One Hundred Years Ago

[Walks_At_Night]

Everyone should click on Gravity's article here.  There's a neat store front ad plastered on the window.  "Nothing Newer In The World."  58 Ford.  That would look so cool on the wall of my den (which I don't have.)

Awesome looking ad.   Here is the commercial to go with the print:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4c9az8G66c

[ShayP]

1916 issue of.....



Title excerpt from above magazine....Nikola Tesla, electrical scientist, says not armies alone, but whole populations will be destroyed by use of wireless currents.
Tesla later says, “I hope this is the invention that will make war impossible.”



Tesla in his office (1916).

[ShayP]

Thomas Edison at home in 1916.

Click to enlarge:

[K_Dubb]

The Victor II, one of Puget Sound's "mosquito fleet" of small passenger-and-cargo boats, capsized in a squall a hundred years ago today.  Two children are lost.

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?displaypage=output.cfm&file_id=10703

The Virginia V, sole survivor of the fleet, still steams on Lake Union.



I like this bit from Wikipedia:

In recent years, the engine has developed a noise, referred to as "The Squeak". While the cause of this noise is not definitively known, it is presumed to come from the low pressure valve. There are no physical indications of scuffing, galling, or damage to components indicating a metal-to-metal contact. The squeak is more pronounced as the engine warms up, and goes away as the engine speed increases. The problem has so vexed the engineers that they have started a tongue-in-cheek fund, whereby visitors are required to donate $1 to the repair fund if they wish to talk to an engineer about it. (This fund may also be diverted to a beer fund, at the discretion of the engineer.)

[K_Dubb]

A couple of interesting articles from today's paper:

[ShayP]

A couple of interesting articles from today's paper:

LOL! @ the right side article.  "Justice Linck sentenced the 'energetic' husband...."

[Rix Gins]

A couple of Prohibition items from today's Tacoma Times

Your clipping made me fall back into the past at the exact same second that the doc opened the door to his clinic.  I was already in a lousy mood, being a poor looser on the "wet" side of things.  I had high hopes that he would have some type of "highly fortified" liquid preparation bottled up to slowly (like over the course of 3 to 5 years) ease (think modern day methadone clinics) my craving for alcohol.  I sit there with the other ex drunks, salivating at what the doctor would be pulling out of his bag.  I slowly rise from my chair as he begins to explain his exercise regime. A hot bath followed by a cold plunge?  My hands clench into fists.  Vigorous, naked squats and lungfuls of healing oxygen?  My teeth are grinding as I approach the doc's dais.  I begin to pull an arm back to deliver a killer blow.  "And don't worry boys," the doctor says.  "I'll be sticking by each and every one of you until you have conquered this nasty habit. Yes sir?"  He asks me with the innocent eyes of a child.  I am wounded by the doctor's sincerity.  My hatred leaks out of me like a punctured balloon.  I lower my arm.  "Oh, nothing, Doc." I say while slowly walking backwards.  "I forgot what I was gonna ask."  I step outside into the cold street and take a big breath. There is no intoxicating punch like I would normally get from a drink of gin.  It does give me an idea, though.  How about I sell my services as a look out for those bootleggers.  I know right where they land the stuff off the boats.  My services should be worth at least a bottle or two.

[ShayP]

Coiffures are high in 1916.



The new 'high Psyche' was invented especially for the girl with regular features. It is equally becoming to the girl of 20 and the young woman of 30, for â€" unlike the severe styles of the past season â€" the 1916 Psyche is worn high on the front of the head, giving the soft appearance of one large marcel wave â€" as shown in the illustration.

[K_Dubb]

1916 issue of.....



Title excerpt from above magazine....Nikola Tesla, electrical scientist, says not armies alone, but whole populations will be destroyed by use of wireless currents.
Tesla later says, “I hope this is the invention that will make war impossible.”



Tesla in his office (1916).

Wow!  Could this be the first mention of his Death Ray?

