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The Daily Colonist, December 29, 1914

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#dailycolonist1914 - News out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago today.

  • Headline reports "Christmas Day Battle Fierce" but the article has no official reports of Christmas Day battles other than the combined aerial/naval raid already reported on the 27th. The idea that there was fierce fighting is based on the number of wounded arriving at field hospitals [which, in hindsight, is probably due to the truce making it easier to move men who were wounded previously].
  • Details on the combined aerial/naval raid on Cuxhaven to bomb German Zeppelin sheds. Britain attacked with cruisers, seaplanes, and submarines. Germans defended with submarines, Zeppelins, aeroplanes, and torpedo boats.
  • Two Canadians, jailed in the Tower of London for disorderly conduct, manage the first escape from the Tower in over a century.
  • "Usual Outrages" by the Turks against Christian Armenians.
  • Rumours of German-American terrorists conspiring to sabotage railways leading into Vancouver from Washington state.
  • Fortifications around Paris begun early in the war ar now complete. Over 200 miles [320 km] of fortified trench surround the city, serviced by telephone lines for communication and a railway to quickly move men and ammunition. Fortifications also include tiger-trap type hidden trenches outside the perimeter.
  • Civilians in London are warned the what comes up must come down, i.e. that shells and bullets fired at enemy aircraft have to land somewhere and that it is prudent to take cover during air-raids even if the aeroplanes are not directory overhead.
  • Italy has dispatched troops to Albania to protect Albanian neutrality.
  • Fighting with Muslim Albanians backing Turkish forces against forces under Essad Pasha [it is not explained that Essad Pasha is in charge of a secret Serbian-Albanian alliance backed by Italy].
  • Two American duck hunters, violating restrictions on approaching the border while bearing arms, are shot (apparently accidentaly) by Canadian soldiers. One American is killed and the other injured. The official statement from the American government is that it is the hunters' own fault and no action will be taken.
  • American fishermen in Alaska have whined to both the President and the territorial administration in Seattle [remember Alaska is not a state yet and is administered by the American federal government through an office in Seattle] that fishermen from Prince Rupert are unfair competition.

https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist57y16uvic