December 31

1600     The British East India Company formed by Royal Charter; d.1874

1871  The Territorial Legislature authorized the formation of militia companies, the birth of the Wyoming National Guard.

1890  A New Year's Ball was held in the Casper Town Hall to benefit the Casper Cornet Band.  Attribution.  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1912  USS Wyoming made the President' flagship.

1916   The Cheyenne State Leader for December 31, 1916. Going out on a belligerent note.
 

And so 1916 would not go out on a peaceful note.

Carranza was unhappy that the protocol did not require a UW withdraw, the Allies were not tempted by peace.  The Army was taking a position contrary to what supposedly the Administration was taking, if reports were accurate, in that it wanted to withdraw the expedition in Mexico.

A bizarre  headline was featured on the front page indicating that  "churchmen" were opposing "premature peace" in Europe, with the promise that details would be provided the following day.

1921  December 31, 1921 Changing Times, Natrona County Acquires the hospital.

It was a dry New Years Eve. . . at least officially for Americans and most Canadians who, if they were following the law, had to ring in the arrival of 1922 with some non-besotted beverage.  I'm sure many did.

Miss Texanna Loomis, December 31, 1921.  She was a radio engineer.

And there was a lot to celebrate that year.  For Americans, the Great War had officially ended, although the fighting had obviously stopped quite some time prior.  For the many Americans with Irish ancestry, it appeared that Irish independence was about to become a de jure, rather than a de facto, matter.  Americans were moving definitively past World War One, and in a lot of ways definitively past a prior, much more rural, era and country.

Not all was well, however, as the economy was doing quite poorly.  There was hope that would soon change, with that hope being expressed in a regional fashion on the cover of the Casper Daily Tribune.

Also, on the cover of the paper was the news that the County had taken over ownership of the hospital.  It'd run the hospital until 2020, when Banner Health took over it, converting it back into a private hospital after almost a century of public ownership.

 1925  The legendary Swan Land & Cattle Company issued its corporate holdings report for the year.

1941   Big Piney, Pinedale, Nowood, and Star Valley became the first Wyoming Conservation Districts when their Certifications of Organization were signed by Wyoming's Secretary of State Lester Hunt.

1950  Frank Barrett resigned from the US House of Representatives, where he had been Wyoming's Congressman, in order that he could take office as Governor.

1952 The 187th Fighter Bomber Squadron, Wyoming Air National Guard (F-51s) released from active service. During their service in Korea nine 187th pilots were lost.

1974     Private U.S. citizens were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40 years.

1976  Wyoming hit by a statewide blizzard.

1978  Clifford Hanson, who was leaving his office as U.S. Senator, resigned, thereby allowing his successor, Alan K. Simpson to have Hanson's seniority by virtue of short appointment to replace him.

2011  The year departs with a Central Wyoming blizzard.

A snowy Consolidated Royalty Building in Casper Wyoming.

2012  Severe cold grips the state on the last day of 2012.

 First Interstate Bank Building in Casper Wyoming, displaying 1F on their time and temperature sign.

Elsewhere.  1695   A window tax is imposed in England, causing many householders to brick up windows to avoid the tax.

1961     The Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid.

December 30

1782  The Decree of Trenton gives the Wyoming region of Ohio and Pennsylvania to Pennsylvania.

1835  Santa Ana declared that all foreigners taking up arms against Mexico would be treated as pirates and shot.

1867  A .C. Clark of Cheyenne, a "professional pedestrian", begins a record breaking 50 mile walk without sleep or food.

1878  Camp Brown Wyoming renamed Ft. Washakie.  The change of name is remarkable in that it is the only instance of Frontier Army post being renamed in honor of a Native American.  Washakie, who was allied to the US, figured prominently in Wyoming as a Shoshone scout and was a war leader in both native wars and as the leader of Shoshone war parties in the field in support of the U.S. Army.  Washakie had a role in Crook's 1876 expeditions.  He would live in to the 20th Century, dieing in his 90s or 100s depending upon which birth date is accepted.

1905   Former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg is wounded by a powerful bomb that was triggered when he opens the gate to his home in Caldwell, Idaho. He died shortly afterwards in his own bed.  The act was a reprisal for his role in ending a mining strike.

1916   The Cheyenne State Leader for December 30, 1916: Discussions breaking down.
 

In spite of an accord having been signed last week, this week it looked like the agreement with Mexico might be going nowhere.

1918  December 30, 1918. "Zero Weather" predicted for Cheyenne, Rosa Luxemburg urges a name change for the German Spartacus League in Germany, Goshen County Sheriff held on suspicion of murder.

While this blog still does not seek to become a century ago today in retrospective blog, as we're still tracking stories important to the our overall theme, and the end of World War One and the events flowing from it are part of that story, here we have one.

And it's one that jam packed with myths that are probably so thick that disabusing them is impossible.  The story of Rosa Luxemburg and the Spartacus Rebellion in Germany of 1919, which was coming to a head, by which we mean a bloody end.

Rosa Luxemburg, who is almost 100% incorrectly remembered by history.