[K_Dubb]

Your clipping made me fall back into the past at the exact same second that the doc opened the door to his clinic.  I was already in a lousy mood, being a poor looser on the "wet" side of things.  I had high hopes that he would have some type of "highly fortified" liquid preparation bottled up to slowly (like over the course of 3 to 5 years) ease (think modern day methadone clinics) my craving for alcohol.  I sit there with the other ex drunks, salivating at what the doctor would be pulling out of his bag.  I slowly rise from my chair as he begins to explain his exercise regime. A hot bath followed by a cold plunge?  My hands clench into fists.  Vigorous, naked squats and lungfuls of healing oxygen?  My teeth are grinding as I approach the doc's dais.  I begin to pull an arm back to deliver a killer blow.  "And don't worry boys," the doctor says.  "I'll be sticking by each and every one of you until you have conquered this nasty habit. Yes sir?"  He asks me with the innocent eyes of a child.  I am wounded by the doctor's sincerity.  My hatred leaks out of me like a punctured balloon.  I lower my arm.  "Oh, nothing, Doc." I say while slowly walking backwards.  "I forgot what I was gonna ask."  I step outside into the cold street and take a big breath. There is no intoxicating punch like I would normally get from a drink of gin.  It does give me an idea, though.  How about I sell my services as a look out for those bootleggers.  I know right where they land the stuff off the boats.  My services should be worth at least a bottle or two.

You should write fiction!  That is excellent.  I have no doubt your alter ego is following a well-worn path.

[chefist]

Has anyone posted about the large number of people dying from infectious diseases back then? By today's standard everyday was an epidemic...

[chefist]

1916

Nationwide: over 7,000 deaths occurred and 27,363 cases were reported of polio (infantile paralysis) in America's worst polio epidemic.

Tuberculosis
Spanish Flu
Hoof and Mouth
cholera

On and on....

[K_Dubb]

Charlie's at Smuggler's Cove, a local restaurant with a Prohibition-era history, just closed a couple weeks ago.  I've only been there once; it was pretty cool.

Both the restaurant website and the 2011 PBS documentary “Prohibition” mention Roy Olmstead. A Seattle police lieutenant, Olmstead turned to rum-running and became known as the “King of the Puget Sound Bootleggers,” according to the film directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. The restaurant website says “Olmstead was caught in what was called the largest shipment of liquor ever seized in the Northwest, just south of Mukilteo.”

The restaurant’s first owner, according to the website, was C.P. Richards, a rum-runner who installed a second basement beneath the original.

“A large, fake furnace was the entrance to the 9-by-9 foot sub-basement which held the still, and a tunnel connected the operation to the gulch in case the smugglers needed to make a quick getaway,” the website says.

Janet Faure, who continues to operate the restaurant, has pictures of the old still. She also has fine memories of the years she and her husband ran the restaurant.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20151213/BLOG60/151219623

From another Herald article:

The hills between Lake Stevens and Marysville earned the name Whiskey Ridge, thanks to the number of stills that could be found in hollowed-out tree stumps and near streams.  When Paine Field was cleared at the outset of World War II, the remains of stills were discovered.  "You could look down any valley and see the fires under the stills," McConaghy said. "The firelight punctuated the dark."  During Prohibition, the roof of a home in downtown Everett blew off when a still in the attic exploded, Dilgard said.  Homes on the Mukilteo beachfront had secret basements that led to the water, a likely entry point for illegally imported Canadian whiskey.  Canadian booze was so prevalent during Prohibition that the price actually went down, McConaghy said.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20110929/news01/709299943

[ShayP]

1916

Nationwide: over 7,000 deaths occurred and 27,363 cases were reported of polio (infantile paralysis) in America's worst polio epidemic.

[ShayP]

1916

Nationwide: over 7,000 deaths occurred and 27,363 cases were reported of polio (infantile paralysis) in America's worst polio epidemic.

It appears New York suffered the worst that year.

In 1916, New York City experienced the first large epidemic of polio, with over 9,000 cases and 2,343 deaths.

