May 30, 1913: Treaty of London splits the Ottoman EmpireMay 26, 1913: Igor Sikorsky introduces the first four-engine airplane, the Russky Vityaz bomberMay 30, 1913: Eastern Europe, before and afterMay 30, 1913: Jules Goux wins the 3rd Indianapolis 500
The following events occurred in May 1913:
May 1, 1913 (Thursday)
At the ambassador's conference in London, Montenegro offered to evacuate its newly conquered territory in Scutari, Albania, if it could receive territory elsewhere.[1]
Tancrède Auguste, President of Haiti since August 1912, died suddenly, "a victim of severe anemia caused by advanced untreated syphilis, though most Haitians believed he was a victim of poison." His death set off a period of political unrest in the country for the next two years.[10][page needed]
Ahkay Humar Mozumdar became the first believer in Hinduism to become a naturalized citizen of the United States, when U.S. District Judge Frank H. Rudkin of Spokane, Washington, administered him the oath. Mozumdar had filed suit two years earlier and was found entitled by the court on grounds that he was a "free white person."[12]
Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length feature film in India, was released by director Dadasaheb Phalke, setting the format for Indian cinema. Although it was a silent movie, the premiere event at the Coronation Cinema in Bombay was accompanied by a live performance of music and chanting.[14]
Senator Michel Oreste was elected as the new President of Haiti by the Haitian Parliament. The city governor of Port-au-Prince attempted to attack the parliament building during voting, and was repulsed by the Haitian Army, while the U.S. gunboat USS Nashville stayed outside the harbor to be ready to intervene.[16] Oreste would serve for only eight months, being overthrown on January 27, 1914.[17]
The Arizona House of Representatives, following the lead of California, passed a bill prohibiting ownership of land by "any alien who has not declared his intention of becoming a citizen." The state senate passed the bill one week later, and it was signed by GovernorGeorge W. P. Hunt on May 16.[21]
The Amir of Najd, Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud, entered Al Hasa with his troops and ended the Turkish occupation of the Eastern part of Arabia which has been ongoing since 1871.[citation needed]
Stunt performer Rodman Law, self-billed as "The Human Fly," climbed up the outside of the United States Capitol while both houses of Congress were in session, starting from the side of the building and then making his way up to the top of the Dome where he intending to place his hat on the statue at the top of the dome. A guard at the Capitol persuaded Law to go no further than the statue's base.[28]
HMS Hermes became the first Royal Navyseaplane carrier, after being outfitted with a crane from which planes on its deck could be lowered to sea and raised back again.[29]
William D. Coolidge applied for a patent for his invention of the x-ray tube, which "made the use of x-rays for medical diagnosis safe and convenient."[38]
Al-Hasa was captured from the Ottoman Turks by a guerrilla army led by Ibn Saud, the King of Najd, as he expanded the territory that he would eventually call Saudi Arabia.[39]
The first episode of the Fantômas French film serial was released. Directed by Louis Feuillade and starring René Navarre in the title role, the series emphasis on mysteries and ending each episode with a cliffhangers made the thriller successful in its eight-episode run over 12 months.[43]
French aviator Didier Masson conducted the first aerial attack on a warship in the Western Hemisphere, attempting to drop pipe bombs onto the Mexican gunboat General Guererro, as well as the ships Democrata, 'Morelos, Tampico, and Oaxaca.[44]
U.S. Representative H. Olin Young of Michigan announced that he would resign his seat, because of a technicality that prevented his Progressive Party opponent, William Josiah MacDonald, from receiving 458 votes that would have given MacDonald the victory. MacDonald would take office on August 26 after being certified by the U.S. House Committee on elections.[45]
A typhoon struck the Philippines, sweeping 16-foot waves across what is now the Albay province and killing 827 people.[48]
In recognition of the neutrality of Romania during the First Balkan War, the Bulgarian town of Silistra was awarded by an arbitration conference to the Romanians. The area is now part of Bulgaria.[49]
