Today -100: September 9, 1921: Of quick and even quicker “justice,” and the consent of the governed

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The day after Harry Latimar, a black man, allegedly commits “a crime” against white 8-year-old Wanda Varney in Williamson, West Virginia, he is indicted, tried, and sentenced to death, the verdict and sentence coming less than an hour after the first witness took the stand.

And two black men are lynched in a cornfield near Aiken, South Carolina.

Some time ago the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) fired the head of the English Department, Robert Kerlin, for having written an open letter to the governor of Arkansas, published in The Nation, about black men unjustly sentenced to death after the Elain massacre of 1919. The NYT says too many in the South “cannot see straight or reason clearly when the race question is thrust at them” and thinks Kerlin’s firing “a bad case of stupid intolerance.”

A federal judge enjoins Pittsburgh from banning the street sale of Henry Ford’s anti-Semitic Dearborn Independent.

British Prime Minister Lloyd George sends Éamon de Valera another letter calling for talks with no preconditions except of course that Ireland must be tied up in Britain’s colonial basement forever. As to Sinn Féin’s call for Consent of the Governed™, he denies that can be used as the basis for an Irish Republic: “the principle of government by consent of the governed™ would undermine the fabric of every democratic State and drive the civilized world back into tribalism.”

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Today -100: September 8, 1921: Disarming

Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes objects to newspapers calling the upcoming international meeting a “disarmament” conference, because it only aims to limit arms.

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Today -100: September 7, 1921: If England is issuing an ultimatum, let it be an ultimatum

Harding praises the achievements  of the Republican Congress. “[W]e are working our way out of a welter of waste and prodigal spending at a most impressive rate.”

As the British Cabinet meets, Éamon de Valera issues a statement, declaring, “The British imperial statesmen are trying to sell Ireland second-rate political margarine, and are very angry because we do not accept the butter label they put on and believe all the advertising stuff they have had printed about it. ... If England is issuing an ultimatum, let it be an ultimatum. Brute force, naked and unabashed, has been used against small nations before. Our nation has known it for long.”

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Today -100: September 6, 1921: Of banned black boxers, klans, and hereditary princes

Newark police forbid boxer Jack Johnson speaking, or leading a parade of black people, because a couple of weeks ago he predicted that one day blacks as a race would be able to cope with whites.

The KKK (or someone so signing themself) post a notice in the black quarter near Corsicana, Texas, ordering all black people to pick cotton (they’ve been demanding a pay increase). And many of them do. Intimidation pays!

Speaking of, the New York World begins an important exposé of the Ku Klux Klan today. The NYT won’t mention it.

So there’s a guy at the French seaside resort Crotoy who’s convinced everyone that he’s Omar Ibrahim, the eccentric “Hereditary Prince of Egypt,” by attending the opera in a bathing costume and riding a bicycle into a ballroom. You know, like a hereditary prince does.

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Today -100: September 5, 1921: Of dominions, oil, and fat parties

The Dáil Éireann officially rejects Lloyd George’s offer, calling for negotiations on the basis of the consent of the governed, which is a new catch-phrase. The Dáil says what the British have offered as Dominion status is inferior to that of other Dominions (Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand). And it objects to the creation of two “artificial states” in Ireland.

The Mexican government concludes what seem to be successful negotiations with five US oil companies.

Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle throws a party! Fun!

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Today -100: September 4, 1921: Of miners, cigars, and protocols

400 armed striking miners in West Virginia surrender to federal troops. One of the army’s bomber planes crashes.

Cuba is rushing 20,000 lady cigars to London for fashionable London lady smokers. They’re also taking up pipes, supposedly.

The London Times published last month, and the NYT reprints, evidence from the former’s Constantinople correspondent that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is not only fake, but that it’s a rip-off of a very obscure 1864 French-language book published, possibly, in Geneva. I’m unpersuaded by the correspondent’s claim that he heard this from an unnamed expatriate Russian who found the book among some books he bought off an Okhrana officer who had fled to Turkey and he was struck by the similarities to the Protocols, but the book’s title page is missing so it can’t be identified... I mean it is true that “Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu” is a real 1864 book that was the basis for much of the Protocols, with “the Jews” replacing members of Napoleon III’s administration, but the story of how this fact reached the Times is very implausible.

