December 5, 1919. One Crisis with Mexico Diffused, another Occurs

Diplomatic officer Jenkins was released by the Mexican judicial system on this day in 1919, which was also the same day that Mexican bandits staged a cross border raid.  At least the release brought the two countries back from the brink of war.

On the same day, Laramie was looking at closing buildings due to the strike induced national coal shortage.

December 1, 1919. The border arms, industry meets.

1920 was threatening to be a repeat of 1916, based upon the late 1919 headlines.

Mexico was reported to be rushing troops to its border in anticipation of the United States moving troops south.

Meanwhile, in Washington D. C. the Second Industrial Conference was meeting to discuss the post war economy.

Members of the Second Industrial Conference.

Lex Anteinternet: November 26, 1919. Felipe Ángeles sentence carried out. US v. Mexico War looms again.

Lex Anteinternet: November 25, 1919. Felipe Ángeles sentenced to de...:

November 25, 1919. Felipe Ángeles sentenced to death.

The quixotic Felipe Ángeles, whom Villa had backed as head of state in 1919, was condemned to death by a Mexican court martial on this day in 1919.

Following Villa's defeat in the Battle of Juarez, which Angeles had not taken part in, a despondent Angeles had left Villa's service and wondered around itinerant.  He'd gone into a state of despair over the inability of the warring Mexican forces to find their way towards a joint resolution of their disputes.  Like almost every single significant Mexican figure who fell victim to a political killing in this period, he was betrayed prior to his arrest, the arrest being a bit of an exception to the rule.

His execution would come the following day.

And, to add to it, the US and Mexico were growing close to war again, although not over the execution of Ángeles, but rather the arrest of US Consular Officer Jenkins.

Mexico was failing to act to release Jenkins, whose story we are just picking up, following what was original his kidnapping.  The Mexican government didn't believe that Jenkins, who had obtained the position as he was a U.S. businessman living in Mexico, was actually kidnapped but, rather, that he'd arranged the event himself.

The US obviously held the opposite belief, and in any event, Jenkins was a consular officer who really couldn't be held under diplomatic conventions.

History Repeating Itself On the Border

I'm not really going to comment in depth about this story, but rather comment on something completely tangential to it.

First, the headline from the Washington Post:

Nine members of Mormon family with U.S. citizenship killed in attack in northern Mexico; Trump offers military support

Put in Wilson in place of Trump, and this story could have appeared in a 1919 issue of the Post, or certainly a 1916 issue.

This is an awful tragedy.  It appears to be a case of mistaken identify visited upon a group of people in a most violent way.  Chances are, we're only reading about it in the U.S. because those killed were dual citizens of the United States and Mexico and had extremely close connections with the United States. Had they been simply regular Mexican citizens we'd likely not be reading that much about it.

None of which diminishes the tragedy.

Mormons have had a fairly long presence in Mexico.  We last read about that here in the context of Mormon agricultural communities in Mexico coming under distress during the Mexican Revolution.  Poncho Villa seems to have uniquely disliked them for some known reason.  Maybe it was because they were closely connected with the U.S, maybe its because their religion was strange to him even though he was an irreligious man, maybe its just because they were different, or maybe it was because Villa was basically unstable.  At any rate, many of them fled to the United States during that period, although some remain.  I'm uncertain about these folks, but they were in the right Mexican state to have been descendants of those earlier colonies.

Anyhow, this blog has focused intensely on the 1915 to 1920 time period, and its often ran real time century delayed items from the 1916 raid on Columbus, New Mexico forward. Those have slowed up a lot recently (and readership has accordingly dropped off), but something like this reminds us, in a very tragic way, that the past is still with us.  Indeed, the present is merely a developed past.

October 5, 1919. No World Series Update?

Nope.

The game was called due to rain.

Readers of morning papers would still find themselves reading about the World Series which, just like today, would have been the news of the prior day.  This was the era, of course, if evening and morning newspapers, with the evening ones, now that wire services existed, reporting on the news of that day.  Many readers of this paper, therefore, would have already read about the fourth game in yesterday's evening paper.

