Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Today -100: June 16, 1920: Of Minnesota not so nice, log cabins, and bluebeards


Three black men, circus workers, are lynched by a large mob in Duluth, Minnesota, for supposedly attacking a 17-year-old white girl. Interestingly, the mock trial conducted by the mob acquitted three other black men and returned them to their cells.

Vice President Whatsisname says he is not only not a candidate for president but will be retiring from public life, which is a surprise to everyone who didn’t realize he was actually in public life.

Harding will not run for re-election to the Senate after all, but won’t resign his seat.

Harding denies having been born in a log cabin.

Heavyweight boxing champ Jack Dempsey is acquitted of evading the draft.

The French authorities are investigating Henri Désiré Landru for killing 11 (or more) women he met through matrimonial ads. And then selling their furniture.

Landru was fictionalized by Charlie Chaplin in his too-dark-for-1947 comedy Monsieur Verdoux. There’s also a 1963 Claude Chabrol film Landru (update: which I have now seen and I just had to check: yeah, that’s what he looked like, all right).


Also played by George Sanders in 1960’s Bluebeard’s Ten Honeymoons, which I haven’t seen.


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

No comments:

Post a Comment