Today -100: January 3, 1912: Of chain gangs, provisional presidents, and exemplary punishments

Arkansas Gov. George Washington Donaghey threatens that unless contractors who use convict labor treat them more humanely (i.e., stop beating them quite so much), he will pardon all of them.

Sun Yat Sen is inaugurated as provisional president of China. Just like the French Revolutionaries, he has changed the calendar, with New Year’s now January 1st, the first day of his presidency. Sun promises an elected Parliament and a modernized administration (what he did not suggest, but which the LAT seems to think will happen, is that China should seek unity through a single language, which would be English.)

Russians occupying Persia are court-martialling and hanging prominent Persians, including the head of a religious sect, for attacks on their troops, and leaving the bodies hanging in public squares.

Today -100: January 2, 1912: Of unreassuring ex-presidents

Headline of the Day -100: “Roosevelt Won’t Reassure Taft.” Theodore Roosevelt, while frequently having said that he is not running for president, is evidently refusing to say that under no circumstances will he accept the nomination.

The brother of the deposed Shah of Persia has defeated government forces in battle. He is demanding the return of $80,000 confiscated from him by the government – or he will demolish the Imperial Bank Building.

A French Capt. Lux escapes from a German fortress, where he was serving a six-year term for espionage. He sawed through the bars using files that had been sent to him hidden in books on Napoleon.

Today -100: January 1, 1912: Of lynchings, student revolts, and new states

A negro is lynched in Muldrow, Oklahoma, after stealing a locomotive in Arkansas, riding it until it derailed, then killing a farmer.

The negro students of Clark College are pissed off that they won’t get a Christmas holiday. So they stole the bell clapper to stop classes being held. The administration retaliated by withholding their meals. The students retaliated by driving calves into the college president’s study. “Since that time the tension has increased.”

When Arizona was granted statehood (due to take effect in a couple of weeks, I believe), Congress failed to grant it the furnishings it had provided for the territorial legislature’s chambers, governor’s office, etc. The territorial secretary says he may be obligated to sell them to the highest bidder, and there won’t be time enough to get in new furniture before statehood. Another teething problem: justices of the peace and constables have been elected in some areas, but these elections were illegal, because everyone forgot to include provision for them in the new election law.

Exactly like what happened in Germany

Another week, another protest by Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem in support of their way of life, by which they mean sexual segregation and subjugation. And are they wearing stripey concentration camp pajamas and yellow Stars of David to make their point about how oppressed – “Zionist oppression,” yet – they are? Why yes they are. Did they bring their children, similarly garbed? Why yes they did. Because, according to one protester, “What’s happening is exactly like what happened in Germany.” And assholes like these would have been complaining to the Gestapo that the women weren’t forced to sit in the back of the cattle cars.

Today -100: December 31, 1911: Beware the Purple Death!

France creates the world’s first aerial military regiment.

President Taft has told several people that he plans to nominate 8th Circuit Court judge William Hook to the vacant Supreme Court seat. I know he didn’t do that, but why? Opposition is emerging because of his ruling against a railroad rate.

A couple of days ago I mentioned the large number of dead homeless people in Berlin – now more than 75 – supposedly due to bad herring. The rumors that this is cholera or the plague or something are running rampant, and not only in Germany – in Paris it’s being called the Purple Death.

In the first elections in proto-state New Mexico, Republicans get more than 2/3 of the seats in both houses of the Legislature.

Headline of the Day -100: “Peace Diners Make Mr. Taft Wait an Hour; Committee Keeps the President Cooling His Heels in a Waldorf Anteroom.”

Today -100: December 30, 1911: Of buffers, how Eskimos get dark, strong arm squads, presidents, and running away to Panama

Russia may not actually take over Mongolia, which has declared independence from the collapsing Chinese state, but does want it to be a buffer state against further Japanese encroachment into Manchuria.

Arctic explorer Christian Leyden of the University of Christiana explains that Eskimos are born white, but with a tiny black spot in the middle of their back which then spreads and diffuses until they become darker.

A letter to the NYT editor complains about Taft’s announced electioneering tour through his home state of Ohio. The president of the United States cannot do such a thing without impropriety.

