May 1914

May 1, 1914 (Friday)

The 1914 Exposition Internationale (World's Fair) was held in the French city of Lyon.

P. W. Goldring was elected to the Sanitary Board of Hong Kong in a by-election for the one of the two unofficial seats, beating rival William Leonard Carter by a landslide of 144-33 votes.

The German coast vessel SS Dollart struck the wreck of SS Werner in the River Elbe at Glückstadt, Germany and sank with the loss of two crew, but was later recovered and put back into service.

The No. 7 Squadron RAF was formed at Farnborough Airport in Farnborough, Hampshire, England, the last Royal Air Force squadron formed before the outbreak of World War One.

Socialist politician Job Harriman established the Llano del Rio commune in California to demonstrate a working community of cooperative and collective economic activity that would build public support for socialism. The number of residents at the colony grew from five at inception to 150 by next year.

The borough West Paterson, New Jersey (now Woodland Park) was incorporated.

The Stevens Building opened in downtown Portland, Oregon, and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is approximately 152 feet (46 m) tall.

The Croatian association football club ŽŠK Victoria was formed in Zagreb. It was renamed in 1945 to NK Lokomotiva at the beginning of a very successful decade for the club, and still operates in present-day Croatia.

Born: Max Schachner, Austrian Obersturmführer officer with the Waffen-SS during World War Two, recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, in Haag, Austria (d. 1944, killed in action)

May 2, 1914 (Saturday)

The Australian bus line South Wales Transport began operating in Swansea.

The 25th County Championship first-class cricket competition began, with the schedule originally set to run until September 9. The start of World War One forced the championship committee to cancel the last two matches of the season, but final positions in the table being calculated by the percentage of possible points gained allowed the Surrey County Cricket Club to be declared season champions for the seventh time.

Born: George Piranian, Swiss-American mathematician, first editor of the Michigan Mathematical Journal, in Thalwil, Switzerland (d. 2009); Mary von Schrader Jarrell, American patron of the arts, worked to preserve the works of husband poet Randall Jarrell, in St. Louis (d. 2007)

Died: John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll, husband of Princess Louise of the United Kingdom, 4th Governor General of Canada (b. 1845)

May 3, 1914 (Sunday)

Komagata Maru incident — The Japanese steamship SS Komagata Maru left Yokohama, Japan for Canada with 376 passengers from Punjab, British India.

Following a scoreless final on April 19, the American Cup association football final was replayed in Newark, New Jersey before a crowd of 15,000 spectators. Forward Edward Donaghy of Bethlehem Steel scored the single winning goal against Tacony F.C.

Born: Martín de Riquer, Spanish literary historian and Romantic scholar, wrote important works on Don Quixote, in Barcelona (d. 2013); Ernest Smith, Canadian World War Two soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross, in New Westminster, British Columbia (d. 2005)

Born: Armando Bó, Argentine film-maker, best known for a series of sexploitation films in the 1960s and 1970s, in Buenos Aires (d. 1981); Reg Bentley, Canadian hockey player, brother to hockey players Doug Bentley and Max Bentley, played for the Chicago Blackhawks, in Delisle, Saskatchewan (d. 1980)

Died: Élisabeth Leseur, French mystic, best known for the spiritual diary published as Journal et pensées pour chaque jour (Journal and thoughts for each day) by her husband Felix after she posthumously predicted he would convert to Christianity from atheism and become an ordained priest in 1923 (b. 1866)

May 4, 1914 (Monday)

Mexican Revolution – Mexican revolutionary leader Álvaro Obregón began a blockade around Mazatlán that lasted two months.

More than 50 people were killed and over 100 injured in a fire that swept the commercial section of Valparaíso, Chile.

The Portuguese football association club União Futebol Comércio e Indústria de Tomar was formed in Tomar, Portugal.

Charlie Chaplin made his directorial debut with the comedy Caught in the Rain, one of his films where he did not star as The Tramp.

Born: Maedayama Eigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, 39th yokozuna (champion) from 1947 to 1949, in Ehime Prefecture, Japan (d. 1971); Murtada Sharif 'Askari, Iraqi-Iranian Islamic scholar, author of more than 50 books on the history of Islam, in Samarra, Iraq (d. 2007)

Born: Bert Tann, association football player and leader, long-serving manager for the Bristol Rovers F.C. from 1950 to 1968, in Plaistow, Newham, England (d. 1972); Mark Fradkin, Soviet composer, recipient of the People's Artist of the USSR, in Vitebsk, Belarus, Russian Empire (d. 1990)

Died: Rowland Griffiths, Welsh rugby player, played in the 1908 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia (b. 1886)

May 5, 1914 (Tuesday)

The 1914 Jubilee Exhibition (Jubilæumsutstillingen) was held in Kristiania, Norway to mark the centennial of the country's Constitution.

