December 26, 1913: Ambrose Bierce disappears in Mexico, covering that country's Revolution. He was never seen again.
Born on June 24, 1842 in Horse Cave Creek in southeastern Ohio, worked at an abolitionist newspaper in Indiana, and was decorated for heroism by the Union Army for his actions at the Battle of Rich Mountain in what's now West Virginia, before sustaining a head wound at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain outside Atlanta.
After the American Civil War, he wrote for several magazines, and was noted for his crime reporting for the San Francisco News Letter. He lived in London from 1872 to 1875, and it was there that his 1st book was published, a compilation of his articles titled The Fiend's Delight. He went back to San Francisco, and in 1881, he joined the staff of the San Francisco Examiner, becoming the 1st high-profile hire of its ambitious young publisher, William Randolph Hearst. He would continue to work for Hearst until 1909.
He wrote 25 stories based around his Civil War service, which, collectively, would be called "the greatest anti-war document in American literature." Among these was "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," in 1890. This story about a condemned Confederate who thinks he's escaped being hanged by the Union Army became his most popular work, and has been filmed several times, including by French director Robert Enrico, winning Best Short Subject at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival, and the Academy Award for Best Short Subject in 1963. Rod Serling, creator, head writer, and narrator of The Twilight Zone, a show that specialized in twist endings, made that film the only one he ever bought for an episode of the show. It cost $25,000, whereas putting together a new episode from scratch usually cost his production company about $65,000.
In 1906, Bierce published The Cynic's Word Book. He re-published it in 1911, under the title The Devil's Dictionary, and it is by that title that it is better remembered. It is a darkly comic glossary. Some examples:
* Air (n.) A nutricious (that's how he spelled it) substance supplied by a bountiful providence for the fattening of the poor.
* Cannon (n.) An instrument employed in the rectification of national boundaries.
* Conservative (n.) A statesman who is enamoured of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.
* Egotist (n.) A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.
* Lawyer (n.) One skilled in circumvention of the law.
* Love (n.) A temporary insanity curable by marriage.
* Marriage (n.) A household consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two.
* Positive (a.) Mistaken at the top of one's voice.
* Religion (n.) A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.
Critic William Dean Howells said, "Mr. Bierce is among our three greatest writers." Bierce responded, "I am sure Mr. Howells is the other two."
In October 1913, Bierce departed from Washington, D.C. for a tour of his Civil War battlefields. Then, despite being 71 years old, he went to Mexico, at the height of its Revolution -- really, another civil war. The San Francisco-based journalist Blanche Partington, a friend and possibly girlfriend of the divorced Bierce, received a letter from him, dated December 26, 1913. He mentioned that he had joined the army of Pancho Villa as an observer, and witnessed Villa's victory at the Battle of Tierra Blanca on November 25. He closed his letter by saying, "As to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination."
No American ever heard from him again. It was suggested that he had been in the city of Chihuahua in January 1914. Another theory said that he'd gone back across the border, went to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and committed suicide. Another said that he'd been captured by government forces in Sierra Mojada, and was executed by firing squad there.
If this last theory is true, it appears that he wouldn't have minded it. In one of his last letters, he wrote, "Good-bye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico -- ah, that is euthanasia!"
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December 26, 1913 was a Friday. Frank Swift was born on this day. A star goalkeeper for English soccer team Manchester City, he became a journalist writing about the sport, and was killed in the Munich Air Disaster of 1958, covering Manchester United in the European Cup.
Baseball was out of season. Football season was over. Professional basketball barely existed. There was no hockey, either: The National Hockey Association season began the next day.
Being the day after Christmas, Boxing Day, there were soccer games played in England. At their brand-new home of Highbury in North London, Arsenal defeated Yorkshire team Bradford Park Avenue, 2-0. Manchester City defeated Liverpool, 1-0 at Anfield in Liverpool. And Everton FC defeated Manchester United, 5-0 at Goodison Park in Liverpool.
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