Everyone is amused that the Citizens’ Peace Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria, the one which Roosevelt refused to attend, will be policed by the NYPD’s Strong Arm Squad (actually, it won’t: Mayor Gaynor will withdraw them).

There’s a military coup in Ecuador.

A meeting of delegates (delegates from what isn’t exactly clear) elects Sun Yat Sen provisional president of China. The child emperor is expected to abdicate at some point.

Attorney General George Wickersham and his wife will be taking a trip to Panama shortly, evidently purely so that Mrs. Wickersham can get out of attending the traditional New Year reception at the White House at which she would be forced to receive Assistant Attorney General William Lewis and his wife, who are negro.

Today -100: December 29, 1911: Of armies, gambling, hostiles and their wives and families, and herring

Russia bans the Salvation Army (this happened again in 2000: Russia claimed it was a, you know, army, rather than a religious organization).

Frank McCracken has been forced to resign as mayor of Paulina, Iowa after being charged with gambling. He participated in a turkey raffle for Thanksgiving.

Chinese revolutionaries, the NYT says, were actually training in the United States for two years before the Revolution began. In fact, they were trained by former US Army drill sergeants, who were well paid to train Chinese rather than re-enlist. Some of the drilling took place in hired halls in New York City. Somehow the US government never knew a thing. (To be clear, I’m not being sarcastic. If the US was on anyone’s side, it was the side of American businesses, which favored the stability of the existing government.)

The US army has (again) put down a Moro outbreak in the Philippines. “300 hostiles with their wives and families have surrendered.”

Headline of the Day -100: “50 Now Dead From Eating Herring.” At the municipal center for the homeless in Berlin. There are rumors that it’s cholera and the authorities are covering it up.

A busy month

The two most recent Presidential Proclamations proclaim January 1) National Mentoring Month, 2) National Stalking Awareness Month. That is all.

Today -100: December 28, 1911: Of bastards getting off scot-free

The owners of the Triangle Waist Company, Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, are acquitted of manslaughter for the Triangle fire. Money well spent on the most expensive lawyer in New York, Max Steuer, who charged them at least $10,000 each, and money also well spent on the cheapest perjurous witnesses. Also, the judge’s charge to the jury set a ridiculously high barrier for conviction: they would have to find that the door was locked, that Harris & Blanck knew it was locked, and that the door being locked was responsible for the deaths. The judge, as it happens, had been the NYC Tenement House commissioner in 1905 and wound up taking the fall and being forced to resign following a fire which killed 20 people in a building whose fire escapes had been boarded over (which I know from a book; it is not reported by the NYT).

President Taft modifies an executive order regulating the practice of medicine in the Panama Canal Zone in order to allow Christian Scientists “healing.” The NYT castigates him for it.

Former President Roosevelt sent a furious seven-page refusal to attend a Citizens’ Peace Dinner, which I’m curious to read. He will only tell reporters that he’s not going because “I’m not hungry.”

Mongolian and Turkestan declare independence from China and are expected to be annexed by Russia.

The health officers of Lenoxdale, Massachusetts have banned kissing on New Year’s Eve because of a diphtheria outbreak. And they’re killing any dogs and cats found outside.

Headline of the Day -100 (Memphis Appeal, reprinted in the LAT): “Oyster Drowns a Duck.”

Today -100: December 27, 1911: Of attitudes of growing hostility

Headline of the Day -100: “Russians Continue to Slay Persians.” According to the article, “The Persian attitude is declared to be one of growing hostility.”

James Wickersham, the (Republican) delegate of the District of Alaska to the Congress, says “President Taft imagines the way to develop Alaska is to turn it over to the money interests. ... He would have a second great East India Company, which would not only control all of our resources, but our Government as well.” He wants Alaska to have its own elected government.

Women are asked not to linger in this area

If there’s one thing this blog enjoys – and this blog is not ashamed to admit it – it’s pictures of ultra-Orthodox Jews protesting in Israel, which they did today in support of segregation of the sexes and forcing women to cross the street so they don’t walk in front of synagogues and pollute them, and to not dress like whores, like an 8-year-old girl interviewed on tv about how she’s been repeatedly screamed at on her way to school for dressing “immodestly.” This is her.


Look at the slut! Look at her!
They also enjoy spitting at women, because of course they do.