The British ocean liner RMS Lusitania was secretly refitted by the Royal Navy for use in the event of war. The ship would be torpedoed and sunk almost two years later, on May 7, 1915, with the loss of 1,195 lives, mostly civilians who had booked passage for a transatlantic trip.[51]
Jack Johnson, the world heavyweight boxing champion, was convicted by a jury in Chicago of violating the Mann Act, after being charged with taking a minor across state lines for immoral purposes. Johnson had been indicted on November 7 after Belle Schreiber, a white prostitute, testified that he had paid for her to travel by train to Pittsburgh to be with him.[53] While the one-year prison sentence and $1,000 fine were on appeal, Johnson would flee the United States, not returning until 1920 to serve his time.[54]
The first $1.2 million installment of the $125 million loan to China was advanced by the consortium of European banks.[59]
Guatemala agreed to resume interest payments to the United Kingdom on its debt.[1]
May 15, 1913 (Thursday)
The ballet Jeux, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky, with music by Claude Debussy, was premiered in Paris as the first offering of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Referred to in English as The Tennis Game, Jeux has been described as "the first ballet in our time to capitalize on a contemporary theme,"[by whom?] using the sport of "tennis as a metaphor for psychological patterns in modern manners."[This quote needs a citation] The feature ran for two weeks before another Najinsky work, The Rite of Spring, premiered at the theater on May 29.[60]
At Sidi Garba in Tripolitania (now part of Libya), 1,000 Italian soldiers were killed or wounded in fighting with the Libyan natives.[63] The commanding officer relied on disinformation that had been provided by the Libyans to a man who had been taken prisoner and then released, and underestimated the size of the Arab defenders.[citation needed] Command divided 3,000 men into three columns, supported by four cannons and "a battery of howitzers."[This quote needs a citation] After forcing a group of Libyans to retreat, the men rested and were surrounded and attacked. Italian command would later describe the loss as "the bloodiest day in the whole Italo-Turkish War."[64]
The District Court in Vienna, approved the release of inheritance money to a 24-year-old artist, Adolf Hitler, under the terms of the will of his late father, Alois Hitler. Adolf, who lived at 27 Meldemannstrasse in Vienna, received 839 kronen, worth about US$168 (equivalent to $3,800 a century later), and moved a week later to neighboring Germany.[66]
Two Cuban aviators, Agustin Parla and Domingo Rosillo, made the first airplane flight between the United States and Cuba, taking off from Key West and landing in Havana.[69]
A group of 67 opium poppy farmers, who had refused to allow their crops to be burned by Chinese army, were themselves burned to death when they were meeting in Zhengzhou, China to discuss an organized resistance. Chinese troops set fire to the structure and prevented the defiant narcotics manufacturers from escaping.[70]
Despite protests from Japan and pleas from the White House, California GovernorHiram Johnson signed the Alien Land Law, barring Japanese aliens from owning property. The U.S. Government responded to Japan's protests, disagreeing that the state law violated the American treaties with Japan.[73]
In an important development in the building of the Panama Canal, the nearly 8 mile long Culebra Cut was completed as excavation equipment from both sides of mountainous territory met at 4:30 p.m. Engineer David du Bose Gaillard, who had overseen the cut through since work had resumed in 1904, would die in December after years of hard work.[77][page needed]
American Society for the Control of Cancer poster from 1938
Through the efforts of both China's Minister to the New York City police, a truce was negotiated and signed to end gang warfare among the various tongs in New York City. The agreement, between the Chinese Merchants' Association, the On Leong Tong, the Hip Sing Tong and the Kim Lan Wui Saw, and would keep relative peace until 1924.[82]
The American Cancer Society was founded in by ten doctors and five laymen in Washington, D.C., as the American Society for the Control of Cancer. It would change to its current name in 1946.[84][85][page needed]
May 23, 1913 (Friday)
Near Buenos Aires, thirty workers were killed and another 51 injured in an explosion at the Argentine hydraulic plant on an island in the Matanza River near its confluence with the Río de la Plata.[86]
