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Just returned from duty in France, Philip Wood of Oakland, formerly an actor in the Forest Theatre Players of Carmel, says chemical analysis of German canteens found them full of a potent mixture of beer and ether which is used to desensitize troops before they go "over the top" in desperate trench charges. — Jan. 2
Mrs. Hohann Hensler Heinck, a Redwood City waitress, is one of several Bay Area Germans arrested on charges of espionage. A world-traveling pianist who "bears traces of having been a beautiful woman in her younger days," the blond-wigged Heinck, "cool and collected," explains that when she questioned soldiers about troop movements she was only "joshing." — Jan. 18
A Hudson car ad notes that the nation's best mechanics have gone to war, so it is only wise to buy a particularly reliable auto. — March 1
The "second or championship" golf course opens at Pebble Beach, already holding "the reputation of being one of the most tricky courses ever laid out by the combined efforts of nature and man." — March 30
Stanford abolishes all intercollegiate athletic competition for the remainder of the war. — April 9
Five allegedly pro-German teachers are to be dismissed at Oakland Technical High School, announced Superintendent Fred M. Hunter, who claims he has proof of the teachers' disloyalty — including affidavits signed by students who claim to have overheard seditious statements. — April 19
Three members of the Scharlin family, owners of the city's Scharlin Bros. clothiers, are charged with distributing a million dollars worth of opium and other narcotics. — May 11
Trapped in the Ainsley Apartments "where it is said they conducted a vice resort," Evelyn and Georgia Elmore fight three government agents off with hat pins and chairs before Evelyn jumps 20 feet from a window. The two sisters then reunite behind a coal bin in the basement, from "whence they set up a barrage of coal chunks that drove off their pursuers." They are finally arrested, however, by five policemen from the Bush Street Station. — June 8
Launching seventeen war vessels on July 4 from the city and the East Bay, "the San Francisco Bay district will exceed the record of any other shipbuilding community in the world for a single day's achievement." All of the boats have sponsors; i.e., the steamer Defiance is "sponsored" by Mrs. Charles Schwab. - July 3
It is revealed that the nephew of Count Von Bernstorff, former German Ambassador to the United States, has been held on Angel Island incommunicado for many months on a charge of espionage. Also captured in the city is "Germany's master spy,' Edward Michael Zacho, ......... whose machinations have reached around the world and whose plans to spread Prussian propaganda in the United States were nipped." — August 27
George E. Tager, 17, visits the city's Army recruiting office and tells his documented story: Orphaned at three when his father was killed by an explosion on the battleship Georgia, he was given special permission from the Secretary of the Navy to reside on any battleship he chose. Wandering from ship to ship, he gained an education in various ports, before finally enlisting in the Navy at age 16. The Navy, however, discharged him for poor eyesight, after which he joined the Army and spent time on the French front. — Sept. 1
Mayor Rolph announces his housing commission will fight rent profiteers. — Sept. 17
The federal Department of Labor's J.B. Densmore drops a bombshell on the city with a report that charges Thomas Mooney and Warren Billings were convicted of murder upon false testimony. Using Dictaphone recordings made in the office of District Attorney Charles M. Fickert, the report also details alleged widespread corruption of authorities trying to discredit the labor movement. — Nov. 23
As fireworks blow and bonfires blaze, 20,000 gather at the Liberty tower at Market, Kearny and Third streets at 2 o'clock in the morning to celebrate Germany's surrender. — Nov. 11