Today ultra-Orthodox in Beit Shemesh, 20 miles or so from Jerusalem, rioted, throwing eggs and rocks at police and reporters.

Today -100: December 26, 1911: Of executions, lynchings, massacres, and rebellions – you know, Christmas stories

Gov. Hiram Johnson of California has commuted several death sentences and plans to allow no more executions. He will sponsor legislation to abolish the death penalty.

It’s-Beginning-to-Look-a-Lot-Like-Christmas Headline of the Day -100: “Christmas Lynching in Baltimore Suburb.” A black youth shot a white guy over a game of pool, and later was pulled out of his jail cell (there was no guard at night) and either shot (according the NYT) or hacked to death (LAT).

Russian troops seem to be massacring Persians at Tabriz, even though Persia gave in to all of Russia’s demands.

In Mexico, the rebellion led by Gen. Bernardo Reyes (which I probably should have mentioned at some point) has ended with his surrender, in the form of a telegram which read in part: “I called on the people. I called on the army, and they did not respond, so I must give up.”

Today -100: December 25, 1911: Of campaigns, Russian brides, and doggies

Supporters of President Taft are suggesting that there needs to be some sort of organization to support his renomination by the Republican Party.

A meeting of the Russian immigrant colony in Los Angeles protests the testimony of other Russians in a juvenile court case that “they are in the habit of selling their daughters in marriage to the highest bidders” ($500, if you’re wondering what the price of a 17-year-old Russian girl was in 1911, although this was evidently at the high end).

Remember Hunnewell, Kansas, where Mayor Ella Wilson was locked in battle with the all-male city council? The governor brought suit to oust the councilmen. Since they would have bourne the legal costs if they lost, three resigned immediately, leaving a council without enough members to be able to override Wilson’s vetoes.

Chilling Headline of the Day -100: “Dogs Fails to Catch Negro.”

Merry superficial glitter to you too

As is traditional, Pope Grandpa Simpson complained about “the superficial glitter” of Christmas while surrounded by lots of gold trinkets.


As I imputed to Benny after another of his anti-Xmas rants, “Why, when I was a kid we got a new Hitler Youth uniform and we were happy to get it.”

Today -100: December 24, 1911: Of stirred Italians, the king-emperor’s shooting, stern Russians, pickled meat men, ugly dogs, and president-Santas

The treaty allying Italy with Austria and Germany (the “Triple Alliance”) expires in 1914. France is desperately trying to lure Italy into an alliance with it and Russia, and so has been supporting its little imperial adventure in Libya.

Speaking of which, Headline of the Day -100: “Italians Stirred By War.” I’ll bet they are, I’ll bet they are. Anyone who dares express opposition to the wog-killing (Socialists, mostly) has been beaten up. Students are especially pro-war.

A black man who shot the town marshal in Donaldson, Georgia, is killed by a mob.

Oh no! King George has been shot! “The sparsest details come from India about the King-Emperor’s shooting in Nepal.” Oh, all right, he’s actually been shooting tigers. And rhinoceri. He did it sitting on an elephant, as is the custom.

Russian troops are bombarding the governor’s palace in Tabriz, Persia and generally killing lots of the locals, or, as the NYT’s subhead put it, “Russia Stern to Those Who Attacked Troops – 50 Persians Killed.” Sternly.

NY State Senator Franklin D. Roosevelt says that state government is not a real democracy but a machine legislature run by Tammany. Evidently he’s just now figured this out.

Disturbing Headline of the Day -100: “Pickled Meat Men Win.” The story’s pretty disturbing, too. They were charged with pickling the meat of sick horses and cows and sending it to the Netherlands, but were acquitted because while it would be illegal to sell such meat in the US, it’s not in the Netherlands. The Secret Service was the agency prosecuting them.

Dr. Charles Naughty, Jr. is receiving injections after being bitten by Dr. Charles Bell, who he was treating for rabies. Bell subsequently died.

Xmas story: former judge David Pugh, who served with a West Virginia Union regiment during the Civil War, donates Christmas dinner (chickens, fruit and whatnot) to be distributed to needy Confederate veterans, to “pay back some of the chickens we took down South.”

