Wednesday, July 31, 1901. Ascending.

Reinhard Süring and Arthur Berson ascended in a hot air balloon to a height of  35,500 ft breaking the official record for the highest distance away from the Earth at the time.  They took off at  Tempelhof on the Preussen and landed at Cottbus.

Henry Tracey Coxwell and James Glaisher claimed to have reached 37,100 ft on September 5, 1862, after losing consciousness after recording a barometer reading at 8,800 metres.

The RRS Discovery departed London from the East India Docks to take on supplies and to await the visit of King Edward and Queen Alexandra before its departure on the British National Antarctic Expedition.

The House of Commons voted a grant of 100,000 pounds to Lord Roberts in appreciation of his service in the Second Boer War.

Last edition:

Tuesday, July 30, 1901. Limiting voting.

Labels: 1900s, 1901, Alabama, Boxer Rebellion, China, Civil War, Confederate States Of America, Donald Trump, fishing, German Army, Qing Dynasty, Racism

Tuesday, July 30, 1901. Limiting voting.

The last Imperial German Army troops left China following the Boxer Rebellion.

The Alabama constitutional convention began the first of its measures to disenfranchise African Americans from voting by limiting the right to register to vote to those persons whose ancestors were war veterans.

Given Southern conscription during the Civil War, that would have been a fairly large body of white Alabamans.  It's interesting to note, however, that if that provision existed today, which thankfully it cannot, Not one Trump could vote, and locally, none of Wyoming's Congressional delegation could.

 Mrs. E.N. Dickerson, of New York, N.Y. with a 363 lb. black sea bass, Santa Catalina Island, July 30, 1901

Last edition:

Monday, July 29, 1901. Reds.

Labels: 1870s, 1877, 1890s, 1898, 1900s, 1901, 1970s, 1972, Oklahoma, Progressive Party, Social Democracy, Social Democratic Party, Social Democrats USA, Socialism, Socialist Labor Party, Socialist Party of America, Third Parties

Monday, July 29, 1901. Reds.

The Social Democratic Party and Socialist Labor Party merged to create the Socialist Party of America.

Donald Trump reacted with glea, giving him a phony baloney issue to campaign on (he was already 70 years old at least).  Chuck Gray cried.

This Socialist Party, a real Socialist Party, lasted until 1972, at which time it became the Social Democrats, USA (SDUSA), which is sort of ironic in that one of the parties that merged to form it had been the Social Democratic Party.

The original US Social Democratic Party had been formed in 1898, basically at the dawn of socialism in the United States as a serious movement.  It was not as old, however, as the Socialist Labor Party, which had formed in 1877.

Symbol of the Socialist Labor Party,

People like Der Fibber seem to have just discovered Socialism, with Trump himself being by far the most Socialist President the country has had since the Great Depression, but the US had a strong Socialist movement at one time.  It no longer does, and the Social Democrats USA only have marginal influence on the country's politics at all at present by running as progressive Democrats.  At one time, particularly following the collapse of the Progressive Party, which had evolved out of the Republican Party, Socialist seriously contended with the two main parties as a force in American elections, although they were always distinctly a minority third party.

Theodore Roosevelt was, of course, the most famous member of the Progressive Party, and that party advanced some ideas that would be regarded as Socialist by modern bed wetting Republicans.  However, Roosevelt at the time noted that it was necessary to carve the best concept out of the progressive left so as to avoid true Socialism.  That principal still applies.  It was applied, of course, most broadly by the Democrats during the Great Depression, bringing in some socialist concepts such as Social Security.  Franklin Roosevelt co opted quite a few socialistic ideas during the Depression, many of which retreated post World War Two, although even such diverse Presidents as Harry S. Truman and Richard Nixon attempted to bring in national health care, something every advanced economy brought in following World War Two save for the United States.

Outright socialism, in which the state owns the means of production, was advocated in a form by Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, but it took until Donald Trump until it was advocated for in the really crude socialist form. In that sense, Trump is outright the most socialist president the country has ever had.  If socialism is a really bad idea, and for the most part it is, Trump is a socialist and is advocating for it.

Given that, the adoption of the Republican Party of the color red is really appropriate.

Continuing the dispossession of Native Americans from their land, Department of the Interior began the process of drawing for allotment of land applications in the former Kiowa and Comanche Indian nations in Oklahoma. 

Last edition:

Saturday, July 27, 1901. Second USS Maine launched.

Labels: 1900s, 1901, 1990s, 1994, Art, boats and ships, Industry, Railroads, Transportation, U.S. Navy, World War One, World War Two, Wyoming (Encampment)

Saturday, July 27, 1901. Second USS Maine launched.

 The second battleship to bear the name USS Maine was launched.

