Girish Mahajan (Editor)

June 1914

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June 1914

The following events occurred in June 1914:

Contents

June 1, 1914 (Monday)

  • Cardinal John Murphy Farley, Archbishop of New York met with Pope Pius X. Concerns were made about the Pontiff's health, but Farley declared, "The Pope will undoubtedly live ten more years, with the same vigor, brightness, and profound intelligence." (Pius died on August 20).
  • Nineteen-year old Gavrilo Princip and 18-year old Trifko Grabež, Serbian nationalists recruited by the Black Hand to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, crossed over the Drina River from Serbia to Bosnia.
  • The Americano Futebol Clube was founded in Rio de Janeiro, and became one of the Brazilian state's most successful football clubs.
  • The Fairmont Palliser Hotel opened in downtown Calgary, and remains the Canadian city's oldest-operating luxury hotel.
  • Born: George Sayer, British academic, best known for his biography on C.S. Lewis, in Bradfield, Berkshire, England (d. 2005)
  • Died: Árpád Feszty, Hungarian painter, known for historic and religious paintings such as Arrival of the Hungarians (b. 1856)

    • June 2, 1914 (Tuesday)

  • A major fire swept through Creagerstown, Maryland destroying about 30 buildings including the town hall, and causing somewhere between $60,000 and $70,000 worth of damages. A spark accidentally set off in the town's local creamery ignited the roof, and strong winds fanned the flames across the street and from roof to roof. The town had no fire department at the time to put out the fire. Despite rebuilding many homes in the following decade, the town never fully recovered from the disaster
  • The Rio Branco Football Club was founded Fortaleza, Brazil, but one year later its name was changed to its current title Ceará Sporting Club.
  • Born: George Hitchcock, American poet, editor and publisher of Kayak, in Hood River, Oregon (d. 2010)

    • June 3, 1914 (Wednesday)

  • Kid Williams defeated Johnny Coulon by a third-round knockout at Vernon, California, to win the World Bantamweight Championship. He held onto the title until 1917.
  • Born: Joel Eaves, American college basketball player and coach, coach for the Auburn Tigers of Auburn University from 1949 to 1963, in Copperhill, Tennessee (d. 1991); Reg Grant, Royal New Zealand Air Force World War Two pilot, in Woodville, New Zealand (d. 1944, killed in a plane crash)
  • Born: Karel Kaers, Belgian cyclist, won the 1934 UCI Road World Championships at age 20, the youngest world road champion ever to win, in Vosselaar, Belgium (d. 1972); Curley Williams, American country and western musician, best known for the 1951 hit "Half as Much", in Cairo, Georgia (d. 1970)
  • Born: Ediriweera Sarachchandra, Sri Lankan playwright and author, known for Sinhalese language plays as Maname and Nadagam, in Galle, Sri Lanka (d. 1996); William Vale, British Royal Air Force pilot during World War Two, second most ranked kills after Pat Pattle, in Chatham, Kent, England (d. 1981)

    • June 4, 1914 (Thursday)

  • Thousands of Quebec City residents lined the streets for the funeral of 12 of the victims in the sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland on May 29. A private funeral for Henry Seton-Karr was also held in the city, based on wishes that should he perish abroad, his remains should be interred where he died.
  • The sports club Surahammars IF was officially founded in Surahammar, Sweden, then offering ice hockey, bandy and association football. The club shifted their focus to ice hockey and began producing renowned hockey players such as Ronald Pettersson, Tommy Salo, and Stig-Göran Johansson.
  • Born: Alec Skempton, English pioneer of soil science and engineering historian, in Northampton, England (d. 2001)
  • Died: Sir William Anson, 3rd Baronet, British politician, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education from 1902 to 1905 (b. 1843)

    • June 5, 1914 (Friday)

  • The Salvation Army held a memorial in London for 159 members who died during the sinking RMS Empress of Ireland on May 29 (another eight had survived). An estimated 10,000 Salvation members attended the memorial in Albert Hall.
  • Barely a year after it was launched, the Russian Yiddish weekly newspaper Di Tsayt (The Times) was shut down by the Russian government, with the last paper distributed on June 5. However, journalists revived the paper again two weeks later under a different name Undzer Tsayt (Our Time) and lasted for another four weeks before it was shut down again.
  • Born: Estelle Reiner, American actress and singer, wife to Carl Reiner and mother of Rob Reiner, famous for delivering the punchline "I'll have what she's having" in When Harry Met Sally, in New York City (d. 2008); Stan Jones, American songwriter, beat known for the country music hit "Ghost Riders in the Sky", in Douglas, Arizona (d. 1963)

