October 16

Today is National Boss's Day.

1889  Emma Howell Knight, future dean of women at the University of Wyoming and Wilbur Clinton Knight, future UW professor of mining and metallurgy, and the future parents of future legendary UW Geology Professor Samuel Howell “Doc” Knight, married in Omaha, Nebraska.

1909  Following on his success of the prior month, August Malchow fought again at the Methany Hall in Thermopolis, defeating challenger Johnny Gilsey in a draw.

1912  Clifford Hansen was born in Zenith Wyoming.  The Teton County rancher was Governor from 1963 to 1967 and then Senator from 1967 to 1978.

1916  Cavalry withdrawn from Yellowstone National Park.  Attribution:  On This Day.

 Cavalry in Yellowstone, 1903.

Cavalry escorting President Arthur in Yellowstone, 1883.

1916The Wyoming Tribune for October 16, 1916: Carranza's family in flight. . . or were they?
 

Readers if the always sensational Wyoming Tribune learned, in the afternoon Monday edition, that the family of Carranza was in flight, suggesting he was about to fall from power.

Well, he wasn't.  He'd remain firmly in power, and in fact at that time was working on his proposals for a new Mexican constitution.  Readers of the Tribune, however, were probably pretty worried.

On other matters, Charles E. Hughes declared himself to be a man of peace, and the Wilson Administration denied that the US was somehow responsible for the execution of Roger Casement, who was sentenced due to his role in the recent Irish Nationalist's uprising against the United Kingdom.

1918  Countdown on the Great War, October 16, 1918. British advance everywhere, Dumas struck by lightening, the Kaiser abdicates?, Flu advances.

The front as to Belgium and part of France, October 16, 1918.

1.  The British crossed the Lys.

2.  The British occupied Homs, Lebanon.

3.  The Allies took Durres, Albania.

4.  German submarines sunk the cargo ships Pentwyn and War Council while the British sunk the German submarine UB 90.  The American SS Dumaru, nearly new wooden steamship, was struck by lightening off of Guam and her cargo of munitions caught fire.  Her crew evacuated two two lifeboats and a raft, with the five passengers of the raft being rescued several days later.  One lifeboat drifted to the Philippines over a course of three weeks. The other badly provisioned lifeboat had to resort to cannibalism of the dead in order for the survivors to live.

SS Dumaru

5.  Wild rumors of the Kaiser abdicating and Germany capitulating were starting to circulate.

6.  The Flu Epidemic was undeniable.

The Cheyenne State Leader was correct in this assessment of the Spanish Flu.

Hmmm, do these two newspapers seem rather similar?  Must have been a morning and evening edition of the same newspaper.  Both were reporting that the Flu Epidemic had become just that in the state.

1919  October 16, 1919. The Air Derby's Toll

Air racers continued to pass through Cheyenne, but not all of them were making it out of the state alive.

This demonstrates the different calculations of risk in different eras.  In the current era, any event with this sort of mortality rate would be shut down..  In 1919, even the government, which was losing flyers right and left in the Air Derby, wasn't inclined to do that.

Meanwhile, the Reds in Russia were reported to be on the edge of collapse, and in the U.S., there were fears of a Red uprising.  Neither would prove to be correct.

1940  "R Day", the deadline for all men aged 21 to 36 years old to register for conscription.

1993  Lusk becomes the first town in the United States to have a community wide fiber optic telephone system.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.