With Germany in revolution and the Socialist government struggling to simultaneously put it down and to deal with the collapse of the state that had made the armistice with the Allies necessary, Rosa Luxemburg, misunderstood member of the German Spartacus League and one of its founders, urged the the consolidation of all of the non Social Democratic German radical Socialist parties into a new party to be called the Communist Party of Germany, somewhat ignoring the fact that there was already a radical left wing German party called the Communist Party which was a participant at the conference at which she was making the proposal.

Luxemburg, who will reappear here in a few days, is a quixotic figure.  She had long been a left wing figure in Europe and is romanticized today by the Communists pretty much for the same reason that movie fans romanticize James Dean. . . she died prior to her career really getting started and therefore can be all things to all people.

Luxemburg was a Polish Jew by ethnicity and a citizen of the Russian Empire by birth.  She'd grown up, before going to university in Switzerland, in Russian Poland and was the daughter of a father who was interested in liberal causes and a mother who was very religious.  She had no familial or perosnal history with Germany whatsoever but rather chose Germany as a place in which she wished to live sometime after obtaining a doctorate, very unusual for a woman at the time, in Switzerland.  She had obtained permission to live in Imperial Germany only by contracting a fraudulent marriage with Gustav Lubeck, the son of a long time friend, in order to circumvent German laws and she became a permanent resident of Germany sometime in the early 1900s.

In Germany she was a member, originally, of the Social Democratic Party which prior to World War One housed all of the left of center German political class and which was secure in its radiclalism by the fact that it didn't have a real chance to exercise power.  Probably not ironically, however, as she was a Pole, not a German, she was influential in that time in the formation of the Polish and Lithuanian Social Democratic Party.

Prior to World War One it can be argued that her politics evolved. She was a radical in her socialistic views but ran counter to almost all of those who would later lionize her. She was an opponent of Polish nationalism as she did not believe in Polish (or any) self determination, a policy that would run counter to Lenin's stated beliefs but which did fit conventional communist beliefs.  She was also, however, dedicated to social democracy and serious about not suppressing the votes of non socialist parties.  She came to be an open critic of Lenin and of the German Social Democratic Party.  By this point in time she was really a member of the Independent Social Democrats which were part of the first post war German coalition for a time until they pulled out due to their radical beliefs.  She opposed the Spartacus uprising in 1919 but naively supported none the less.  On this day, she proposed that the various parties of the left that were in the Spartacus League unite as the Communist Party of Germany, in spite of their already being a German communist party, and in spite of the fact that her views really did not match well with those that genuine communist held.

Her role would not go well for her.

Locally, while Germany was aflame, there was going to be "Zero Weather" in Cheyenne, which didn't mean what it sounded like.  The Goshen County Sheriff was being held in connection with a killing and Congress was working on a bill for anticipated homesteading discharged soldiers.

1921.  Prohibition agents conducted a raid in Rock Springs.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1942  A Riverton couple eccentrically converted 10,100 nickles into two war bonds.  Attribution. Wyoming State Historical Society.

1974  Teapot Dome added to the National Register of Historic Places.

1978  Teno Roncolio's technical last day as Wyoming's representative.  He resigned a few days in advance of Dick Cheney being sworn in, but he had not run for reelection so the resignation was likely merely to slightly advance his last day in office prior to January 1.

2008  The Yellowstone earthquake swarm continues adding an additional 23 quakes.

Elsewhere:  

1916  Grigori Rasputin Murdered.

 

Russian mystic and controversial friend of the Imperial household, Grigori Rasputin, murdered.  This isn't, of course, a Wyoming story, but as it was part and parcel of what would become the Russian Revolution which lead ultimately to the long Cold War with the Soviet Union of which Wyoming was part, we've noted it here.

Rasputin was such a controversial figure during his lifetime, and lived in a land that remains so mysterious to outsiders today, that almost every aspect of his life is shrouded in myth or even outright error. To start with, contrary to what is widely assumed, he was not a monk nor did he hold any sort of office of any kind within the Russian Orthodox Church.

Rather, he was a wondering Russian Orthodox mystic, a position in Russian society that was recognized at the time.  His exact religious beliefs are disputed and therefore the degree to which he held orthodox beliefs is not really clear.

He became a controversial figure due to his seeming influence on the Emperor and Empress, who remained true monarchs at the time, and therefore his influence was beyond what a person might otherwise presume.  Much of this was due to his ability to calm or influence bleeding episodes on the part of the Crown Prince who was a hemophiliac.  Ultimately concerns over his influence lead to his being assassinated although even the details regarding his death are murky.

He was 47 years old at the time of his death.

1919   Lincoln's Inn in London admits its first female bar student.

2009   The last roll of Kodachrome film is developed by Dwayne's Photo, the only remaining Kodachrome processor at the time.

December 29

1845 Texas admitted into the Union. While its borders would soon shrink, at first a small portion of Wyoming, previously claimed by Spain, and then Mexico, and then Texas, was within the boundaries of the new state.  None of these political entities had actually ever controlled the region, so to some degree the claim was more theoretical than real.

