May 1913

May 1, 1913 (Thursday)

At the ambassador's conference in London, Montenegro offered to evacuate its newly conquered territory in Scutari if it could receive territory elsewhere.

Born: Louis Nye, American comedian and actor, as Louis Neistat in Hartford (d. 2005); V. S. Reid, Jamaican author, in Kingston (d. 1987) and Walter Susskind, Czech conductor, in Prague, Austria-Hungary (d. 1980)

Died: John Barclay Armstrong, 63, U.S. Marshal

May 2, 1913 (Friday)

The United States recognized the government of the new Chinese republic, with American Chargé d'Affaires Edward T. Williams presenting U.S. President Wilson's message to Chinese President Yuan Shihkai. As the first world leader to give recognition to the Republic of China, Wilson acted without prior notice even to the U.S. Congress. "

Died: Tancrède Auguste, President of Haiti since August, died suddenly, "a victim of severe anemia caused by advanced untreated syphilis, though most Haitians believed he was a victim of poison".

May 3, 1913 (Saturday)

Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length feature film in India, was released by director Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, setting the format for Indian cinema. Although it was a silent movie, the premiere event at the Coronation Cinema in Bombay (now Mumbai) was accompanied by a live performance of music and chanting.

The California state Senate passed the Alien Land Act, prohibiting Japanese persons from owning property in California, by a margin of 26-10 and the bill went to Governor Hiram Johnson for his signature.

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".

The Federal League, which would become a challenger to baseball's National League and American League in 1914 and 1915, began play as a minor league with teams in Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Covington, Kentucky (across the river from Cincinnati, with Cleveland and Covington tying 6-6 in a ten-inning game. The teams would play a 120-game schedule, ending on September 13.

Born: Heinz Kohut, Austrian-born American psychoanalyst best known for his development of self psychology; in Vienna (d. 1981); and William Inge, American playwright, in Independence, Kansas(d. 1973)

May 4, 1913 (Sunday)

Senator Michel Oreste was elected as the new President of Haiti by the Parliament. Port-au-Prince city governor Defly had attempted to attack the parliament building during voting, and was repulsed by Haitian Army General Poitevien, while the U.S. gunboat USS Nashville stayed outside the harbor to be ready to intervene. Auguste would serve for only eight months, being overthrown on January 27, 1914.

May 5, 1913 (Monday)

Montenegro's King Nicholas I agreed to turn over control of Scutari to a multinational force from the Great Powers.

Greece and Serbia signed a secret agreement to fight together against Bulgaria, their recent ally in the First Balkan War.

Arizona's 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 Governor Hunt on May 16.

May 6, 1913 (Tuesday)

A proposed women's suffrage bill failed to pass the United Kingdom's House of Commons, 219-266, on a vote following the second reading. Fifty of the "no" votes were from Irish members of Parliament, and Prime Minister H. H. Asquith voted against it as well.

The Hague Court of Arbitration ordered the Kingdom of Italy to pay $32,800 damages to France for seizing the steamers Carthage and Manouba during the Italo–Turkish War.

Born: Stewart Granger, British-American actor, as James Lablache Stewart in London (d. 1993); Douglas Stewart, Australian poet, in Eltham, New Zealand (d. 1985); and Angelo Herndon, African-American Communist, in Sweet Home, Arkansas (d. 1997)

May 7, 1913 (Wednesday)

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, climbed up the side of the building and then climbed his way up to the top of the Dome, intending to place his hat on top of the statue at the top. A guard at the capitol persuaded Law to go no further than the statue's base.

The controversial film, The Sons of a Soldier, produced by Alec B. Francis, was released by Eclair Pictures. The movie followed generations of a family fighting in America's wars from the American Revolution to the Spanish–American War, then gave a glimpse of a war between the U.S. and Japan in the then-future year of 1920.

HMS Hermes became the first British Royal Navy seaplane carrier, after being outfitted with a crane from which planes on its deck could be lowered to sea and raised back again.

May 8, 1913 (Thursday)

The American Newspaper Publishers Association was incorporated.

The Underwood Tariff Bill, sponsored by Alabama Congressman Oscar Underwood passed the U.S. House of Representatives, 281-139. Besides lowering the tariff charged on many products imported from abroad, the bill was the first step toward enacting a federal income tax.

French aviator Messr. Frangeois set a new record by carrying six passengers in his airplane. The group of seven stayed aloft for 75 minutes.

