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Today we have troubled animals on Long Island and troubled honeymooners in Buffalo. Bite a policeman on…

June 12, 1921

• The secretary of the National Milk Producers’ Federation pleads for farmers to form cooperative associations as “a bulwark against Bolshevism.”

• A rift between the moderate and radical wings of the French railroad workers union is resolved when a party of 20 moderates launch a midnight raid on their headquarters, evicting the Communists and seizing control of the union.

• A woman in male drag drops $3,000 worth of cocaine at a New York pier, escaping the harbor police after they fire shots in her direction.

• Dead on the operating table, a victim of an automobile crash is revived by a surgeon massaging his heart—only to slip into a coma and die soon after the operation is complete.

• The Weather: Generally fair and cooler today; Monday fair and cooler; fresh west to northwest winds.

I can tell you’re a good person because you’re reading Strange Times. Act on that goodness and hit—

As someone who was once hounded out of a Brooklyn playground by an aggressive black squirrel, I shouldn’t laugh, but the fact is that if a threat can be evaded by hiding behind a screen door, it isn’t actually much of a threat.

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, L.I., June 11.—A big gray squirrel, believed to have gone mad, frightened the residents of Rockville Centre before his life was ended with a bullet today. The squirrel attacked Mrs. E.V. Pitluca of 319 Hempstead Avenue. She threw a milk bottle at the animal, but the squirrel came back and she took refuge behind a screen door. The squirrel also entered the yard of Clarence F. Simon, 215 Hempstead Avenue, and when one of Simon’s men tried to feed him a nut the squirrel bit his hand. He also tried to attack some school children, but was shot and killed when he entered the yard of Robert H. Poggenberg, 215 Maple Avenue.

There’s a movie in this one. Or a short story. Or maybe it’s just an amusing newspaper article from 101 years in the past. Hard to say…

More than one hundred and fifty valuable dogs have been stolen from New Yorkers in the Summer colonies on Long Island, most of them, it is said, by gangs in autos, who travel about the country estates, kidnapping the dogs by means of decoy animals in the robber-cars. The dogs are taken to distant places and sold.

Owners of prize-winning pets on the Long Island country places are now afraid to permit the animals out of their sight. Many have advertised for return of the lost dogs, offering rewards, but so far only one animal has been recovered.

This dog was stolen from Mrs. Robert M. Miles of Woodmere, a member of the Rockaway Hunt Club, and its return was effected under circumstances that caused Justice L.M. Raisig of Lawrence, L.I., to investigate. A public hearing in his court followed on Friday evening. A boy told Mr. Miles that the dog had been carried away in a car bearing a Rhode Island license plate. The license number was traced to an army officer in Rhode Island, who had sold his car several weeks previously.

John L. Craig, proprietor of a kennel at Baldwin, L.I., finally traced the dog to a dealer, James Bute, at Baldwin. Craig told Justice Raisig that he told Bute the dog had been stolen, but that he had to pay $20 to Bute to regain it. Bute testified that he had bought the dog for $13 from one Valenti and had no knowledge of the theft until told of it by Craig. The Justice held Bute for a further hearing.

Mrs. Daniel W. Blumenthal of Cedarhurst, L.I., heard that Bute had a sick wife and five infant children, and she provided bail for his release. Justice Raisig said:

“Now, Bute, I want you to know that during the last year more than 150 valuable dogs have been stolen from their respective owners in Hewlett, Woodmere, Cedarhurst and Lawrence, and we must capture the thieves. I am going to give you a chance because Mrs. Blumenthal has asked me to, and I am going to reduce your bail, and I want you to help this county to locate the real criminals.”

The hearing was continued to June 21.

Others in court, looking for a clue to their lost pets, were Julian Hinckley, the writer and sculptor, and a Mrs. Belmont. Hunkley said an auto pirate had carried away his dog.

I was expecting this to be a chance to chuckle at the uptight moralists of 1921, who didn’t understand why a pair of honeymooners would want to spend all weekend in their room, but it sounds like there’s some pretty serious mental illness going on here so I will restrain my jest and hope we get more of this story down the line.

BUFFALO, N.Y., June 11.—After a four days’ honeymoon, practically all of which was spent in a room in the Hotel Statler here, Vincent Luongo, 28 years old, 125 North Portland Avenue, Brooklyn, and his wife, Catherine, were removed to the City Hospital for observation as to their sanity.

A hot-water faucet was broken in their room this morning and the place was filled with clouds of steam. The couple ran from the room under the hallucination that an attempt was being made to suffocate them with poison gas. They went into the street outside the hotel, where they were creating a disturbance when the police arrived. One policeman was attacked by the couple and was bitten on the arm by the woman.

Luongo and his wife have been suffering from various delusions since their arrival at the hotel, the police were told. They feared to leave their room, it is claimed, because they thought enemies were lying in wait outside.

When their meals were served the wife always tasted the food first before she would permit her husband to eat any, fearing that it might be poisoned.

***

At Vincent Luongo’s home, 125 North Portland Avenue, Brooklyn, last night, the parents of Luongo and his two brothers, one of whom is a physician, refused to speak about Vincent. It was learned that Vincent, who is a dentist, was married last Saturday, and the news of his being taken to the Buffalo Hospital was the first word concerning the couple received by their family since the wedding.

Be Strange! All Day Long!