    • June 6, 1914 (Saturday)

  • Italian rider Alfonso Calzolari won the 6th Giro d'Italia cycling race in Milan, with fellow Italian riders Pierino Albini and Luigi Lucotti coming in second and third place respectively. It was one of the hardest races in the event's history, with only eight out of the original 81 contenders completing the race.
  • American aviator Walter L. Brock won the London Aerial Derby by flying a Morane-Saulnier G. The Derby was originally scheduled on May 23 but delayed due to poor weather. British aviator Gustav Hamel was supposed to have competed in the aerial competition when he disappeared the same day over the English Channel.
  • An estimated 60,000 schoolchildren and their parents attended Fenway Park in Boston to greet the circus elephants Mollie, Waddy and Tony that the children purchased for the Franklin Park Zoo by donating their savings of pennies, nickels and dimes. Along with the elephants, the event included clowns, acrobats, a marching band and a Theodore Roosevelt impersonator clad in a safari outfit.
  • Born: Iris du Pré, British pianist, mother of Jacqueline du Pré and Hilary du Pré, in Devon, England (d. 1985); H. Adams Carter, American mountaineer, journalist, educator, editor of the editor of the American Alpine Journal from 1960 to 1995, in Newton, Massachusetts (d. 1995); Frank Lake, British clergy, founder of the Clinical Theology Association, in Aughton, Lancashire, England (d. 1982); Zhang Jingfu, Chinese politician, director of the Director of the National Economy Commission from 1982 to 1987, in Feidong County, Anhui, China (d. 2015)
  • Died: Theodore Watts-Dunton, English critic and poet, major contributor to The Examiner and the Athenaeum magazine from 1875 until 1898, contributed the major article on Poetry in the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (b. 1832)

    • June 7, 1914 (Sunday)

  • Red Week – Massive demonstrations of workers and peasants protesting militarism in Ancona and Marcas, Italy led to clashes with soldiers sent by the government to suppress them, resulting in the deaths of three protesters and more violence for seven days.
  • Buckingham Palace in London was breached again, just weeks after British suffragists broke some of its windows. Henry Pike, a motor engineer, in the early morning hours managed to scale over the iron fence and slip past the palace guard before entering the palace through a basement window. Pike wandered through several chambers where he changed into the suit of one of palace's servants and stole a silver cigarette case and walking stick. He was apprehended by staff after wandering into one of the page's quarters and turned over to police. Pike said he had been drunk at the time he trespassed. The palace guard immediately ordered a review of its security procedures.
  • The film drama The Wrath of the Gods, directed by Reginald Barker, was the first major American film to feature a cross-cultural love story — between an American sailor (Frank Borzage) and the daughter of a Japanese noble (Tsuru Aoki). The film's criticism of traditional Japanese culture resulted in the film being banned after its premier in Japan in 1918.
  • Born: Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Indian film director, known for award-winning films such as Shehar Aur Sapna and Saat Hindustani, in Panipat, British India (d. 1987)

    • June 8, 1914 (Monday)

  • Two of Brazil's most prominent sports organizations, the Brazilian Football Confederation and the Brazilian Olympic Committee were both founded on the same day.
  • The first meeting of The Girl Guides Association of Trinidad and Tobago was held at the Saint Ann's Church hall on Oxford Street, Port-of-Spain by the wife of the church's Methodist minister. By Christmas of that year, there were four companies with a total of 100 Guides and nine leaders. The national chapter became a full member of World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 1963 and now serves over 3,000 members.
  • Born: Ivy May Pearce, Australian pilot, first women in the southern hemisphere to earn a pilot's licence (d. 1998)

    • June 9, 1914 (Tuesday)

  • The USS Zeppelin was launched by Bremer Vulkan at Bremen-Vegesack, Germany. Initially designed to be a passenger cruise ship, the USS Zeppelin was commissioned as a troop ship in 1915 during World War One. She resumed as a cruise ship under the United Kingdom in 1920.
  • Using a ramp constructed over the foredeck of the seaplane carrier Foudre, French Navy Lieutenant de Vaisseau Jean de Laborde attempted France's second airplane takeoff from a ship and the first by a French naval aviator, but crashed.
  • Pittsburgh Pirate Honus Wagner became the first baseball player in the 20th century with 3000 career hits.
  • Born: Richard T. Hanna, American politician, U.S. Representative from California from 1963 to 1974, one of 10 Democract Congress members involved in the 1976 Koreagate scandal, in Kemmerer, Wyoming (d. 2001)

