Strange Times 109: For Sale—Young Man; White

It’s been four months since this newsletter went on pandemic-imposed hiatus. The situation in Philadelphia has stabilized enough now that my wife and I are able to have part-time child care, so I’m planning on bringing Strange Times back part-time—hopefully every other week. If you’re happy to see it, forward it to a friend and tell them to subscribe!

And if you find yourself missing the heady madness of the 1920s in those intervals, well, why not grab a copy of Westside Saints to pass the time? A friend yesterday said it, “may have healing properties,” while my sons have referred to it as, “that book you wrote.”

I’ve quite missed putting this newsletter together for you, and I was happy to find that even after so long away, 1921 was as weird as ever. Today brings of thespian desperation in Kansas City and collegiate brutality in Schenectady. Sell yourself to the highest bidder on…

April 19, 1921

• At the City University of New York, Professor Einstein delivers the first of four lectures on relativity and the speed of light, which he believes are “reshaping our concept of the universe in its furthest reaches and most elusive parts.”

• Babe Ruth and Charlie Chaplin check in on Jackie “The Kid” Coogan, who is said to be recovering from his recent malady. Well-wishers from around the country have showered the six-year-old actor with gifts, including, “thirty cans of home-made jelly, three fried chickens and six jars of salve.”

• The Weather: Fair today and Wednesday, with rising temperature; northwest shifting to southerly winds.

Health insurance should be free, y’all.

KANSAS CITY, Mo., April 18—Jack Floyd, 34 years old, an actor, is “broke” and his wife is in hospital, crippled by inflammatory rheumatism. So he has inserted this advertisement in a local paper:

“For Sale—Young man; white, fairly well educated; traveled extensively; willing worker. Will sell myself to the highest bidder for a stated period of time.”

“I mean every word of that advertisement,” said Floyd. “I’ll sell myself until such time as I can earn enough to repay the buyer. I’m ready to do anything that is not dishonest, and I want a quick sale, for I need the money for my wife.”

Floyd and his wife came to Kansas City from the Pacific Coast a month ago. He lost his work when it became impossible for his wife to continue on the road.

There is so much here. The names—Northrop T. Bellinger and James Smimmo! The phrase, “tantalizing tactics.” But most of all, the sheer ruthlessness of these knife-wielding college boys! Plainly, Union College does not mess around.

SCHENECTATDY, N.Y., April 18.—Northrop T. Bellinger of Buffalo was taken to the Ellis hospital last night with a knfie wound in his left leg, said to have been inflicted by James Smimmo of Gloversville in a hazing fracas among Union College students.

Bellinger was one of a party of freshmen which is said to have taken Smimmo, a sophomore, in an automobile to a spot remote from the campus to cut his hair as punishment for tantalizing tactics said to have been tried repeatedly by Smimmo against Freshmen.

Smimmo struck as he was being removed from the car. He was at once disarmed and then the students cut and shaved his head and paddled him.

Bellinger’s only danger is from the possibility of infection. Fifteen stitches were taken to close his wound.