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Today -100: September 3, 1921: Of the unthinkable, airplanes, and dispatches from the Arctic the easy way

More shootings in Belfast. The IRA claims police are shooting up the Catholic districts from armored cars while shouting “To hell with the Pope,” as was the custom.

The NYT editorial page once again unerringly predicts the future:

10 days ago, Nicaragua declared that a state of (non-great) war existed. The NYT seems disappointed that no actual war has broken out (although some rebels invading from Honduras were routed).

Federal airplanes are bombing the West Virginia miners, because of course they are.

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Alive and well and dropping bombs in West Virginia.

Someone at the International Psychical Congress announces that explorer Knud Rasmussen promised to take part in research into sending telepathic reports from the Arctic.

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Today -100: September 2, 1921: In which a menace to free institutions is revealed

In 7 different fights on the streets of Pittsburgh, 9 men are arrested for fighting with paper sellers who were (illegally) selling Henry Ford’s anti-Semitic Dearborn Independent.

I’ve mentioned the Virginia Republican Party’s attempt to gain traction in the state by distancing itself from black people. The new party platform says it’s for their own good that black people should not be associated with just one party: “Political solidarity in either race is a menace to free institutions.” Oh, and they say they will appoint no (0) black people to public office.

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Today -100: September 1, 1921: Maybe it should have had actual apes instead

The D-6, the largest non-rigid dirigible (balloon) owned by the US Navy, burns on its maiden voyage, before it could be sent to the new hangar at Lakehurst, New Jersey, which was built for the ZR-2 dirigible which broke apart last week and will of course be the site of the Hindenburg disaster.

Opening on Broadway: Tarzan of the Apes, starring Ronald Adair and a couple of actual lions. And monkeys, but the apes are just people in ape costumes. It will be a flop, despite the lions.

(Yes, Ronald Adair is also the name of the murder victim in the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Empty Room).

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Today -100: August 31, 1921: Them strikers ain’t int’rested in reco’nition o’ no coal mine unions no more than what you or I be

Harding issues a proclamation against “insurrectionary” striking miners in Mingo County, West Virginia, ordering them to disperse. This is a threat to send in federal troops.

Tolbert Hatfields, of the fussin’ and feudin’ Hatfields, says the Mingo uprising is more about moonshine than unionism.

More rioting in Belfast, now with added snipers.

Germany bans several far-right newspapers. And a decree bans people not actually in the army from wearing army uniforms, and this means you, Gen. Ludendorff.

Pittsburgh police ban the sale on the streets of Henry Ford’s anti-Semitic Dearborn Independent, arresting two paper sellers.

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Today -100: August 30, 1921: Our honor has been affronted

Texas Gov. Pat Neff denies that prisoners are hung by their wrists in chains as punishment – any more. A bill is pending to ban that practice and to limit beatings with a chunk of wood known as the “bat.”

King Alfonso of Spain, presenting a flag to the Valencia Regiment, says of Spanish military defeats in Spanish Morocco: “Our honor has been affronted, and Spanish soldiers know how to avenge an offense.” He says how sorry he is not to be able to go with them but, you know, it’s “forbidden.”

German President Friedrich Ebert issues a proclamation banning meetings, demonstrations, publications etc likely to encourage seditious movements. He says Germany’s public morals are disintegrating and “unbridled agitation” is threatening the foundations of the Republic.

Cleveland City Council opposes any branch of the KKK establishing itself in the city.

The Klan has 50 branches in New Jersey, at least according to King Kleagle Dr. Orville Cheatham. Newark Mayor Alexander Archibald, whose name, like Dr. Cheatham’s, is a bit much, says Newark can take care of maintaining law ‘n order without any assistance, taking the Klan’s claim to be a law ‘n order body at face value. Cheatham says the Klan’s principles are to protect pure womanhood, white supremacy, and yes, upholding law ‘n order.

