June 16, 1926: a wild ride, a falling franc, and the future at full throttle

A car came off 134th Street and turned a Harlem sidewalk into a crime scene. The old paper tells it with the stiff shock of 1926: an actress at the wheel, children outside, a crowd forming before police could pull the story back into official language.

Date and original headline: June 16, 1926, The New York Times: "WOMAN IN WILD RIDE KILLS TWO CHILDREN," with the subhead "ONE VICTIM IS A BABY." 1

What happened: The report said Alice Kennedy, described as an actress, drove off alone after a gasoline stop, lost control after crossing Fifth Avenue, and struck children on the sidewalk. Two children died, two more were seriously injured, and Kennedy was arrested on charges including homicide, felonious assault, and driving without a license. 2

Hindsight: It reads like traffic safety before traffic safety had a full public vocabulary. The dangerous machine is new enough to feel dramatic; the dead children are named carefully, but only after the article has already staged the street as spectacle.

Date and original headline: June 16, 1926, The New York Times: "CABINET OUT FRANC TUMBLES PERET RESIGNS," with related heads including "FRANC HITS 37 TO DOLLAR" and "BRIAND EXPECTS 12TH CALL." 3

What happened: In Paris, Premier Aristide Briand and his cabinet resigned after Finance Minister Raoul Peret quit amid a currency crisis. The Times reported that the franc had touched 37 to the dollar and that President Gaston Doumergue would start talks for a new government. 4

Hindsight: The headline has the rhythm of a falling cupboard. France was still trying to make postwar finance behave; the market had other plans, and Briand was already being discussed for yet another turn at the wheel.

Date and original headline: June 16, 1926, The New York Times: "2-Hour Dayton-New York Trip Is Aim of McCook Field Fliers." 5

What happened: Army officers at McCook Field in Dayton said fliers would soon attempt a Dayton-to-New-York flight in two to two and a half hours. The announcement followed Lieutenant R. C. Moffatt's reported 220-mile flight from Dayton to Mount Clemens, Michigan, in seventy minutes. 6

Hindsight: This is the sweet spot of early aviation journalism: half engineering note, half dare. To a reader who now treats a New York airport delay as a civic injury, the dream of slicing a 560-mile trip down to lunch-break length is oddly fresh.

Date and original headline: June 16, 1926, The New York Times: "PROF. LANGDON EXTOLS JEMDET NASR FINDS," with the subhead "Emphasizes Importance of Field Museum's Exploration Work Near Kish, in Mesopotamia." 7

What happened: Speaking in London before the Royal Society of Arts, Professor Langdon argued that finds from Jemdet Nasr, north of Kish in Mesopotamia, pushed the relevant material culture back to around 3500 B.C., with earlier Sumerian material perhaps going back to 4000 B.C. or earlier. 8

Hindsight: The archeology item has familiar scholarly swagger: one lecture, several civilizations rearranged. A century later, the dates and labels have been revised by better methods, but the thrill is intact. Someone was holding pottery and trying to move the beginning of the story.