September 28, 1912: Thousands sign the Ulster CovenantSeptember 22, 1912: Edwin Armstrong makes first successful test of the revolutionary regnerative circuitSeptember 21, 1912: Houdini unveils most dangerous act yet
The following events occurred in September 1912:
September 1, 1912 (Sunday)
Fisher: "A road across the United States!"
In Morocco, French troops put down a native uprising.[1]
Bernard Sarnat, American plastic surgeon and developer of craniofacial surgery techniques; in Chicago, United States (d. 2011). The Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health was named in honor of him and his wife.[4]
The much anticipated Romanian film Independența României premiered in Bucharest, depicting events of the Russo-Turkish War that led to Romania's independence. The response was mixed, in part as the film was a first-time production for most of the actors and crew involved and many errors made their way onto the screen. However, the film eventually became a financial success and is considered a milestone for Romanian cinema.[5]
In the United Kingdom, the Trades Union Congress president Will Thorne opened the TUC's annual conference with a demand for common ownership and an attack on the government for its behavior in the recent strikes.[1]
Ellen Gric, a 22-year-old white woman living in Forsyth County, Georgia, reported she had been attacked and nearly raped by two black men near her home. The resulting allegations set off set of a series of violent attacks against black residents in the county and arrest of black men suspected of the crime even as doubts were raised about its validity.[16]
Arthur MacArthur Jr., former Governor-General of the Philippines, and father of future General Douglas MacArthur, suffered a fatal stroke while delivering an address to a reunion of the 24th Wisconsin regiment that he had commanded during the American Civil War. MacArthur was in Milwaukee, and after he recounted "one of the most remarkable scouting expeditions of the war", he told his men, "Your indomitable courage...", then halted his speech with the words, "Comrades, I am too weak to go on." He sat back down and collapsed, dying moments later.[17]
The uprising of Moroccan pretender Ahmed al-Hiba was ended in a battle at Sidi Bou Othmane, as his force of 10,000 troops was decimated by 5,000 French troops led by Colonel Charles Mangin. The poorly armed Moroccan tribesmen, promised by al-Hiba "that French bullets would turn into water and French shells into watermelons",[This quote needs a citation] charged at Mangin's troops, who were aligned in a square formation with artillery at the center. Within two hours, 2,000 of al-Hiba's troops were dead and thousands more wounded; French losses were four dead and 23 wounded.[18]
In what has been described as "the most anticipated and hyped sporting event"[20] up to that time, the two best pitchers in the American League, Smoky Joe Wood of the Boston Red Sox and Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators, faced off against each other before an overflow crowd at Fenway Park. Wood was on a winning streak of 13 consecutive games, while Johnson had set a record of 16 straight wins the previous month. In a pitcher's duel, the two each threw five scoreless innings, until Johnson allowed a run to score in the sixth, the margin for a 1-0 victory for Wood and the Red Sox. Wood would go on to win two more games to tie, but not break, Johnson's record.[21]
September 7, 1912 (Saturday)
Themistoklis Sofoulis, exiled leader of the Greek people on the island of Samos, landed with a force of Greek volunteers and drove away Ottoman Empire troops from the island.[22]
French Army troops, led by Colonel Charles Mangin, rescued nine French civilians who had been taken hostage by Moroccan pretender El Hiba at Marrakesh, but El Hiba himself escaped, setting the stage for a final battle later.[23]
The Madeira-Mamoré Railroad was completed after five years of construction, under the direction of American businessman Percival Farquhar, with the driving of a golden spike to link the track.[25]
At the Christ Episcopal Church in Harvard, Illinois, Miss Dorothy Gardner was married to Mr. Leslie King. Shortly after their son, Leslie Lynch King Jr., was born on July 14, 1913, Dorothy King would leave her husband, taking her child with her, and file for divorce. She would remarry in 1917, renaming Leslie Jr. as Gerald Ford, who would grow up to become the 38th President of the United States.[27]
Motorcyclist Eddie Hasha lost control of his bike during a race at the Vailsburg Motordrome in Newark, New Jersey, killing himself, six spectators and another racer, John Albright. Another 17 people in the crowd were injured.[28][29]