    • June 10, 1914 (Wednesday)

  • The American racing yacht Resolute beat competitors Vanitie and Defiance in selection trials for the 1914 America's Cup with a course record of 30 miles in 3:16:41. However, the outbreak World War One prevented the races to be postponed, and the America Cup competition did not resume until 1920.
  • Born: Trammell Crow, American real estate developer, credited for creating major real estate projects including the Dallas Market Center, Peachtree Center in Atlanta, and the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, in Dallas (d. 2009); Oktay Rıfat Horozcu, Turkish poet, founder of the Garip movement in Turkey, in Trabzon, Turkey (d. 1988)
  • Died: Saint Abraam, Bishop of Faiyum, canonized as Coptic Orthodox saint in 1964 (b. 1829); Willie Hammerstein, American theater manager, managed the Victoria Theatre on Times Square in Manhattan, father to Oscar Hammerstein II (b. 1874)

    • June 11, 1914 (Thursday)

  • The United States Senate passed a repeal of the provision in the Panama Canal Act that exempted American vessels from tolls by a vote of 50-35.
  • Kermit Roosevelt, son of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt married Belle Wyatt Willard, a daughter of the U.S. Ambassador to Spain, at a ceremony in Madrid.
  • Born: Gerald Mohr, American radio and film actor, made more than 500 appearances in radio roles throughout the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s, in New York City (d. 1968); Jeanette Williams, American politician and women's rights activist, served on the Seattle City Council from 1969 to 1989, in Seattle (d. 2008)
  • Died: Adolf Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Prussian noble, major military leader in the Franco-Prussian War (b. 1848)

    • June 12, 1914 (Friday)

  • Greek genocide – Some 100 Ottoman Greeks in Phocaea were massacred by Turkish irregular troops.
  • The cabinet under French Prime Minister Alexandre Ribot dissolved almost on the same day it was formed, after the Chamber of Deputies refused to pass a vote of confidence.
  • The oldest message in a bottle, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was a scientific message in a drift bottle released by a sea captain for the Fishery Board for Scotland at 60 14.00'N 002 22.00'W. It was recovered by a fishing vessel at 59 33.60'N 002 04.20'W on July 25, 2013, 99 years and 43 days since its release.
  • Born: Go Seigen, Chinese-Japanese master of the ancient Chinese game of Go, in Minhou County, Fujian, China (d. 2014); William Lamplough, British archaeologist, key excavator and researcher in the North York Moors Barrow Excavations, in Driffield, England (d. 1996)
  • Born: Baselios Paulose II, second Catholicos/Maphrian of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church (Syriac Orthodox Church of India) from 1975 to 1996, in Kandanad, India (d. 1996); Roger Rowley, Canadian army officer during World War Two, recipient of the Distinguished Service Order for his role in liberating Boulogne-sur-Mer, France in 1944, in Ottawa (d. 2007)

    • June 13, 1914 (Saturday)

  • Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany concluded his visit with Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria after they discussed the tenuous balance of power in the Balkans, as the Archduke was scheduled later that month to visit military expansion efforts in region.
  • René Viviani was appointed to become the 81st Prime Minister of France after receiving a vote of confidence of 370 to 137 by the French National Assembly.
  • Australasian Films released its first film feature The Shepherd of the Southern Cross which starred Vera Pearce as noblewoman caught in a love triangle while in Australia. Unfortunately, the film was a box office failure and film director Charles Cozens Spencer was forced to leave the company. The film is now considered lost.
  • Born: Frederic Franklin, British-American ballet dancer and choreographer, co-founder and artistic director of the National Ballet of Washington, D.C., in Liverpool (d. 2013)

    • June 14, 1914 (Sunday)

