Today -100: January 23, 1912: Of kaiser districts, lynchings, aerial warfare (with camels), and new states

The German Socialists fail to take the “Kaiser district” of Berlin during the second round of Reichstag elections, so I guess the kaiser doesn’t have to move to Potsdam after all. The seat was won by a Radical by just 7 votes, including the votes of many Conservatives, who held their noses in order that the Socialists not get a symbolic victory.

Four negroes, one of them a woman, are seized from the Harris County, Georgia jail and lynched.

The LAT reports that 32 airplanes are attached to the Italian forces in Libya. They will accompany the expeditionary forces into the interior, but will require portable sheds, which will be dismantled and moved by camel. The Italians are finding one limit to aerial warfare: severe nervous strain on the aviators, requiring frequent rests and vacations to prevent nervous breakdowns. Also, dropping bombs from planes turns out not to be worth the risk to the pilots (who have to drop their own bombs from Italy’s single-seaters), and has been discontinued.

New Mexico has been a state for a whole week now. But there are some hitches. For example, Republican officials appointed by the old territorial administration have refused to resign to the new Democratic governor. Also, through another oversight in drafting the constitution, there’s no mechanism to pay state officials, who have to hope they’ll be reimbursed later.