1879  Wyoming's Territorial Governor John Hoyt plans Wyoming's first official New Year's party by a governor at Interocean Hotel, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

1879  J. S. Nason takes office as Territorial Auditor.

1890.  The Battle Wounded Knee occurs in South Dakota.

The battle followed a period of rising tensions on Western reservations during which various tribes began to become adherents of a spiritual movement which held that participation in a Ghost Dance would cause departed ancestors to return along with the buffalo, and the European Americans to depart.  Ghost Dance movements created great nervousness amongst the American administration of the Reservations upon which they were occurring, including the Pine Ridge Reservation, where Wounded Knee took place.  Tensions increased when Sitting Bull was killed in a gun fight with Indian Police on December 15 and troops were sent to the reservation thereafter after tensions increased amongst Sitting Bull's tribe, the Hunkpapa Sioux.  When troops arrived,  200 Hunkpapa-Miniconjou Sioux fled the reservation towards the  Cheyenne River.  They were joined by a further 400 Sioux, who then reconsidered and turned themselves in at Ft. Bennett South Dakota.

The remaining 400 or so Sioux were set to surrender themselves at Wounded Knee but were delayed in doing so as their leader, Big Foot, was sick with pneumonia. When the Army arrived at Wounded Knee, it commenced to disarm the tribesmen on December 28, which was an unwelcome action on their part, and greatly increased tensions in the camp, which were made further tense by the upsetting of the camp by the soldiers, which included women and children. A militant medicine man further agitated the matter by reminding the tribesmen that their Ghost shirts were regarded as making them invulnerable to bullets.  During this event, the rifle of Black Coyote, regarded by some of his tribesmen as crazy, went off accidentally while he was struggling to retain it.  The medicine man gave the sign for retaliation and some Sioux leveled their rifles at the soldiers, and some may have fired them.  In any event, the soldiers were soon firing at the Sioux, and Hotckiss cannons fired into the village.  Of  230 Indian women and children and 120 men at the camp, 153 were known to be killed and 44 known to be wounded with many probable wounded likely escaping and relatives quickly removing many of the dead. Army casualties were 25 dead and 39 wounded  Six Congressional Medals of Honor were issued for the action, which was a two day action by military calculations, which is typically a surprise to those not familiar with the battle.  An inaccurate myth holds that the Army retracted the Medals of Honor in recent years, but this is not true.   The battle aroused the ardor of the Brules and Oglalas on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations with some leaving those reservations as a result, but by January 16, 1891, the Army had rounded up the last of them who had come to acknowledge the hopelessness of the situation.

The tragic event is often noted as the closing battle of the Indian Wars, which it really is not.  Various other actions would continue on throughout the 1890s, although they were always minor.  At least one military pursuit occurred in the first decade of the 20th Century.  Actions by Bronco Apaches, essentially renegades, would occur in northern Mexico, and spill over the border, as late as 1936.  Perhaps it has this status, however as the presence of the 7th Cavalry at the action, and the location, make it a bit of a bookend to the Indian Wars in the popular imagination, contrasting with Little Big Horn, which is generally regarded as the largest Army defeat of the post Civil War, Indian Wars, period.  Even that, of course, came well into the period of the Plains Indian Wars, so just as Wounded Knee was not the end of the actual conflict, Little Big Horn was not that near to the beginning.

Nonetheless, being such a singular defeat, it has come to stand for the end of the era for Native Americans, which probably is a generally correct view in some ways.  After Wounded Knee, no Indian action would ever be regarded as seriously challenging US authority.

 Big Foot's Camp three weeks after the battle.

1916   The Casper Weekly Tribune for December 29, 1916: Carranza official arrives in Washington, land for St. Anthony's purchased, and the Ohio Oil Co. increases its capital.
 

While a protocol had been signed, a Carranza delegate was still arriving to review it.  Keep in mind, Carranza had not signed it himself.

Also in the news, and no doubt of interest to Wyomingites whose relatives were serving in the National Guard on the border, Kentucky Guardsmen exchanged shots with Mexicans, but the circumstances were not clearly reported on.

In very local news two locals bought the real property on North Center Street where St. Anthony's Catholic Church is located today.  The boom that the oil industry, and World War One, was causing in Casper was expressing itself in all sorts of substantial building. As we've discussed here before, part of that saw the construction of three very substantial churches all in this time frame, within one block of each other.

St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Casper Wyoming.

The news about the Ohio Oil Company, at one time part of the Standard family but a stand alone entity after Standard was busted up in 1911, was not small news.  Ohio Oil was a major player in the Natrona County oilfields at the time and would be for decades.  It would contribute a major office building to Casper in later years which is still in use. At one time it was the largest oil company in the United States.  In the 1960s it changed its name to Marathon and in the 1980s moved its headquarters from Casper to Cody Wyoming.  At some point it began to have a major presence in the Houston area and in recent years it sold its Wyoming assets, including the Cody headquarters, and it now no longer has a presence of the same type in the state.

1916:

 

Abandoned post Wold War One Stock Raising Homestead Act homestead.