  • Red Week – Order was mostly restored in Ancona and other Italian cities after a week if civil unrest following protests against alleged militarism in Italy's government.
  • Austro-Hungarian foreign minister Count Leopold Berchtold released a memo suggesting the end of Serbia as a nation was necessary to preserve the balance of power in the Balkans.
  • Distraught over the progress of a custody battle for his nine-year-old daughter, Ernest E. West, former head coach and player of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team, shot himself in his hotel room in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He survived the injury but died within a month from kidney failure.
  • The América Futebol Clube was founded in Joinville, Brazil, becoming the five time state champion of Santa Catarina.
  • Born: Princess Maria de la Esperanza of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, youngest daughter of Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and his wife Princess Louise of Orléans, in Madrid (d. 2005); Chil Rajchman, Polish-Jewish Holocaust survivor, escaped from the Treblinka extermination camp in 1943, in Łódź, Poland (d. 2004); Ruthven Todd, Scottish poet and author, best known for his Space Cat series for children in the 1950s and his editorial work on English Romantic poet William Blake, in Edinburgh (d. 1978)
  • Died: Adlai E. Stevenson, 23rd Vice President of the United States under Grover Cleveland from 1893 to 1897 (b. 1835)

    • June 15, 1914 (Monday)

  • Fourteen people die in Paris, most of them public workers, when a massive thunderstorm overwhelmed the city's storm sewer system and caused major flooding in the streets.
  • Major Lodewijk Thomson of the International Gendarmerie, law enforcement agency of the Principality of Albania, was killed by a suspected sniper during fighting around the port of Durrës, the first time a Dutch soldier was killed during a peacekeeping mission.
  • James Joyce's short story anthology The Dubliners was published in London.
  • Born: Louis Edwards, chairman of Manchester United from 1965 to 1980, in Salford, Greater Manchester, England (d. 1980); Yuri Andropov, Soviet politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1982 to 1984 (d. 1984)
  • Born: Saul Steinberg, Romanian-American cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his work View of the World from 9th Avenue in The New Yorker, in Râmnicu Sărat, Romania (d. 1999); Terence Otway, British military officer, commanded the paratroop assault on the Merville Battery on D-Day, in Cairo (d. 2006)

    • June 16, 1914 (Tuesday)

  • Fourth Battle of Topolobampo — Mexican federal gunboat Guerrero clashed with the mutinous Tampico gunboat, now with the Constitutionalists, in the Gulf of California off the shore of Topolobampo, Mexico. The Guerrero was able to hit the deck of Tampico and cause it to catch fire, forcing Captain Hilario Malpica of the Tampico to order the ship to be abandoned while under the cover fire of the gunboat's last operating deck gun. Nearby U.S. naval ships observing the battle — USS New Orleans and USS Preble — picked up six of the surviving crew while Guerrero captured the rest as they fled in lifeboats. Rather than surrender, Malpica shot himself. In total, five Tampico men include Malpica died in the battle, and another 30 crew were wounded. The ship itself completely sank by midnight.
  • A Commission of Inquiry on the collision between the ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland and the Norwegian collier SS Storstad that resulted in the liner sinking began in Quebec City. The inquiry was presided over by John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey, who also presided over the official inquiry in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
  • Indian nationalist Bal Gangadhar Tilak was released from prison in Mandalay, Burma after serving a six-year sentence for sedition.
  • Born: Lucien Rivard, Canadian mobster, famous for breaking out of prison in 1965 and evading capture of four months (d. 2002); Larbi Benbarek, Moroccan football player, first successful African player in Europe, in Casablanca (d. 1992); Lúdvik Jósepsson, Icelandic politician, fisheries minister from 1956 to 1958 and 1971 to 1974, key player in the Cod Wars, in Neskaupstaður, Iceland (d. 1994)
  • Died: William B. Hornblower, American judge, 1893 nominee to the United States Supreme Court (b. 1851)

    • June 17, 1914 (Wednesday)

  • Bai Lang Rebellion — Rebel bandit leader Bai Lang, nicknamed by foreign press as the "White Wolf", broke through a blockade of 5,000 Chinese Army regulars with 1,000 of his men in the mountains south of Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
  • The British hospital ship RFA Maine ran aground in thick fog off the coast of Isle of Mull, Scotland. All crew were rescued but the damage was too great for repair, and the ship was sold as scrap in July.
  • Born: Julián Marías, Spanish philosopher, member of Generation of '36 movement and author of History of Philosophy (1941), in Valladolid, Spain (d. 2005); Kenneth Setton, American medieval historian and author, known for multi-volume histories such as The Papacy and the Levant and A History of the Crusades, in New Bedford, Massachusetts (d. 1995)
  • Born: Pauline Moore. American film actress, best known for starring in Roy Rogers westerns and Charlie Chan mysteries in the 1930s, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (d. 2001); Manuel Perez, American animator, best known for his Warner Bros. animated shorts of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, in Morenci, Arizona (d. 1981)