A brush fire near Panama City ignited a powder magazine depot for the Panama Canal project, killing seven firefighters and officers trying to contain the blaze and injuring 20 more in a massive explosion.

Athletic director L. Theo Bellmont of University of Texas at Austin chaired the first organizational meeting of the Southwest Conference in Dallas, with representatives from eight colleges with athletic programs in attendance.

Born: Tyrone Power, American actor, best known for swashbuckler film roles such as The Mark of Zorro, in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 1958); Lloyd Trigg, New Zealand World War Two bomber pilot, recipient of the Victoria Cross, in Houhora, New Zealand (d. 1943, killed in action)

Born: Verna Hillie, American actress, best known for roles such as Under the Tonto Rim, in Hancock, Michigan (d. 1997); Chuck Sweeney, American football player, played for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football from 1935 to 1937, in Bloomington, Illinois (d. 1999)

Died: Johannes Pfuhl, German sculptor, created sculptures of major Germanic historical figures including Heinrich Laube, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and William I (b. 1846); Hans Engelmann, German composer, author of "Melody of Love" (b. 1872)

May 6, 1914 (Wednesday)

The British House of Lords rejected the Women's Suffrage bill 104 to 60.

The Bishop's Stortford Tournament was held Hertfordshire, England, with George Duncan winning the golf tournament with rounds of 72 and 69, two shots ahead of Harry Vardon who had rounds of 72 and 71. It was the only tournament played at the Bishop's Stortford Golf Club before the onset of World War One.

Born: Randall Jarrell, American poet, 11th United States Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress, in Nashville (d. 1965, died in a car accident)

May 7, 1914 (Thursday)

Born: Scobie Breasley, Australian jockey, winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, in Wagga Wagga, Australia (d. 2006); Radomiro Tomic, Chilean politician, co-founder of the Falange Nacional (later the Christian Democrat Party of Chile), in Antofagasta, Chile (d. 1992); Johannes de Groot, Dutch mathematician, lead researcher in topology, in Loppersum, Netherlands (d. 1972)

May 8, 1914 (Friday)

A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck near the town of Giarre, Province of Catania, Italy, causing 120 deaths and destroying 223 homes, an unusually high death toll for a small magnitude event.

The Smith–Lever Act of 1914 went into effect, allowing a national Cooperative Extension Service to be established, which allowed university agricultural departments to offer rural Americans educational programs that introduced new agricultural practices and technology.

Paramount Pictures was formed through a partnership between the Famous Players Film Company and the Lasky Feature Play Company. It still remains the oldest operating movie studio in Hollywood.

The Kentucky Academy of Science was formed by a group of 46 Kentucky scientists and interested laypersons, as an organization that "encourages scientific research, promotes the diffusion of scientific knowledge, and unifies the scientific interests of the Commonwealth of Kentucky." The organization presently has 700 active members.

French aviator René Caudron made the first French shipboard takeoff in an airplane from a ramp constructed over the fore-deck of the seaplane carrier Foudre, using a Caudron G.3 amphibian floatplane.

The association football club Con Con National was formed in Concón, Chile.

Born: Romain Gary, Russian-French writer and diplomat, author of The Roots of Heaven and Clair de femme, in Vilnius, Russian Empire (d. 1980); Gaven Donne, New Zealand judge, presided over the 1978 Cook Islands election and uncovered electoral fraud, resulting in the conviction of Albert Henry, in Christchurch, New Zealand (d. 2010)

Died: Seth Edulji Dinshaw, Pakistani philanthropist, founded the Lady Dufferin Hospital in Karachi as well as funded other major education and public works projects still operating in modern-day Pakistan; Isham Reavis, American judge, served as Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of Arizona Territory 1869 to 1872 (b. 1836)

May 9, 1914 (Saturday)

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation declaring the first national Mother's Day as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war. The U.S. Congress passed a law a day earlier designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.

American thoroughbred Old Rosebud won the 40th running of the Kentucky Derby by eight lengths in a time of 2:03 2/5, setting a record that would not be broken for 16 years.

Andrew Anderson began charging passengers for 15 cents per fare for travel from the mining town of Hibbing to Alice, Minnesota using a seven-seat Hupmobile. Local businessman Carl Eric Wickman bought in to the business, and helped start a bus line service that grew to become the Greyhound Corporation in 1929.

After months of illness, Post Foods founder C.W. Post took his own life by shooting himself with a rifle at his home in Santa Barbara, California. His 27-year-old daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post, inherited the company along with much of her father's vast fortune, considered one of the largest at that time.

Cricketer J. T. Hearne became the first bowler to take 3,000 first-class wickets.