1916  The Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916 becomes law.  It  allowed for 640 acres for ranching purposes, but severed the surface ownership from the mineral ownership, which remained in the hands of the United States.

The Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916 recognized the reality of  Western homesteading which was that smaller parcels of property were not sufficient for Western agricultural conditions.  It was not the only  such homestead act, however, and other acts likewise provided larger  parcels than the original act, whose anniversary is rapidly coming up.   The act also recognized that homesteading not only remained popular, but the 1916 act came in the decade that would see the greatest number of  homesteads filed nationally.

Perhaps most significant, in some ways, was that the 1916 act also  recognized the split estate, which showed that the United States was  interested in being the mineral interest owner henceforth, a change from prior policies.  1916 was also a boom year in oil and gas production,  due to World War One, and the US was effectively keeping an interest in  that production.  The split estate remains a major feature of western  mineral law today.

1921  Thursday December 29, 1921. The Raid hits the news.

 

We reported on this item yesterday.  It hit the news across the state today, receiving front page treatment in both Casper and Cheyenne.

Cheyenne's paper also noted that Governor Short of Illinois was going to appear in front of a grand jury, but the way the headline was written must have caused Gov. Carey in Wyoming to gasp.  Early example of "click bait"?

Mackenzie King became the Prime Minister of Canada.  He'd serve in that role off and on, mostly on, until 1948.  An intellectual with good writing but poor oral skills, he'd become a dominant Canadian political figure for a generation.

1931   Sheep Creek stages rabbit hunt to reduce rabbit numbers and feed the hungry.

1941  All German, Italian and Japanese aliens in California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington and are ordered to surrender contraband. (WWII List).

1941  Sunge Yoshimoto, age nineteen, killed in the Lincoln-Star Coal Company tipple south of Kemmerer.  He was a Japanese American war worker.

1943  Wartime quotas of new adult bicycles for January cut in half with 40 being allotted to Wyoming.Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1944 USS Lincoln County, a landing ship tank, commissioned.

2008  Third day of Yellowstone earthquake swarm.

2014  The Special Master issues his report on Tongue River allocations in Montana v. Wyoming. Wyoming newspapers report this as a victory for Wyoming, but Montana papers report that both states won some points in the decision, which now goes to the Supreme Court for approval or rejection.

December 28

1836 Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico.  This does not mean that Spain was in control of Mexico until 1836, but rather that it recognized Mexican sovereignty.  Spain had attempted to reconquer Mexico as late as 1829.

Interestingly, by the time Spain recognized Mexico, Texas was in rebellion against Mexico.

1865  Edward L. Baker Jr, a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for action in Cuba, born in Laramie County.  Baker, an African American, rose to the rank of Captain, an extraordinarily rare occurrence for a black American at that time.

1883  Lloyd Fredendall born at Ft. D. A. Russell where his father was then serving.  His father was not, however, a career soldier and would later become the Albany County Wyoming Sheriff.  Fredendall was appointed to West Point by Senator F. E. Warren, twice, being dismissed from the school once for poor academic performance and dropping out once.  None the less he was commissioned in to the Army after passing a qualifying exam while attending MIT.  He served in World War One, but did not see combat as he was assigned to positions in the Army's service schools in France.

During World War Two his fortunes rose early as he was favored by Marshall and liked by Eisenhower, both of whom admired his cocky demeanor.  He was assigned to major command positions in Operation Torch, but fell out of favor as he was not successful as an actual field commander.  He was replaced by Eisenhower following the American defeat at Kasserine Pass and spent the rest of the war in a training command in the United States, where he did secure promotion to the grade of Lt. General.  Historians have been hard on him, regarding his World War Two combat role proof that he was an inept commander.

1905  First issue of Worland Grit published.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1913  Western Meat Market burned in Superior.

1916   The Wyoming Tribune for December 28, 1916: Villa commanding 10,000.
 

The Tribune carried disturbing news about a resurgent Villa and a reluctant Carranza.

1917   December 28, 1917. Home Economics.
 

1920  Kamekichi Masuda of  Rock Springs received a patent for a basket.

1921  USS Laramie commissioned.

1921  A large prohibition  raid occurred in Rock Springs.

1928  Michael John Blyzka, major league baseball player, and resident of Cheyenne at the time of his death, born in   Hamtramck, Michigan.

1944  Governor Lester Hunt proclaimed the day to be Seabee Day.  The Seabees are the Navy's Construction Battalions, hence "CB", or Seabees.  While all of the armed services have always had engineers, the Seabees were an early World War Two creation that proved critical in the construction of airfields and other facilities during the U.S. campaigns in the Pacific during the war.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1993  A 4.7 magnitude earthquake occurs near Cody.

December 27

1836  Stephen F. Austin died. Attribution:  On This Day.

1867  Dakota Territorial Legislature creates Sweetwater County.

1890  The Union Pacific in Cheyenne received twelve new switch engines for distribution.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1899  A shipment of 500 cats from New Jersey, being sent to the Philippines for "rat control," passes through Laramie, Wyoming, on the Union Pacific Railroad.  That's a lot of cats.