    • June 18, 1914 (Thursday)

  • Bai Lang Rebellion — Rebel bandit leader Bai Lang, the "White Wolf" of China, was reported to have massacred over 10,000 inhabitants in the town of Taochau south of Lanzhou one day after escaping federal soldiers, according to a telegraph report from local missionaries to the Chinese government.
  • A railway bridge collapse at Carrbridge in Scotland following a torrential thunderstorm killed five people.
  • King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy founded the Colonial Order of the Star of Italy to be awarded to soldiers and officers with exception military service in Italy's North African colonies (disbanded in 1943).
  • Born: E. G. Marshall, American TV and film actor, best known roles included "Juror #4" in 12 Angry Men (1957) and TV shows The Defenders and The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, in Owatonna, Minnesota (d. 1998)
  • Died: Frank Hiscock, American politician, U.S. Representative for New York from 1877 to 1887, and U.S. Senator for New York from 1887 to 1893 (b. 1834)

    • June 19, 1914 (Friday)

  • A coal mine explosion in Hillcrest, Alberta killed 189 of 235 miners, the worst mining disaster in Canadian history.
  • English golfer Harry Vardon won his sixth Open Championship at the Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland, three strokes ahead of runner-up J.H. Taylor, the defending champion. It would be the last tournament played until the end of World War One.
  • The eighth Land of Oz book written by L. Frank Baum, Tik-Tok of Oz, was published. The book actually has little to do with Tik-Tok and was primarily the quest of the Shaggy Man (introduced in The Road to Oz) to rescue his brother, and his resulting conflict with the Nome King. The first edition was famous for showing the first maps of Oz in the endpapers.
  • Born: Alan Cranston, U.S. Senator from California from 1969 to 1993, in Palo Alto, California (d. 2000); Harry Lauter, American TV actor, guest starred in many popular TV westerns in the 1950s and 1960s including The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke and Rawhide, in White Plains, New York (d. 1990)
  • Died: Brandon Thomas, British actor and playwright, author of the popular farce Charley's Aunt (b. 1848)

    • June 20, 1914 (Saturday)

  • The German ocean liner SS Bismarck was launched at the Blohm & Voss shipbuilders in Hamburg, Germany, with the christening done by Countess Hanna von Bismarck, the granddaughter of the 19th century German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and Kaiser Wilhelm II.
  • While the Austro-Hungarian airship Militärluftschiff III (or M.III) hovered over Fischamend testing new camera equipment, an Austro-Hungarian Army pilot tried to loop M.III in a Farman biplane. The airplane struck the top of the airship, tearing a hole and igniting the escaping hydrogen gas. Both aircraft were destroyed, and both men in the airplane and all seven men aboard M.III were killed. It was the end of the Austro-Hungarian airship program.
  • The first issue of the Vorticist literary magazine BLAST edited by Wyndham Lewis, was published, although distribution was delayed until July 2.
  • Born: Jane du Pont Lunger, sixth generation member of the Du Pont family, she and husband Harry Lunger bred and raced 45 thoroughbred winners in Christiana, Delaware, in Wilmington, Delaware (d. 2001)

    • June 21, 1914 (Sunday)

  • Serbian diplomat Jovan Jovanović Pižon warned Austrian finance minister Leon Bilinski of intelligence reports suggesting there may be an assassination plot against Archduke Franz Ferdinand when he visited Sarajevo next week, but his warnings were ignored.
  • Twelve people drowned, including seven children, in a boating accident near Syracuse, New York when a motor boat using one the New York state canals hit a snag and capsized.
  • Born: Charles St Clair, 17th Lord Sinclair, Scottish noble, Extra Equerry to the Queen Mother from 1953 to 2002 (d. 2004); William Vickrey, Canadian economist, recipient of the 1996 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, in Victoria, British Columbia (d. 1996)
  • Died: Bertha von Suttner, Czech-Austrian writer and pacifist, first woman to be the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1843)

    • June 22, 1914 (Monday)

  • The Million Dollar Mystery, the first of a 23-part film serial directed by Howell Hansel, and starring Florence La Badie and James Cruze, was released and would gross $1.5M at the box office.