Born: Hank Snow, Canadian country musician, author of country hits "I'm Movin' On" and "The Golden Rocket", in Brooklyn, Queens County, Nova Scotia (d. 1999); Carlo Maria Giulini, Italian conductor, conducted for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London's Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic, in Barletta, Italy (d. 2005); Keith Robertson, American children's author, author of the popular Henry Reed series, in Dows, Iowa (d. 1991)

Born: Theodore W. Kheel, American attorney, mediator in the 1962–63 New York City newspaper strike, in New York City (d. 2010) ; Denham Fouts, American male prostitute, literary inspiration for Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, Christopher Isherwood, and Gavin Lambert, in Jacksonville, Florida (d. 1948)

Died: Blackburn B. Dovener, U.S. Representative for West Virginia from 1894 to 1907 (b. 1842); Paul Héroult, French scientist, inventor the aluminium electrolysis (b. 1863); William Finlay, Irish-Canadian politician, first Minister of Agriculture for the Government of Alberta (b. 1853); Arthur Cumming, British figure skater, silver medalist in the 1908 Summer Olympics (died from injuries in a motorcycle accident) (b. 1889)

May 10, 1914 (Sunday)

General elections were completed in France, with the center-left Radical Party winning a plurality with nearly 35 percent of the popular vote and 195 of the 601 seats in the French legislative assembly.

Robert Bartlett, captain of the shipwrecked Karluk left fellow Intuit guide Kataktovik in Emma Town, Siberia and traveled with a Russian escort for a week's journey to Emma Harbour, where he could secure passage back to Alaska and organize a rescue for the remaining Arctic expedition members on Wrangel Island.

The monthly French newspaper Le Pays de France published its first issue to promote tourism in France. The paper was halted for two months with the outbreak of World War One before resuming as a weekly paper chronicling the battles and events of the war.

The 1914 Copa del Rey Final was played at the Estadio de Costorbe in Irun, Spain, with Athletic Bilbao beating España de Barcelona 2-1 to become champions for the fifth time ever.

Born: Charles McGraw, American film actor, best known for tough guy roles such The Killers, in Des Moines, Iowa (d. 1980); Gerard Louis Frey, American clergy, bishop of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia from 1967 to 1972 and the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana from 1972 to 1989, in New Orleans (d. 2007); Alish Lambaranski, Azerbaijani statesman, oversaw major infrastructure projects in the region in the 1960s and 1970s, in Barda Rayon, Azerbaijan (d. 1999)

Died: Lillian Nordica, American opera singer, performed Brünnhilde in the Ring Cycle and other famous operas (b. 1857); Ernst von Schuch, Austrian conductor, famously collaborated with composer Richard Strauss at the Dresden Court Opera (b. 1846)

Died: William Alexander Smith, American religious leader, founder of the Christian youth organization Boys' Brigade (b. 1854); José Azueta, Mexican soldier, decorated for bravery during the United States occupation of Veracruz, died from wounds sustained in battle (b. 1895)

May 11, 1914 (Monday)

King Alfonso XIII of Spain and his consort Queen Victoria Eugenie attended the ceremonial opening of the Church of La Concepción in Madrid.

The Serbian Olympic Cup was played in Belgrade, with SK Velika Srbija defeating SK Šumadija Kragujevac 3-1. Footballer Alois Machek scored two of the winning goals.

The crime drama film The Master Mind was released, directed by Oscar Apfel and Cecil B. DeMille and starring Edmund Breese. Based on the play of the same name by Daniel D. Carter, the film's plot revolves around a defense attorney's attempts to avenge the wrongful conviction of an innocent man.

National Tribute in New York City for the men killed at Veracruz, in the battles leading to the United States occupation of Veracruz.

Born: Bob Atcher, American country musician, top performer of radio program National Barn Dance in Hardin County, Kentucky (d. 1993); James C. Spencer, American politician, survivor of the Bataan Death March, in Athens, Texas (d. 2009)

Died: John C. C. Mayo, American business leader, developer of the coal mining industry in Kentucky and Virginia (b. 1864)

May 12, 1914 (Tuesday)

Born: Bertus Aafjes, Dutch poet and author, wrote a five-book series featuring Japanese samurai Ōoka Tadasuke, in Amsterdam (d. 1993); Howard K. Smith, American journalist, one of the original Edward R. Murrow's Boys at CBS, in Ferriday, Louisiana (d. 2002)

Born: James Bacon, author and journalist, best known for his writings on Hollywood and his biography on Jackie Gleason, in Buffalo, New York (d. 2010); Dan Daniel, American politician, U.S. Representative of Virginia from 1969 to 1988, in Chatham, Virginia (d. 1988)

May 13, 1914 (Wednesday)

Seventeen British sailors drowned in separate sinkings on the same day. The steamer collier Turret Hill capsized in the North Sea after its cargo load shifted, with 12 men perishing, while a steamer in the English Channel struck a pilot boat and sank it, drowning another five sailors.