1918  December 27, 1918. The Collapse of the German Empire. The Rise of Poland. A League of Nations.

Polish soldiers digging trenches in their 1918-1919 war against Imperial Germany.

The final stages of the collapse of Imperial Russia saw huge numbers of Polish troops join forces with any Russian rebels and the establishment of a defacto Polish state from Polish lands that had been under the crown.  Indeed, not only did this occur, but Polish forces and rebels soon were engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces and rebels over what was Polish and what was not.

On this day, in 1918, that spread to Germany.

The collapse of the German war effort in World War One is such an important historical event that most histories of World War One simply end with that and treat the German Revolution as a bit of an epilogue.  Histories of World War Two tend to treat it as a prologue.  But what should be evident from reading these posts is that Imperial Germany didn't really end on November 11, 1918, or even before that when the Kaiser abdicated shortly before, but rather Imperial Germany sloppily turned the reins of government over to a provisional socialist government that found itself with a major domestic revolution on its hands from the hard left and the old Imperial Army with which to put it down.  It was trying desperately to do so.  

Contrary to what occurred after World War Two, the allied occupation following the Armistice of November 11 was quite limited in scope. This is also sometimes misunderstood. The occupation following the Second World War was intended to totally demilitarize and remake Germany.  The 1918 one was not, but instead was intended merely to prevent a resumption of the war with the West.  It was quite limited, but strategic, in scope.

Occupation zones following November 11, 1918.  'Armistice and occupation of Germany map', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/armistice-and-occupation-germany-map, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 15-Jun-2017

Indeed, the occupation zones were actually frankly anemic and basically were simply sufficient for the Allies to create a strong defense on the south bank of the Rhine with bridgeheads over it, in case of a resumption of the war.  That this was highly unlikely was obvious by the behavior of the Allies themselves, who immediately began to repatriate their soldiers and sailors to their homes and discharge them.  While I disagree with those who insist on the Versailles Treaty being the date that ended all doubt, this map gives them a point.

Cheyenne readers on this learned that Wyoming Guardsmen would definitely be overseas for awhile.

Wyomingites in the 91st Division would be remaining overseas as well.  On the positive side, it seemed that American troops were getting along well with German civilians.

As does the behavior of Germany itself, within its borders.  The German Army was very active, where it could be, but it couldn't be everywhere, and it was effective everywhere it was.

On December 24, the German Army had been defeated in a street battle with Berlin by Red Sailors and Kreigsmarine and soldiers who had gone over to the Reds.  Lots of significant towns were in the hands of Red revolutionaries who intended to form a communist government.  The provisional socialist government Weimar was struggling to retain power and not go down in a Red revolution.

On this day, the Poles added to their troubles.

The Posen region of Imperial Germany, a major coal producing region of the state, had always really been Polish. The German Empire had been just that, and like the Austrian Empire it included people who were not German by ethnicity within its borders, although not nearly to the same extent that was the case in the Austro Hungarian Empire.  Included in that were regions of what had been Poland and which were among its oldest possessions.

Prussian province of Posen, Polish regions in yellow.

The Poles had been subjects of conquest by neighboring Prussia back into Medieval times. In more recent times the Germans had participated in the dismemberment of what remained of Poland.  The Poles, in spite of a late German effort, had never been absorbed by the Germans who had always looked down upon them.   With the Poles reforming their country out of the Polish regions of Russia, it was inevitable that Poles in Posen would attempt to break away and joint them.

What wasn't inevitable was that it would work, but it did.  The Polish rebels were largely successful in a two month long war with Germany which saw them seize control of most of the region.  On February 16, 1919 with a renewed armistice involving the Poles and the Germans imposed by the Allies.  The Versailles Treaty would settle the territorial question in favor of Poland.

Cartoon in the New York Herald, December 27, 1918.  This cartoon is only quasi clear.  It was celebrating the concept of a League of Nations, but are the little dachshunds republics made up of a dismembered German state?

On that treaty, the British were very strongly backing a League of Nations, and that was starting to get some press, and some discussion in the United States, where views were initially quite favorable.

Training in the US kept on in other places, exploring the newly learned and newly acquired.

1926 1,000 rabbits shot near Medicine Bow and sent to Rawlins, Wyoming, to feed the hungry.

1934  History repeated itself, according to the Casper Star Tribune:

 Hundreds of Homes Enjoy Feast Provided by Great Hunt ...

"The announcement that the thousands of rabbits taken by scores of nimrods in the most successful hunt of its kind ever staged in Wyoming were 'ready for the skillet' was all that was needed. ...

"Rabbits, skinned and washed to meet the taste of the most discriminating, disappeared as if by magic. The success of the hunt was only eclipsed by the appreciation of hundreds who came in a steady stream, and by 2 o'clock yesterday a supply which was expected to meet all demands was completely exhausted. ...

"No one tried to make off with more than a reasonable share. ...

The most taken by one family was 11 rabbits for a family of 10. Many asked only for two to four, depending upon the number in the household.

