One Hundred Years Ago

[Rix Gins]

Would explain the lack of an explanation. Wouldn't want to impugn the reputation of any local gentleman doctors.

This obit is suspicious all the way around.  Note that for some reason, she left her stenographer job with the D.A.  No biggie because she got another one with the mining company, until ten days past. Did she quit or was she fired?  She was a popular girl, so most likely she had a boyfriend.  It sounds as if she lived alone.  I wonder who (if anyone) visited her during those ten days?  The district attorney perhaps?  Ha, the plot thickens.  A lot can happen in ten days but we will never know what transpired because her dad was quick to have her body returned to Oakland, for cremation.     

[Juan]

It would be a good plot for a mystery writer to run with. Did she have money? Just how "well known" was she? And this follows by only two days the ad for the lady entertainer.

[Lord Grantham]

Who paid for the hasty cremation?

[Rix Gins]

A group of Royal Air Force fighters took off on the afternoon of April 6, 1918 and made their way behind enemy lines.  They eyed some enemy transports and troops down below and set about dropping bombs and then they made some strafing runs.  Everything seemed just fine when they returned to base but then they realized that they were one plane short.  A brand new Camel flown by their leader, Captain Sydney Philip Smith, had failed to return.

In his combat report, Manfred Von Richthofen wrote: 'With five of my planes of Jasta 11, we attacked several enemy one-seaters at low altitude, flying north-east of Villers-Bretonneux.  The English plane which I attacked started to burn after only a few shots from my guns.  Then it crashed burning near the little wood north-east of Villers-Bretonneux, where it continued burning on the ground.'

Captain Smith (whose photo can be seen on the previous page of this thread) was a dashing and brave pilot, popular with his men.  He would be later immortalized as a character named Beal in a novel called Winged Victory.

After the war, Smith's dad made a search for his son's remains.  He brought along an RAF pilot who himself had been shot down just before Smith was attacked.  After climbing out of his wrecked plane, he watched as Smith crashed in an adjacent woods and made a mental note of its location.  He was able to lead Smith's father to the wreck but there were just a few burnt pieces left behind.  There was no trace of Captain Smith's remains anywhere.  His name was placed on the Arras Memorial to the Missing, France.  He was the Red Baron's 76th victim.

Biography of Captain Sydney Philip Smith: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Philip_Smith


Royal Flying Corps Sopwith F.1 Camel.
By unknown RAF photographer - gallery link image link, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8473883

[albrecht]

This obit is suspicious all the way around.  Note that for some reason, she left her stenographer job with the D.A.  No biggie because she got another one with the mining company, until ten days past. Did she quit or was she fired?  She was a popular girl, so most likely she had a boyfriend.  It sounds as if she lived alone.  I wonder who (if anyone) visited her during those ten days?  The district attorney perhaps?  Ha, the plot thickens.  A lot can happen in ten days but we will never know what transpired because her dad was quick to have her body returned to Oakland, for cremation.     

I'm guessing botched abortion "medical procedure" or a suicide because she was with child but out of wedlock. And so quick cremation not to bring scandal on the family or her reputation.

But maybe there is a more theatrical or conspiratorial plot? Socialists? Labor Unions? She discovered they were "salting" the mine? Murder due to a love-triangle? German agents? Opium addiction and shady, inscrutable Orientals? Some kind of inheritance and a sibling need her out of the picture?

[WhiteCrow]

I'm guessing botched abortion "medical procedure" or a suicide because she was with child but out of wedlock. And so quick cremation not to bring scandal on the family or her reputation.

But maybe there is a more theatrical or conspiratorial plot? Socialists? Labor Unions? She discovered they were "salting" the mine? Murder due to a love-triangle? German agents? Opium addiction and shady, inscrutable Orientals? Some kind of inheritance and a sibling need her out of the picture?

#metoo

Sherlock Holmes. A Study in Scarlet.

“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.”

[WhiteCrow]

Would explain the lack of an explanation. Wouldn't want to impugn the reputation of any local gentleman doctors.

FIFY

Cold case investigation?

[WhiteCrow]

Only took my friend a few minutes to uncover the following information about the death of Miss Merlyn Manning, 21 years of age.

She died of inflammation of the bowels and neglect.

[Rix Gins]

Only took my friend a few minutes to uncover the following information:

She died of inflammation of the bowels and neglect.

Tell your friend I said thanks.

[WhiteCrow]

Tell your friend I said thanks.

