Today -100: March 14, 1923: Of strokes, highly coloured jazz material, French terror, Irish executions, Babe blackmail, boll weevils and boars

NY Supreme Court Justice Ellis Staley rules that the Anti-Saloon League is a political committee which spends money supporting & opposing candidates in elections and must therefore report its expenditures. It’s unclear if it also has to release the names of its donors, which it has been ferociously hostile to doing.

Pravda announces that Lenin has had another stroke in a special edition of  Pravda on a day no other newspaper is appearing, the others taking the day off to celebrate the 6th anniversary of the end of Czardom. According to the announcement, Lenin resumed work in October but by December was so fatigued that his doctors forbade him to work, even to read newspapers; “They only allowed him to consider such general questions as reorganization of the State apparatus and peasant workers inspection or educational reforms.” But now he’s had a stroke (I blame the peasant workers inspections). The surprisingly frank bulletin even gives his temperature and pulse rate.

In other front-page-for-some-reason news, the Prince of Wales has been seen wearing fairly exotic clothes, including a sweater “of highly colored jazz material,” whatever that might be, and King Gustaf of Sweden loses at tennis.

France’s Gen. Laignelot threatens that if any more French soldiers (he doesn’t say anything about French railway workers) are killed, the burgomaster of Buer and other town officials being held as hostages will be shot in retaliation. The townsfolk are put under a 7:00 curfew with lights out at 10, and will be shot if they put their hands in their pockets. Germany sends France a protest against the “French terror in Buer.” Remember, the German government is claiming that French soldiers were responsible for the incident.

The Irish Free State executes another 7 Republicans. That makes 63 executions total. The British government has also been deporting Irish Republicans from Britain to Ireland for the first time, starting with a sweep of 110 men.

A Miss Delores Dixon, 19, sues Babe Ruth, who she says is the father of her child, for $50,000, which is the equivalent of some money. “It’s blackmail!” he replies, correctly.

The Prince of Wales falls off a horse, as was the custom.

Headline of the Day -100:  

 Air-to-air combat, no doubt.

Headline of the Day -100: 

 Coals to Newcastle, really.

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