Born: Phil Drabble, British author and television personality, best known for the BBC TV series One Man and His Dog (d. 2007); Joe Louis, American boxer, World Heavyweight Champion from 1937 to 1949, in LaFayette, Alabama (d. 1981)

May 14, 1914 (Thursday)

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation creating Mother's Day, the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers.

The British cruiser HMS Galatea was launched at the William Beardmore and Company shipyard in Glasgow, becoming one of the most decorated naval ships in World War One.

British aviator Norman Spratt set a British altitude record of 18,900 ft. while flying a Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.5.

The final Sphere and Tatler Foursomes Tournament was played at the Sunningdale Golf Club in Sunningdale, England, with England's golfers Len Holland and James Batley beating Scotland's C. McIntosh and George Smith by a 5 and 4 margin. The tournament would not be held again due to the outbreak of World War One.

The film The Life of General Villa — produced by D.W. Griffith, directed by Raoul Walsh featuring Pancho Villa himself — was released in the United States.

The ballet Josephslegende (The Legend of Joseph), composed by Richard Strauss, premiered at the Paris Opera.

Born: Corneliu Coposu, Romanian politician, major opponent to the Romanian Communist Party, in Bobota, Sălaj, Austria-Hungary (d. 1995); Hideko Maehata, Japanese swimmer, first Japanese female athlete to win an Olympic gold medal (1936 Summer Olympics), in Hashimoto, Wakayama, Japan (d. 1995); Robert M. Lindner, American psychologist, author of Rebel Without A Cause: The Hypnoanalysis Of A Criminal Psychopath, in New York City (d. 1956)

Born: Mir Gul Khan Nasir, Baloch politician and poet from Pakistan, forefront of the Baloch Nationalist Movement, in Nushki, British Empire (d. 1983); Maurice Kriegel-Valrimont, French resistance fighter during World War Two, helped lead the Liberation of Paris in 1944, in Strasbourg, German Empire (d. 2006); Foy Willing, American musician, front man for the 1940s country/western band Riders of the Purple Sage, in Bosque County, Texas (d. 1978); Joaquín Pasos, Nicaraguan poet, best known for his long poem Canto de guerra de las cosas (The song of the war of things), in Granada, Nicaragua (d. 1947)

May 15, 1914 (Friday)

Sergeant Patrick N. Cullom of the Colorado National Guard testified in a military court martial that soldiers in his company had shot and killed labor activist Louis Tikas and two other fellow strikers while they tried to escape during the Ludlow Massacre in April.

The first of three Werkbund Exhibitions was held at Rheinpark in Cologne, Germany. Among the most famous architectural feature showcased was Bruno Taut's Glass Pavilion, Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer's model factory, and Henri van de Velde's model theatre.

The Baltic Exhibition opened in Malmö, Sweden to showcase the industry, art and culture of Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Russia — the four countries then bordering the Baltic Sea.

The Abington Memorial Hospital in Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania opened, and is now one the largest hospitals in the northern Philadelphia suburbs.

The comedic opera Mârouf, savetier du Caire by French composer Henri Rabaud debuted at the Opéra-Comique in Paris and became Raboud's most popular opera.

Born: Angus MacLean, Canadian politician, 25th Premier of Prince Edward Island, in Lewes, Prince Edward Island (d. 2000); Norrie Paramor, British recording producer, best known to producing hits for artists such as Cliff Richard and Elton John, in London (d. 1979)

Died: Yitzhak Isaac Halevy Rabinowitz, Polish Jew rabbi, founder of the Agudath Israel organization (b. 1847); Frederick Debartzch Monk, Canadian politician, Member of Parliament for the House of Commons of Canada from 1896 to 1914 (b. 1856); Berndt Lindholm, Swedish-Finnish painter, well-known landscape artist with the Düsseldorf school of painting (b. 1841)

May 16, 1914 (Saturday)

Mexican Revolution – Mexican rebel forces under command of Álvaro Obregón captured Tepic and the only railroad between the ports of Guadalajara and Colima.

Karluk captain Robert Bartlett arrived in Emma Harbour and would rendezvous five days later with the whaler ship Herman to set out for Alaska.

The National Challenge Cup association football final was played in Pawtucket, Rhode Island before a crowd of 10,000 spectators between two opposing Brooklyn football clubs. The Brooklyn Field Club beat Brooklyn Celtic 2-1, with Percy Adamson and James Ford scoring goals for Field Club against the single goal by Thomas Campion of Celtic.

