Ostensibly exploring the practice of law before the internet. Heck, before good highways for that matter.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
History flows on Poplar
Friday, January 8, 1915. H. G. Bellinger and Norman Fry killed at Ypres.
Lance Corporal H. G. Bellinger, age 36, was killed at Ypres, the first Canadian soldier to be killed in action in World War One.
Bellinger was in Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry had been a tailor in Ottawa. He left behind a wife and daughter. He was hit by artillery fire, as was Lance Corporal Norman Fry, who would die shortly thereafter.
Lance Corporal Norman Fry was of the same regiment, but much more difficult to lean things about. He had originally been in the Eastern Ontario Regiment. His brother, who survived the war, was wounded on the same day.
Last edition:
Wednesday, January 6, 1915. The Plan of San Diego.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
WHEELS THAT WON THE WEST®: An Overview Of The Star Wagon Company
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: The best-laid schemes o' mice an...
Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: The best-laid schemes o' mice an...: Lex Anteinternet: The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men: Lex Antein... : I've been bumping up this thread from time to time: ...And now, today I've read a prediction that the price may go under $20 bbl, which would be truly astounding with huge economic consequences in the region. That figure is truly hard to imagine.
Lex Anteinternet: The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men: Lex Antein...
Lex Anteinternet: The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men: Lex Antein...: I've been bumping up this thread from time to time: Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: $40/barrel? : A couple of we...And now the local price is $42/bbl.
We're clearly going to go below $40/bbl. Amazing.
Home - BLM GLO Records
Neat site with access, in a somewhat complicated fashion, to Department of the Interior records, including land patents.
Wyoming Railroad Map, 1915
1915 Wyoming Railroad Map.
Interesting map, it shows some things that I'd wondered about.
It shows, for one thing, that Casper was served by the Burlington Northern, which I new, and the Chicago and North Western, which I sort of knew, but it was celled the Great North Western in its later years. It served Casper up until probably about 25 years ago or so. There's hardly any remnant of it here now, and its old rail line here was converted to a trail through the town. The old depot is a nice looking office building, but I don't know if that building dates back to 1915. I doubt it. I don't think that the Burlington Northern one isn't that old either.
A really interesting aspect of this is that it shows two parallel lines actually running from where the railroads met in Douglas. I knew that there were two depots in Douglas, and I knew there were remnants of the North West line east of town, but I didn't realize that the two lines actually ran astride each other, more or less (within a few miles of each other), from Douglas to Powder River, where they joined. The depot at Powder River is no longer there.
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Postscript
Out of curiosity, I took a look at the map for 1930, the last one they had up. The rail lines were the same in 1930 as they were in 1915.
That shouldn't, I suppose, surprise me really. For one thing, all the basic service lines appear to have been in by 1915 (or earlier, I'll have to see if there's an earlier rail map). And the last 1930 map was a "travel" map, not specifically a rail line map, like the 1915 one was, so perhaps it may have omitted any newer lines, although I doubt it. Of interest, that travel map for 1930 only showed rail lines, not roads, so the presumption was obvious that if you were going to be doing much traveling, it was going to be by rail.
Postscript II
Another thing that occurs to me from looking at this map is the extent of rail service, particularly passenger service, but all rail service in general, at a time when the state's population was less than half of what it present is. Very extensive. Quite a remarkable change, compared to now, when some of these lines and many of the smaller railroads no longer exist here at all.
Of course, that no doubt reflects the massive changes in transportation we've seen, the improvement of roads, and of course the huge improvement in automobiles over this period.
Wednesday, January 6, 1915. The Plan of San Diego.
The Plan of San Diego (Texas) was drafted by a group of by a group of unidentified Mexican and Tejano rebels with the goal of creating civil unrest that would lead to "[freeing] Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Colorado from U.S. control".
The plan stated:
(1) On February 20, 1915, at 2:00 there would occur an uprising against the United States government to proclaim the liberty of blacks from the "Yankee tyranny" that had held them in "iniquitous slavery since remote times" and to proclaim the independence of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and California, "of which States the REPUBLIC OF MEXICO was robbed in a most perfidious manner by North American imperialism."
(2) To achieve these objectives an army would be formed under the leadership of commanders named by the Supreme Revolutionary Congress of San Diego, Texas. This army, known as the "Liberating Army for Races & Peoples," would fight under a red and white banner bearing the inscription "Equality & Independence".