    • June 23, 1914 (Tuesday)

  • Mexican Revolution – Pancho Villa's División del Norte (Division of the North) decisively defeated the troops of General Luís Medina Barrón defending the town of Zacatecas. After bombarding the town, Villa's troop surrounded and stormed the town from all sides. After losing key areas, Barrón ordered his men to retreat to neighboring Guadalupe and meet up with reinforcements. However, 7,000 rebel militia blocked their way and slaughtered the federal troops. An estimated 6,000 to 7,000 defenders were killed or wounded, with only Barrón and a few hundred men escaping. About 700 of Villa's men were killed and 1,500 wounded. The great victory demoralized Huerta's supporters and lead to his resignation on July 15.
  • Colonel Rodolfo Fierro, cousin to Pancho Villa, was killed by his own men during the siege of Zacatecas. Fierro was the chief suspect in the murder of British rancher William S. Benton, who had been shot dead in Villa's office in March.
  • A tornado ripped through Watertown, South Dakota, killing nine people and injuring 40 more, and destroying over 300 buildings.
  • The Royal Naval Air Service was established.
  • The first flight of the flying boat America, which businessman Rodman Wanamaker had ordered with a goal of sponsoring the first transatlantic flight, occurred at Hammondsport, New York. However, the outbreak of World War One five weeks later prevented the transatlantic attempt from taking place.
  • The Kiel Canal in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany was reopened after seven years of work to deepen and widen the canal for modern naval ships. The British Fleet under Sir George Warrender visited as the Kaiser inspected the Dreadnought HMS King George V.
  • Born: Nat Hiken, American radio and TV producer, best known for producing the hit shows Car 54, Where Are You? and The Phil Silvers Show, in Chicago (d. 1968)
  • Died: John Stokell Dodds, Australian police officer and judge, and 5th Chief Justice of Tasmania (b. 1848)

    • June 24, 1914 (Wednesday)

  • Austria-Hungary prepared a letter for its ally Germany stating Romania could no longer be considered a reliable ally in addressing political issues in the Balkans, following the June 14 summit in Constanța, Romania. At the summit, Russia had begun working on forming an alliance with Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro against Austria-Hungary. To counter this, Austria-Hungary recommended the empire, Germany, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria should form an alliance against Russia. Unfortunately, the letter was delayed with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
  • Edward Thomas made the English railway journey which inspired his poem "Adlestrop" en route to meet Robert Frost. His journey and visit with Frost convinced Thomas to begin writing poetry for the first time after that summer.
  • Born: Pearl Witherington, World War Two Special Operations Executive agent, leader of the Wrestler Network in central France (d. 2008)

    • June 25, 1914 (Thursday)

  • A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck off the southwestern coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, creating a tsunami that killed 20 people and injured another 20. A few homes were destroyed in the area.
  • Great Salem Fire of 1914 — A series of chemical explosions in a leather factory started a massive fire that swept downtown Salem, Massachusetts, destroying 1,376 buildings at an estimated cost of US$15 million, and left some 20,000 people homeless.
  • George Breddy, a fireman for the sunken HMCS Karluk and one the remaining survivors on Wrangel Island in the Bering Sea was found dead in his tent by a gunshot wound. The expedition group were uncertain whether the death was suicide or murder, but Breddy had been accused of stealing possessions and hoarding food rations from others in the group, and some missing items were found on him. While some members had accused Karluk's second engineer of murdering Breddy, there was no conclusive proof. Of the 25 expedition members accounted for when the Karluk sank in January, there were now only 14 left on Wrangel Island.
  • The Aalesunds FK association football club was founded in Ålesund, Norway.
  • Born: Mavis Pugh, British actress, best known for roles in British TV sitcoms including Are You Being Served? and Faulty Towers, in Croydon, England (d. 2006); Alfred Heckmann, German Luftwaffe fighter pilot during World War Two, recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, in Bochum, Germany (d. 1993); Wayne Dumont, American politician, U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1967 to 1990, in Paterson, New Jersey (d. 1992)
  • Died: Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, German noble, patron to the Meiningen Ensemble and the Meiningen Court Orchestra (b. 1826); John Cameron, Australian politician, member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1893 to 1908 (b. 1845)

    • June 26, 1914 (Friday)