Give the rapid advance of ship designs, she'd be rapidly obsolete and served as a training vessel during World War One and be decommissioned in 1920.  While a third Maine battleship was planned during World War Two, it was cancelled.  A submarine with the name was launched in 1994 and is still serving.

First smelter opens at Grand Encampment.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 24, 1901. O. Henry.

Labels: 1900s, 1901, Army, boats and ships, Luzon, Personalities, Philippine Army, Philippine Insurrection, Philippines, Rhode Island, The written word

Wednesday, July 24, 1901. O. Henry.

Author William Sidney Porter, who would write under the pen name of O. Henry, was released from the Ohio Penitentiary.  He's soon begin his prolific writing career.

A very heavy drinker, he died in 1910 at age 47.

The USS Kearsarge inadvertently fired  a projectile at the city of Newport, Rhode Island and struck the Newport City Hall.

Philippine Gen. Zurbano surrendered to the U.S. Army on Luzon.

Last edition:

Saturday, July 20, 1901. Co. Aytch

Labels: 1900s, 1901, Algeria, Art, Civil War, Confederate Army, French Empire, Morocco, Personalities, Slavery, Tennessee, The written word

Saturday, July 20, 1901. Co. Aytch

 

Samuel Watkins, Confederate volunteer from Tennessee and author of the well known Co. Aytch died at age 62, his health broken from the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Omitted from his memoir is that he came from a well to do slaveholding family and his father held 100 such enslaved people.

Algeria and French Morocco fixed the boundary between the two of them in Paris.

Last edition:

Thursday July 18, 1901. Tom Horn murdered Willie Nickell.

Labels: 1900s, 1901, Philippines, Tom Horn, Wyoming

Thursday July 18, 1901. Tom Horn murdered Willie Nickell.

Willie Nickell.

Today In Wyoming's History: July 18: 1901. Tom Horn murders Willie Nickell, for which he is later hung. In part, Horn is relatively rapidly identified due to leaving an expended .30-30 cartridge at the site, that being a rifle cartridge he was associated with.  At the time, the .30-30 was regarded as a long range high velocity cartridge and it was a relatively new cartridge as well.  The murder was almost certainly a mistake, as Horn was very likely waiting for Willie's father.  Willie was a big kid, albeit only age 14, and was wearing his father's coat on the day of the murder.

It's interesting to note that Horn was born in Missouri and grew up on a large family farm, although he left home as an early teen. His 1860 birth date would have caused him to grow up in the Missouri of the 1860s and 1870s, which were particularly lawless, and produced a variety of notorious gunmen.  He served as a civilian scout in the Army under the legendary Al Sieber and saw service on both sides of the border.  He picked up a knowledge of the Apache language during this period..

In the period leading up to this infamous act, he seems to have been employed as an enforcer for certain cattle interests that were continuing to contest along the lines of the Johnson County War as well as the ongoing sheep war.  He first took up hiring out as a gunman in the Southwest, after his service to the Army.  His role in Wyoming was often as a "stock detective", which gave a degree of legality to some of his activities.

His arrest and conviction is one of two instances in the first decade of the 20th Century in Wyoming in which the gunman was rapidly identified due to a cartridge preference, the other being the 1909 Spring Creek Raid, which was the last raid of Wyoming's long running sheep wars. In that event, one of the assailants was armed with a semi automatic Remington 1908 in .25 Remington, his rifle being the only one of that type in the region.

Horn has remained an oddly popular and well known figure in Wyoming's history and has his apologists.  The reasons for this are not entirely clear.  There are those who claim even to the present day that he was not guilty of the murder and was framed by those who had formerly employed him, citing to the efforts of Joe Lefors, who was critical in tracking him down and supplying testimony against him. But the apologists arguments do not stand up to scrutiny.   Looked at objectively, Horn was a late Frontier era figure who became ensnared in the violence of the period at the same time at which it was winding down.  The same decade of his arrest would see Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid conclude their criminal activities in the state (also with Lefors playing a part in that) and the end of the Sheep Wars due to the arrival of effective law enforcement and unbiased juries.  Perhaps Horns role as a fin de siecle play a role in the ongoing fascination with him.

Philippine Commission's Act Number 175 established the paramilitary Philippine Constabulary to take over from the U.S. Army in fighting the remaining insurgents.  It existed until 1991.

Last edition:

Tuesday, July 16, 1901. Twelfth win.

Labels: 1900s, 1901, baseball

Tuesday, July 16, 1901. Twelfth win.

 Cy Young pitched his twelfth consecutive win for the Boston Americans.

Last edition:

MLabels: 1900s, 1901, 1903, baseball, Movies, Personalities, technology, Tom Horn, Unions, Women, Wyoming (Albany County), Wyoming Stock Growers Associationonday, July 15, 1901. Tom Horn goes visiting.

