Friday, November 20, 1914. James Jordan's buck.

James Jordan shot the the largest white tail deer to ever be recorded in the United States.

Jordan was a 22 year old from Minnesota, but had moved to nearby Wisconsin, where he got the deer with a Winchester Model 1892 in .25-20 WCF, a very light cartridge for such an endeavor.

Last edition:

Wednesday, November 18, 1914. Karolina Kózka and a march on Mexico City.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, Battle of Kolubara, Battle of Łódź, Emiliano Zapata, German Army, Imperial Russian Army, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Pancho Villa, Personalities, Venustiano Carranza, World War One

Friday, January 6, 1922. De Valera makes the vote personal, The Literary Digest writes about Japan, and the Feds raid Oshkosh.

The debate had been ongoing in the Dáil over the peace treaty that had been negotiated and already now approved by the British Parliament.  Irish President Éamon de Valera had taken a hands off approach during those negotiations, but now was opposing ratification of the treaty, hoping instead for full separation with no oath.  

On this day, perhaps sensing that the debate was swinging against him, he declared that he "could not carry on until I know if I have the support of this Dáil ... I appeal to this House to re-elect me, give me a vote of confidence so that I can stand on the rock of an independent Irish republic. If you want this treaty you can elect someone else".

The Wyoming State Tribune was correct, Ireland was teetering on the brink of civil war, and over an issue that would have been incomprehensible as recently as 1914.  It frankly made no sense, except in the heated atmosphere of post World War One Irish politics.

De Valera's proclamation suggested that he'd accept the results of the vote, however, and that he'd not lead his supporters personally into a civil war.

The Wyoming State Tribune ran a full page for an advertisement about another island nation, Japan.

Or, more precisely, it ran an advertisement for The Literary Digest's upcoming issue on Japan.

Japan had been a looming issue for American foreign policy for at least a couple of decades, but by the early 1920s its modern navy, prior defeat of Russia in the Russo Japanese War, and its role as an Allied power, albeit a highly self-interested Allied power in the Great War was causing increasing concern.

Revenuers raided Oshkosh, Wisconsin:

Raid! When the Feds Hit Oshkosh in 1922

Tuesday, June 21, 1921. Sinking

On this date in 1921, the U.S. Army Air Corps and the U.S. Navy sunk the captured German U117 as a demonstration of air power.

The target U117.

In an event much more impressive then, than now, the undefended unmanned submarine was sunk by three Curtis flying boats.

Curtis F5L flying boat of the type used in the demonstration.

While submarines would prove to be very vulnerable to aircraft, the utility of a demonstration in which the boat could not react was questionable.

The State of Wisconsin passed an equal rights bill affording women the same rights as men in many areas.  It was the first such bill in the United States.

Scenes from September 20, 1919.

Veterans, Chilton, Wisconsin, Sept. 20, 1919

Potomac Boat Club, September 20, 1919.

Burk-northwest extension, September 20, 1919.

The Milwaukee Police Department Bombing, November 24, 1917

Holding the infamous distinction of being the single deadliest day for American Policemen until September 11, 2001, on this day a black powder bomb went off at the Milwaukee Central Police Station at Oneida and Broadway.

It had not been placed there by the perpetrators, but rather taken there by Sam Mazzone, janitor for an evangelical church in Milwaukee's third ward after it had been discovered next to the church by a social worker. The social worker had taken it inside the church's basement and the janitor, finding it suspicious, took it to the police.  Prior to it being inspected police were informally observing it when it went off, killing nine policemen and a female civilian.

Anarchists were suspected in the blast and apparently correctly as many years later Galleanists bombmaker Mario Buda was implicated in interviews of surviving Galleanists.  There had been tensions between the police, the church, and anarchists prior to the bomb being placed.  No arrests were ever made for the bombing, however.  It did cast a specter over the trial of Italian anarchists who werent to trail shortly thereafter on unrelated charges, resulting ultimately in many of their convictions being overturned as tainted.

The nine police deaths in a single terrorist event remained the single most deadly day for American policemen due to a single event until the Al Queda strike on New York two decades ago.

Labor Day

The law of successful national life is the law of work. Theodore Roosevelt Labor Day Speech, 1902.

World War Two vintage Labor Day poster.

 Martin Iron's Labor Day celebration, Waco Texas

Labor Day parade, Granite Wisconsin.

 Silverton Colorado, 1940.

Labor Day, 1909.