Today -100: September 13, 1921: Ignorance and too much money

Details of statements by witnesses to Fatty Arbuckle’s “drinking party” are leaking. He supposedly pulled Virginia Rappe into a room, saying “I’ve waited for you five years, and now I’ve got you.” There were screams, and when Fatty finally emerged, he was wearing pajamas and Virginia’s hat at an angle, showing his “foolish screen smile.” Rappe, moaning, said “Arbuckle did it.” I should say the witness, Bambina Maude Delmont, will turn out to have a record of blackmail and extortion. And she’s being paid, at least her hotel bills, by Rappe’s finacée. She called in a doctor, who, after Rappe’s death, performed a post-mortem without official authority, which is weird, right?

If some of this is open to doubt, we do get the definitive answer to the question: how fat was Fatty? His booking info says he is 5 foot 5 and 3/8 inches tall and 266 pounds. He’s 34.

Movie theaters are withdrawing Fatty Arbuckle movies. And in at least one town, the mayor banned them. It is explained that an actor “with a questionable reputation might be acceptable in a sophisticated drama, but not in a simple, frolicsome comedy that will be watched by thousands of young people and children.” 

Henry Lehrman, Virginia Rappe’s fiancée and a director of several of Arbuckle’s films, says he’ll kill Fatty if he’s released. He says Fatty is “the result of ignorance and too much money” and had to be warned to keep out of the women’s dressing rooms, like a common Trump.

Rep. Isaac Siegel (R-NY) writes to Pres. Harding about the unfair way the new immigration law is being carried out, such as sending back a 10-year-old Polish girl – her father came to the US years ago intending to bring his family over but the war broke out, them he heard they were dead, but he finally located them, then his wife died just before they were to come, so the daughter came alone – because the Polish quota for the month had been reached. Harding responds blaming “dishonest steamship agents.” Oh no, not his mortal enemies the dishonest steamship agents!

The California Supreme Court overturns the alien poll tax, an annual $10 tax on alien male residents between 21 and 60, passed this year to put into effect a November ballot measure. It not only violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection, the court rules, but the treaty between the US and Japan.

Russia declares war on Romania over Bessarabia, which the Allied Supreme Council gave to Romania, with what authority is unclear.

The governments of Poland and Bavaria both resign.

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Today -100: September 12, 1921: Of fatties and kluxers

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.

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Today -100: September 11, 1921: Trinkle down theory

San Francisco police say they will detain (but not charge) Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle for the death of Virginia Rappe at a party in his hotel room. He’s coming back from LA to help the SFPD with their enquiries. Ms Rappe, 23 if you believe the NYT, 26 if you believe Wikipedia, or 30 if you believe imdb, was an actor most famous, I’m just going to assume, for playing “Lucy Butts” in “His Musical Sneeze.”

As I’ve mentioned, the Virginia Republican Party decided to purge itself of negroes. Its gubernatorial candidate, Col. Henry W. Anderson, defends the party’s lily-white convention, saying it is in accord with the US Constitution because it removes the race question from politics. Not sure if I understand his point. The Lily Black Republicans, as they call themselves, who were excluded from that convention, name their own slate of (black) candidates, none of whom the NYT bothers to name. John Mitchell Jr., newspaper editor, banker, etc, is the gubernatorial candidate, and an actual woman, Maggie Walker, is candidate for superintendent of public instruction. The Democratic nominee for governor is still named, regardless of all sense, Elbert Lee Trinkle, leading to such phrases as “Chairman Flood predicts that Trinkle will carry the State”.

And, indeed, Trinkle will carry the state.

Marshal Joseph Joffre of France delays his official visit to Japan because he needs a new plumed hat and it won’t be ready in time.

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics tries to standardize terms: “aircraft” should be used rather than “airship,” which should only be used for lighter-than-air craft; “airplane” should be used in place of “aeroplane,” etc.

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Today -100: September 10, 1921: Of frightful evidence, raids at sea, tunnels, and drinking peacefully

Headline of the Day -100:  

Federal agents seize the drug-smuggling ship King Alexander, shooting 5 Greek sailors and blackjacking 20 more, as was the custom. The feds failed to tell anyone they were going to board the King Alex, because they suspected there were moles in Customs, so they’re fired on by customs guards and a harbor police launch who think the feds are rum-runners. An hour after the raid, Frank Fitzpatrick, one of the raid leaders, commits suicide, possibly for unrelated health reasons.

40 to 50 IRA prisoners escape from the internment camp at Curragh. They dug a tunnel.

Cyril Lincoln Reed, “of a good family in London,” wrote a bad check so he could fly to Paris  to get a drink or two, also paid for by bad checks. When he did it all over again a few days later, he’s arrested. He tells the court, “I had been turned out of every bar in London. After 24 hours I became so thirsty that I simply had to fly to Paris in order to be able to drink peacefully.”

Headline of the Day -100:  

From his... “pneumonia.”

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

Headline of the Day -100:  

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.

Headline of the Day -100:  

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.

Headline of the Day -100:  

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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.

Headline of the Day -100:  

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.

Headline of the Day -100:  

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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