Charlie Chaplin, in NY on his way to London, says women shouldn’t wear short skirts and should wear tailored suits and rolled stockings. He’s okay with bobbed hair. I should say it was reporters who brought up short skirts, not him. He’s surprised how many phone calls he’s getting in NY: “Out West I live a very quiet life. I’m not much interested in people, as people, and I haven’t much social activity. I have just a few personal friends. I hate actors.” He says capital must pay working people more.

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Today -100: August 29, 1921: They don’t drink milk in China

Potsdam police shoot at Communist and Socialist demonstrators who gathered to prevent a (banned) right-wing demonstration celebrating the assassination of Matthias Erzberger.

NYC cops are selling tickets to the Police Field Day games in annoying ways. Traffic cops are stopping cars to sell tickets, and uniformed cops are visiting restaurants and cabarets, particularly ones illegally selling liquor, and bothering the patrons.

The territory of West Hungary, occupied by Hungary but assigned to Austria by the treaties with Hungary and Austria ending the Great War, was supposed to be handed over yesterday (the Austrians will call it Burgenland). However, as Austrian gendarmes moved in, they met resistance from the Hungarian military.

A letter to the editor from Chen Ping Ling reacts to an ad from the Dairymen’s League Co-operative Association which claimed “They don’t drink milk in China,” which it says accounts for children dying and for adult Chinese being “inevitably short of stature, lacking in vigor and energy.” He says Chinese people get food value from soya beans instead, and some of them are quite tall and energetic, and hey there are a lot of short weaklings in the US too.

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Today -100: August 28, 1921: Of batty magistrates, assassinations, klans, and kings

The British send troops into the Malabar District of India to suppress disturbances. The troops are led by someone called Magistrate Batty, because of course he is.

Left-wing and centrist newspapers in Germany blame the assassination of Matthias Erzberger on the relentless vilification of him by the right-wing press.

A petition by Milwaukeehoovians asks Gov. John Blaine to prevent the Ku Klux Klan organizing in Wisconsin. He says he can’t presume they’ll indulge in violence and crime, so no. He and the Klan will soon have a rather more contentious relationship.

Although Alexander, still sick in Paris, has already taken the oath of king of Yugoslavia, another candidate for king is heard from: Prince George, who was forced to renounce his right of succession in 1909 when he kicked a servant. To death. He now wants to renounce his renunciation.

Premiering today:

Starring Douglas Fairbanks, with Adolphe Menjou as Louis XIII.

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Today -100: August 27, 1921: They were not made in any haggling spirit

Matthias Erzberger, the former finance minister/vice chancellor of Germany (1919-20, Zentrum party), is assassinated while on vacation in the Black Forest by two men, who escape. Erzberger signed the armistice in 1918, for which the Freikorps types who killed him never forgave him. 

The two assassins will live in hiding in Hungary, Spain, Spanish Guinea and elsewhere until Hitler issues a general amnesty for old political murders in 1933. In 1946 Heinrich Tillessen will be tried for the murder by a German court but released because it decided to respect Hitler’s impunity order; he’ll then be grabbed by the French and tried for the assassination by another German court which will decide the amnesty is no longer in operation, and sentenced to 15 years, of which he’ll serve 5. Heinrich Schulz also returned to Germany in 1933 and joined the SS. He was convicted of manslaughter in 1950 and released in 1952.

The Dáil Éireann unanimously rejects the British proposals, and de Valera writes Lloyd George to so inform him. LG writes back, complaining that de Valera showed no recognition of the liberality of LG’s proposals, which “were not made in any haggling spirit.” In other words, take it or leave it. The British are increasingly patting themselves on the back for their incredible generosity and shocked at the sheer lack of gratitude by the Irish.

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Wesley Redding is promoted to detective, the first black detective in the NYPD, after only 18 months on the force. He is 28 and will die in 1924 of TB.

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Today -100: August 26, 1921: Peace in lounge suits and straw hats is still peace

The peace treaty between the US and Germany is signed at the German Foreign Office in Berlin, without the usual speeches, ceremony or dressing up – “the surprised English correspondents exclaimed that it was the first time in history a treaty had been signed in lounge suits.” This informality is by request of the Germans, who didn’t even allow a photograph to be taken of the signing. The US will get all the advantages specified in the Versailles Treaty without any of the obligations, like joining the League of Nations or guaranteeing borders.