The Casper Herald was unusual for a Wyoming paper at the time in that their was a Sunday edition.  Most Wyoming papers took Sunday completely off.

Grim news continued to come from the Mexican border and appear on the front page, but for some reason now war with Mexico seemed a lot less likely than it had previously seemed. 

A sort of war, however, seemed to be raging in a lot of American cities.

And the President was reported to be improving.  The conspiracy of silence around his real condition had very much set in.

September 2, 1919. Meyers to Placerville on the Motor Transport Convoy. More Trouble on the Border. Storm brewing in the Gulf. The End of Summer.

On this day the 1919 Motor Transport Convoy resumed their travels towards the Bay with a trip from Meyers to Placerville.  Roads were improving.

Closer to home, Wyoming's oil fortunes were improving, while the situation on the border remained tense and violent.

The crisis on the border naturally got first place on a lot of newspapers, but the Lance Creek oil strikes were a big deal in Wyoming. The area still is a major petroleum province in the state.

Railroad bills were also big news, as Congress struggled with an industry that had proved problematic during the war. 

And the victorious Allies informed Germany that Austria was not to be admitted as a German state, now that the Austrian Empire had ceased to exist.  In fact, as we'll shortly see, this would be a provision of the treaty with Austria which was soon to be signed.

And school was starting up, which was an occasion for cartoons.

The Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger made note of Labor Day being the unofficial American end of summer, with Tuesday, which September 2 was, being the end of the vacation season.

A cartoon of this type shows how long certain American traditions of modern life have been around, with an American vacationer (showing that vacations were common then), labeled as "Everybody", has a wrecked bank account due to going over the waterfall of Vacation.

The Gasoline Alley gang was at work, or at least Walt was, with the gang urging him to take the day off and go golfing.

It was also hurricane season, with the 1919 Florida Keys Hurricane forming to the south of the peninsula.  In those days, there was considerably less warning than there is now.

August 25, 1919. Ely to Pinto House, Nevada with the Motor Transport Convoy, London to Parish with Aircraft Transport & Travel, back to Texas with the 8th Cavalry, north to the Stampede in Alberta.

American cemetery at Belleau Wood, photograph taken on August 25, 1919.

On this day in 1919, a photographer was at work taking photographs of the recent American battle ground of Belleau Wood.

View of Chateau Thierry and the famous bridge where the Marine stopped the Hun hoards on their march on Paris, taken on August 25, 1919.

Things picked up a bit on this Monday, August 25, 1919, for the Motor Transport Convoy, although they now suffered a mechanical failure beyond their ability to address.

Other soldiers, much further south, had come back across the border.  The most significant US incursion into Mexico since the Punitive Expedition had come to an end.

As with the last, this incursion had featured the use of aircraft fairly extensively.  In this case, the press was reporting that aircraft had proven decisive by resulting in the deaths from a strafing run by U.S. planes.  The expedition had also started, of course, due to aircraft when U.S. airmen had been held hostage by Mexican bandits.

Also occurring on this day was another significant aircraft related event.  The predecessor to British Airways, Aircraft Transport & Travel Ltd., commenced the first regularly scheduled commercial channel hopping flight.  That early ride between London and Paris must have been a bit frightening to the passengers, but clearly pointed the direction of the future.

The flight was made in an Airco DH16, an plane that was converted from the wartime DH9.  It could hold four passengers.

North of the border, in Alberta, the 1919 Calgary Stampede commenced, but this year it was termed "The Victory Stampede".    The artwork of Charles Russell played a part in the big event that year.

If that seems surprising, Russell painted quite a few paintings with Alberta themes or for Alberta ranchers.  The ranch culture of Montana and Alberta were closely connected.

The first Calgary Stampede had been held in 1912. This was only the second. So it was not only first post war Stampede, but a real resumption and continuation of something that may not have become the big rodeo event that it did.