Born: Bob Clampett, American animator and director (Looney Tunes), in San Diego (d. May 2, 1984); and Fritzie Zivic, world welterweight boxing champion 1940-1941, in Pittsburgh (d. May 16, 1984)

May 9, 1913 (Friday)

Japan's ambassador to the United States, Viscount Chinda Sutemi, delivered to U.S. Secretary of State Bryan a formal protest against California's Alien Land Act.

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".

Al-Ahsa was captured from the Ottoman Turks by a guerilla army led by Ibn Saud, the King of Najd, as he expanded the territory that he would eventually call Saudi Arabia.

May 10, 1913 (Saturday)

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 J. McDonald, from receiving 458 votes that would have given McDonald the victory.

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.

The United States Baseball League, an independent baseball league that had sought to challenge the existing National and American Leagues, but had only operated for only two months in 1912, made a second attempt to operate. Although it had eight teams (Baltimore, Brooklyn, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, as well as Lynchburg, Virginia, Newark, New Jersey and Reading, Pennsylvania), the USL folded after only three days, having played only seven games.

May 11, 1913 (Sunday)

A typhoon struck the Philippine Islands, sweeping 16 foot waves across what is now the Albay province, and killing 827 people.

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.

Born: Robert Jungk, German journalist, in Berlin (d. 1994)

May 12, 1913 (Monday)

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.

Hermogenes of Moscow was canonized as a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church, in a ceremony at the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin in Moscow.

Died: John S. Wise, former U.S. Congressman from Virginia

May 13, 1913 (Tuesday)

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. 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.

Born: William R. Tolbert, Jr., President of Liberia 1971-1980; in Bensonville (assassinated 1980)

May 14, 1913 (Wednesday)

New York Governor William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100,000,000 donation from John D. Rockefeller.

Montenegro completed its evacuation of Scutari and turned the city, which it had captured only three weeks earlier, over to the multinational troops of the five Great Powers (Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

Guatemala agreed to resume interest payments to the United Kingdom on its debt.

The first $1.2 million installment of the $125 million loan to China was advanced by the consortium of European banks.

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", using the sport of "tennis as a metaphor for psychogical patterns in modern manners". The feature ran for two weeks before another Najinsky work, Rite of Spring, premiered at the theatre on May 29.

May 16, 1913 (Friday)

At Sidi Garba in Tripolitania, 1,000 Italian soldiers were killed or wounded in fighting with the Libyan natives. General Ganbretti, relying on disinformation that had been provided by the Libyans to a man who had been taken prisoner and then released, underestimated the size of the Arab defenders and divided his 3,000 men into three columns, supported by four cannons and "a battery of howitzers". After forcing a group of Libyans to retreat, the men rested and were surrounded and attacked. General Ganbretti would later describe the loss as "the bloodiest day in the whole Italo-Turkish War".

The District Court in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, 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 USD $168 (equivalent to $3,800 a century later), and moved a week later to neighboring Germany.

Born: Woody Herman, American musician and band leader, in Milwaukee (d. 1987)

May 17, 1913 (Saturday)

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.

Died: Heinrich Martin Weber, 71, German mathematician

May 18, 1913 (Sunday)

A group of sixty-seven 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 to discuss an organized resistance. Chinese troops set fire to the structure and prevented the defiant narcotics manufacturers from escaping.

Born: Vincent Dole, American physician who pioneered the use of methadone to treat narcotics addiction; in Chicago (d. 2006)

Died: Stephen Dudley Field, 67, American inventor of the trolley car, electric elevator, annunciator and stock ticker.; and "The Only Nolan" (Edward Sylvester Nolan), 55, American former major league baseball player

May 19, 1913 (Monday)

Despite protests from Japan and pleas from the White House, California's Governor Hiram Johnson signed the California Alien Land Law of 1913, 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.

Born: Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, sixth President of India (1977-1982), in Illur, Madras Province, British India (d. 1996); and George S. Schairer, American aircraft engineer, in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania (d. 2004)

May 20, 1913 (Tuesday)

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 pm. 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.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit to dissolve the United Shoe Machinery Company.

General Mario García Menocal was inaugurated as the third President of Cuba, succeeding José Miguel Gómez. Menocal would be re-elected to a second term in 1916, and serve until 1921.

Born: William R. Hewlett, American businessman and multimillionaire who had co-founded the Hewlett-Packard Company; in Ann Arbor, Michigan (d. 2001)

Died: Henry Morrison Flagler, 83, American businessman and multi-millionaire who had co-founded the Standard Oil Company and then developed railways and hotels in Florida. Flagler's death came three months after he had fallen down a flight of stairs in his home.