Four spectators were killed and almost 20 injured when Pierre Biard lost control of his airplane and plowed into the crowd at an air meet in Gray, Haute-Saône, France.[30]
In Athens, mass demonstrations demanded the liberation of all Greeks from Ottoman rule.[1]
Sleety Mae Crow, an 18-year old white woman in Forsyth County, Georgia, was raped and murdered. Suspicions fell to 16-year black teen Ernest Knox, who allegedly confessed under suspected torture following his arrest. Three other black young men associated with him and arrested. A lynch mob stormed the county jail where one of the prisoners was killed, but Knox had already been moved for safety.[32]
Died: Etta Duryea Johnson, 31, the white wife of African American boxing champion Jack Johnson, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.[42][43]
The funeral of the Emperor Meiji was held at Tokyo, after which the body was taken on its journey to Motoyama, Japan.[45] Following the Emperor's funeral, former General Nogi Maresuke, 62, committed ritual suicide with his 52-year old wife Nogi Shizuku. Maresuke had requested Emperor Meiji twice when he was alive for the monarch's permission to allow him to commit suicide and restore honor to his family after he lost too many men in the Battle of Port Arthur that opened the Russo-Japanese War.[46][47]
Rioting at a soccer football match at Belfast injured 100 people.[50]
Cattle baron John Beal Sneed shot and killed Albert Boyce, Jr. in Amarillo, Texas, on suspicion he orchestrated the murder of Sneed's father back in Georgetown, Texas, before surrendering to authorities. Sneed had shot Boyce's father dead in Fort Worth, Texas, at the start over year over an affair between Boyce and Sneed's wife, Lenora. Despite authorities concerned that the bloody feud, which by now has claimed seven lives, would yield more violence, potential combatants dispersed within the town. Sneed was able to successfully defend both murders as justifiable and was acquitted for a second time.[51][52]
Died:Howard W. Gill, 30, American pilot, died from injuries sustained from a crash when he struck another plane taking off just as he was going in for a landing at Cicero Field in Chicago.[53]
September 15, 1912 (Sunday)
In fighting between French forces and Moorish tribesmen at Sidi Kacem in Morocco, nine French soldiers were killed and 30 wounded.[9]
John Flammang Schrank, a bartender from New York City, began working on his plan to assassinate former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, after having a dream that the late U.S. President William McKinley had pointed to Roosevelt and said, "This is my murderer, avenge my death."[This quote needs a citation] Schrank would catch up with Roosevelt, who was campaigning for a new term as President, on October 14.[55]
On the 91st anniversary of its independence, El Salvador adopted the flag that it uses today, restoring the blue and white tricolor flag that it had abandoned in 1865.[56]
September 16, 1912 (Monday)
A typhoon, with winds of more than 200 miles per hour, struck the city of Taito on the Japanese-controlled island of Formosa (now Taitung City of Taiwan). The winds killed 107 people, injured 293, and destroyed 91,400 houses. In addition, the storm sank the city's fishing boats and ruined the rice and sugar crops.[57]
Liang Ju-hao became the new Foreign Minister of China.[9][58] The initial dispatch from foreign correspondent mistakenly stated that "the new Minister is unable to read the Chinese language, though he is well educated from the Western point of view", which would cause the Times of London to run a correction on November 15.[59]
Starting at midnight, the Kingdom of Greece began drafting its adult male citizens into the Army and Navy in preparation for war.[66]
French aviator Georges Legagneux broke the altitude record, reaching 18,767 feet (5,720 m) while flying an airplane over Houlgate in France.[67]
September 18, 1912 (Wednesday)
Representatives of the four-nation banking consortium informed China's finance ministerZhou Xuexi, that the railway loan was subject to four conditions, including repayment through a new tax on salt, bank consortium approval of any financial reforms, and appointment of technicians from the four nations.[68]
September 19, 1912 (Thursday)
1912 version of Australian coat of arms1908 version of Australian coat of arms
The first transcontinental truck delivery in the United States was completed when truck manufacturer American Locomotive Company (ALCO) completed the transportation of three tons of Parrot Soap, specifically its olive silk variety. Delivery was made to the San Francisco City Hall, 91 days after an ALCO truck had started from Philadelphia.[74]
