Today -100: January 27, 1912: The peace of the world is now assured

Manchester, CT, gives a pauper a wooden leg, stamped “This leg is the property of the town of Manchester, loaned to William Armstrong, and is not to be hocked, sold, or exchanged without a majority vote of the Board of Selectmen.” Because one selectman had complained that people with wooden legs often hock them.

General Pedro Montero, proclaimed president of Ecuador by the army less than a month ago, is shot, beheaded, and burned by a mob, as is traditional.

According to Karl Liebknecht, the strength of the Social Democrats (SPD) in the new German Reichstag means “the peace of the world is now assured”. Phew.

Headline of the Day -100 (LA Times): “The Famine in China: Nobody Much Interested in It so the President [Taft] Makes a Special Plea for Funds.”