(3) Each commander was assigned certain cities to capture; once he had done so, he would amass their weaponry and funds in order to provide the necessary resources to continue the struggle. Commanders would account for everything to their superiors.
(4) Upon capturing a city, especially a state capital, commanders must immediately appoint municipal authorities to preserve order and assist the revolutionary cause.
(5) "It is strictly forbidden to hold prisoners, either special prisoners (civilians) or soldiers; and the only time that should be spent in dealing with them is that which is absolutely necessary to demand funds (loans) of them; and whether these demands be successful or not, they shall be shot immediately without any pretext."
(6) "Every foreigner who shall be found armed and cannot prove his right to carry arms, shall be summarily executed, regardless of his race or nationality."
(7) "Every North American over sixteen years of age shall be put to death; and only the aged men, the women, and the children shall be respected; and on no account shall the traitors to our race be spared of respected."
(8) "The Apaches of Arizona, as well as the INDIANS (Redskins) of the territory" would have their lands returned, so that they would assist the revolutionary cause.
(9) All appointments and ranks of subordinate officers in the revolutionary army, as well as those of other conspirators who might wish to cooperate with the cause, would be reviewed by their superiors.
(10) "The movement having gathered force, and once having possessed ourselves of the States alluded to, we shall proclaim them as an INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC, later requesting (if it be though expedient annexation to MEXICO, without concerning ourselves at that time about the form of government which may control the destinies of the common mother country."
(11) When the revolutionary movement had obtained independence for the blacks, the revolutionaries would grant them a banner, "which they themselves shall be permitted to select", and the revolutionists would aid them in obtaining "six States of the American Union, which states border on those already mentioned," so the blacks could form an independent republic of their own.
(12) "None of the leaders shall have the power to make terms with the enemy, without first communicating with their superior officers of the army, bearing in mind that this is a war without quarter; nor shall any leader enroll in his ranks any foreigners unless said foreigner belong to the Latin, the Negro, or the Japanese race."
(13) It is understood that upon the triumph of the cause, no member of this conspiracy would fail to recognize his superior, nor to aid others seeking to destroy "what has been accomplished by such great work."
(14) As soon as possible, each local junta would select delegates who would elect a Permanent Directorate of the Revolutionary Congress. At this meeting the powers and duties of the permanent Directorate would be determined, and the Revolutionary Plan could be amended or revised.
(15) It was understood that the revolutionists would achieve the independence of the blacks, and that "on no account will we accept aid, either moral or pecuniary, from the Government of Mexico; and it need not consider itself under any obligations in this, our movement."
The actual authors of the plan were unknown but the signatures on the plan document were from rebels being held inside a jail in Monterrey, Mexico, suggesting it wasn't their idea. It was a genuine plan, however, that would later lead to raids. Suspicion has been attributed to various factions in the Mexican Revolution, including Victoriano Huerta and Venustiano Carranza.
The plan called for no aid from the Mexican government, as noted above.
This is not, it should be noted, a later plan backed by the Germans, but it was pretty darned similar.
The Battle of Sairkamish went disastrously for the Ottomans, with the Russians firing on the headquarters of the 3d Ottoman Army and capturing entire Ottoman divisions. Hafiz Hakki Pash ordered a full Ottoman retreat.
The German Navy attempted to use the U-12 for carrying a seaplane, unsuccessfully.
Sentiment in Italy for the country to enter World War One grew following a state funeral for a fallen officer of the Garibaldi Legion, an Italian volunteer unit to the Allied cause.
Last edition:
Sunday, January 3, 1915. Coney Island.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Movies In History: Unbroken
Last night we saw Unbroken.
This film is making the rounds right now and has been well received. I can see why, the film is simply excellent. The story is now fairly familiar to everyone, it follows the story of Louis Silvie "Louie" Zamperini, who was a B-24 bombardier in the Pacific during World War Two and whom went down in the Pacific in the course of his service. The movie is about the ordeal that follows, both on the sea, and as a Prisoner of War.
I won't try to detail that here, but I will note instead that to the extent that I know that story (I have yet to read the book), the film follows it pretty closely and does a good job of it.
In terms of material and cultural details, the film also does a superb job. The CGI generated aircraft are done excellently, and appear very real indeed. The bombing run early in the film stands in my mind as the single most frightening example of that in film, because it appears so accurate in every fashion. The film'ss one material error that I caught appeared in regards to a Japanese Zero fighter plane, which is shown rolling over with its drop tank on, which is unlikely unless the tank stuck (which is a possibility). Otherwise, all the details, uniforms, etc., are absolutely correct.