"The result was that rabbit sizzled and fried in hundreds of Casper homes last night."

From the Trib's this "A Look Back In Time" column.

1943  The USS Casper, a Tacoma Class frigate, launched.

.
1941     American authorities in the Philippines declared Manila an open city.

1945     The World Bank was created with an agreement signed by 28 nations.

Elsewhere:   1900     Carry Nation carried out her first public smashing of a bar, at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kan.

1979     Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan.

December 26. Boxing Day

Today is Boxing Day (except when falling on a Sunday, when by Royal Proclamation, it is transferred to Monday).

Boxing Day has its origin as a religious Holiday in association with Christmas, and some traditions associate it with St. Stephen's Day, which is celebrated on this day.  The exact origin of it is unclear, but the name may be associated with poor boxes placed outside of church's on St. Stephen's Day which were used to collect funds for the poor, or for boxed gifts serving a similar purpose.

The day is associated with sports in some localities, including the equine sports.  It is the biggest single day for fox hunting in the United Kingdom, even after the ban of live hunts in 2004.  It is a major fox hunting day in the United States.  The King George VI Chase at Kempton Park Racecourse in Surrey is held on Boxing Day.  

1813   The Spain granted Moses Austin permission to establish a colony of Americans expatriates in Texas.

1866   Brig. Gen. Philip St. George Cooke, head of the Department of the Platte received word of the Dec 21 Fetterman Fight in Powder River County in the Dakota territory.

1871   The newspaper the "Laramie Daily Independent".  Attribution.  On This Day .com.

1917     The U.S. government took over operation of the nation's railroads during World War One.

1917     The U.S. government took over operation of the nation's railroads during World War One.

 U.S. Capitol as viewed from a Washington D. C. rail yard, 1917.

This was a big deal.

The extent to which labor strife was a factor in the early US history of World War One is a story that tends to be drowned out by the opposite story during World War Two.  With the lesson of the first war behind it, labor was highly cooperative during the Second World War and, for that matter, the war brought massive employment relief from the ongoing Great Depression.

The story wasn't at all same in regards to World War One.  Going into the war the nation was faced with labor strife in the critical coal and railroad industries.  On this day the Federal Government, giving a late unwelcome present to the railroads, nationalized rail and put the lines under the United States Railroad Administration.  The USRA would continue to administer rail until March 1, 1920.

The action wasn't solely designed to address the threat of rail stoppages by any means.  Rail was critical to the nation and formed the only means of interstate national transportation.  This would largely remain the case in World War Two as well, of course, but by then there were beginning to be some changes to that. For that matter, its frankly the case far more today than people imagine.  But in the teens, rail was absolutely predominant.

In spite of that, and in spite of their best efforts, the railroads simply found themselves unable to address the massively increased burden on the various national private companies, the accompanying inflation in rail prices, and addressing the needs of labor.  The Interstate Commerce Commission did what it could, but it finally recommended nationalization in December, 1917.  The President took action on the recommendation on this day.

The USRA's sweep was surprisingly broad, and it even included the standardization of locomotives and rail cars.  Over 100,000 railroad cars and 1,930 locomotives were ordered for the war effort, which the USRA then leased.

USRA Light Mikado pattern locomotive.

Showing, perhaps, the radical spirit of the time, the railroad employees unions not only supported the nationalization, but hoped and urged it to continue following the war.  This of course had no support outside unions and more radical quarters.  Nonetheless, because the formal legislative act that approved the nationalization, which came in March, had provided that the rail lines had to be returned to private ownership within 21 months following the conclusion of the war the failure of the United States to sign the Versailles Treaty necessitated a separate act to do the same, with that act strengthening the powers of the ICC.

1918  Boxing Day, 1918

The December 26, 1918 edition of Life Magazine, which at that time was a magazine that featured humor, although this image, if it's supposed to be humorous, isn't.

December 26 is Boxing Day, a holiday in almost all of the English speaking world except, for some odd reason, the United States. Given that much of the United States's holiday traditions that are older stem from the United Kingdom,  including some aspects of the Christmas holidays, it's surprising that Boxing Day isn't observed in the U.S. while it is in nearby Canada.*

Australian convalescence soldiers and volunteers out on Boxing Day, 1918.  Photo courtesy of the University of Wollongong, Australia.

In most of the English speaking world, the day is a day off.  It's also a day that has traditionally been devoted to sports and the like.  In British Army units, including units from the Dominions, it's likely that there were games of various types.  Horse racing and equestrian sports, which are a traditional Boxing Day activity, likely was likely part of that.  FWIW, it was in Austria that year (maybe it is every year), as soccer matches were held.

Whatever else was going on in the UK, dignitaries were meeting Woodrow Wilson who was visiting the country.  Elsewhere, British troops were engaged in active combat service, as for example off the coast of Estonia where the HMS Calypso and the HMS Caradoc ran the Red Russian Navy destroyer Spartak aground.

In New York, the U.S. Navy, or rather some elements of it, were committed to a big victory parade.

The Laramie Boomerang reported on the celebrations in New York City.