  • The Senate for the Union of South Africa passed the Indian Relief Bill which abolished a tax against Indian citizens, legally recognized Indian ceremonial marriages, relaxed immigration laws, and pardoned all members of the Indian resistance movement. With the bill passed into law, resistance leader Mahatma Gandhi suspended the movement.
  • Born: Laurie Lee, English author, best known for autobiographical works such as Cider with Rosie, in Stroud, England (d. 1997); Doc Williams, American country music musician, front man for Doc Williams and the Border Riders, in Cleveland (d. 2011)
  • Born: Lyman Spitzer, American physicist, conceived the idea of telescopes operating in outer space, in Toledo, Ohio (d. 1997); Wolfgang Windgassen, French opera singer, best known for roles in The Ring Cycle, in Annemasse, France (d. 1974); Rosamund Holland-Martin, British child activist, chair for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children from 1969 to 1988 (d. 2001)
  • Born: Antoine Argoud, French military officer, twice attempted to assassinate Charles de Gaulle, in Darney, France (d. 2004); Lorenz Hackenholt, German Schutzstaffel (SS) officer, built and operated the gas chamber at the Bełżec extermination camp in occupied Poland during World War Two, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany (disappeared in 1945, presumed dead)
  • Died: Antonio Herrera Toro, Venezuelan painter, known for portraits of Venezuelan war hero Simón Bolívar (b. 1857); Edward Calvert, Scottish architect, designer of many of the famous villas in Edinburgh (b. 1847)

    • June 27, 1914 (Saturday)

  • U.S. presidential adviser Edward M. House met with British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey in London as part of the U.S. mission to persuade Great Britain and Germany to join the United States in a diplomatic alliance to preserve peace in Europe, especially in the face of Germany's growing militarization. House advised Grey “the kaiser himself and most of his immediate advisers did not want war because they wished Germany to expand commercially and grow in wealth, but the army was militarily aggressive and ready for war at any time." Both concluded the meeting: "Neither England, Germany, Russia, nor France desire war.”
  • Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria – Danilo Ilić, a member of the secret Serbian military society Black Hand, distributed pistols, bombs and cyanide pills to six assassins that would be placed along the procession route Archduke Franz Ferdinand would take when he carried out military inspections the next day in Sarajevo
  • Born: Henri Dekens, Belgian football player and coach, instructed association football technique to the princes of the Belgium royal family, in Anderlecht, Belgium (d. 1976); Charles Thurstan Shaw, British archaeologist, leader research in ancient West African cultures in present-day Ghana and Nigeria, in Plymouth, England (d. 2013); Robert Aickman, British conservationist and author, co-founder of the Inland Waterways Association, in London (d. 1981)

    • June 28, 1914 (Sunday)

  • Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg and his party traveled by train from Ilidža to Sarajevo where they were met by Bosnia and Herzegovina Governor Oskar Potiorek. The schedule was to include a military inspection at the city's barracks and a meeting with dignitaries at Sarajevo's Town Hall.
  • Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria – Nedeljko Čabrinović made the first assassination attempt on the Archduke by throwing a bomb at the convertible he and his wife Sophie were riding in (two other fellow assassins Muhamed Mehmedbašić and Vaso Čubrilović were on the motorcade route with pistols but failed to act). The bomb bounced off the folded back cover and exploded underneath another vehicle in the motorcade, wounding around 20 people. Čabrinović swallowed a cyanide tablet and jumped off a bridge into the Miljacka River to avoid capture, but the pill only induced vomiting and the water was too shallow. He was immediately arrested. In spite of the assassination attempt, the procession continued on to Sarajevo's Town Hall.
  • Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria – Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke and his wife, Sophie after they left Sarajevo's Town Hall. Princip was able to get close to the Archduke when his motorcade became trapped in a dead-end after taking a wrong turn. He shot the Austrian noble in the neck and Sophie in the abdomen as she tried to shield her husband. Princip was immediately arrested, and both the Archduke and his wife were taken back to town hall for medical treatment. Both died of their injuries, with Sophie on arrival at town hall and Ferdinand around 10 minutes after.
  • Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo – Following news of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination, violent pogroms were organized against ethnic Serbs in the Austria-Hungary empire. Anti-Serbian mobs ransacked homes and businesses of prominent Serbians, including a mob of 200 people that attacked and destroyed the Hotel Europa, the largest hotel in Sarajevo, as it was owned by Serb merchant Gligorije Jeftanović. Two Serbians were killed in the violence.
  • The British steamer SS California ran aground on Tory Island off the north-west coast of Ireland in dense fog with over 1,000 passengers on board. Three British warships including the destroyer Swift, as well as the ocean liner Cassandra, rescued the stranded passengers. The ship was repaired and returned to duty within the year.
  • The 12th Tour de France began in Paris, with a total distance of 5,405 kilometres (3,359 mi) for cyclists to cover at an average speed of 26.835 kilometres per hour (16.674 mph).
  • The Argentinian association football Club Ferrocarril Midland was founded in Libertad, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
  • Born: Lester Flatt, American bluegrass musician, member of the Foggy Mountain Boys, in Overton County, Tennessee (d. 1979); Allie Beth Martin, American librarian and politician, author of A Strategy for Public Library Change, an influential book that inspired many library improvement programs across the United States, in Tulsa, Oklahoma (d. 1976)
  • Born: Preston E. Peden, American politician, U.S. Representative from Oklahoma from 1947 to 1949, in Duke, Oklahoma (d. 1985); Ian MacDonald, American actor, best known for the role of villain Frank Miller in the western High Noon, in Great Falls, Montana (d. 1978)
  • Died: Camillo Boito, Italian architect and engineer, most known for the restoration of the Church and Campanile of Santi Maria e Donato at Murano, Italy (b. 1836)