The collapse of a municipal pier in Long Beach, California, killed 35 women and one man. There were 10,000 people crowded on the double-deck pier when the top level gave way and fell on the persons below.[88][89]
The Turkish-American steamship Nevada, with 200 passengers and crew, strayed into a mined part of the harbor at Smyrna while trying to avoid another ship, and struck three mines before sinking. Based on reports of 80 survivors, initial news stories reported 120 people had drowned.[90] The figure was later revised to forty deaths.[91]
Luther McCarty, who was recognized as the "white world heavyweight boxing champion"[93] (Jack Johnson was the world champion), died in the first round of a bout in Calgary against Arthur Pelkey. McCarty was killed when Pelkey punched him in the chest, and fell to the mat halfway through the first round.[93] An autopsy later determined that McCarty had died of a broken neck and hemorrhage, as a result of a hit to the jaw 30 seconds earlier that had snapped his head back.[94] Pelkey would be tried for manslaughter, and acquitted on June 24.[95]
Colonel Alfred Redl, director of intelligence for the Army of Austria-Hungary from 1907 to 1912, committed suicide after being discovered that he had passed secrets to the Russian Empire for eleven years. Redl had betrayed his nation after the Russians had discovered that he was a homosexual and used the information as blackmail. Redl's successor, Captain Maximilian Ronge, agreed to Redl's request for a loaded revolver after confronting him at Vienna's Hotel Klomser.[97]
Peter Kürten, a German serial killer called "The Vampire of Dusseldorf" by the press, committed his first provable murder, although his killing spree of at least nine people would not start until 1929. Kurten broke into a home and slit the throat of 9-year-old Christine Klein while she was sleeping. Kürten, who would claim that he killed 79 people, would be convicted of nine and would be executed on July 2, 1931.[98]
Adolf Hitler, an immigrant from Austria-Hungary, took up residence in Germany, a nation that he would eventually rule. The 24-year old painter and his friend, Rudolf Häusler, rented a room at 34 Schleissheimerstrasse in Munich.[66]
Belgian cyclist Paul Deman won the firstTour of Flanders road cycling race, completing the 324 kilometres (201.3 miles) course from Ghent to Mariakerke, Belgium in a time of 12 hours, 3 minutes, 10 seconds.[99]
Igor Sikorsky became the first person to pilot a four-engine airplane as he took his Bolshoi BaltiskybiplaneIlya Mourometz into the sky for the Imperial Russian Air Service near Saint Petersburg. Powered by 220 horsepower engines, the bomber could carry up to 1,543 pounds of bombs and had room for four machine guns and a crew of five. It was also the first plane fitted with a lavatory.[101]
At Ishpeming, Michigan, former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt testified in the trial of his libel suit against the magazine Iron Ore and its editor, George A. Newett, over an article accusing Roosevelt of drunkenness.[103]
The town of Zap, North Dakota was founded in Mercer County. On May 9, 1969, the town would attract more than 2,000 college students in a civil disorder that would become known as "The Zip to Zap."[116]
Born:Tony Zale, American boxer, World Middleweight Champion in 1941 and 1946 to 1948; as Anthony Zaleski, in Gary, Indiana, United States (d. 1997)[citation needed]
Jules Goux won the thirdIndianapolis 500, driving a Peugeot. Averaging 76.59 miles per hour, Goux finished the race in 6 hours, 31 minutes and 33.45 seconds and won a $20,000 prize. The race continued for another hour and 18 minutes until the tenth and last racer had completed the 500 miles.[121]
Romania's Chamber of Deputies voted in favor of letting Russia mediate in its dispute with Bulgaria.[69]
Theodore Roosevelt's lawsuit for libel came to an end with the Iron Ore publishing a retraction and an admission from the editor that nobody had substantiated claims that Roosevelt "drank to excess."[125]
^"Wilson Recognizes Chinese Republic; American Charge d'Affaires Transmits President's Message to Yuan Shih-Kai". The New York Times. May 3, 1913. p. 10.
^Venzon, Anne Cipriano, ed. (1995). "Chinese American Relations". The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 145.
^Carlos D. Mesa Gisbert Presidentes de Bolivia: entre urnas y fusiles (el poder ejecutivo, los ministros de estado) 2a. Edición Editorial Gisbert. La Paz. 1990. p. 303.