Maps and governments continued to change in Eastern Europe.  Today, the first Lithuanian Soviet Republic came to an end due to Polish occupation of the principal portions of its territory.  The USSR would reestablish it as a puppet state in 1939.

Harry Houdini was performing, but on film, in a movie featuring him that was released on this Monday.

August 24, 1919 "That this pass was successfully negotiated without accident considered remarkable". Ray Caldwell remarkably continues pitching after being hit by lightening. U.S. "Invasion" of Mexico continues

On this day in 1919 the Motor Transport Convoy negotiated Shellbourne Pass.

Not too surprisingly, four wheel drive FWDs came through the best on this days' travel. 

The unit made it to Ely, Nevada, after 77 miles over 8 hours, fairly good time by the standards of the convoy.  They arrived mid afternoon after once again failing to to take a Sunday's day rest, and camped in a municipal campground that was already a destination for tourists, showing how quickly motor tourism was advancing in spite of the poor state of the roads and the primitive condition of the cars.  Shoshone Indians, who have a very small reservation near Ely (which is not noted by the diarist) visited.

On the same day, pitcher Ray Caldwell was hit by lightening while pitching for the Cleveland Indians in a game against the Philadelphia Athletics.  Caldwell was knocked unconscious for five minutes but upon being revived asked for the ball back and resumed playing.

He completed the game, having pitched 8.2 innings and threw the winning pitch.  The blast of lightening knocked the hat off of the catcher and players and spectators at first thought that Caldwell might have been killed.

Caldwell was a great pitcher but was notoriously personally erratic, being an alcoholic and having, a self destructive streak. That would result in his having a shortened major league career, after which he played in the minors.  His reputation as a drinker and a partyer was a deterrent to teams picking him up.  He became a farmer, railroad employee and bartender in his later years and, in spite of his early life, lived to age 79.

Caldwell worked as a shipbuilder during World War One, an occupation taken up by a variety of baseball players as it allowed them to continue playing baseball rather than being conscripted into the Army.

In other news, American cavalry continued on in Mexico in search of bandits.  Mexican Federal troops were reported to be engaged in the same activity.

The intervention was apparently causing speculation in Mexican newspapers about various ways that the U.S. might more fully intervene in Mexico.

This Sunday edition of the Cheyenne State Leader also featured an article about "Jap" immigration.  A current newspaper would never use this pejorative slang term, but this was extremely common for newspapers of the era.

The paper also had an odd line about a woman whose "husband brings home the bacon" being "the better half of a good provider".  That's is hard to discern now, but what it referred to was the reluctance of a lot of women to leave their wartime jobs and resume to traditional pre war roles.  This was an issue at the time as it was felt that it was keeping men out of work, their traditional role.

August 23, 1919. Exhibitions in Toronto, Trouble for the Motor Transport Convoy in Utah, Fighting in Mexico, Lithuania and Ireland.

While the U.S. Army was testing its recent wartime vehicular acquisitions in a cross country trek, Toronto was enjoying a victory related exhibition.

Vehicle attrition was beginning to set in with the transcontinental Motor Transport Convoy.

While better progress was made on this day, for the second time this week a vehicle was pulled out to be shipped by rail.  On this occasion, the vehicle was pulled out entirely and taken back to Ft. Douglas, Utah, which is just outside of Salt Lake City.

Officer's quarters, Ft. Douglas, Utah.

Things were not going as well as hoped for, for the Army, further south.

And violence was erupting elsewhere as well.

In Ireland, fifteen year old Francis Murphy, a member of Fianna Éireann, an Irish Nationalist Youth organization, was shot dead in his home by British soldiers in what amounted to sort of a drive by shooting.  The shots were believed to have been fired in retaliation for recent violent nationalist activities.

Fianna Éireann members in 1914, practicing aiding the wounded.  The organization was a nationalist youth organization with scouting elements.  Note the kilts, which aren't really an Irish thing.  Note also the Montana Peak type hats which were associated with scouting at the time.  Photograph courtesy of the Irish Library via Wikipedia Commons.

