Sunday, August 16, 2020

Today -100: August 16, 1920: Of speed traps, loop the loops, hunger strikes, and financial dementia


Constables from Jacksontown, Ohio attempt to arrest Gov. Cox and his four-automobile campaign group for speeding, but he refuses their order to turn around and go to court immediately. The cops follow on motorcycles trying to get the cars to pull over for a while, but content themselves with taking down their license numbers. Jacksontown is a known speed-trap, but it might have been a Republican plot to embarrass the governor.

“Girl flier” Louise Brownell sets a loop-the-loop record, flipping her plane 87 times. The previous record was 25.

Cork’s Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney and his fellow political prisoners go on hunger strike.

A lot of wild rumors lately about Soviet plans to team up with Germany, possibly after instigating a revolution there, to invade France, then Britain, then the world, then Mars.

Charles Ponzi’s legal defense may be “financial dementia.”


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