200 Plus
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•February 7, 2018
Did Historical Film Encourage Mutiny?
New Jersey socialist Frederick Krafft was sentenced to five years in prison for trying to cause a mutiny in the U.S. armed forces by saying, “I can’t see how the government can compel troops to…
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•January 31, 2018
Free Speech or Espionage Act Violation?
In September 1917, a drama was playing out in a Trenton courtroom that would have a major influence on how political dissent would be treated in the United States. Frederick Krafft, a 58-year-old…
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•January 24, 2018
NJ Man Charged Under Espionage Act
Throughout the spring of 1917 Robert Goldstein had been battling with Chicago censors for permission to show his movie “The Spirit of ’76.” Many of them felt it would offend the British, who were now…
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•January 17, 2018
Putting a Muzzle on ‘Spirit of ’76’
Today freedom of speech again seems to be under attack. Most people feel it is a protected right, but a close look at our history can make you worry. One hundred years ago a man by the name of Robert…
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•January 10, 2018
Time to Get Your Score
You survived the bitter cold blast of winter and now are looking forward to an early spring. Here the future holds stories about local men entering the trenches of France and New Jersey suffering its…
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•December 20, 2017
No Wikipedia Allowed!
This is the time of year when The SandPaper goes dark for two weeks, but before the long winter’s nap there is the annual brainteaser meant to keep you awake until January and the paper’s return.…
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•December 13, 2017
Tuckerton Trees Gladden New York City
There are times when the facts of a real event can read like a low-budget Hollywood tearjerker; that’s the way the 1917 Christmas story begins. As the big day neared, Americans were being told to…
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•December 6, 2017
Soldiers Celebrate Thanksgiving on Leave
Wartime holidays seem to hold a stronger place in our collective memories than those in peace. 1917 was the first time since the Civil War that the citizens of America would deal with the dilemma of…
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•November 29, 2017
Celebrating Thanksgiving in Wartime
Holidays in peacetime can sometimes be taken for granted as we become wrapped up in ourselves, but in wartime things are different. The celebrations of 1917 would be the first time since the Civil…
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•November 22, 2017
Was Hunger Strike a Victory?
After months of picketing the White House by Alice Paul of the National Woman’s Party and her supporters, who were attempting to convince President Woodrow Wilson to support the constitutional…
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•November 15, 2017
Wilson Tries to Work a Deal
What had started as a protest to get Woodrow Wilson to support a constitutional amendment to give all women the vote had by November 1917 become a political issue and a distraction to the nation’s…
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•November 8, 2017
Are Prisoners Telling the Truth?
During mid-November 1917, newspapers across the country began carrying stories of the government’s mistreatment of suffragist Alice Paul and her supporters. The women had received sentences of up to…
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•November 1, 2017
Jailed Suffragists Continue Resistance
Word that Moorestown Quaker Alice Paul was on a hunger strike trying to receive treatment as a “political prisoner” at the District of Columbia jail seemed to energize both her supporters and…
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•October 25, 2017
Horrors in Virginia Workhouse
As October 1917 was coming to an end, a true American horror story was playing out. Alice Paul, a Moorestown, N.J., Quaker and president of the National Woman’s Party, along with a number of her…
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•October 18, 2017
Force Feeding Inflicted on Prisoners
As October 1917 was coming to an end, many Ocean County men were at Camp Dix preparing to become part of the great army being sent to France to “make the world safe for democracy.” At the same time a…
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•October 11, 2017
Defiant Picketers Hold Their Course
In October 1917, two New Jersey titans were about to square off in a face-to-face battle of wills that would change the course of American history.
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•October 4, 2017
Actions Against Suffragettes Escalate
In 1917, as a wartime president, Woodrow Wilson was arguably the most powerful man to ever sit in the Oval Office. He commanded a million-man army. His Congress had rubberstamped a national draft…
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•September 27, 2017
Suffrage Fight Continues in Washington
As the summer of 1917 was ending, President Woodrow Wilson faced a nemesis in the form of Alice Paul, a 32-year-old Quaker woman from Moorestown, N.J. The issue that divided them was giving the vote…
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•September 20, 2017
Camp Dix Battles Liquor, Prostitution
While the declaration of war on Germany in April 1917 forewarned of battles to be fought in far-off France, there would be some skirmishes closer to home over controlling men’s hearts, minds and…
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•September 13, 2017
Draftees Get Down to Business
In September 1917, the 20,000 New Jersey civilians drafted into President Wilson’s national Army began reporting to Camp Dix. On the fifth, the Official Bulletin published by the United States…
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•September 6, 2017
Draftees Report to Camp Dix
By September 1917, for many Americans the idea that the United States was at war was finally becoming a reality. Since the declaration of war in April, life for most had changed, and the conflict was…
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•August 30, 2017
Ocean County Men Under Scrutiny
In August 1917, two Ocean County men were being carefully watched – one secretly by U.S. government agents, Frederick Ostendorff, the other by the nation’s press, Kingdom Gould.
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•August 23, 2017
First Draft Heading to Camp Dix
As the summer of 1917 was beginning to wind down, American preparations for war were gearing up. Camp Dix in Wrightstown, N.J., was preparing to accept and train a large part of the million-man army…
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•August 16, 2017
Camp Dix Rises in Wrightstown
In August 1917, like a giant bear awakening from hibernation, the United States began its transformation from the freedom of peace to the regimentation of wartime. When there had been no rush to join…
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•August 9, 2017
Espionage Act Affects Free Press, Suffragists
The summer of 1917 can be remembered as one of the darkest pages in the history of American civil liberties. It began when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Espionage Act on June 15, part of which…
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•August 2, 2017
First Numbers Drawn for Military Draft
The United States had gone to war in April 1917, with patriotic speeches and slogans. Four months later, the reality of war was beginning to sink in. Because few men had rushed to enlist, the nation…
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•July 26, 2017
Suffragettes Sentenced to Workhouse
Alice Paul, a Quaker suffragette from Moorestown, N.J., had organized the picketing of the White House beginning in January 1917. Its purpose was to convince President Woodrow Wilson to support the…
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•July 19, 2017
Wilson Falters on Women’s Suffrage
While American troops were being sent to France “to make the world safe for democracy,” closer to home in Washington, D.C., a battle in that crusade was being fought. On Bastille Day 1917, New Jersey…
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•July 12, 2017
Wrightstown’s Farmland Transformed for War
In July 1917, the landscape of New Jersey and the nation was undergoing major changes both physically and politically. In order to train the 1 million-man army needed to fight in the trenches of…
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•July 5, 2017
The Inglorious Fourth of 1917
The Fourth of July is always celebrated with fireworks, but in 1917 when President Woodrow Wilson decided to crack down on dissent, the fireworks took place in the streets and courtrooms. Moorestown…