Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle (and can I just give my guess that every time the NYT has to give his name that way, an elderly editor with a green eyeshade died inside just a little) is arrested for the murder of Virginia Rappe. The detective captain in charge, Duncan Matheson, keeps saying “without a doubt” about the charge, but refuses to reveal what evidence he has. They’re talking about first-degree murder because it occurred during the commission of a felony. I imagine most readers would have understood that they’re claiming he raped her.
Elizabeth Tyler, one of the two chief organizers of the Ku Klux Klan, is in New York for what she claims is just a shopping trip but also maybe about a libel suit for $1 million they’re supposed to be filing against the New York World for its exposé on the Klan. She accuses the paper of saying that the KKK fosters race prejudice, which she denies while at the same time saying the US is “a white man’s country, so ordained by the will of God” and white people alone should control it and “We stand unreservedly for white supremacy.” So, you know, no race prejudice. Also no anti-Catholic or anti-Jewish feeling, though Klan members are required to owe no allegiance to foreign governments, so Catholics and Jews “automatically bar themselves” from membership, that’s just science.
No comments:
Post a Comment