1916

It's all about mobility. Up and including the first years of WW2, most European armies had troops that used bicycles for speed and mobility. It's quicker than walking which is how most soldiers got from A to B 😀

Who stole his saddle?

Flickr is sometimes amazing! Via Indread Coal who says before 1903

beachcomber australia Looks as if there was a proper clip type yokey to keep the gun in place. It's the local innovation, the proposed boot mechanism, that I fell in love with when I saw this letter.

Tintin et Milou As long as the roads are somewhat paved.

The Case of the Mistaken Tweedlepunches By Leela Wittmer | 8 April 2021 Have you seen this captivating image on a recent visit to the library and wondered who it might be showing off a decapitated head so nonchalantly? Well, you wouldn’t be the only one. Recently I received a query from a member of the public about who this mysterious gentleman might be. They had an ancestor whose photograph they had in a similar costume striking a similar pose - head on a stick and all. They were wondering if our man might be him. I was quite excited at first. Identifying people in photographs can be incredibly frustrating and ultimately fruitless but sometimes with a bit of lateral thinking and perseverance, you might discover the character – especially in such a richly interesting photograph like this. With this in mind, I was pretty disappointed when I discovered that we had already identified the gentleman on our website as amateur actor George Lauri playing the character Anothony Tweedlepunch in Edwardian musical comedy Florodora. Source: www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/case-mistaken-tweedlepunches

I made a similar comment here www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/14709949112/ This image appears to be taken September 2, 1916, following Woodrow Wilson's notification that he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for President for the 1916 election. The photo was taken at the Shadow Lawn estate in New Jersey, which served as Wilson's summer White House. The house burned down in 1927. A photo from the event is seen here: The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]), 03 Sept. 1916. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1916-09-03/ed-...)

The man to the right appears to be Senator Ollie Murray James. Who official notified Wilson of the nomination per the Washington Times photo

Thanks Dean Z for the updates on the Wilson photos. We'll add that information. Also thanks for pointing out Senator James.