Michael R. Barrick's blog

News from Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago today.

• Germans enter Brussels unopposed, with Belgian army retreating to defend Antwerp.
• Japanese demand that Germans vacate Tsing-Tau. Germany has two more days to reply to Japanese ultimatums.
• Editorial on the Japanese ultimatum and German territory in China
• ...

The news out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago today:

• Unanimous vote in parliament to support Imperial war effort
• Pope Pious X dies, apparently "greif-stricken" by the war
• Cowichan farmers allowed to sell "second rate" fruit...

News out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago today:

• Fighting in nearby Waterloo forces Belgian government to abandon Brussels and move to Antwerp [where my maternal grandparents are living at the time, children of 10 and 14].
• ...

News out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago today:

• Dire news! Canadian tea supply down to a mere 3-week supply.
• Story of French aviators from yesterday's paper reprinted. Reported altitudes are different.
• Man loses four fingers on his right hand in construction of Hudson's Bay store on Douglas Street.
• Not-so-subtle vilification of Germans continues...

The news from Victoria 100 years ago today:

• Great story on French aerial bombing of German Zeppelin shed.
• Analysis of the role of torpedoes and submarines as the most dangerous weapons of modern war...

News out of Victoria 100 years ago today:

• Panama Canal officially open (dateline Aug. 15)
• Full-page retrospective on the War of 1812 in the Sunday pull-out
• Great illustration of "A Garden-Party Frock" in the women's section Sunday pull-out
• ...

News out of Victoria 100 years ago today:

• Germany now fighting on two fronts.
• Both Japan and Turkey expected to make formal declarations of war soon (the latter against Britain and the former with Britain).
• "L.O.L. Public Meeting" - in 1914 L.O.L. meant "Loyal Orange Lodge"...

News from Victoria 100 years ago today:

• A little reminder that some things have changed in a century: a German spy is caught releasing a carrier pigeon on a train from Antwerp.
• The "500 young men" mentioned in Great Big Sea's 1997 song "The Recruiting Sergeant" sign up in Newfoundland. 
• ...