Monday, July 15, 1901. Tom Horn goes visiting.

Today In Wyoming's History: July 15: ..

1901    Tom Horn, returned from Army service in the Spanish American War, and employed by John Coble, member of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, visited Jim and Dora Miller's ranch near Iron Mountain, as well as Glendolene Kimmel, the 22 year old teacher at the Iron Mountain School.

The Millers and Horn, including the Miller children, engaged in target shooting later that day, with Horn shooting his .30-30 Winchester.

Kimmel would go on to be a defense witness for Horn at his trial for the murder of Willie Nickell, one of her students.  That would end up in her being charged with perjury, although the charges were dismissed.  She moved to Missouri and thereafter lived with her family in Hannibal.  She moved with her mother to California in 1913, and lived there until her death in 1949 at age 68.  She never married.

The Kimmel story has been a feature of the Tom Horn legend from nearly the beginning, but in truth she had very little connection with Horn, having met him on a very limited basis.  On this occasion, he told stories, and given his role as a frontier scout and in the Spanish American War, he had stories to tell.  But Horn was nearly 40 years old on this occasion and Kimmel, a single woman in Wyoming, would have been sought after by nearly any single male in the region.

She would claim that one of the Miller boys claimed the murder, which is certainly possible even if he didn't.  She swore an affidavit to that effect.  She also wrote an unpublished book on Horn defending him.  While that might show a strong degree of interest in him, it didn't rise to the level of a romantic relationship as suggested in later day.

A better view would be that based on her limited interaction with him she took an interest in his fate, and felt honor bound after hearing a confession of the murder, whether it was true or not.

Indeed, the more surprising things is that she never married.

The Edison Manufacturing Company attained a monopoly over the production of American motion pictures after a federal court in New York ruled in its favor in a suit against the American Mutoscope & Biograph Company for patent infringement.

The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers went on strike.

Christy Mathewson pitched no-hitter for the Giants against St. Louis

Last edition:

Saturday, July 13, 1901. A good effort.

Labels: 1900s, 1901, Aircraft, Art, Automobiles, France, France (Paris), William McKinley

Saturday, July 13, 1901. A good effort.

Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont became the first person to fly around the Eiffel Tower three times, a requirement for winning ta prize of 100,000 francs sponsored by oilman Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe.

He didn't get it as he failed to timely complete a round trip between the Longchamp Racecourse and the Tower within less than half an hour. 

William McKinley became the first President to ride in an automobile.

It was a Saturday, and the Saturday Evening Post ran this odd cover.

The accompanying article was "An American Invasion".

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 10, 1901. Registering for 160 acres of Oklahoma.

Labels: 1870s, 1876, 1900s, 1901, Agrarianism, China, Crime, Minnesota, Minnesota (Northfield), Northfield Minnesota Raid, Oklahoma, Qing Dynasty, The James Gang

Wednesday, July 10, 1901. Registering for 160 acres of Oklahoma.

Registration opened for the Oklahoma Territory land lottery at 9:00 a.m in El Reno and at Lawton.  By 6:00 p.m. on July 26, when registration closed, 167,000 people had spent the $25 registration fee to be eligible for one of 13,000 tracts of land of 160 acres each, with drawing to begin on July 29.

Cole and Jim Younger were granted parole after almost 25 years in the Minnesota State Prison in Stillwater, Minnesota for their attempted robbery of a bank in the James Gang's Northfield Minnesota on September 7, 1876.

Chinese Imperial troops were defeated by the Allied Villagers Society at Chichou.

Last edition:

Sunday, July 7, 1901. McKinley opens more of Oklahoma.

Labels: 1900s, 1901, Native Americans, Oklahoma, William McKinley

Sunday, July 7, 1901. McKinley opens more of Oklahoma.

William McKinley proclaimed certain Indian lands in Oklahoma Territory, including the Creek Nation, open to settlement effective August 6, 1901.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 3, 1901. Last train robbery of the Wild Bunch.

Labels: 1900s, 1901, Montana, The Wild Bunch

Wednesday, July 3, 1901. Last train robbery of the Wild Bunch.

Today In Wyoming's History: July 3: 1901:  The Wild Bunch rob a Great Northern train near Wagner Montana, their last robbery in the U.S.

It is unclear if Butch Cassidy was present or not.  The Sundance Kid was not.  

1901  First automobile appears to appear in Calgary, Alberta.

Last edition:

Saturday, June 29, 1901. Large sailing vessels collide.

Labels: 1900s, 1901, boats and ships, Conscription, Finland, Imperial Russian Army, Royal Navy, Russia

Saturday, June 29, 1901. Large sailing vessels collide.

