Back 100 years - Thursday 23 August 1917

petrvl (71)in #back100years • 7 years ago

The Day

It was Thursday, under the sign of Virgo. The US president was Woodrow Wilson (Democratic). Famous people born on this day include Tex Williams(American singer-songwriter and guitarist).

The Houston riot of 1917

Around noon August 23, 1917, Lee Sparks and Rufus Daniels, two Houston police officers, broke up a craps game on a street corner in Houston's predominantly-black San Felipe district by firing warning shots. Sparks, searching for the fleeing suspects, entered the house of local resident Sara Travers. He did not find the suspect but, after exchanging words with Travers, struck her and dragged her outside in her nightgown. As Sparks and Daniels called in the arrest from an area patrol box, they were approached by Private Alonzo Edwards. Edwards offered to take custody of Travers, but was pistol-whipped repeatedly by Sparks and then arrested. Later that afternoon, Corporal Charles Baltimore approached Sparks and Daniels in the same neighborhood to inquire about the status of Edwards. Sparks struck Baltimore with his pistol and fired three shots at him as he fled into a nearby home. Sparks and Daniels pursued Baltimore, eventually finding him under a bed. They pulled him out, beat him, and placed him under arrest.

Newspaper The Reichsforstamt

The Reichsforstamt states that the exploitation of the resin from native pine trees had begun to be officially ordered because of the unusually hot weather of this summer of 1917. Substantial progress has also been made in the technical implementation of natural resin production.

The US Senat overturns

The full Senate overturns the Finance Committee’s proposed tax increases in favor of a Robert La Follette proposal for higher income tax on the rich in steeply progressive tax rates reaching 50% for incomes over $1 million.

Photo of the boat

SS CONSTANCE, built by Ateliers & Chantiers de la Loire, Nantes in 1912 and owned at the time of her loss by Cie. Auxiliaire de Navigation (A. Capel & Cie.), Nantes, was a French steamer of 2.469 tons. On August 23rd, 1917, CONSTANCE, on a voyage from Bizerta to Milos with 3.350 tons of coal.

Source: http://www.wrecksite.eu/imgBrowser.aspx?39446