Today -100: October 5, 1924: Of klan kluries and world good-wll

Sheriff George Galligan, State’s Attorney Delos Duty, Judge Bowen of Herrin, Illinois, the owner of Herrin Hospital, and 8 others, are indicted for murder during the Klan-Anti-Kluxer gun battle last August. Since the grand jury are mostly kluxers themselves, indictments are not also issued for their hooded brethren.

Headline of the Day -100:  

The world says no.

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

Today -100: October 4, 1924: Every tub must stand on its own bottom

Aviation Innovation of the Day -100: A plane is launched from a dirigible.

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. says he wants to be considered for the NY governorship on his own merits, not his father’s: “We’ve got a saying in our family that every tub must stand on its own bottom.” All the Roosevelt family sayings are about bathtubs, probably.

Headline of the Day -100:  

Sounds legit.

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

Today -100: October 3, 1924: Every patriotic American has condemned the Ku Klux Klan but the president of the United States

All 47 League of Nations nations sign on to the compulsory arbitration protocol, or at least to recommend it to their home nations, and to the calling of an arms reduction conference.

China isn’t elected to one of the non-permanent seats on the League Council, so its delegates walk out. But hey, Uruguay got a seat.

William Butler, chair of the RNC, claims that in certain parts of the country the Democrats and La Follette Progressives are conspiring to deadlock the presidential election and throw it into the Congress, which he seems to think would result in Dem. running mate Charles Bryan becoming president (something about electing him vice president and then blocking a vote for president). He says he has evidence of this conspiracy but refuses to disclose it because reasons.

At Madison Square Garden, Dem. presidential candidate John W. Davis talks about the Republicans’ “alibi manufacturing industry,” such as former Sec. of the Interior Albert Fall’s claim that his $100,000 bribe was just a loan and former Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt Jr’s alibi that “he was nothing but a messenger boy” in the transfer of the Teapot Dome oil reserves to Interior. Davis takes a crack at the “Silent Cal” thing: Washington wasn’t silent, Lincoln wasn’t silent, “Roosevelt was not silent and the Lord knows Wilson was not silent.”

One of the speakers is Municipal Civil Service Commissioner Ferdinand Morton, not to be mistaken for Jelly Roll Morton. The first black man on the commission, Morton says black people consider the Republican Party faithless to them and are shifting to the Dems, regardless of what the D’s are doing in the South. “Every patriotic American has condemned the Ku Klux Klan but the president of the United States,” he points out.

Wyoming Gov. William Ross dies of complications of an appendectomy. The state doesn’t have lieutenant governors, so the secretary of state will take over until a special election, which will have an interesting result (no spoilers).

The French Academy bans the words “defeatism” and “defeatist.”

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

Today -100: October 2, 1924: I choose law

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. gives his acceptance speech for the Republican gubernatorial nomination at Cove Neck, Long Island. He denounces the Ku Klux Klan by name, and also the League of Nations, which he calls “thoroughly un-American” (!). He accuses the Smith administration of an “orgy of extravagance,” which is the worst kind of orgy, or possibly the best kind of orgy. He says Democrats are lying when they say they have the power at the state level to legalize light wines and beers and accuses them of choosing lawlessness re Prohibition. “I choose law,” he says. Despite knowing he’s gonna be attacked on Teapot Dome, he says nothing about it.

German Chancellor Wilhelm Marx wants to broaden his government to include both Socialists and Nationalists. He thinks this is a thing that might actually happen, which is just adorbs.

Judge Thayer denies Sacco & Vanzetti’s motions for a new trial, which were based on new evidence, witnesses recanting their testimony, etc.

Leopold n’ Loeb judge John Caverly has a nervous breakdown.

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

Today -100: October 1, 1924: Of not being overchoice in the selection of adjectives

The League of Nations, or at least its Arbitration Commission, alters the proposed war-no-more protocol to meet Japan’s objections, allowing nations to ignore the World Court on issues the court considers internal if they have previously submitting the issue to the League.