*Examples of British holidays incorporated into American tradition are Thanksgiving, which isn't really a thing though up by the Mayflower Pilgrims (it was a commonly observed English harvest religious holiday) and the observation of Halloween, which originally was an Irish observation of All Hallowed Even in which the poor went door to door in search of the gift of food in exchange for a promise to pray for that family's dead.

1920  Pancho Villa escapes from prison in Mexico and crosses into the US.

1922  A holdup of a Casper army store results in $112.00 being stolen.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1929  This Christmas Tree was photographed somewhere in Wyoming:

1941   President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

1941  Rawlins Wyoming employment office received an urgent call for skilled workmen and laborers to work at Peal Harbor.  No doubt the same request was made in many localities across the country.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1944  Kentucky beat Wyoming in football, 50 to 46, in Buffalo New York.

2006     Gerald R. Ford, the 38th president of the United States, died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 93.  Ford was born in Omaha Nebraska to parents  Dorthy and Leslie Lynch King and was originally named Leslie L. King Jr.  His parents separated a mere sixteen days after his birth, and he saw his father only once during his lifetime.  His father, not an admirable person, provides a connection with Wyoming, however, as the senior king lived in Riverton for many years and his paternal grandfather was a successful businessman in Casper, Douglas, Lander and Omaha.  Ford later worked as a park ranger in Yellowstone National Park in 1936.

2008  A swarm of over 900 earthquakes occurred in Yellowstone over a wide area.  The earthquakes measured up to 3.9 on the Richter Scale.

December 25. Christmas

Today is Christmas Day

This day remains the most popular holiday in the Western World, and much of the rest of the world, in spite of the inroads of commercialization, the return of the seven day a week workweek, and the blathering of commercial entertainment, which offers up, in this season, such pathetic offerings as the televised seasonal stupidity of Chevy Chase and other such alleged comedic attempts.  May you all have a Merry and Joyous Christmas, in the true sense of the words and in keeping with the true meaning of the holiday.

In terms of history, in recent years it is often claimed that the December 25 date was chosen by the Church for Christ's Mass as it would override existing Pagan feast days, but this is a myth.  The most common claim involves Sol Invictus, but the problem with this assertion is that the earliest recording of that Pagan day being celebrated on December 25 comes from the year 354, and even that is unclear as to whether the day was honoring "The Unconquerable Sun" or something else.  There are claims for earlier dates in the 270s, but the record doesn't support a clear date until 354, to the extent that date is even clear.  The earliest indication of  Christians celebrating the Birth of Christ on December 25 comes from 206, over a century and a half earlier, and in a form suggesting that the date was generally accepted, which would indicate it having been established for some time.  Some will cite to 336 as the year in which the date was established, but this fails to acknowledge that the 336 date reflects a recorded Christ's Mass, when earlier Christian writings were noting that the December 25 date for Christ's birth.  Even the 336 date doesn't reflect the establishment of the date as a Christian Holy Day, but rather notes a Mass being celebrated for the Holy Day.

Another claim is that it overrides the date for a festival committed to Saturnus, but in fact that event occurred earlier in December, lasted several days, and was over by December 23.

1866 Portugee Phillips arrives at Ft. Laramie after a harrowing several day ride from besieged Ft. Phil Kearny. Contrary to myth, Phillips did not make the entire ride alone, but had other civilian volunteers in his company except for the very last section of the ride.  Their mission was essentially complete when they arrived at Horseshoe Station, where news of the Fetterman defeat was telegraphed to Omaha.  But Phillips went on alone, an additional hours ride, to bring the telegram and news to Ft. Laramie, arriving at 11:00 p.m. as a party was going on in Old Bedlam, the bachelor's officers quarters, which his arrival interrupted and made somber.  Phillips was given the gift of a fine horse by Company F of the 2nd Cavalry for his efforts.

1882  First recorded turkey dinner in Wyoming takes place at Ft. McKinney.

1917   Mexican Raid on Brite's Ranch, Texas. December 25-26, 1917.
 

On this day in 1917 Mexican raiders attacked Brite's Ranch in Texas. This resulted in a two day running fight that ultimately involved the U.S. Army's 8th Cavalry, including motorized elements of the same.

 Brite's Ranch in 1918, including small fort built on the location by the Texas Rangers for defensive purposes.

The Mexican forces responsible for the raid were never clearly identified.  Villistas were logically suspected for the raid at first, and may well have been responsible. However, Carrazaistas came to also be suspected to have been involved. Whether or not they were has never been determined. At the same time it cannot helped but be noted that the border had become lawless and the raids that came out of Mexico in this time period did not necessarily have any political motive and some of them were simply armed criminal expeditions.  Some had mixed purposes.

The raid started at about dawn when a party of about 45 or so Mexican raiders rode into Brite's Ranch, which was not only a ranch headquarters but a small town as well.  Only one man, Sam Neill, the son of the ranch manager, was awake at the time but realizing what was happening he armed himself and engaged the raiders. This soon awakened others there and the fight expanded and went on for some time until the Mexican raiders captured two Mexican ranch hands and bargained for their lives for entry in to the general store, which was then granted to them.  As they were robbing the store, a postal carrier with two Mexican passengers arrived and all three of them were killed by the Mexican raiders, bringing the total deaths in the raid to four.