George W. Wells.

The only two six masted schooners in the world, the George W. Wells and the Eleanor Percy, collided off the coast of Cape Cod in fair weather.  Both would need to be repaired.

Elanor Percy

The Royal Navy received its first dedicated hospital ship, the HMS Maine.

Czar Nicholas confirmed the law incorporating Finish residents into the Russian Imperial Army.

Last edition:

Tuesday, June 25, 1901. Proclamation 457—Ratifying an Agreement Between the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and the Muscogee or Creek Tribe of Indians

Labels: 1900s, 1901, Blog Mirror, Creek people, Five Civilized Tribes, Native Americans, William McKinley

Tuesday, June 25, 1901. Proclamation 457—Ratfying an Agreement Between the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and the Muscogee or Creek Tribe of Indians

Proclamation 457—Ratfying an Agreement Between the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and the Muscogee or Creek Tribe of Indians

June 25, 1901

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Whereas the act of Congress entitled "An act to ratify and confirm an agreement with the Muscogee or Creek tribe of Indians and for other purposes," approved on the 1st day of March, 1901, contains a provision as follows:

That the agreement negotiated between the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and the Muscogee or Creek tribe of Indians, at the city of Washington on the 8th day of March, nineteen hundred, as herein amended, is hereby accepted, ratified, and confirmed, and the same shall be of full force and effect when ratified by the Creek national council. The principal chief, as soon as practicable after the ratification of this agreement by Congress, shall call an extra session of the Creek national council and lay before it this agreement and the act of Congress ratifying it, and if the agreement be ratified by said council, as provided in the constitution of said nation, he shall transmit to the President of the United States the act of council ratifying the agreement, and the President of the United States shall thereupon issue his proclamation declaring the same duly ratified, and that all the provisions of this agreement have become law according to the terms thereof: Provided, That such ratification by the Creek national council shall be made within ninety days from the approval of this act by the President of the United States,

And whereas the principal chief of the said tribe has transmitted to me an act of the Creek national council entitled "An act to ratify and confirm an agreement between the United States and the Muscogee Nation of Indians of the Indian Territory" approved the 25th day of May, 1901, which contains a provision as follows:

That said agreement, amended, ratified and confirmed by the Congress of the United States, as set forth in said act of Congress approved March 1, 1901, is hereby accepted, ratified and confirmed on the part of the Muscogee Nation and on the part of the Muscogee or Creek tribe of Indians constituting said Nation, as provided in said act of Congress and as provided in the Constitution of said Nation, and the Principal Chief is hereby authorized to transmit this act of the National Council ratifying said agreement to the President of the United States as provided in said act of Congress.

And whereas paragraph thirty-six of said agreement contains a provision as follows:

This provision shall not take effect until after it shall have been separately and specifically approved by the Creek national council and by the Seminole general council; and if not approved by either, it shall fail altogether, and be eliminated from this agreement without impairing any other of its provisions.

And whereas there has been presented to me an act of the Creek national council entitled "An act to disapprove certain provisions, relating to Seminole citizens, in the agreement between the Muscogee Nation and the United States, ratified by Congress March 1, 1901," approved the 25th day of May, 1901, by which the provisions of said paragraph thirty-six are specifically disapproved:

Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, do hereby declare said agreement, except paragraph thirty-six thereof, duly ratified and that all the provisions thereof, except said paragraph thirty-six which failed of ratification by the Creek national council, became law according to the terms thereof upon the 25th day of May, 1901.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 25th day of June, A.D. 1901, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-fifth.

Signature of William McKinley

WILLIAM McKINLEY

By the President:

     DAVID J. HILL,

          Acting Secretary of State.

Last edition:

Monday, June 24, 1901. Oil in Oklahoma.

Labels: 1900s, 1901, Creek people, Cuba, Disease, Heroes, Medicine, Oklahoma, Oklahoma (Tulsa), Philippine Army, Philippine Insurrection, Philippines

Monday, June 24, 1901. Oil in Oklahoma.

A mere thirty days after the Creek National Council had ratified an agreement to cede its land to the Federal government, oil was struck on those lands in Oklahoma Territory at Red Fork.

The gusher would be responsible for the transformation of Tulsa into a major city.

Philippine General Juan Cailles surrendered to the United States along with 650 of his men.

American nurse Clara Maass, serving in Cuba, volunteered to be bitten by a malarial mosquito as part of medical research.  She'd contract the disease and die. She was 25 years old.

Last edition:

Saturday, June 22, 1901. Mixed loyalties.

Labels: 1900s, 1901, Canada, Crime, Heroes, Loyalist, Ontario, Ontario (Niagara Falls), Texas, Texas (Laredo), War of 1812