they need to go... somewhere. Somewhere else. The League of Nations is asking Russia to take them.

In the Leopold n’ Loeb trial, State’s Attorney Robert Crowe introduces into evidence a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped, purely because its title is spelled with that double P, just like in the ransom notes (“kidnaped” being more common at the time). The judge allows it. It’s going to be that kind of trial.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: July 25, 1924: Not to either demagogue or crackpot

William Randolph Hearst publishes a signed letter in his newspapers calling for the Dems to replace Al Smith as their nominee for NY governor in November (also something about water power). Smith replies that he never reads any of Hearst’s papers, which he has banned from state offices, but says when the Democratic Party “needs advice it will go to Democrats for it, and not to either demagogue or crackpot.” In a very NYT move, the article helpfully defines “crackpot” for its readers, noting the word is not in the dictionary. The state Democratic Convention will be held in September and it’s not even clear yet whether Smith will run for re-election. DemoCon is expected to pass a strong anti-Klan plank.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: July 24, 1924: We must be intelligent even in our intransigence

Clarence Darrow objects to the prosecution in the Leopold & Loeb trial introducing every detail of the murder of Bobby Franks, given that they are pleading guilty. He says the prosecutor’s address is “utterly incompetent [meaning irrelevant] and meant only to appeal to the passions of men.”

Mussolini pushes “reforms” through the Grand Council of the Fascismo, including the expulsion of “undesirables,” “good-for-nothings,” and “all those who love violence for violence’s sake,” as he refers to them. But who would that leave? He wants greater discipline in the party: “We must be intelligent even in our intransigence, for the Fascistization of Italy must surely come, but it must come gradually and cannot be forced.”

At the Olympics in Paris, Italian fencer Oreste Puliti is banned after trying to provoke a duel with the Hungarian fencing judge.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: July 23, 1924: Of Ford v. the demon liquor, sieges, and thwarted lynchings

Henry Ford has notices posted in his plants that he will fire any employee with liquor on his breath or who keeps liquor in their home.

The Brazilian army is still bombarding São Paulo after more than a week.

Illinois Gov. Len Small sends the state militia to Mounds City to stop a lynching of two black prisoners held in the jail for killing a, I’m just gonna guess here, white woman.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: July 22, 1924: Of killers, serial killers, killer mobs, and Russian divorces

Leopold n’ Loeb plead guilty to killing Bobby Franks, on the theory that they’d be better off having their fates determined by a judge who might be convinced by evidence of insanity than by one of those notoriously blood-thirsty Chicago juries. Their lawyer Clarence Darrow says no one thinks they should be released but rather they should be permanently isolated from society. He’ll now be in the tricky position of having to convince a judge not to execute them because of insanity after they have pleaded guilty, which insane people aren’t allowed to do.

Hanover serial killer Fritz Haarmann is charged with 17 murders. Haarmann is called “strangely psychotic” by government criminologist Dr. (ahem) Kopp. In addition to “M,” which was partly inspired by Haarmann, there’s a movie, Der Totmacher, that consists solely of the psychiatric interrogations, although not by Dr. (ahem) Kopp. It’s... intense (By sheer coincidence I just watched that movie about Haarmann, the Vampire of Hanover, right after an episode of the Spanish sci-fi show The Ministry of Time which was about a Spanish serial killer called the Vampire of Barcelona).

Persia apologizes for the killing by a Tehran mob of US vice consul Robert Imbrie, but it seems that police and soldiers were part of that mob, as shown by a sabre cut on his head.

Soviet Russia introduces the 5-minute, $1.50 divorce (if uncontested). Grounds for divorce include desertion, religious superstition, and differing political views. No one can get divorced and remarried more than 3 times a year, so pace yourself, guys.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: July 21, 1924: They will plan to whoop things up

German republicans (but predominantly Social Democrats) form The Reichsbanner, an organization with a paramilitary wing to fight monarchism.

This will be the first election in the US in which radio plays a significant part, and there are many theories about how that will work. La Follette, for example, says it will stop reactionary newspapers lying about speeches radio listeners will have heard themselves. The NYT thinks radio won’t be that important because that’s not what people want from the radio and they’ll just switch off when speeches by people from parties other than own come on. Public meetings will still be the preferred venue because they provide the collective fervor of an audience, the spectacle of banners and bands, etc: “The political generals do not want the voters to keep cool and be too critical. They will plan to whoop things up, and it cannot be done to any great extent by broadcasting speeches.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: July 20, 1924: But not a Wall Street Democrat

The Allies’ conference on the Dawes Plan agrees to let France retain its right of independent action, for example to keep invading the Ruhr or wherever it wants to do to Germany whenever it wants.

The Catholic Church in France will refuse sacraments to women showing cleavage. Or elbows.

H. Grindell Matthews says he’s going blind due to his experiments with his Diabolical Ray, which is not a euphemism and that’s not what he calls his penis and please stop calling it a death ray, he says (well, he says some of that). He seems hurt by all the criticism of his fraud, but he can’t spill the details by applying for a patent. He promises that some day he’ll release the information that will convince electrical experts that he has “discovered a new force.” He says it could stun entire armies or cities. Gosh.

Burton Wheeler agrees to be La Follette’s running mate, saying “I am a Democrat, but not a Wall Street Democrat.”

The Bavarian state legislature hears a motion to prevent Jews holding government posts, buying land, teaching high school, or changing their names to disguise their Jewishness. It would expel any Jews who moved to Bavaria since 1914 and confiscate their property.

Australia tells Britain that it doesn’t want its citizens being given British knighthoods & suchlike. Canada did this 5 years ago.

A black man accused of attempting to assault a white woman is lynched in Scooba, Mississippi.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: July 19, 1924: Purely ephemeral

The US vice consul in Tehran, Major Robert Imbrie, is beaten to death by a mob enraged at his taking photos of a sacred well where a miracle had supposedly taken place (a blind man’s sight restored) and women are present. Or maybe the Persians thought he was Bahai. Or that he’d poisoned the well. Or the mob was provoked by the government so they would kill a foreigner and give it an excuse to crack down. Or something. Imbrie’s diplomatic career included arriving in Russia just in time for the Bolshevik revolution, fleeing a death sentence the next year, and having a price put on his head in Turkey.

The Progressives name Democratic Sen. Burton K. Wheeler of Montana as Fightin’ Bob La Follette’s running mate, although Wheeler hasn’t said whether he’ll accept. Since Wheeler is mostly known for running the Teapot Dome investigation, it’s clear the campaign intends to run on the issue of Republican corruption.

William Butler, chair of the Republican National Committee, says Teapot Dome “is not much of an issue. It is purely ephemeral.”

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.

Today -100: July 18, 1924: But she does it unwittingly

Pres. Coolidge will not go on the stump, but will campaign entirely over the radio.

The British House of Lords discusses admitting women peeresses. Lord Banbury of Southam reminds the Lords: “You must remember that men and women are different, and you cannot prevent a woman in the House of Commons exercising the privilege of her sex which she has been accustomed to exercise. You cannot treat her as an equal. I do not for a moment say that she, by malice prepense, exercises that fascination which a woman exercises over man, but she does it unwittingly.” Women won’t be allowed to exercise that fascination in the Lords until 1958.

Pope Pius will offer a medal to whichever Catholic Women’s Diocesan Club comes up with the best modest fashion for women’s clothing.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.