The most understudied presidential assassination attempt in U.S. history: that time President Grover Cleveland and Frances Cleveland were battered with a weapon of mass confection.
During the visit of President Cleveland and Mrs Cleveland to the fair grounds at St Louis the other day, Mrs Cleveland, who was seated along with her husband in a carriage, was startled and surprised by the sudden appearance of a hot pancake in her lap. She had been used to receiving bouquets in that manner, but a hot pancake was something she was unprepared for.
The police pounced on the cakemaker, and found her to be Anne Sax, a comely young cook in the booth. The next day in the police-court she explained that something impelled her to hit Mrs Cleveland with a pancake.
In Anne Sax’s defense, a pancake is indeed a bouquet—it’s just made with a different type of flower.
Considering all the other missiles that have been chucked into the vehicles of presidents, tsars, archdukes and their spouses throughout history, the Clevelands should count themselves lucky that syrup stains were the worst of their injuries.
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Disclaimer: The modern era is far from the first to grapple with rampant “fake news.” As I am neither a historian nor journalist, I make no claims about the accuracy or lack thereof of the above sources. I assert only that they make for a good story.
Welcome to Second Glance History! This blog seeks to uncover the people and the stories forgotten by history and give them another read through a modern lens. Join me every week as we examine the differences that divide and the common threads that connect the then to the now.
Okay, that was flipping funny, even if it was illegal and unwaffle
🤣 Thank you, I couldn’t ask for batter praise!
It was the crepes of wrath!
A true classic, right up there with The Adventures of Huckleberry Syrup!