May 21, 1913 (Wednesday)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints became the first religious organization to make a commitment to the Boy Scouts of America, as it merged its "Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association Scouts" into the BSA organization.

Britain's King George V was welcomed in Germany by Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Russian Tsar Nicholas II was welcomed the next day. The monarchs had arrived to attend the wedding of the Kaiser's daughter, Princess Luise. King George was a first cousin of the Kaiser (George's father and Wilhelm's mother were both children of Queen Victoria) and a first cousin to the Tsar (both of their mothers were daughters of King Christian X of Denmark).

May 22, 1913 (Thursday)

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.

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.

Death of Joseph Cooke Jackson (born August 5, 1835) Col. U.S.V. (Battle Fredricksburg,Va.) Brig. Gen of Volunteers at Antietam, MD.

May 23, 1913 (Friday)

Died: George A. Irwin, 68, former President of the Seventh Day Adventists (1897-1901)

May 24, 1913 (Saturday)

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.

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. The figure was later revised to forty deaths.

At Berlin, Germany's Princess Luise, the only daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II, was married to Prince Ernest Augustus of Cumberland, in the last royal wedding to take place in Germany.

Born: Peter Ellenshaw, British-born American matte designer, 1964 Academy Award winner, in London (d. 2007)

Died: Luther McCarty, who was recognized as the "white world heavyweight boxing 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. 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. Pelkey would be tried for manslaughter, and acquitted on June 24.

May 25, 1913 (Sunday)

Colonel Alfred Redl, 49, 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.

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 13-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.

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.

Born: Heinrich Bär, German flying ace who shot down 220 planes during World War II; in Sommerfeld (d. 1957)

May 26, 1913 (Monday)

(May 13 Old Style) – Igor Sikorsky became the first person to pilot a four-engine fixed-wing aircraft as he took his Bolshoi Baltisky biplane Ilya 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.

The Actors' Equity Association was incorporated as a labor union for stage actors.

The financial plan of France's Prime Minister Barthou was upheld by the Chamber of Deputies, 312-240.

Born: Peter Cushing, English actor, in Kenley (d. 1994)

May 27, 1913 (Tuesday)

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.

Born: Henry Swan II, American surgeon who pioneered the use of hypothermia-cooling open heart surgery and performed the first aortic aneurysmectomy; in Denver (d. 1996)

May 28, 1913 (Wednesday)

Democrats in the United States Senate followed the example of the House of Representatives, and created the office of "party whip", a person whose job it was to enforce the presence of the party's Senators at decisive votes. Senator J. Hamilton Lewis of Illinois was selected as the first person for the job.

Died: Sir John Lubbock, 79, British archaeologist and polymath

May 29, 1913 (Thursday)

The ballet The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du Printemps), with music by Igor Stravinsky conducted by Pierre Monteux, choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky and design by Nicholas Roerich, is premièred by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris; its modernism provoked one of the most famous classical music riots in history.

The Astor House luxury hotel, which first began operations in New York City in 1836, closed. The hotel, located at Broadway and Vesey Street, had hosted 19 future, present, and former Presidents of the United States, from Andrew Jackson to Theodore Roosevelt, with the exception of Andrew Johnson.

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".

Born: Tony Zale, American boxer, as Anthony Zaleski in Gary, Indiana (d. 1997)

May 30, 1913 (Friday)

The First Balkan War formally ended with the signing of the Treaty of London between the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan League (Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro). "Balkan Foes Sign Treaty of Peace", New York Times, May 31, 1913 The Ottoman Turks ceded almost all of their European territories to the Balkan nations.

Jules Goux won the 1913 Indianapolis 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.

U.S. Secretary of State Bryan announced that the U.K., France, Russia, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Brazil and Peru had responded favorably to Bryan's proposal for an international peace commission.

May 31, 1913 (Saturday)

Australian federal election, 1913: The Commonwealth Liberal Party led by Joseph Cook, won control of Australia's 75-member House of Representatives by a single seat, with a 38-37 advantage over the Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister Andrew Fisher. Overall, the Liberals had 930,076 votes to the 921,099 for the ALP.

The Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for popular vote to elect U.S. Senators, was proclaimed in effect by Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, who signed the announcement at 11:00 am in Washington.

The American and British arbitration treaty was renewed for an additional five years.

Romania's Chamber of Deputies voted in favor of letting Russia mediate Romania's dispute with Bulgaria.

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".

Died: Frederick Ober, 65, German ornithologist and authority on Latin America.