The Neill's were hosting a Christmas party that night and as a result as the hour for the party arrived guests began to arrive and this resulted in the resisting party being expanded and the alarm being spread.  The message was carried to Lucas Brite in Marfa by telephone and then to the 8th Cavalry and the local sheriff, who formed a joint posse and cavalry detachment that then drove the raiders back into Mexico.

The following day men of the 8th Cavalry, who had arrived at Brite's Range by automobile, borrowed horses from the ranch and launched a punitive raid into Mexico, hoping to catch the responsible parties.  They met with additional cavalrymen near the Rio Grande and a detachment of about 200 troopers entered Mexico. The cavalrymen caught up up with the raiders and engaged them near Pilares, killing about 29 of them and recovering some of the stolen property.

This story would not end here, unfortunately, as the events that were unleashed by the raid on Brite's Ranch inflamed feelings on the border and would lead to tragedy, as we will see in a later entry on our real time exploration of the Punitive Expedition and the events that preceded and followed it.

So, while all eyes were on France, things were getting tense again on the Mexican border.

 The Brite's Raid made the cover of the Casper Record in a not very Christmasy issue, along with something that would actually happen the next day rather than on Christmas Day.  Hooverize?

December 24

 Today is the day of the Christmas Vigil (Christmas Eve) in the Christian world.
 Aðfangadagskvöld, the day when the 13th and the last Yule Lad arrives to towns, in Iceland.
 Feast of the Seven Fishes in Italy.
 Jul in Denmark and Norway.
 Nochebuena in Spanish-speaking countries.

1809.  Christopher "Kit" Caron born in Kentucky.  Raised in Missouri, he would have an amazing career as a frontiersmen in the West, including Wyoming.  He is one of those fellows who seems to have been everywhere, and at the right time.

1814     The War of 1812 officially ended as the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent.  Fighting continued, as news in the 19th Century traveled slowly.

1826   The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy begins that night, wrapping up the following morning.

1851     Fire devastated the Library of Congress destroying about 35,000 volumes.

1859  First known lighting of a Christmas Tree in Wyoming occurs, near Glenrock. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1868  A. J. Faulk, Territorial Governor of Dakota Territory, approved of act incorporating Cheyenne.

1922  Sunday, December 24, 1922. Christmas Eve, 1922.

Normally I post these matters in chronological order, oldest to newest, but I missed something here of interest, that being the death of Sgt. John Martin.

Sgt. Martin, circa 1904.

Martin was a career soldier in the U.S. Army who is remembered today as the 7th Cavalry trumpeter who was assigned by George A. Custer to deliver a message to Frederic Benteen, to the effect of:

Benteen.

Come On. Big Village. Be quick. Bring Packs.

P.S. Bring packs. W.W. Cooke

The message delivered to Benteen, from Custer, had been reduced to writing by Custer's adjacent, W. W. Cooke probably because Benteen didn't trust Martin to be able to accurately convey the message, given his heavy Italian accent.  Martin had been born Giovanni Martino.

Martino had started off in life roughly, being born in 1852 in Salerno and being delivered to an orphanage just days after his birth.  He served as a teenage drummer under Garibaldi, joining that revolutionary force at age 14.  He immigrated to the United States at age 21 and joined the U.S. Army, serving as a trumpeter.  He was temporarily detailed to Custer's command on the date of the fateful Little Big Horn battle, and therefore received the assignment that would take him away from disaster somewhat randomly.

He married an Irish immigrant in 1879, and together they had five children.  He served in the Spanish American War, and retired from the Army in 1904, having served the required number of years in order to qualify for a retirement at that time.  Note that this meant he'd served, at that time, thirty years.  Following that, his family operated a candy store in Baltimore.  In 1906, for reasons that are unclear, he relocated to Brooklyn, seemingly to be near one of his daughters, working as a ticket agent for the New York subway.  The relocation meant a separation from his wife, which has caused speculation as to the reasons for it, but he traveled back to Baltimore frequently.  That job wore him down, and he took a job as a watchman for the Navy Yard in 1915.  His sons followed his footsteps and entered the Army.

In December 1922 he was hit by a truck after work and died from his injuries on this day.

All in all, this presents an interesting look into the day.  Martin was an adult when he immigrated in 1873, and found work in an occupation that readily took in immigrants, the military, and doing what he had done in Garibaldi's forces before, acting as a musician.  His marriage was "mixed", of a sort, with the common denominator being that he and his wife were both Catholics.  In spite of retiring from the Military after long service, he continued to need to be employed, at jobs that at the time were physically demanding.

And of interest, when his life, long under the circumstances, was cut short, he was a veteran of Little Big Horn living during the jazz age.

1944   All beef products are again being rationed. New quotas are introduced for most other commodities as well.

1983  Recluse Wyoming sees -51F.  Echeta, -54F.