FOOL KILLER FIFTY-EIGHT: AUGUST 1912

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore. FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT IN THE 1850s, CLICK HERE 

PART 58 – Here are some of the targets of James Larkin Pearson’s version of The Fool-Killer from August of 1912.

*** Ex-Senator William Lorimer of Illinois. The previous month the Senate expelled Lorimer for ELECTORAL CORRUPTION, then as now a glaring problem in America. Investigations into the Lorimer scandal had been dragging on since 1910.

*** Republican President William Howard Taft, whom former President Theodore Roosevelt had come out of retirement to challenge as a Third Party candidate because of Taft being just a front man and stooge for Big Money interests and the Monopolies. In this 3-way race Democrat Woodrow Wilson wound up as the winner. FOR MY LOOK AT THIS BATTLE OF THE THREE PRESIDENTS CLICK HERE.

              Pearson and his Fool Killer supported Roosevelt but recognized that with the anti-Wilson vote divided between Taft and Roosevelt that Wilson would likely win.

*** The Associated Press, which, as usual, he referred to as “the ASS-ociated Press,” for its groveling coverage of the pregnancy of bloated rich pig Vivian Gould, a celebrity descendant of the Goulds who once helped wreck the U.S. economy in the 1800s. Sort of like how the repulsive Bush Family was tied to the Savings & Loan disaster of decades ago via Neil Bush.

*** The House of Gowrie publishers in Chicago. Known as “The Devil’s Book Agents” even in 1912, the House of Gowrie published any and every fringe political and religious writings of the era. Think of them as Loompanics decades before Loompanics was a thing. Pearson, despite his self-proclaimed socialist beliefs, was deeply religious and took special offense at House of Gowrie books like Was Jesus Insane? and The Crimes of Jehovah.

*** Elbert Hubbard, for selling elaborate leather waste baskets at the outrageous (for 1912) price of $12.00 each.

*** Senator Bill Tillman, an equally corrupt colleague of the expelled William Lorimer. Tillman wept on the Senate floor over the vote to expel Lorimer.

*** The Arms Race of the time period, which in 1912 involved the way the world’s competing nations tried to outdo each other at the size of the battleships they constructed.

*** “Dynamiters” as Pearson and his Fool Killer called violent Anarchists.

*** The Pope, whom they felt cared more about the monied powers than the suffering poor.

*** Senator Thomas Coleman Du Pont, whom they accused of representing his family’s business interest and not the people.

As I always say, it’s fascinating to read this old publication and its odd mix of viewpoints – even the ones you disagree with.

I WILL EXAMINE MORE FOOL KILLER LORE SOON. KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR UPDATES.

FOR MY LOOK AT JOE MAGARAC, THE STEEL MILL VERSION OF JOHN HENRY AND PAUL BUNYAN, CLICK HERE 

© Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog, 2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.