1915-05-12ww

There was one summer resident of the Hamilton Beach Strip who, war or no war, was prepared to defend his cultural heritage.

As pointed out in the Hamilton Herald of May 12, 1915, this man had “on more than one occasion expressed his love for the Fatherland and its war policy.”¹

¹ “Pro-German”

Hamilton Herald.   May 12, 1915.

The man’s vocal opinions about the war caused not a little trouble when he expressed them loudly while riding an electric radial car from Hamilton to the Beach:

“Two gentlemen were riding in the smoking compartment of a radial car last Saturday, when this ‘old Kaiser’ got on, and, entering into a conversation with them, claimed that it served the victims of the Lusitania disaster right for being on the ship.

“There was a near-riot, and had it not ben for the timely interference of the conductor, he would have been thrown off the car.”¹

It was not the first time that this same person’s views had caused problems:

“ People wonder if this man forgets one day last summer when two members of the Tiger Club rushed him to the lake for expressing his sentiments and were going to throw him in, until an apology was forthcoming.

“Beach residents will not stand much more of this man’s German ‘kulture.’ ”