And in the East, fighting between Poles and Lithuanians broke out in the city of Sejny over the question of who would control the city. The Germans, upon evacuating the region in May, had left it in the hands of Lithuania, which is not surprising in light of German support for German freikorps fighting there.  The Poles in the city objected.  Ultimately the region would remain in Lithuania.

Polish cavalry in Sejny.

Saturday was the day the nation's magazines tended to come out, although its doubtful anyone we discussed above read this weeks. Maybe soldiers on the convoy might have acquired some late.

Country Gentleman, perhaps in the spirit of the time, portrayed aggressive roosters on its cover.

The Country Gentleman from August 23, 1919.

The Saturday Evening Post had a less than inspiring Leyendecker illustration depicting a life guard, perhaps in tribute to the hot month of August, which was about to become the cooling month of September.

It was a bad day for the Motor Transport Convoy. . .

August 22, 1919.

Nothing was going right.

And the water had to be hauled in by horse.

Elsewhere, the U.S. Army was travelling by horse:

In other localities, things were more tranquil.

San Juan, Puerto Rico, August 22, 1919.

August 21, 1919. Dissension in the ranks, Orr's Ranch to Granite Rock, Utah. 15 miles in 7.25 hours. New dry docks at Pearl Harbor. Pursuit in Mexico.

Things were getting heated in the Motor Transport Convoy on this day in 1919.

The commander of the convoy, concerned about the fate of the vital Militor, pulled it out of the convoy and had it shipped by rail to Eureka, Nevada.  The diarist recorded his dissension in the diary, not something a junior officer would do lightly.  Indeed, something of that type risked being a career ender.

But the diarist may have well be right. Progress that day ground to a halt.  While the Militor was now suffering from its hard use, the convoy may well have suffered due to its absence.

On the same day, the wife of the Secretary of the Navy was present in Hawaii to push a button to open a new dry dock at Pearl Harbor.

American troops continued a new pursuit south of the border, but Mexico was once again not pleased.

Elsewhere there was a food sale:

August 20, 1919. Salt Lake City to Orr's Ranch, 8th Cavalry in Mexico, White Russian amphibious landing at Odessa.

On this day the Motor Transport Convoy traveled from Salt Lake to Orr's Ranch

Conditions were bad.

Orr's Ranch wasn't a town.  It was a stop in the road.  A gas station, basically.

Meanwhile, news of the crossing into Mexico made the headlines again.

On the same day, White Russian forces conducted an amphibious landing at Odessa.

The Allies had withdrawn, and not under fire, on April 7.  On this day, the White Russians took the town on an amphibious landing.

And that, in 1919.

August 19, 1919. Trouble on the road and a big welcome in Salt Lake City, Trouble on the Border.

Salt Lake City in 1908.

While plagued with mechanical troubles, the Motor Transport Convoy made good time, doing 73 miles from Ogden to Salt Lake City in 8.25 hours.  Upon arrival, the command was treated to a parade attended by dignitaries.

The large celebratory nature of the arrival reflects the fact that upon arriving in Salt Lake the command had arrived at the first substantial city since leaving Cheyenne in eastern Wyoming, or perhaps even since leaving Omaha in eastern Nebraska.  They were arriving toward the end of their trek and while perhaps the worst was yet to come, getting to Salt Lake was a major accomplishment.

While the arrival of the Motor Transport Convoy was obviously a big even in Salt Lake and elsewhere, the big news on that day is that American troops were back in Mexico.

The occasion had been the holding for ransom of two American military aviators. A portion of the ransom had been paid and then the 8th Cavalry crossed the border at Marfa in pursuit of the Mexican bandits.

Perhaps somewhat ironically, on the same day the U.S. re-adopted the briefly adopted star roundel for its aircraft.  It had done this early in World War One but abandoned it in favor of one more closely resembling the device used by the British and the French, which made sense at the time.  Now it re-adopted its earlier insignia, just in time for the aviators to join the pursuit of their own captors in support of the 8th Cavalry, although the insignia used by those aircraft is unknown to us.