^"Record of Current Events". The American Monthly Review of Reviews: 672–675. June 1913.
^Tucker, Spencer C. (1999). "Balkan Wars, 1912-13". In Wood, Laura M. (ed.). The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 107.
^"Arizona Alien Bill Outdoes California". New York Times. May 6, 1913.
^Campbell, John (1987). "Germany 1906–1922". In Sturton, Ian (ed.). Conway's All the World's Battleships: 1906 to the Present. London: Conway Maritime Press. p. 36. ISBN978-0-85177-448-0.
^"Scales Capitol Dome". Milwaukee Sentinel. May 8, 1913. p. 1.
^Hearn, Chester G. (2007). Carriers in Combat: The Air War at Sea. Stackpole Books. p. 11.
^Lyon, David (1977). "The First Town Class 1908–31: Part 1". Warship. 1 (1). London: Conway Maritime Press: 48–58. ISBN0-85177-132-7.
^Fernandez, Rafael; Mitiukov, Nicholas & Crawford, Kent (March 2007). "The Spanish Dreadnoughts of the España class". Warship International. 44 (1). Toledo, Ohio: International Naval Research Organization: 63–117. ISSN0043-0374. OCLC1647131.
^Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. p. 378. ISBN0-87021-907-3.
^Levitt, Daniel R. (2012). The Battle That Forged Modern Baseball: The Federal League Challenge and Its Legacy. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 35.
^Shea, Stuart; Castle, George (2006). Wrigley Field: The Unauthorized Biography. Potomac Books.
^Longshore, David, ed. (2009). "Philippines". Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones. Infobase Publishing. p. 644.
^Fink, Carole (2006). Defending the Rights of Others: The Great Powers, the Jews, and International Minority Protection, 1878-1938. Cambridge University Press. p. 62.
^Brison, Jeffrey D. (2005). Rockefeller, Carnegie, And Canada: American Philanthropy And The Arts And Letters In Canada. McGill-Queens University Press. p. 31.
^Pavlovic, Srdja (2008). Balkan Anschluss: The Annexation of Montenegro and the Creation of the Common South Slavic State. Purdue University Press. p. 47.
^"China Gets First Loan Advance". New York Times. May 14, 1913.
^Kirstein, Lincoln (1970). Fifty Ballet Masterworks: From the 16th to the 20th Century. Courier Dover Publications. p. 202.
^Adrich, Robert; Wotherspoon, Garry, eds. (2002). "Redl, Alfred Victor". Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to World War II. Routledge. p. 434.
^Newton, Michael, ed. (2006). "Kurten, Peter". The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. Infobase Publishing. p. 152.
^Boyce, Barry. "A Belgian Monument is Born". Cycling Revealed. Cherokee Village, AR: McGann Publishing. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
^"Historia". Desportes Santa Cruz (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
^Oakes, Elizabeth H., ed. (2007). "Sikorsky, Igor". Encyclopedia of World Scientists. Infobase Publishing. p. 667.
^Witham, Barry B. (1996). 1750-1915: Theatre in the Colonies and the United States. Cambridge University Press. p. 198.
^"Colonel Says He Abstains from Liquor". Milwaukee Sentinel. May 28, 1913. p. 1.
^"Astor House Closes". New York Times. May 30, 1913.
^Gallant, Frank K. (2012). A Place Called Peculiar: Stories About Unusual American Place-Names. Courier Dover Publications. pp. 174–175.
^"Balkan Foes Sign Treaty of Peace". New York Times. May 31, 1913.
^Osmaczyk, Edmund Jan; Mango, Anthony, eds. (2003). "Balkan Wars, 1912-1913". Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements. Taylor & Francis. p. 165.
^"Favor Bryan Peace Plan". New York Times. May 31, 1913.
^"Direct Election Signing". New York Times. May 31, 1913.
^"Teddy Given Vindication and 6 Cents". Milwaukee Sentinel. May 31, 1913. p. 1.
^Frangopol, Petre T. "Istoria moscheii lui Carol I" [History of Carol I's Mosque]. România Liberă (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 2014-01-14. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
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