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By the numbers: 1,000 killed, 3 paragraphs, page 9. I don’t know about the accuracy of the number of dead at this stage of the Malabar rebellion, but this anti-British, anti-upper-caste rebellion will last months and kill many more than that. The British blame “agitators,” you’ll be surprised to hear.

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Today -100: August 25, 1921: Of lemons and treaties

The dirigible ZR-2, the largest airship ever built, sold by the British to the US Navy for $2 million (well, $1.5 million so far; the US won’t have to make the last payment), breaks apart and explodes over Hull, killing 44 of its crew of 49. 16 Americans, 28 British, and a black cat named Snowball whose nationality is undisclosed. Some of them fall out into the Humber River when the ship splits apart. A few of the crew had parachutes, for all the good it did them. This is the largest air disaster to date, and if you’re wondering, the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 killed 36. The ZR-2 was not well-designed or well-built.

For example, the design failed to take aerodynamic stresses into account. And the testing process was rushed. Its girders, chosen for lightness rather than strength, didn’t hold up in the 3 earlier test runs and really really didn’t hold up this time. Crew called it a “lemon,” which is earlier than I would have expected to see that term. 

Admiral William Moffett, head of the Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics, hopes this little setback won’t hurt the development of dirigibles: “We will carry on and build and operate as many big, rigid dirigibles as are necessary, so that these brave men shall not have given their lives in vain.” Moffett will die in a dirigible crash in 1933.

The peace treaty between the US and Austria is signed, but the one with Germany isn’t because of some secret technical reason. The details of both treaties are also being kept secret.

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Today -100: August 24, 1921: Well, at least he’s willing to admit it

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According to an alleged private letter that the Paris Matin claims to have gotten hold of.

Nicaragua declares a state of war in several provinces. The 3-sentence story is on the front page, but the NYT fails to explain with whom Nicaragua is at war (rebels, as it turns out, crossing the border from Honduras).

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Today -100: August 23, 1921: Of legions and cassocks

Spain, whose ass is being badly beaten in Spanish Morocco, is recruiting American vets for the Spanish Foreign Legion. The pay is 60¢ a day. How many countries had foreign legions, anyway?

Guadalajara, Mexico police have been arresting priests for appearing in public in clerical garb, including an archbishop.

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Today -100: August 22, 1921: Of airships and beards

If the ZR-R airship, which the US Navy is buying from the British Navy, isn’t flown to the US soon, weather may delay the trip until 1922. Also, it’s failed every test so far due to structural defects and design flaws, but I’m sure everything will be fine.

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Today -100: August 21, 1921: Might as well jump in the lake with your clothes on

Carl Großmann is arrested by Berlin police investigating a complaint of noise coming from his apartment. They find a dead woman. Further investigation will suggest that over the years he murdered more than 20, possibly more than 100, women. He was a butcher who had a hot dog stand during the war, so there are strong Sweeney Todd suspicions. Weimar Germany was lousy with serial killers.

The Senate is fighting over attempts to amend the Beer Bill to prevent warrant-less searches of private homes, cars, office buildings and baggage.

In more beach bathing attire news, Oyster Bay, Long Island’s Town Board barred the police chief (who works for the village of Bayville) from its beaches, where he’s been arresting literally hundreds of people who changed into bathing suits in their cars or the woods or women whose costumes he finds scandalous. And in Zion City, Illinois, rules for the usually under-regulated male bathing costumes require they be long enough to cover those sexy sexy knees, with skirts to cover the sexy sexy thighs. An alderman opposing the measure says “Might as well jump in the lake with your clothes on.”

Boys swimming in the East River find as many as 100 autos the river’s bottom, evidently driven off a pier in the Bronx. Police suspect insurance fraud. Recent reductions in new car prices make this sort of thing more remunerative for people than selling their old cars secondhand. There’s been a similar discovery of an automobile graveyard in an abandoned quarry near Chicago. Some of these idiots didn’t think to take their license plates off.

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