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On the date

Friday, July 21, 1916

From the day

Perspective: The Street Photographer · Sight

The July sun bakes the sidewalk until the starch in my collar wilts, but the light is perfect for capturing the sharp silhouettes of wool suits and feathered hats. I duck into a newsstand to avoid a passing automobile, my eyes landing on a bold, ink-smudged headline: MAJOR BUTLER SLAIN WITH TEXAS WOMAN; H.J. Spannell Kills His Wife and Sixth Cavalry Officer with Whom She Is Automobiling. SLAYER THEN SURRENDERS Victim of Tragedy Was a Son of the Late Senator Butler and Married ;- Spannell Is a Hotel Man. It's a grisly bit of business that makes the war in Europe seem almost distant, though that new "over the top" slang is on everyone's lips today. I adjust my lens, ignoring the grit of the city, and wait for a woman in a high-waisted linen skirt to walk into the frame just as she hums a bar of "Poor Butterfly."

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

MAJOR BUTLER SLAIN WITH TEXAS WOMAN; H.J. Spannell Kills His Wife and Sixth Cavalry Officer with Whom She Is Automobiling. SLAYER THEN SURRENDERS Victim of Tragedy Was a Son of the Late Senator Butler and Married ;- Spannell Is a Hotel Man.

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

Poor Butterfly

Raymond Hubbell

The must-have

Lincoln Logs

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

lousysnapshotmovies

Soldiers

over the topblightyno man's landcooties

Suffragette

deeds not wordsvotes for women

Catchphrases of 1916

  • He kept us out of war

Tech Check

Toggle Light Switch, Electric Clock & Submachine Guns.

Cost of Living (1910)

Loaf of Bread

$0.06

Gallon of Gas

$0.15

Average Home

$3,600

New Car

$950

Time Elapsed

40,131 days ago

(109 years, 346 days)