Harry Houdini gave the first public performance of his latest death-defying act, the escape from the Chinese Water Torture Cell. The trick, never done before by anyone, required Houdini to get out of a locked steel and glass tank of water while hanging upside-down. Houdini accomplished the stunt before an audience at the Circus Busch in Berlin.[77]
Greece and Bulgaria strengthened their defense alliance, signed in May, with details for conditions and procedures for mobilization of their armed forces.[83]
Edwin Howard Armstrong, a 21-year-old electrical engineering student at Columbia University, made the first successful test of his invention, the regenerative circuit, amplifying faint radio signals to normal levels by repeatedly feeding current through the relatively new Audion grid. The regenerative circuit revolutionized the reception of radio waves, and, with in a few months, was used to improve radio transmission.[84]
U.S. President William Howard Taft issued an executive order barring foreign ships, whether commercial or military, from the waters of Hawaii's Pearl Harbor, Cuba's Guantánamo Bay, and the Philippines' Subic Bay. The entire island of Guam was ordered completely off limits, effectively cutting its civilian population off from the outside world, with restrictions remaining in place until the 1950s.[86]
The Ottoman Empire mobilized its European forces, with 175,000 in the Western Army at Macedonia and 115,000 in the Eastern Army at Thrace.[87]
A group of 750 U.S. Marines was dispatched to the Dominican Republic to protect American interests.[88] The U.S. intervention led to a temporary halt in the civil war that had begun after the assassination of President Ramón Cáceres in November 1911.[89]
The Australian Inland Mission (A.I.M.) was created by decision of the members of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. Organized by Presbyterian minister John Flynn, the A.I.M. sought to bring the Christian faith into Australia's outback, and to fulfill a secondary mission of insuring that "hospital and nursing facilities are provided within a hundred miles of every spot in Australia where women and children reside."[94][95]
The Elks of Canada fraternal organization, a counterpart to the American club, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, was founded in Canada. Currently the organization describes themselves: "The Elks of Canada is the largest, all-Canadian, fraternal organization in Canada with nearly 14,000 members in over 250 locations throughout the country."[96]
Leslie King began to abuse his new bride, Dorothy King, while the couple were on their honeymoon at the Multnomah Hotel in Portland, Oregon. The incident was the first of many recited in Mrs. King's divorce petition, found by historians later, after the couple's child had grown up to become U.S. President Gerald Ford.[97]
Japanese steamshipKiche Maru sank in a typhoon off Japan with over 1,000 dead. While casualties were second to the Titanic sinking in April, it was overshadowed as hundreds of other ships were lost during the storm.[98]
Signing of the Ulster Covenant, a protest by adult citizens of the province in northern Ireland against a proposal to give Ireland self-government apart from the United Kingdom, was completed. Over a period of six days, beginning on September 23, the Covenant was signed by 237,368 men, while a companion document, the Ulster Declaration, was signed by 234,046 women,[99] virtually the entire adult Protestant population of Ulster.[100]
In protest over the National Insurance Act, a majority of British doctors resigned their contracts with medical clubs.[9]
The French dreadnought Paris, with twelve 12-inch guns and 26 smaller cannons and described as "the most formidable ship in the French Navy", was launched at Touloun, France.[101]
At Seoul, 106 Koreans were sentenced on charges of conspiracy against Count Terauchi, with terms of 5 to 10 years. The most prominent of the convicts, former Korean cabinet minister Baron Yun Chi Ho, got a ten-year sentence. Nine other prisoners were released.[102]
September 30, 1912: Columbia School of Journalism opens
Six British explorers, who had been left stranded in Antarctica by the Terra Nova Expedition, were able to leave the ice cave where they had stayed for seven months during a harsh winter. The men—Commander Victor Campbell, Dr. Murray Levick, Raymond Priestly, George Abbott, Frank Browning and Seaman Harry Dickason—still had to walk 200 miles to Cape Evans before their ordeal would be over.[107]
^ abcdefghijklmnThe Britannica Year-Book 1913: A Survey of the World's Progress Since the Completion in 1910 of the Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, 1913) pp. xxxv-xxxvii
^"No Election Is Vermont Result". New York Times. September 4, 1912. p. 1.