Born: Edward T. Hall, American anthropologist, developed the concept of social cohesion, in Webster Groves, Missouri (d. 2009); Eric Coy, English-Canadian athlete, represented Canada at the 1948 Summer Olympics in discus and shot put, in Nottingham, England (d. 1985); Reg Hill, British television producer, known for producing the 1960s puppet TV series Thunderbirds (d. 1999)

Died: Pyotr Dmitrievich Sviatopolk-Mirsky, Russian noble, served as Minister of Interior during the infamous 1905 Bloody Sunday massacre in Moscow (b. 1857)

May 17, 1914 (Sunday)

The countries of Albania and Northern Epirus signed an agreement that recognized Northern Epirus as a self-governing region under the sovereignty of newly established Principality of Albania, known as the Protocol of Corfu.

Canadian Northern Railway acquired Canadian Northern Ontario Railway.

The situation for survivors of the Karluk shipwreck on Wrangel Island took a dire turn after Captain Robert Bartlett left the group to seek help. Geologist George Malloch died from nephritis (from eating bad pemmican) and tent companion Bjarn Mamen, stricken with the same disease, was too ill to bury him. Malloch's body remained in the tent for several days before expedition member William McKinlay and others came to bury him (Barlett had ordered the group to be spread out around the island to increase hunting areas for the summer). Mamen died from the same disease 10 days later.

The film Home, Sweet Home, directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the life of American poet John Howard Payne, was released to film audiences. The film starred Henry B. Walthall as Payne, who would also appear in Griffith's ground-breaking Civil War epic The Birth of a Nation the following year.

Born: Stewart Alsop, American journalist, columnist for the Saturday Evening Post and Newsweek, in Avon, Connecticut (d. 1974); Thomas Gray, Royal Air Force pilot during World War Two, recipient of the Victoria Cross, in Urchfont, England, (d. 1940, killed in action)

Died: Ivan Borgman, Russian physicist, demonstrated that X-rays and radioactive materials induced thermoluminescence (b. 1849)

May 18, 1914 (Monday)

Governor-General of the Philippines Francis Burton Harrison signed an executive order to establish 6,675.56 hectares (16,495.7 acres) of saline springs and forested mountains as part of the Salinas Forest Reserve (later proclaimed the Salinas Natural Monument in 2000).

Born: Alla Bayanova, Russian singer, often cited the Russian equivalent to Édith Piaf, in Kishinev (now Chișinău), Russian Empire (d. 2011); Boris Christoff, Bulgarian opera singer, considered one of the greatest basses of the 20th century, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria (d. 1993); Leslie Yoxall, English code breaker in World War Two, devised a method to assist in solving the Enigma code, in Salford, Greater Manchester, England (d. 2005); Catherine Dean May, American politician, first woman elected to U.S. Congress from Washington, from 1959 to 1971, in Yakima, Washington (d. 2004)

Born: Pierre Balmain, French fashion designer, founder of the fashion house Balmain, in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, France (d. 1982); Marcel Bernard, French tennis player, five time winner of the French Open, in La Madeleine, Nord, France (d. 1994); Cacilda Borges Barbosa, Brazilian composer, electronic music pioneer, in Rio de Janeiro (d. 2010); Georg von Tiesenhausen, German-American rocket scientist, designer of the Lunar Rover, in Riga, Latvia (still alive as of 2014)

Died: Edward R. Ayrton, English Egyptologist and archaeologist, discovered many of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings (drowned) (b. 1882); Charles Sprague Pearce, American painter, painted such works as The Decapitation of St John the Baptist (1881) (b. 1851); Charles Carter Drury, Canadian naval officer, earned title Second Sea Lord in 1903 (b. 1846)

May 19, 1914 (Tuesday)

Albanian interior minister Essad Pasha Toptani, former military officer with the Ottoman Empire and one of the principal organizers of the Albanian Revolt of 1912, surrendered to armed forces under Dutch gendarmerie officer Johan Sluys after shelling Toptani's house in Durrës, Albania. Toptani had been accused of leading a peasant revolt against the rule of Prince William of Albania. He was exiled to Rome the next day without trial.

Tragedy struck following the completion of the Junior motorcycle road race at the 1914 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy. Irish newcomer Frederick James Walker has been leading when he wiped out on his Royal Enfield, allowing competing English racers Eric and Cyril Williams to pass him and win first and second places respectively. Walker remounted and completed the race to finish third, despite two more accidents. However, spectators spilling onto the road to watch the first two riders come in obscured his view of the finish line, causing Walker to continue past the judges box at full racing speed to the St. Ninians Crossroads where he collided with a wooden barrier in Ballaquayle Road. The racer was thrown from his motorcycle, sustaining injuries that he succumbed to later in hospital. The race committee posthumously declared Walker a third-place finish.