In cultural details, the film actually diminishes slightly the extreme cruelty of the Japanese as guards and general and fairly significantly diminishes the actual cruelty of Japanese guard Mutsuhiro Watanabe, but the reason for that are probably justifiable as that would have caused that to be such a feature of the film as to be absolutely overwhelming.
All in all, this is an excellent film.
Sunday Morning Scence: Churches of the West: St. Mary's Cathedral, Cheyenne Wyoming
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Sunday, January 3, 1915. Coney Island.
Ottoman troops were driven out to the Choruk Valley, while also attacking Russian forcdes elsewhere to take pressure off their forces at Sarikamish.
Cardinal Mercier of Belgium was arrested by the Germans for is pastoral letter "Patriotism and Endurance", in which condemned German atrocities, and extorts Belgians to stay Belgian.
Last edition:
Friday, January 1, 1915. Mexican land reform.
Friday, January 2, 2015
100 Years of Law
The ABA Journal looks back on 100 years of publication.
Quite a long time, a distinction it shares, although its a year younger, with The New Republic, which turned 100 last year.
Old Picture of the Day: Prospectors
New Year's Resolutions for Other People
So, here goes:
Congress. Let's just assume that your audience is intelligent and can follow an intelligent argument. I bet it can. And after assuming that, whether you are in the left or the right, conduct your public debates that way. If you can't do that, you ought to not be there.
Congressional Judiciary Committees: Avoid appointments to the bench from Harvard or Yale for the entire year. Not a single one. Don't we have enough of them already? There are lawyers from other places.
For that matter, how about not appointing any sitting or retired judges to appellate benches. Branch out. You'll be glad you did.
And put a retirement age on the Federal Bench. These are public jobs for the American public, not jobs for life for one single benighted generation. Appointments for life no longer make any sense.
Country Music. If you aren't actually from the country, please sit this one out or admit you are a "pop artist". It's different.
And cut out the sap, too, will you?
ISIL Open your minds up, at least a bit. And get a calendar and see what century this is.
Kim Jong-un. Kim, you are on your way to being remembered as a complete clown. You could be remembered as a hero. Take the bold move, open the borders, and announce that you intend to peacefully reunite North Korea with the South by letting the Republic of Korea take over.
You could go into comfortable retirement in Switzerland within a year, and be a hero for life. The way you are going, you are going to be remembered as one of the all time biggest doofuses ever.
People with the last name Bush or Clinton. Enough already, the country can function fine without you as President. Sit this one out, and the next several as well, and surprise people by not running for President.
Barack Obama. Go outside and see where you live. You are not a law school professor anymore. Yapping at people doesn't equate with action, and getting mad and assigning things to the class you can't deal with isn't going to work either. Quit studying Wilson. Study Roosevelt, Truman, Reagan, Bush I or Clinton and see how to get some things done.
New York: Hello New York and things New Yorkish. We still love you, but you aren't "Number One" anymore, and you haven't been for a really long time. Just because you pass a bill or collectively think something doesn't make it the up and coming thing, it probably is viewed by the rest of us as stale and a little moldy, which is how we also view New York. You are going to have to get over yourself. Your resolution is to have a little humility this year. Think of yourself as, oh. . . Labrador.
The People's Republic of China. You can only pretend to be a "people's republic" while ignoring democracy so long. Read the history of your own country, and realize that China's always only a second away from a revolution, and take the next step to open the politics of the country up. Your excuse for not doing so is long gone. And stop acting like a 19th Century colonial power too.
Pop-Tarts You know who you are, you collection of women famous only for being famous, or for your appearance alone. Stop acting like your for sale on the street and have a little big of dignity. Spend their year dressing modestly and really shock people. Read a book. Go outdoors with some outdoorsy close on. Just be something, for goodness sake.
Television. Hello television, you are stupid. Get an education and quit broadcasting crap.
This is particularly the case regarding anything billed "Entertainment", or that appears on "TLC". Enough already. But it applies to the rests of television as well. Time for some remedial classes.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Random Snippets: Oxford commas
The Wyoming Tribune: January 1, 1915
And some grim news from the Wyoming Tribune.
I had yesterday's up, in 1914, for the Tribune, but seem to have wiped it out somehow. It had the interesting headline that the Japanese were not going to "invade" Europe, which strikes me as an odd concern for the era.