April Fool's Day, 1911

Were you stung too? (1911) Cartoon published in the Chicago Daily Tribune, illustrating April Fool pranks played in the city:

"Yesterday was All Fool's Day, as thousands of Chicagoans found out to their discomfort. New numbers went into effect north of Twelfth street, which contributed somewhat to the confusion of messengers and others in similar lines of employment. The usual rush of calls for 'Mr. Rover' and 'Mr. Barker' swamped the dog pound phone, while even the county morgue had more calls than it could handle for '_r. Stiff.' Other hoaxes of our childhood days were present in usual numbers."

Human Fragments (1911) "The police have dropped the theory that there is any murder mystery involved in the human hand and foot found in a cigar box on One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street, between Third and Lexington avenues yesterday. Several Bellevue Hospital doctors who saw the gruesome relics after they were brought to the Morgue today said they were undoubtedly anatomical specimens and that they had probably been left in the street by medical students with a warped sense of humor to run off an April fool joke."

[The New York Evening World - Apr 3, 1911]

Students go on strike (1911) Female students at Northwestern University entered the Willard Hall dining room the night before April 1st and hung up silverware and cooking utensils on hooks around the walls. When the cooks found the scene the next morning, they refused to take the silverware down. The Dean of Women ordered the students to do so and revoked their dining privileges until the cleanup was complete. In protest, 115 students went "on strike" and began eating their meals in local restaurants. After several days the students relented, restored the silverware to its place, and their dining privileges were returned.