Born: Max Perutz, Austrian-British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1962, in Vienna (d. 2002); Alex Shibicky, Canadian hockey player, played forward for the New York Rangers from 1935 to 1946, in Winnipeg (d. 2005)

Born: Beverly Roberts, American film actress, known for roles in Two Against the World, in New York City (d. 2009); Bob Switzer, American inventor, co-created Day-Glo fluorescent paint with brother Joe Switzer, in Fromberg, Montana (d. 1997); Maurice Rapf, American screenwriter, co-founder of the Screen Writers Guild, in Hanover, New Hampshire (d. 2003)

Died: Pierre-Paul Guieysse, French politician, served as Minister of the Colonies from 1885 to 1896 (b. 1841); William Aldis Wright, English writer and editor, one of the chief editors of Shakespeare's plays for the Oxford University Press (b. 1831)

May 20, 1914 (Wednesday)

Niagara Falls peace conference — Envoys from South American countries Argentina, Brazil and Chile met with representatives from the U.S. Government in Niagara Falls, Ontario, for diplomatic negotiations in order to avoid war between the United States and Mexico, in response to deteriorating relations between the two countries due to the Tampico Affair during the Mexican Revolution.

Born: Avraham Shapira, head of the Rabbinical court of Jerusalem and the Supreme Rabbinic Court; Rosh yeshiva of Mercaz HaRav, in Jerusalem (d. 2007); Bill Young, American football player, offensive lineman for the Washington Redskins from 1937 to 1943, in North Little Rock, Arkansas (d. 1994); Ben Graf Henneke, American academic, president of the University of Tulsa from 1958 to 1967, in St. Louis (d. 2009)

May 21, 1914 (Thursday)

The Senior motorcycle road race day at the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy competition finished with Cyril Pullin placing first while Howard R Davies and Oliver Godfrey, the winner of the 1911 TT, both finished second in a dead heat.

The Chilean Athletics Federation (Federación Atlética de Chile) was founded.

Born: Oton Gliha, Croatian artist, best known for his series of abstract paintings based on the patterns of the drystone walls of coastal Croatia, in Črnomelj, Austria-Hungary (d. 1999)

Died: Francis Laking, British physician, personal physician to British monarchs Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and King George V (b. 1847); Orange Jacobs, American politician, U.S. Representative for the Washington Territory from 1875 to 1879 (b. 1827)

May 22, 1914 (Friday)

German master chess player Emanuel Lasker overtook Cuban master José Raúl Capablanca by a half-point (13½ to 13) to win the St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament.

Born: Vance Packard, American journalist and writer, author of The Hidden Persuaders, in Granville Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania (d. 1996); Sun Ra, American jazz musician and composer, major figure in avant-garde jazz, in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1993); Michael Kennelly, Irish-American clergy, founder of the Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston, in Kilbaha, Ireland (d. 2011)

Born: Edward Arthur Thompson, British medieval historian, director of the classics department at the University of Nottingham, in Waterford, Ireland (d. 1994); Adolf Pilch, Polish resistance fighter in World War Two, led a special forces unit against German occupation in Poland in 1943 to 1945, in Wisła, Poland (d. 2000)

Died: William Jackson Worthington, 26th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky from 1895 to 1899 (b. 1833)

May 23, 1914 (Saturday)

Komagata Maru incident — The Japanese steamship SS Komagata Maru entered Canadian waters and arrived at Burrard Inlet, British Columbia (near Vancouver). Richard McBride, Premier of British Columbia released a statement that passengers could not disembark until the matter was decided by the Canadian federal government, forcing the ship to anchor some 200 meters offshore.

Major P.J. Hamrock of the Colorado National Guard declared during a military court martial in Denver full responsibility for the action of soldiers under his command during the Ludlow Massacre. Some 39 officers and enlisted men were tried following a clash between state and militia on April 20 and instigated the Colorado Coalfield War.

Aviation pioneer Gustav Hamel, credited for delivering the first airmail, disappeared while flying over the English Channel in new 80 hp Gnome Monosoupape engined Morane-Saulnier monoplane he had collected to compete with in the Aerial Derby scheduled the same day. A body matching his description was found in the Channel about two months later.

Died: William O'Connell Bradley, 32nd Governor of Kentucky from 1895 till 1899 (b. 1847)

May 24, 1914 (Sunday)

Belgium held a general election, with the Catholic Party winning a majority 41 out of 88 seats in the Chamber of Representatives.

Karluk captain Robert Bartlett arrived at Nome, Alaska on the whaler Herman but thick ice prevented the ship from reaching port. After three days, the ship turned south and landed at St Michael, where Bartlett sent a radio message to Ottawa informing the Canadian government of Karluk's fate.