Xmas Headline of the Day -100: “Ugly Dolls in Demand.” In Britain. Aw, who wouldn’t want a gollywog?

Disappointing Xmas Headline of the Day -100: “Taft Plays Santa Claus.” He gave turkeys and gold pieces and whatnot to various White House staff and secret service, but he did not actually dress as Santa.

Today -100: December 23, 1911: Of retaliation, Roosevelt booms, piracy, cats and chickens

Members of the Russian Duma are threatening to double tariffs on American goods in retaliation for Taft’s abrogation of the US-Russian Treaty of 1832 (which is not entirely unfair, since American tariffs on Russian goods would also increase).

Persia finally accedes to Russia’s ultimatum and fires its American treasurer-general William Morgan-Shuster.

The last week or two, there have been lots of little stories about various mid-level Republican officials and groups of party members calling for the replacement of Taft by Theodore Roosevelt as the party’s 1912 candidate. It’s not quite a movement, and at this stage TR is standing on the sidelines and repeating if asked that he doesn’t intend to run. But the aim of his supporters is clearly to generate a public demand that will make the party realize that no one really likes Taft while many still adulate Roosevelt and that with the country’s trend towards the Democrats, only Roosevelt has a shot in ‘12. The problem is that only a handful of states selected their delegates to the Republican convention through primaries, and the rest will be chosen by a party machine that doesn’t really care what the public thinks and never liked TR, to the point of preferring to see a Democrat in the White House than him.

An Italian cruiser seizes a British steamer near the Suez Canal carrying $150,000 in gold coin being sent to pay Turkish troops in Yemen.

The Corona Cat Skin Company plans to open a cat farm on Long Island. Fuckers.

Headlines of the Day -100: “Chicken Wins Boy’s Pardon” (NYT) and “PLEADS FOR SON’S PARDON: Old Colored Mammy Calls on Georgia Governor with a Christmas Offering” (LAT). A black woman bribes Gov. Slaton of Georgia with a chicken to get a pardon for her son in time for Xmas. (Actually, he doesn’t accept the chicken.)

Headline of the Day

AP: “Secret US Memo Now Key Evidence in Baby Thefts.” Although the headline should have read “US Kept Evidence of Baby-Theft by Argentinian Junta Secret for 30 Years.”

Today -100: December 22, 1911: Let the capitalists count their own dead

“Big Bill” Haywood, in a speech at a Socialist Party meeting at Cooper Union, comes out in favor of direct action and, you know, dynamite as a weapon in the class struggle. Talking about the many deaths because of improperly ventilated mines, he said, “Let the capitalists count their own dead.”

Speaking of counting the dead, the Triangle fire trial continues. Some of the witnesses for the defense have been claiming that the exit was never locked. Today the DA brought out that those witnesses, many of whom previously said the opposite to the authorities, all received substantial wage increases just before the trial started. Funny that.

Russian and Persian troops are fighting.

Mr. and Mrs. John T. Boone get divorced. He complained that she constantly held over his head that she is the great-great-grandniece of Thomas Jefferson, and that her ancestors are, in her opinion, superior to his (he’s a descendant of Daniel Boone).

Headline of the Day -100: “Caruso Hurts His Nose.”

Teaser

Evidently there’s a trailer for the upcoming film version of The Hobbit available on the internet. At least I hope that’s what all the references I’ve seen today to “Hobbit teaser” mean, and that I can soon forget the image that popped into my head when I read that phrase.

Today -100: December 21, 1911: Of roads, Smiths, and excessive bathing

Speaking to the Automobile Club, President Taft insists that it’s not the job of the federal government to build roads, even interstate roads.

The NYT -100 just did not know how to write a proper amusing human interest story. This story about a woman in Middletown, NY who just got married for the third time to a man named Smith – that is, all three of her husbands have been named Smith – fails to tell us what her original last name was.

A Mr. Tilden Pierce of Plymouth, Massachusetts is about to celebrate his 100th birthday. He says people these days are shortening their lives by eating too much pie and taking too many baths. Baths, he says, are “a dangerous practice and bound to sap a fellow’s strength. And if a man allows himself to become so unclean that he has to have a bath twice a week – well, he’d better look out or he’ll soon be dead.” Mr. Pierce has been chewing tobacco since he was 14.