Root for Universal Military Service

1916

Washington, Sept. 22. — In a letter to the association for national service, Ex-Senator Elihu Root said that the only logical way to prepare the United States for defense is through universal military service. His letter says in part:

"Universal training and readiness for service are not only demanded by plain common sense, but they are essentially democratic. They were required by law during the early years of our republic, for every male citizen between the ages of 18 and 45 was required to be ready to fight for his country and was required to be trained and provided with arms in accordance with the simple needs of warfare in those days.

"It is only necessary now to apply the principles and requirements of the national law of 1799, adapted to present conditions."

He's Willing Now

1920

But Champion Is a Late Late, Says Georgia Poet.

The following was received by the sporting editor of The Saturday Blade from Atlanta, Ga.:

Our Champion.

He's willing to fight in France, they say,
For half a million or so;
But he passed up a chance at a buck a day
When they called on us all to go.

I think I speak for a million chaps
Who went to France with a vim,
Ready for anything — death perhaps —
So —
Hope Georges whales hell out of him.

—Jack Converse.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

Note: This poem concerns Jack Dempsey, whose reputation was tainted when it was alleged he was a draft dodger during World War I. There's some details at this link. "Georges" was Georges Carpentier, a French war hero. Dempsey had a match against him in 1921, called the "Battle of the Century."


Canadian Boxer Challenges

1920

Brousseau Wants to Meet Carpentier In Montreal.

The Canadian Hockey Club has cabled a challenge to Georges Carpentier's manager in London for the French boxer to meet Eugene Brousseau, Dominion's middleweight champion, in a boxing exhibition in Montreal, July 1, Dominion day, at one of the race tracks.

Brousseau has recovered from a slight attack of paralysis, which followed his bout with Chip, in Portland.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

New Methods of Fighting

1917

Modern Warfare Is Carried On Under Water, Under Ground and in the Clouds

"Digging in" has a new and important significance and the fantastic legend of Darius Green is long forgotten in the light of practical achievement by the bird-man of today. The cavalry of the earth has been supplanted by the cavalry of the air. The actual fighting of modern warfare is conducted under water, under ground and far up among the clouds.

Yes, there have been drastic changes in military tactics and military equipment since the old days when we used to drill in the armory over the grocery store in the little old home town. What we tried so hard to learn of military lore in those days would be classed as low comedy by a recruiting officer of this changeful period. But all the same, one can't help wishing that one were somewhere in France at this minute with good old Company C regiment of the National Guard, and we'd make a reasonable wager that of the survivors of that organization, if given an opportunity to go, there wouldn't be a slacker in the bunch. — Exchange.

Paid $1,500 to Clear Jack Dempsey, Wife Confesses

1920

Paid $1,500 to Clear Jack Dempsey, Wife Confesses to a Federal Jury

LOS ANGELES, Cal. — A statement to the Federal Grand Jury in this city, making an investigation into the charges that she had been "induced" to leave the country in order to avoid testifying in the slacker cases against Jack Dempsey, her ex-husband, Mrs. Jack Dempsey, or Maxine Wayne, as she is better known, made a clean breast of the transaction, in which it was said she was paid a sum of money to repudiate her first statement involving Dempsey in the slacker charges.

Mrs. Dempsey said she was given $1,500 in cash in Los Angeles. It is claimed by the Department of Justice investigators that she later received other substantial sums.

Arrangements were being made, she said, to send her out of the country when the Department of Justice operatives blocked the scheme. Offers to pay her money to leave, said to have been in telegrams sent to her over fictitious signatures, will be substantiated, it was claimed by the messages themselves. They were seized by the Government. Letters written by Dempsey with reference to his draft status also are in possession of the Government.

Mrs. Dempsey frankly stated her earnings had helped to support Dempsey before he became the world's champion heavyweight.

Julius E. Gardner, who was arrested at San Diego, is involved in the plans to get Mrs. Dempsey out of the country, according to the Federal authorities.

Drafted Man Hides Two Years In Cave

1920
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Surrenders in Uniform He Wore on Visit to Family -- Wife Carried Food

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio, May 20. -- After nearly two years of hiding in the caves in Hocking valley, near Adelphi, Ohio, in the fear that he would face a firing squad if discovered, Carl Amerine, 24, a deserter from the 84th Division, gave himself up to military authorities at Camp Sherman, near here.

Amerine, attired in the uniform he wore when he left Camp Sherman, and unkempt from long months spent in the hills, expressed relief to military authorities that his worry was over.

Amerine, who is 24 and who had been drafted in 1918, left the camp in August of that year to pay a visit to his wife and infant baby near Adelphi, he said. He overstayed his leave.

His wife, fearing he would be shot as a deserter, persuaded him to go into the hills, Amerine told the officers. There he lived in the caves until a day or two ago, when a friend of the family learned of his whereabouts and persuaded Amerine's wife to give her consent to his surrender.

During the time he was in hiding Amerine was furnished food by his wife, who sent it to him or took it to him in person daily.

Amerine is awaiting trial at the camp.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 4.