The 6th Giro d'Italia cycling race started in Milan with 81 cyclists competing in stages to Cuneo and back to Milan for a total racing distance of 3,162 km (1,965 mi).

The América Foot-Ball Club (PR) was established in Curitiba, Brazil and would be active for 10 years before dissolving in 1924.

The Bulgarian association football club PFC Levski Sofia was formed, with the club named in honor of Vasil Levski, a Bulgarian revolutionary renowned as a national hero.

The Empire Cricket Club was established in Barbados, named after the holiday to commemorate the Commonwealth of Nations, by disaffected members of the Spartan Cricket Club after it refused membership to Barbadian cricketer Herman Griffith because of his lower class status.

Born: Arthur A. Link, American politician, 27th Governor of North Dakota, in Alexander, North Dakota (d. 2010); Lilli Palmer, German film actress, best known for lead roles in The Four Poster and The Story of Anastasia, in Poznań, Prussia (d. 1986); Hedley Donovan, American news editor, editor-in-chief of Time Inc. from 1964 to 1979, in Brainerd, Minnesota (d. 1990); Viktor Eberhard Gräbner, German military officer for the Waffen-SS in World War Two, recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, in Leipzig (d. 1944, killed in action at the Battle of Arnhem)

Born: George Tabori, Hungarian writer and theater director, author of the plays The Cannibals and Pinkville in Budapest (d. 2007); Granville Beynon, Welsh physicist, worked with Edward Victor Appleton in researching the effect the ionosphere had on radio and radar, in Dunvant, Swansea, Wales (d. 1996); Harry Parr-Davies, Welsh composer songwriter, known for popular hits such as "Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye," in Briton Ferry, Wales ( d. 1955)

Died: Herman Teodor Holmgren, Swedish architect, designer of the University Hall of Uppsala University (b. 1842); Pompiliu Eliade, Romanian literary historian, chairman of the National Theatre Bucharest from 1908 to 1911 (b. 1869)

May 25, 1914 (Monday)

The United Kingdom's House of Commons passed Irish Home Rule.

Pope Pius X created 25 cardinals.

The National University of Tucumán was founded in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina.

The Chilean destroyer Almirante Goni was launched by J. Samuel White in Cowes, Isle of Wight but at the start of World War One was purchased by the British Royal Navy and renamed HMS Broke.

The fraternity Pi Mu Epsilon was founded at Syracuse University in New York by Professor Edward Drake Roe, Jr., with a mission to promote the study of mathematics and recognize students who successfully pursued mathematical understanding.

Born: Frederick Howard Buller, Canadian aeronautical engineer, designer of noteworthy aircraft for de Havilland including the Otter, Twin Otter, Chipmunk and Caribou, in Vancouver (d. 1994); William Gardner, English coin designer, most notably the British 20 Pence Coin, in Newcastle upon Tyne, England (d. 2000);

Born: Anita Magsaysay-Ho, Filipino painter, only female member of the Thirteen Moderns in the Philippines, in Manila (d. 2012); Wang Shixiang, Chinese cultural researcher, publisher of over 40 books on tradition Chinese culture and artifacts, Beijing (d. 2009)

Died: Charles G. Bennett, U.S. Representative for New York's 5th District from 1895 to 1899 (b. 1863); Ferenc Kossuth, Hungarian politician, served at Minister of Trade for Hungary from 1906 to 1910 (b. 1841)

May 26, 1914 (Tuesday)

A magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck off the northern coast of Papua, Indonesia, generating a tsunami that killed at least 101 people and destroyed many homes.

Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, still weak from disease contracted while in South America, spoke to the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. about the expedition to the "River of Doubt" in the Amazon. Doubts from the science community surfaced that he and fellow explorer Cândido Rondon did not actually discover the river, but Roosevelt was able to dispel most of them by meeting with National Geographic and later with the Royal Geographical Society in June.

Three Bosnian-Serb youth Gavrilo Princip, Trifko Grabež, and Nedeljko Čabrinović were supplied weapons and training by Serbian Major Vojislav Tankosić, a member of the secret Serbian military society Black Hand, in order to target and assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, who was scheduled to inspect military maneuvers in Sarajevo in June.

The Navarre railway line officially opened in Australia and would operate until 1954.

