The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Sunday, June 8, 2025

Notably: If we were to unfold the New York Times of this date in 1903, a couple of years after the assassination of President McKinley, so beloved by the shah of maramaga, we’d read in the leftmost column, above the fold: “Eighty Drowned in South Carolina Flood,” and “almost every bridge in the county swept away” (that would be Spartanburg County, the flooding having swept over Clifton). The second column from the left has a story of flood damage in the millions to railroads in Kansas, and below that, a shorter story about “Disastrous floods in Idaho,” where the people of Booner’s Ferry were “going around in rowboats.” There is also a report of “high water at St. Louis.” Third column over, above the fold: “Policeman Fatally Shot by a Fugitive.” With this subheadline: “Though mortally hurt the Policeman continues the chase until exhausted–woman witness attempts suicide.” Reading that paper I would too, by now. But wait. There is more. Below that story: “ttempted Kidnapping of Child for Revenge: Mrs. Vanieck of Middletown, R.I., saw a man descending the stairs with her five-year-old son.” Mrs. Vanieck  was the wife of the proprietor of the Newport Nursery Company. He had just left his wife and child to go to work. Fourth column over, below the fold: “Water Spout Hit a Train.” The train was on its way from Rockaway Beach in Queens (where my brothers and I used to hang out in summer), on its way to Brooklyn. “The two cars which received the blow were filled with women, and the jolt to the car made them think something more substantial than water had struck them.” Fifth column over: “Trenton to Kill Mosquitos.” “Biscuit Strike To-Morrow.” Sixth column from the right (which is actually the second-lead column, the right-most column being the top story in newspapering, because that’s how the papers were folded on the newsstand, to show that column first): “Illinois Lynching Horror.” David J. Wyatt, and East St. Louis schoolteacher had allegedly (my word, not the Times’s) shot and killed Charles Hertel, superintendent of schools of St. Clair County, at 6 o’clock that Saturday evening. So “The mob hanged Wyatt to a telephone pole in the public square. Even while his body was jerking in the throes of death from the strangulation, members of the mob began building a fire at the foot of the pole. The flames flared up and licked at the feet of the victim, but this did not satisfy the mob, and another and larger fire was started. When it had begun burniong briskly the negro, still half alive, was cut down, and after being covered with coal oil, was cast into the fire. Moans of pain were heard from the half-dead victim of the mob, and these served further to infuriate his torturers. They fell upon him with clubs and knives and cut and beat the burning body almost to pieces… Fully 10,000 strangers visited the public square and viewed the site of the lynching,” coming from Southern Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky. That was tourism at the time. Below that story: “Strikers Desecrate Grave.” The strikers were grave-diggers. And in the lead story, first right-most column? “French Steamer Sunk; Over 150 May Be Dead.” It was bound for Corsica from Marseille. The steamer’s name? Le Liban. My country’s name. And we pine for the good old days. Jesus H. Christ.

—P.T.

 

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 Fighting was the chief function of the feudal male. From early youth he was conditioned to bear the weight of knightly armor and drilled rigorously in the use of arms. He had to learn the extremely difficult feat of hitting a target with his spear while riding at full gallop with his shield on his left arm. When he was considered adequately mature and trained he was made a knight. This was a simple ceremony in the eleventh century. An experienced knight gave him his arms and then struck him a terrific blow with his hand or the flat of his sword. Throughout his life the knight spent most of his time in practising with his arms or actually fighting. Dull periods of peace were largely devoted to hunting on horseback such savage animals as the wild boar. The knight ate enormous meals of pastry and game washed down with vast quantities of wine or ale. He kept his wife continuously pregnant and saw that his house was well supplied with concubines to while away his leisure hours. In short, the ordinary knight was savage, brutal, and lustful. At the same time he was, in his own way, devout. He accepted without question the teachings of the church and was deeply interested in the welfare of his soul. He had a private chaplain, commonly chosen for the speed with which he could say mass, who performed the sacraments in his chapel and heard his confessions, Most knights scrupulously observed the rites of religion. They were, however, little troubled by Christian ethics. The giving of generous gifts to a family monastic establishment or even the founding of a new one was the usual way of  atoning for one’s sins.

—Sidney Painter, cited in Kenneth Setton, gen. ed., A History of the Crusades, vol. 1, The First Hundred Years.

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