^Marina Soroka, Britain, Russia, and the Road to the First World War: The Fateful Embassy of Count Aleksandr Benckendorff (1903–16) (Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2011) p. 223
^"Dead Ruler Borne from His Capital". New York Times. September 15, 1912.
^Phyllis G. Jestice, Holy People of the World: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO, 2004) p. 644.
^ "All Japan in Grief Praise Nogi's Deed". New York Times. September 15, 1912.
^Srdja Pavlovic, Balkan Anschluss: The Annexation of Montenegro and the Creation of the Common South Slavic State (Purdue University Press, 2008) p. 62
^Brian Carroll, Australia's Prime Ministers: From Barton to Howard (Rosenberg Publishing, 2004) p. 75
^"Belfast Fears Riots To-Day". New York Times. September 16, 1912.
^Untiedt, Kenneth L. (2008). Death Lore: Texas Rituals, Superstitions, and Legends of the Hereafter. University of North Texas Press. ISBN978-1-57441-256-7.
^ abReports of the Italian General Staff (1914). The Italo-Turkish War (1911-12) (in Italian). Translated by First Lieutenant Renato Tittoni, U.S.M.C. Kansas City: Franklin Hudson Publishing Company. pp. 78–81.
^"Fiercist Battle of War in Tripoli". New York Times. September 19, 1912.
^Timothy E. Gregory, et al., Archaeology and History in Roman, Medieval and Post-Medieval Greece (Ashgate Publishing, 2008) p. 231
^A New Altitude Record; Legagneux Ascends 18,766 Feet – Takes Only 10 Minutes to Descend". New York Times. September 18, 1912.
^Ralph Thaxton, Salt of the Earth: The Political Origins of Peasant Protest and Communist Revolution in China (University of California Press, 1997) p. 54
^C. D. Bay-Hansen and Christine Mager Wevik, Power Geopolitics in the Pacific Age: East Asia, the United Nations, the United States and Micronesia at the Edge of the 21st Century, 1991-2001 (First Books, 2011) p. 192
^Richard C. Hall, The Balkan Wars, 1912-1913: Prelude to the First World War (Routledge, 2000) pp. 22-23
^"Marines Are Sent to Curb Dominicans". New York Times. September 25, 1912. p. 4.
^Scott Keller, Marine Pride: A Salute to America's Elite Fighting Force (Citadel Press, 2004) pp. 110-111
^Edward S. Kaplan, U.S. Imperialism in Latin America: Bryan's Challenges and Contributions, 1900-1920 (Greenwood Publishing, 1998) p. 39
^Jeff Rubin, Antarctica (Lonely Planet Books, 2008) p. 56
^Daniels, Elizabeth A. (1987). Main to Mudd: An Informal History of Vassar College Buildings. Poughkeepsie, NY: Vassar College. p. 47. ISBN0-916663-01-9.
^Pawlak, Debra Ann, "The Baroness of Flight," Aviation History, July 2008, p. 17.
^Cannon, James. "Gerald R. Ford". Character Above All. Public Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on January 26, 2011. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
^McKenna, Robert W. (2003). The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy. Camden, Me: International Marine Publishing. p. 193. ISBN0-07-141950-0. Kiche Maru, Japanese Steamship that sank off the coast of Japan in a storm on 28 September 1912, with the loss of more than a thousand lives. News of the tragedy was overshadowed by the loss of the RMS Titanic months before
^"The Ulster Covenant". Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Department of Culture, Arts, and Leisure. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
^Donald H. Akenson, God's Peoples: Covenant and Land in South Africa, Israel, and Ulster (Cornell University Press, 1992) p. 4
^"New French Dreadnought". New York Times. September 29, 1912.
^"Convict 114 Koreans". New York Times. September 28, 1912.
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