[chefist]

It appears New York suffered the worst that year.

In 1916, New York City experienced the first large epidemic of polio, with over 9,000 cases and 2,343 deaths.

Most were isolated around metropolitan areas...that is how the Spanish Flu spread...soldiers and refugees from wwi....farmers did not have the exposure

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

A couple of interesting articles from today's paper:

Nowadays, "coasting" refers to listening to George Noory, and it probably would be difficult to find a jury in the land that could convict a husband for spanking his wife and vice/versa for doing that.

[albrecht]

It appears New York suffered the worst that year.

In 1916, New York City experienced the first large epidemic of polio, with over 9,000 cases and 2,343 deaths.

Again this fascination with "the bowels"!  I guess quackery today (and legit medicine) still is concerned about it judging from ads for everything from helping you go to stopping you from going too much- but it is, sorta, weird.
Cure for the Spanish flu:
"He recommended that residents get plenty of fresh air, avoid crowds, and keep their bowels open"
http://www.influenzaarchive.org/cities/city-dallas.html
Conspiracy theories rampant- even back then:
"In America, many blamed the sickness on a secret biological weapon developed by the Germans"
http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/1918-Flu.htm

[Walks_At_Night]

Maurice Bavaud was born on January 15, 1916

He would meet an early demise.  As a theology student he was influenced by his instructor Marcel Gerbohay.  Gerbohay
believed that he was a descendant of the Romanov's and that it was his destiny to become Czar once Stalin and communism were dispatched.   

Bavaud believed this and decided the best way to bring it about was to kill Adolf Hitler [God knows why].  Bavaud traveled from France to Basel and then on to Munich.  From there he headed to Berchtesgaden but never was able to find the Führer.

Broke, he stowed away on a train for Paris but was caught by a conductor, which meant that eventually he was turned over to the Gestapo.   Under interrogation he confessed to the assassination plot.  The Germans tried to trade him for one of their spies but the offer was turned down.  This resulted in him being executed by guillotine in the Berlin-Plötzensee prison on the morning of May 14, 1941.

As near as I can tell Bavaud ratted out Gerbohay and the Gestapo dispatched Gerbohay as a result.

A really bizarre story!   Source from Wikipedia so your mileage may vary.


Maurice Bavaud

[Walks_At_Night]

Seiner Majestät Schiff Möwe  (His Majesty's Ship Seagull) would have a big day on January 15, 1916.   

Möwe was a German raider and would sink the British 3,608 ton  cargo ship Ariadne and then later that day claim the 7,781 ton Appam as a prize.  The Möwe was pretty darn successful as a raider sinking or capturing 40+ plus ships - including the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS King Edward VII [via a mine].

Seiner Majestät Schiff Möwe


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_M%C3%B6we#Raiding_career

[Rix Gins]

On January 15, 1916, The Prince's Band recorded "Are you from Dixie?"    It's a lost recording so I have prevailed on ol' Grandpa to give us a more modern rendition of the tune.

https://youtu.be/z7qnUtqKsP4

[Walks_At_Night]

Continuing the theme of what a difference a century makes, here are some pictures of the Detroit Boat Club on Belle Isle.

Circa 1910:




Modern Times:

[Rix Gins]

Here is a fascinating (and quick) look at what Harry Houdini was up to in 1916.

http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2016/01/houdini-in-1916.html

[Rix Gins]

Continuing the theme of what a difference a century makes, here are some pictures of the Detroit Boat Club on Belle Isle.

Circa 1910:




Modern Times:

I really dig that pool, even in it's modern day phase.  And those buildings, still standing to this day!  I wish someone with the bucks would totally refurbish them.

[Rix Gins]

January 16, 1916.  Montenegro capitulates to Austro-Hungarian forces.  After an eight-day offensive that marked the beginning of a new, aggressive strategy in the region, Austro-Hungarian troops under commander in chief Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf take control of the Balkan state of Montenegro.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/montenegro-capitulates-to-austro-hungarian-forces
 

Franz Conrad von Hotzendor


A Montenegrin leader making a hasty retreat?