Thanks, I will. if anymore information available I will pass it along.

Is "neglect" a medical term?

[Dr. MD MD]

Thanks, I will. if anymore information available I will pass it along.

Is "neglect" a medical term?

No. It's what your teachers always did in regard to your education.

[Rix Gins]

Thanks, I will. if anymore information available I will pass it along.

Is "neglect" a medical term?

There is a medical condition called Hemispatial neglect and it deals with people who groom themselves on one side of the body while ignoring the other half.  Some kind of brain damage/disorder I think, because I'm too lazy to read the following article on it.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemispatial_neglect

[Rix Gins]

Josef Bartl

Wagon master's son from Koenigsdorf, Austria.

Army Unteroffizier (Sergeant) with 7th Company, 10th Reserve Infantry Regiment.

Awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class and the Military Service Cross 3rd Class with Swords.

Killed by the impact of a mortar round, April 6, 1918 after three years of true service.

Josef was killed near Hebuterme and was buried in a mass grave at St. Laurent Blangy, France.

[WhiteCrow]

From the Library of Congress, April 6, 1918.

The Tonopah Daily Bonanza.


MERLYN MANNING DIES SUDDENLY

  Miss Merlyn Manning, 21 years of age, well known in Tonopah, passed away last evening at her home on Bryan avenue. The body will be shipped to Oakland, Calif., tomorrow morning where It will be cremated. She is survived by her father, Louis Manning, of Oakland.

  Miss Manning came to Tonopah about one year ago and was employed, by H. H. Atkinson, district attorney, as a stenographer. Later she was employed in the office of the West End Consolidated Mining company in the same capacity, which position she filled until about ten days ago.

  While here she made many friends who will be grieved to hear of her death.


The two signers of the death certificate:

[albrecht]

From the Library of Congress, April 6, 1918.

The Tonopah Daily Bonanza.

  Miss Manning came to Tonopah about one year ago and was employed, by H. H. Atkinson, district attorney, as a stenographer. Later she was employed in the office of the West End Consolidated Mining company in the same capacity, which position she filled until about ten days ago.


The two signers of the death certificate:

Velly interesting, as "Charlie" might say. And good sleuthing, "White Crow, P.I."!! Keep on this case.

[GravitySucks]

From the Library of Congress, April 6, 1918.

The Tonopah Daily Bonanza.


MERLYN MANNING DIES SUDDENLY

  Miss Merlyn Manning, 21 years of age, well known in Tonopah, passed away last evening at her home on Bryan avenue. The body will be shipped to Oakland, Calif., tomorrow morning where It will be cremated. She is survived by her father, Louis Manning, of Oakland.

  Miss Manning came to Tonopah about one year ago and was employed, by H. H. Atkinson, district attorney, as a stenographer. Later she was employed in the office of the West End Consolidated Mining company in the same capacity, which position she filled until about ten days ago.

  While here she made many friends who will be grieved to hear of her death.


The two signers of the death certificate:

I wonder if J.R. Masterson was a relation to W. B. “Bat” Masterson.

[Rix Gins]

I wonder if J.R. Masterson was a relation to W. B. “Bat” Masterson.

I came across the doctor's grave stone but no listing of relatives other than his wife.  Bat had two brothers and a sister but I couldn't find the doc listed as a son for any of them.  But you never know, especially when you get into distant aunts, uncles and cousins.  (J.R. lived to be 98 years old.)   

[Rix Gins]

From the Imperial War Museum, April 7, 1918.

American transport ships USS Nansomend, USS Finland and USS Tivives in St. Nazaire harbour, 7 April 1918.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205028805 © IWM (Q 70655)

American tug USS Kingfisher in St. Nazaire, 7 April 1918.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205307510 © IWM (Q 58266)

Fatigue party of the Royal Garrison Artillery carrying 6-inch howitzer shells in Ransart, 7 April 1918.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205244506 © IWM (Q 8674)

A 6-inch howitzer of the Royal Garrison Artillery in position in Ransart, 7 April 1918. In the foreground, the battery's barber is cutting one of the gunner's hair.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205244508 © IWM (Q 8676)

Men of the 5th Australian Division watching French Army Cooks at work in a wood behind the Vaire - Villers-Bretonneux Sector, 7th April 1918.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205246517 © IWM (Q 10865)

[Rix Gins]

From the Library of Congress.  The Evening Star, April 7, 1918.

[Rix Gins]

Jazz clarinetist Peanuts Hucko was born 100 years ago today.

Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanuts_Hucko


https://youtu.be/BbY02EWs7Tg

[Lord Grantham]

Okay, so we have "inflammation of the bowels". Per the English Glossary of Causes of Death and other Archaic Medical Terms:

In the last century, cause of death often was listed as inflammation of a body organ - such as, brain or lung - but this was purely a descriptive term and is not helpful in identifying the actual underlying disease.

and "Neglect" for four days.

So, either she was constipated for four days and then died. Perhaps she had colon cancer, an inflamed appendix, or an inflamed gallbladder and when symptoms presented she didn't do anything.
Or, this was a botched abortion. Her intestines and uterus (or another organ) were perforated somehow and instead of getting treatment she went home and died over the course of four miserable days. This may be the most likely scenario based on being let go by her employer ten days prior.   

[Rix Gins]

The Red Baron downed two more opponents on April 7, 1918.  The first, a Sopwith Camel operated by Albert Vernon Gallie, went down at 11:30 AM.  "After I fired 100 shots, the enemy plane broke apart.  The remnants came down near Hangard." Richthofen wrote.

So much for pilot Gallie, one would think.  The Camel was indeed totally demolished after crashing to the ground but miraculously, Lieutenant Gallie was able to walk away from it without a scratch.  He made his way back to headquarters where he would continue flying until the end of the war. He would down four Fokker DVII's after his encounter with Von Richthofen. 

The Red Baron's second victory came at 12:05 PM and it would involve another British Camel. Richthofen noticed that some German planes were being attacked by some enemy planes so he managed to swoop down and get a bead on one that was piloted by Lieutenant Ronald George Hinings Adams.  The Red Baron shot at the Camel and watched as it crashed to the earth below. 

Again, fate smiled down on another of Richtofen's victims.  Adams was injured in his crash but he was alive.  German soldiers captured him and he spent the rest of the war in hospitals and prison camps until he was freed one month after the war.  Adams became an accountant after the war but the occupation bored him.  He began to work at a theatre and in time became an actor and he later appeared in quite a number of movies.  He would live to the ripe old age of 83.  He was the Red Baron's 78th victory.

Biography and photo of Ronald Adam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Adam_(actor) (Click to the right of the lightbulb.)

   

[Rix Gins]

From the Imperial War Museum, April 8, 1918.

Troops, including a soldier carrying a stretcher, going up to the line across a muddy area, 58th (London) Division Front, near Domart, 8th April 1918. Lorries and horse-drawn carts can be seen on the road in the background.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205246524 © IWM (Q 10873)

Wounded British troops arriving at 43 Casualty Clearing Station, Frevent, 8 April 1918.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205191619 © IWM (Q 334)

Troops of the Army Ordnance Corps re-assembling and repairing guns at a mobile artillery repair workshop; the Beauval-Amiens road.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205077403 © IWM (Q 347)

American Nieuport aircraft at the Issoudun aerodrome, 8 April 1918.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205165369 © IWM (Q 80413)

[Rix Gins]

R.I.P. (From the Imperial War Museum.)

Rifleman Harry Edward Burnham 7388. Unit: 1st/16th Battalion, London Regiment (Queen's Westminster Rifles).  Only son of William and Elizabeth Burnham (formerly Woodward), of Fulmer, Bucks.; husband of Alice Emma Burnham, of 47, Gordon Avenue, St. Margaret's, Middx. He was killed in action aged 35 on Easter Sunday, 8 April 1918 at Achicourt. Prior to the war, he worked in the newspaper industry in Fleet Street. He left a wife and two children. Rfmn Burnham is buried at Agny Military Cemetery.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205023716 © IWM (HU 93364)

[Rix Gins]

From the Library of Congress, April 8, 1918.


The Tonopah Daily Bonanza.

ATHLETES ARRIVE FOR BIG CONTEST - BULL MONTANA AND KID BROMEO ARE IN PINK OF CONDITION

  Bull Montana, who meets William Berne at the Airdome Thursday night in the big wrestling contest, arrived in Tonopah today direct from the Douglass Fairbanks studio at Hollywood, California, and states he is in the best condition of his career and ready to enter the ring against the tough Russian. Montana has been making such a splendid showing in the east the past winter against some of the top-notch grapplers of the country, he is conceded a shade by the wise sports in his match with Berne.

  Kid Bromeo, who fights Johnny Morrison a ten-round curtain raiser, also arrived from San Francisco today and will commence work at the gymnasium this afternoon.

