“100 Years Ago This Month”: The national news in July of 1926 reflects some issues that echo with today’s headlines: immigration and July 4th celebrations. The Independence Day activities included an event in Philadelphia, with President Coolidge warning against prioritizing material wealth over the “spiritual truths” that built the nation. Closer to home, State Senator Frank Ball, in a speech at Washington and Lee High School, stated that “… the glory written in the thought behind the Constitution forms a spiritual force that will make America eternal.” In immigration news, “Quota 5 Years Ahead” was the headline for an article about 1,000 immigrants stranded at the Canadian border, with a quota that required five years of waiting for some of those immigrants. 

For local news, I turned to the sports pages to find out what folks were doing for recreation. There were several men’s baseball leagues, generally organized around Arlington neighborhoods (e.g., the Ballston Eagles, the Cherrydale Cherries). What caught my eye was a sentence in an article about the Ballston team: “The Ku Klux Klan nine goes against the Eagles at 3 o’clock.” Yes, there was a KKK team, and its nickname really was “the Klansmen.” Obviously, those leagues were “whites only.” For the Black communities of Green Valley and Hall’s Hill, their teams played in a regional league of Black teams. The first Black baseball team in Arlington, named The Old Virginia Blues, started in 1910, and played their home games near the current Long Bridge Park. 

The newspapers printed summaries of criminal cases brought by Arlington’s Commonwealth Attorney, William Gloth. Two “bookmakers on horse races” were arrested in a pool room on Hume Avenue (near Potomac Yards). When taken to jail, they emptied their pockets and a “quantity of racing tickets” was discovered. In addition to gambling concerns, there were two other societal problems that caught my attention: the effects of Prohibition, and strict divorce laws. 

There were numerous arrests in the region related to the bootlegging of liquor. My favorite article recounted the arrest of an alleged “farmer” with 210 gallons of corn liquor hidden under a load of cabbage. The most disturbing article involved the burning of eighteen homes in Arlington, resulting in the death of one person. Three separate fires in a 12-hour stretch had been started in an area of East Arlington referred to as “Hell’s Bottom” (in the general location of the Air Force Memorial). There were many rumors that the fires were the result of a “bootleg war.” As far as I could discover, no arrests were ever made. 

 The most interesting criminal charge was the crime of bigamy. The headlines were straightforward: “Infidelity Alleged In Divorce Suit” and “Four Seek Marital Freedom.” In Arlington, William Stevens of the District was charged with bigamy based on his marriage in Clarendon to Thelma Berkely, also of the District. The arrest warrant was sworn out by her father, on the grounds that Stevens was already married, and that Stevens’ wife was still living with him. It gets worse, as the more recent bride, who had been listed on the marriage license as being 21 years-old, was actually 15 years-old. Sadly, I could not find any follow-up about this arrest, though it must be said that Mr. Stevens was lucky that Mr. Berkely did not take the law into his own hands. The criminal charge of bigamy was common in those days, as it was very difficult (and expensive) to get a divorce.  

While the problems with Prohibition went away quickly (Prohibition was repealed in 1933), the problems involving divorce have taken a long time to get resolved. A weak version of “no-fault” divorce was passed in Virginia in 1960, but it took sixty years to get rid of the limiting requirement to have a “corroborating” witness. This month another law took effect that abolished the requirement for six months of separation (which has been cited as a cause for increased domestic violence and financial instability). Perhaps these recent changes can be attributed to the record number of women in the 2026 Virginia General Assembly (56 women out of our 140 elected members – in 1960, there were only three women in the General Assembly).