Template:Did you know nominations/Nihon Sho Gakko fire

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by RoySmith (talk) 22:16, 2 December 2022 (UTC)

Nihon Sho Gakko fire

  • ... that 10 children were killed in a racially motivated school arson in Sacramento, California, in 1923? Source: "FIRE FIEND UNMASKED: Lives and Homes Sacrificed; Confession Uncovers Arson Mystery Reaching From Seattle to Mexico; Hatred of Japanese Incites Army Deserter to Burn Church Mission FIRE MURDERS ARE ADMITTED". Los Angeles Times. 17 August 1923. p. I1. ProQuest 161579022.

Created by Jengod (talk). Self-nominated at 05:24, 27 November 2022 (UTC).

  • @Jengod: Very sad article. I gave it a copy edit and expanded the lead quite a bit from the one sentence that was there previously. I have tagged citation 12 as needing expansion (it only links to the homepage of newspaperarchive.com and does not mention the name of the newspaper). The article is otherwise neutral and very well-researched, new enough and long enough for DYK. ALT0 is eye-catching enough, but I feel like a hook mentioning the anti-Japanese animus of the perpetrator, plus his confessions to other arsons, would make for a better hook. DigitalIceAge (talk) 05:07, 1 December 2022 (UTC)

I think I fixed the wonky refs. Thanks for the great edit and the info box. Much appreciated.

Some possible hook variations:

ALT1 ... that the serial arsonist who started the fatal Nihon Sho Gakko fire confessed to starting at least 25 other California fires in the early 1920s?

ALT2 ... that the serial arsonist who started the fatal Nihon Sho Gakko fire in 1923 was motivated by anti-Japanese sentiment?

ALT3 ... that a serial arsonist started the fatal Nihon Sho Gakko fire and a dozen other fires at Japanese homes and properties in California in the early 1920s?

ALT4 ... that anti-Japanese sentiment was arsonist Fortunato Padilla's motive for starting the fatal Nihon Sho Gakko fire in 1923?

jengod (talk) 06:22, 1 December 2022 (UTC)

Approve ALT1 as the most interesting and concise of the bunch. I changed ALT1 a bit—from "30 other California fires" to "at least 25 other..."—to reflect the wording of the body of the article. Good work! DigitalIceAge (talk) 07:19, 1 December 2022 (UTC)