  Bromeo will box each afternoon at 3 o'clock and all the lovers of the sport are cordially invited to attend the workouts and get a line on the merits of the various athletes.

  With the principals all on the ground and Morrison working out each afternoon in Goldfield at the Northern saloon, nothing now remains but the gong to start the boys on their way in the biggest boxing and wrestling show ever staged in southern Nevada.

  Bromeo won his fight in Sacramento last Friday night and has been boxing with great success since leaving Tonopah two years ago, meeting the best bantamweights on the Pacific coast.

  The advance sale of seats is assuming large proportions which guarantees a crowded house and a nice sum of money for the local chapter of the Red Cross, as the net proceeds will be turned over to the worthy organization.


The Seattle Star.

[Rix Gins]

Betty Ford was born 100 years ago today.

Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Ford


https://youtu.be/Uy5Ob5erJJw

[WhiteCrow]

From the Library of Congress, April 8, 1918.


The Tonopah Daily Bonanza.

ATHLETES ARRIVE FOR BIG CONTEST - BULL MONTANA AND KID BROMEO ARE IN PINK OF CONDITION

  Bull Montana, who meets William Berne at the Airdome Thursday night in the big wrestling contest, arrived in Tonopah today direct from the Douglass Fairbanks studio at Hollywood, California, and states he is in the best condition of his career and ready to enter the ring against the tough Russian. Montana has been making such a splendid showing in the east the past winter against some of the top-notch grapplers of the country, he is conceded a shade by the wise sports in his match with Berne.

  Kid Bromeo, who fights Johnny Morrison a ten-round curtain raiser, also arrived from San Francisco today and will commence work at the gymnasium this afternoon.

  Bromeo will box each afternoon at 3 o'clock and all the lovers of the sport are cordially invited to attend the workouts and get a line on the merits of the various athletes.

  With the principals all on the ground and Morrison working out each afternoon in Goldfield at the Northern saloon, nothing now remains but the gong to start the boys on their way in the biggest boxing and wrestling show ever staged in southern Nevada.

  Bromeo won his fight in Sacramento last Friday night and has been boxing with great success since leaving Tonopah two years ago, meeting the best bantamweights on the Pacific coast.

  The advance sale of seats is assuming large proportions which guarantees a crowded house and a nice sum of money for the local chapter of the Red Cross, as the net proceeds will be turned over to the worthy organization.


The Seattle Star.

Rix, I'll put a  C-note on Bernes' the Russian Bear, to pulverize pretty boy darling of Hollywood, Big Bull the BSer. You in?

Still having flux capacitor issues, less than .87 gigawatts output. See you Thursday night if get it sorted out.

[Rix Gins]

Rix, I'll put a  C-note on Bernes' the Russian Bear, to pulverize pretty boy darling of Hollywood, Big Bull the BSer. You in?

Sure, though I think it will be closer than you think.  I have to go with Bull because he's a fellow Italian.  I'll be prowling around ringside, looking for a Goldfield rube spectator to go $150 against my man Bromeo.

Still having flux capacitor issues, less than .87 gigawatts output. See you Thursday night if get it sorted out.

Just drop two dilithium crystals into the gas tank and you will be up to full power in no time at all.

[Rix Gins]

From the Imperial War Museum, April 9, 1918.

A "First Aid" lorry about to tow out a Leyland lorry that has gone over the steep side of the road. Bruay, 9 April 1918.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205246536 © IWM (Q 10886)

The Battle of the Lys. German 21cm Morser 1916 heavy howitzers being drawn along a road by tractors at Armentieres, 9 April 1918.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205080448 © IWM (Q 55261)

Battle of Estaires. British lightly wounded of the 50th and 51st Divisions awaiting evacuation by lorries. Bethune, 9
April 1918.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205246533 © IWM (Q 10883)

Salvation Army girls making pastry for troops of the American 26th Division at Ansonville, 9 April 1918.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205039650 © IWM (Q 101094)

[Rix Gins]

R.I.P. (From the Imperial War Museum.)

Second Lieutenant Thomas Lee. Unit: 50th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps. Second Lieutenant Lee enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers in June 1915 and was promoted to sergeant the following November. After transferring to the Machine Gun Corps, he was posted to the Western Front in March 1916. After receiving his commission, he returned to the Western Front in October 1917 where he was killed in action during the German Spring Offensive on 9 April 1918.