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April 3

Opening of the new York Brooklyn bridge dignitaries invited

Who was Mr. Clarence A. Barrow DebbieTharp (talk) 00:56, 3 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Looking at Newspapers.com (pay site), he seems to have been a city official, a clerk of some kind, for Brooklyn around that time frame. The 1884 Brooklyn city directory gives his occupation simply as "clerk". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:12, 3 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I now know the document is real and this person existed. 24.20.8.122 (talk) 12:51, 3 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In 1890, he was secretary of the Kings County Republican General Committee.^[1] ‑‑Lambiam 13:23, 3 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for responding with additional details. This coincides with the formal document that I have. 24.20.8.122 (talk) 13:24, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I wonder how often he was confused with this guy. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 17:29, 5 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The document I have is hand written in flourishing script, Clarence A. Barrow. Clarence Darrow's middle initial is: "S". DebbieTharp (talk) 21:19, 5 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for an interest in my topic. DebbieTharp (talk) 21:22, 5 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Somaliland and Eritrea

Why did the international community recognize Eritrea as an independent country, but refuse to do the same for Somaliland, which seems to have a similar case? The government seems to be more stable than Somalia's, at least in the recent past. Rojomoke (talk) 15:38, 3 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for consistency in international relations might be a lost cause, but one key difference is that Eritrea obtained recognition from Ethiopia, while Somaliland has not done so with Somalia. CMD (talk) 02:55, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know much of anything about the relative situation, but remember that countries often grant or refuse recognition based not on stability, functional independence, or similar metrics, but for their own political purposes. Rhodesia was independent and stable in the late 1960s and 1970s, but many foreign countries refused to recognise it and sought to destabilise it (by supporting rebel movements) because of their opposition to its internal politics. Nyttend (talk) 07:58, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I think CMD has it nailed… Ethiopia was willing to let Eritrea go (even if grudgingly)… Somalia is not willing to let Somaliland go. Blueboar (talk) 22:47, 5 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"Neither pigs nor Jews"

A well-known anecdote about Sir Moses Montefiore has him sat next to an anti-Semitic nobleman at dinner. The nobleman remarks that he has just returned from Japan, "where they have neither pigs nor Jews". Montefiore replies "In that case we should go there together, so they may have one of each". The anecdote is usually marked as "possibly apocryphal". Can we find a firm citation for it, or at least its earliest appearance, who was the bigoted peer, and also is it true that Japan at the time (Montefiore died in 1885) had neither pigs nor Jews? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 20:15, 3 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Domestic pigs were introduced to Japan "in prehistoric times", but as further explained here were not common, or commonly eaten, until the 20th century because of Buddhist beliefs.

As for the other aspect of the observation, see History of the Jews in Japan. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.2.64.108 (talk) 20:27, 3 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The earliest account of the anecdote I spotted is from 1935,^[2] repeated verbatim in 1936.^[3] ‑‑Lambiam 10:58, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sure someone else will do better, but I can't find any mention of the story before 1935, fifty years after Sir Moses' death. As with other early appearances of the story, the one I've linked to has a Russian Grand Duke, a relative of the Tsar, as the anti-Semite, and a dinner held by the Lord Mayor of London as the location. Later ones, almost inevitably, make it Buckingham Palace. --Antiquary (talk) 11:02, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It seems that Russian Grand Dukes dining next to someone else do well in anecdotes. Note that all early publications found are from the US. ‑‑Lambiam 11:17, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

An obelisk in Lagos

According to our article Sarah Forbes Bonetta, and this article from Brighton & Hove Museums, her husband erected "a granite obelisk-shaped monument more than eight feet high in her memory at Ijon in Western Lagos". Do we know the exact location of the obelisk, does it survive, and are there any pictures of it? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 21:59, 3 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

See this page for a pic. Ijon is approximately here, but no idea beyond that. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 00:08, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Based on the general geographic area, as well as features in the photo (notice the electrical pylon on the left, the wires going roughly in the same direction as the photo perspective, the pole right next to the obelisk, and the general dense foliage), I think it might be somewhere around 6.563572, 3.203350. However, Google Street View isn't able to quite get that area through all the foliage, and some parts of the perspective (notably, the buildings) don't quite line up, so I'm not sure. GalacticShoe (talk) 02:50, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimedia Commons has two additional photos of the obelisk, one from the same angle and one from the opposite angle. I think that, in the latter photo, the building on the right (6.563733, 3.202955; note the windows) and the water tower (6.563802, 3.202529) confirm the general location as mentioned above. The obelisk itself might be closer to somewhere around 6.563566, 3.203215. GalacticShoe (talk) 03:02, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There are electric transmission lines overhead; they are also overhead at (6.5635738,3.2028165) and (6.5636397,3.2036353). The location of the obelisk is on (or extremely close to) the line between these points. (The shadow of a pylon can be seen in Google Satellite view at (6.5636124,3.2034791)). ‑‑Lambiam 10:39, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not seeing its shadow though and it would be small and not obvious, but it's also likely hidden too, for the obelisk stands under a couple of small trees which are right next to it. However, there is an alignment of the buildings' roof corners, which once located in overhead imagery, puts the camera somewhere on a line about here in agreement with GalacticShoe's estimation. Modocc (talk) 14:55, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I also note that GalacticShoe's estimate triangulates pretty well since it also falls along a line projected from the side of the apparently broken-down bulldozer that is peeping through in the photo and that is aligned with the corner of the larger building's rusted roof. All of these points can be located in the satellite images. Modocc (talk) 16:26, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you all, I think you've narrowed it down as well as can be, short of someone going out with a plane table and theodolite. I think a quotation from a recent book would be appropriate:

Today, Ijon is unrecognisable. Most of the forest has been cleared, the cocoa trees have long disappeared, and nothing is left of James Davies's house or the small church he built on his estate. Even someone who knew the original village would be unable to identify its exact location had not one durable signpost survived. This is the granite obelisk James Davies erected to commemorate the death of his wife, Sarah, in 1880, the year he started his farming enterprise. Although plant growth laps at its plinth, the memorial stands tall and upright, just as Davies hoped it would.

DuncanHill (talk) 23:08, 5 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]