On this page we will look back at life in the city during the war years. Here we will provide the visitor with the stories making the news, what was happening in sports and entertainment, city politics, the social scene and the prominent people at the time. So, check back often for new editions. To share your family or neighborhood stories, please email PhillyWWIyears@gmail.com

TODAY IN PHILADELPHIA – FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 1918

Today’s forecast calls for fair skies with unseasonable warm temperatures. The high will be 74° with the low near 49°. The normal high for this date is 42°.

Faked News was presented today as evidence in the treason trial of Louis Werner and Dr. Martin Darkow (shown below), editors of the German language newspaper Philadelphia Tageblatt. The pair are being tried in Federal Court under the charge of sedition and violation of the Espionage Act. The faked news included foreign dispatches from overseas which the editors are charged with changing or adding false information to and then printing as true. A number of examples of these doctored stories were presented today. The prosecution claims that they are evidence that the editors intentionally published false information detrimental to the war effort. The files containing the original and doctored information were found in the newspapers offices.

Dr. Martin Darkow

Yesterday’s decision by the License Court to revoke the liquor license of any hotel or restaurant where dancing or cabarets are allowed has had severe reverberations throughout the city. Hotels and restaurants have started to let go hundreds of musicians employed in their orchestras. Over 400 musicians, most of whom support families, are now unemployed and trying to find work in other cities. The decision will also result in the firing of many waiters, taxi drivers and chauffeurs who had provided services to these customers who frequented the hotels and restaurants for the entertainment they provided.

In baseball, the news from Florida does not seem promising. In Jacksonville the A’s are practicing hard but it is obvious Mr. Mack needs pitching. His two young starters Fahey and Hauser have been disappointing. Fahey seems perpetually hurt and Hauser can’t get the ball over the plate. Over in St. Petersburg the Phillies have their own problems. Luderus and Bancroft are back but Cravath, Whitted, Stock, Niehoff and Bender are holdouts and the rest of the team is average at best. Today Manager Moran didn’t have enough players to field two teams for a game.

WAR NEWS

 The huge German offensive on the western front continues. However, British Field Marshal Haig stated today that much of the onslaught has been halted. The German War Office claims to have taken British positions along a broad swath from Arras southward to La Fere. Further south the French report they have held the Germans at bay.

It is estimated that over 600,000 men are now locked in battle. According to British sources the Germans attacked in mass formations resulting in their suffering terrible losses from withering British machine-gun and artillery fire. Thousands of Germans lay dead all across the battlefront. Fighting continued through the night along the British lines from the Sensee River to the Oise River. A British counter attack using tanks started at 7:00pm last night and has driven the Germans back from Doignies.

GET YOUR COPY BY CLICKING HERE:  PHILADELPHIA: THE WORLD WAR I YEARS