    • June 29, 1914 (Monday)

  • Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo – Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina Oskar Potiorek declared a state of siege in Sarajevo as violent pogroms were carried out against ethnic Serbians. Over 1,000 Serbian homes, businesses and churches were vandalized with little or no intervention by law enforcement. Order was not fully restored until the bodies of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg were transported by train out of the city.
  • Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria – During police interrogation, both Gavrilo Princip and Nedeljko Čabrinović confessed to conspiring with members of the Black Hand to assassinate the Archduke. A police dragnet arrested most of the conspirators, with 25 going to trial later that year.
  • U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent a telegram to Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph: "Deeply shocked of the atrocious murder of his Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his consort at an assassin's hands. I extend to your Majesty, and to the royal family, and to the Government of Austria-Hungary the sincere condolences of the Government and people of the United States and an expression of my profound sympathy."
  • Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Count Leopold Berchtold and Chief of the General Staff Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf debated the appropriate response to the events in Sarajevo, with Conrad advocating mobilization against Serbia. Berchtold opposed this, saying that public opinion must first be prepared, and suggested the following day that Serbia disbanding anti-Austrian societies and relieving certain officials of their duties for their bad acts may help ease tensions.
  • Sir James Whitney's Conservatives won a fourth consecutive majority in the 1914 Ontario general election. The victory for the 6th Premier of Ontario was short-lived, as Whitney died in office three months later.
  • Khioniya Guseva, a resident of Syzran, Russia attempted and failed to assassinate Grigori Rasputin at his home town in Siberia. She stabbed him in the abdomen as he left his home but the notorious "mad monk" was able to fight her off until a crowd intervened, forcing her to turn herself in to the town constable. She was declared insane by the courts and committed to an asylum in Tomsk until 1917.
  • The International Exhibition opened at the "White City", Ashton Gate, Bristol, England. It closed on August 15 and the site was used as a military depot.
  • The maiden trip on the Portland–Lewiston Interurban was made when the car Arbutus carried an inspection trip from Lewiston to Portland, Maine.
  • Born: Rafael Kubelík, Czech conductor, debuted with the Czech Philharmonic before defecting in 1948, conducted for various orchestras, most notable Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1961 to 1979, in Býchory, Bohemia (d. 1996); Majeed Amjad, Pakistani poet, known for his complete collection of poems published in 1989 as Kuliyat-e-Majeed Amjad, in Jhang, British India (d. 1974); Lynne Carol, Welsh actress, best known for the role of Martha Longhurst in the soap opera Coronation Street, in Usk, Wales ( d. 1990)

    • June 30, 1914 (Tuesday)

  • German Undersecretary of State Arthur Zimmermann addressed requests by Austria-Hungary and Germany for investigation into the Archduke's assassination but were rebuffed by Serbia.
  • The U.S. Government sold two decommissioned battleships — the USS Mississippi and the USS Idaho — to the Greek Navy at a sum of US$12 million. The ships were renamed Kilkis and Lemnos respectively.
  • Born: Francisco da Costa Gomes, Portuguese politician, 15th President of Portugal, in Chaves, Portugal (d. 2001); Archie Sam, Natchez-Cherokee-Muscogee Creek elder, Sun Chief of the Natchez Nation, in Greenleaf Mountain community near Braggs, Oklahoma (d. 1986)
  • Died: Francis Charteris, 10th Earl of Wemyss, British politician, founder of the Liberty and Property Defence League in 1882 (b. 1818)

    • References

    June 1914 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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