Today -100: September 18, 1919: I go because I must

On its front page, the NYT reports “persistent rumors” that Peruvian President Augusto Leguía has been assassinated. He has not.

There’s some heckling at Woodrow Wilson’s pro-League of Nations speech in San Francisco, mostly on the Irish question. He had answered a written set of questions, denying that League membership would require the US to aid British against an Irish uprising or stop it recognizing Irish independence. De Valera finds those answers inadequate: the US might not be obligated to aid Britain, but the League would force it to help prevent other nations assisting rebels.

Italy blockades Fiume, hoping to starve D’Annunzio out. Or, to put it another way, Italy is afraid to order its troops to expel the poet-aviator, because they might well mutiny. Yugoslavia is also blockading the city. D’Annunzio telegrams a newspaper, the Idea Nazionale, “I go because I must.”

Italy is still censoring news of events in Fiume, but Germany is not, and Germans are following with great interest to see if they might be able to get away with the same shit in Danzig.

Headline of the Day -100: 

Ralph Madsen wanders around Broadway, attracting crowds. He is 7’6”. The article says he’s a movie actor, although imdb only lists 4 credits starting in 1928 (3 circus movies and a Little Rascals short).

Last week I reported on the oldest man in the world, 131-year-old “Uncle John” Schell. Well evidently the oldest man in the world is in fact a Turkish laborer, aged 144, named, um, Zorro. I stand corrected.

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