[Meister_000]

1916 issue of.....



Title excerpt from above magazine....Nikola Tesla, electrical scientist, says not armies alone, but whole populations will be destroyed by use of wireless currents.

Tesla later says, “I hope this is the invention that will make war impossible.”

Thanks Shay. I'm going to use this opportunity to expose a little more about the soul of the man because that part gets less attention, and from his own pen is the most revealing. There are bits revealing his passionate humanitarinism scattered throughout his writings, but this article contains more than most, plus this unabashed practical "Mysticism" and authentic Spirituality passage probably found nowhere else or so explicitly said. Below is a short quote from a full 33 page article Tesla published in 1900. There's also the full real Reprint article in pdf attached below.

Nikola Tesla (article author-- the Humanitarian and Mystic! among his other tributes)

The Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900, pp. 175-210
"The Problem of Increasing Human Energy" by Nikola Tesla.

[Quote from p.2]
"When we speak of man, we have a conception of humanity as a whole, and before applying scientific methods to the investigation of his movement we must accept this as a physical fact. But can anyone doubt today that all the millions of individuals and all the innumerable types and characters constitute an entity, a unit? Though free to think and act, we are held together, like the stars in the firmament, with ties inseparable. These ties cannot be seen, but we can feel them. I cut myself in the finger, and it pains me: this finger is a part of me. I see a friend hurt, and it hurts me, too: my friend and I are one. And now I see stricken down an enemy, a lump of matter which, of all the lumps of matter in the universe, I care least for, and it still grieves me. Does this not prove that each of us is only part of a whole?"

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

Here is a fascinating (and quick) look at what Harry Houdini was up to in 1916.

http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2016/01/houdini-in-1916.html

I have to think Houdini probably wouldn't have much of a career if he lived today.  It's not hard to imagine his stunts going viral and breaking the internet for a day or two and then being forgotten as soon as someone posted the next YouTube shiny object, like a video of a sea otter nursing an orphaned sloth.  People just don't have the sense of wonder they did a hundred years ago, and that's a shame.

[Rix Gins]

I have to think Houdini probably wouldn't have much of a career if he lived today.  It's not hard to imagine his stunts going viral and breaking the internet for a day or two and then being forgotten as soon as someone posted the next YouTube shiny object, like a video of a sea otter nursing an orphaned sloth.  People just don't have the sense of wonder they did a hundred years ago, and that's a shame.

Yeah...or even 50 plus years ago.  I was a kid sitting ringside at a circus. A clown strolled by wearing a humongous, white bread sandwich suit.  He saw me chuckle at him, so he turned and bent over towards me, bonking me over the head with some spongy, plastic lettuce that was sticking out of the top of the sandwich.  I was totally thrilled.  I'd like to think that present day kids would get just such a kick out of something like that, but I just don't know.

[albrecht]

January 16, 1916.  Montenegro capitulates to Austro-Hungarian forces.  After an eight-day offensive that marked the beginning of a new, aggressive strategy in the region, Austro-Hungarian troops under commander in chief Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf take control of the Balkan state of Montenegro.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/montenegro-capitulates-to-austro-hungarian-forces
 

Franz Conrad von Hotzendor


A Montenegrin leader making a hasty retreat?

Ah the Balkans, ever so peaceful. Btw, when did mustaches for military men go out of style? I know in the middle-east, and elsewhere, they still have the tradition, particularly if one is a strongman/dictator. I know that Mennonites/Amish etc don't grow them because of their military association. I think our generals should bring them back. Press conferences would be more interesting. And I also demand that they now refer to "Mesopotamia campaign" in all future press conferences while twirling their mustache and using a riding crop to push pieces across a map.

[Walks_At_Night]

Rix - Nice one on Montenegro.  I had that one eyeballed in advance but you beat me to it.  When I was poking around on the subject I found this cool German print about the Montenegrin army.