The special counsel investigating Teapot Dome locates $90,000 in bonds given to then-Interior-Secretary Albert Fall by a Canadian company laundering Sinclair Oil money.

The New Jersey Democratic Party convention will condemn the Klan by name while the Republican Party’s convention plans to ignore it and hope it goes away.

A letter in the NYT from one Morgan Van Woert says his extremely sensitive wife was not offended by “What Price Glory,” because she’s been on an army base before and “men who are engaged in the profession of arms are not overchoice in their selection of adjectives.” And one T. Woodhouse writes that “An adjective of a sanguinary or of a deistic nature need not necessarily make for profanity.”

Albert Einstein might join the faculty of Jerusalem University.

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

Today -100: September 30, 1924: Of skyscrapers, ballot access, and kids

After seeing the plans of architect Mario Palanti, Mussolini says he’ll build the tallest skyscraper in the world in Rome, 88 stories & 1,100 feet, which would make it taller than the Eiffel Tower or the Woolworth Building. (This will not, of course, happen.)

The Louisiana secretary of state rejects petitions to put Robert La Follette’s name on the ballot, saying many of the signatures are of people previously registered as Democrats, and they need to all be independents. Even Calvin Coolidge says this is fucked up.

Germany gives a condition for joining the League of Nations: it cannot be required to allow French troops to pass through Germany to assist Poland in war against Russia.

Child actor Jackie Coogan (“The Kid,” “Oliver Twist), who is fronting an Armenian relief group, meets the pope. Tomorrow he’ll meet Mussolini, an experience I’m sure he’ll salt away for future roles:

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

Today -100: September 29, 1924: Of internal matters & women congresscritters

At the League of Nations, Japan is demanding that the outlawing-war thing allow for, um, some issues considered by the World Court as internal matters not to be so considered (yeah, I’m being lazy about figuring this out). This is about US anti-Japanese-immigration laws and discrimination against Japanese people in South Africa, Australia and other countries. Japan could stop the disarmament conference happening if it doesn’t get its way.

Alice Paul of the Woman’s Party points out that only 6 states have nominated a woman for Congress (Pennsylvania has nominated 5 and Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee, Kansas & New Jersey one each). This shows, she says, that it is up to women to organize for women.

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

Today -100: September 28, 1924: Of duels, gutter language, awakenings, and fasts

Democrats are delighted that the nomination of Theodore Roosevelt Jr for NY governor lets them pound on the issue of the Teapot Dome scandal, to which he is tangentially linked, doing damage to both TR Jr and the national Republican party.

The notification speech to TR Jr will be given by none other than “Wild Bill” Donovan.

An intra-Fascist duel: Italian Deputy Roberto Farinacci is wounded in a duel with swords with Prince Pignatelli, but not as badly as he will be fishing with hand grenades in the ‘30s. The cause of the duel is unexplained.

Secretary of the Navy Curtis Wilbur criticizes the Maxwell Anderson/Laurence Stalling play “What Price Glory” as “full of gutter language,” which “were characteristic of the old-time sailor before the navy was made clean.”

Douglas MacArthur is promoted to major general at only 44.

In Csonográd, Hungary, seven “Awakening Hungarians” members who threw bombs at a Jewish society event a year ago (that’ll wake you up) are acquitted, the judge claiming that there was insufficient evidence after a confession supposedly obtained by torture is withdrawn.

Headline of the Day -100: 

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

Today -100: September 27, 1924: Of fish in the wintertime

Daylight Saving Time ends tonight -100: don’t forget to stop the pendulums of your clocks for an hour.

The NY Democrat Convention nominates Alfred E. Smith for governor for the 4th time and some other people, all male, for various state offices. The platform says Prohibition is ineffective and isn’t honestly or efficiently enforced and calls for legalizing beer and light wine. “Did you ever pick up a fish in the wintertime in the open air?” Al Smith asks. “I can think of nothing that is as cold and as sticky and as clammy as a fish in the wintertime. If you want to improve upon that sensation, pick up [the Republican] platform and look at it.”

Mother Jones endorses Calvin Coolidge!!!???

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