Born: Frankie Manning, American choreographer and dancer, one of the developers of the Lindy Hop, in Jacksonville, Florida (d. 2009); Ziggy Elman, American jazz trumpeter, best known for his work with Benny Goodman, in Philadelphia (d. 1968)

Born: Geoffrey Unsworth, British cinematographer, best known for innovative visual effects in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Superman, in Atherton, Greater Manchester, England (d. 1978); Frederick Hanson, Australian police offer, served as Commissioner of the New South Wales Police from 1972 to 1976, in Orange, New South Wales (d. 1980); Robert Skene, British polo player, inductee in the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame, in Assam, British India (d. 1997)

Died: Jacob Riis, Danish-American journalist and social reformer, city editor for the New-York Tribune (b. 1849); Juice Latham, American baseball player, first baseman and manager for the London Tecumsehs (b. 1852)

May 27, 1914 (Wednesday)

The Governor General of Canada hosted a royal garden party at the King Edward Hotel in Niagara Falls, Ontario to attending envoys from the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Chile to celebrate successful negotiations at the Niagara Falls peace conference.

British mystery writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, arrived in New York City with his second wife Jean on the ocean liner RMS Olympic. Doyle had visited the United States 20 years earlier while it was the first for Jean. Along with New York, the couple's seven-week excursion included Canada, first to Montreal and then to Banff National Park which Doyle visited 20 years earlier. During his New York visit, news reporters asked his opinions on various contemporary issues including Irish Home Rule, American prison conditions, women's suffrage, and the recently completed Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition.

The Memorial Building in Topeka, Kansas — a Grand Army of the Republic hall — was completed and dedicated to Union veterans of the American Civil War before 25,000 people.

Born: Hugh Le Caine, Canadian composer, pioneer in electronic music, in Port Arthur, Ontario (d. 1977); Katherine Butler, Irish nun for the Religious Sisters of Charity, first woman in Ireland to earn a pilot's licence, in Dublin (d. 2000)

May 28, 1914 (Thursday)

Nobel Prize winning Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf became the first woman to be inducted to the Swedish Academy (as well as the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature).

Two suffragists slipped past sentries at Buckingham Palace in London and managed to smash two windows before escaping arrest. The window-smashing was part of vandalism campaign by suffragists to protest the House of Lords voting down a bill two weeks earlier that would have given British women the right to vote.

Born: W. G. G. Duncan Smith, British World War II pilot, recipient of the Distinguished Service Order and Bar for bravery, in Madras, India (d. 1996); Fabri Salcedo, Spanish-American association football player, two League Title champions for the American Soccer League, in Santander, Spain (d. 1985)

Died: Joseph Swan, British physicist, inventor of the incandescent light bulb (b. 1828)

May 29, 1914 (Friday)

The ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland collided with Norwegian collier SS Storstad and sank in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with 1,012 out of the 1,477 passengers and crew lost. Despite sinking only a few hundred yards from shore with a distress signal wired within seconds of the collision, the ship listed to one side, rendering half of the lifeboats useless while heavy fog delayed rescue boats by a crucial 20 minutes.

Norwegian sports clubs for association football, team handball, and floorball from various neighborhoods in Oslo joined to form Djerv. The club added badminton, Nordic skiing, bandy, and track and field programs in later years, changing its name again. A merger with another club in 2005 led to the club's present title Bygdø Monolitten IL.

Born: Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer, first man, along with Edmund Hillary, to reach the summit of Mount Everest, in Khumbu, Nepal (d. 1986)

Died: Laurence Irving, British playwright and novelist, author of the play Typhoon (drowned with wife Mabel in RMS Empress of Ireland sinking) (b. 1871); Henry Seton-Karr, British explorer and politician, Member of Parliament for St Helens from 1885 to 1906 (drowned in RMS Empress of Ireland sinking) (b. 1853); Joseph Gérard, French Catholic missionary, chiefly worked among the Basotho people in colonial South Africa, beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1988 (b. 1831)

May 30, 1914 (Saturday)

The ocean liner RMS Aquitania made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York City.

The hit Broadway musical Adele by Adolf Philipp made its West End debuted in London at the Gaiety Theatre.

René Thomas of France won the fourth running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a Delage Type Y race car.

The inaugural season of the South Coast Rugby League in Australia (now the Group 7 Rugby League) started with the Kiama Knights competing and winning a 6-3 home game at Kiama Showground against the Gerringong Lions.

Born: Akinoumi Setsuo, Japanese champion sumo wrestler, broke fellow competitor Futabayama Sadaji's 69-bout winning streak in 1939, in Hiroshima (d. 1979)

May 31, 1914 (Sunday)

State mine inspectors assessed the total casualties from the Colorado Coalfield War since miners went on strike in 1913, with 66 dead and 48 wounded in battles between strikers and mine militia. Twenty people, including 12 children, died in the Ludlow Massacre on April 20, and 46 more were killed in clashes the following 10 days until federal troops intervened. Financial losses for the state's economy were estimated between $10 million and $12 million. The United Mine Workers of America reported the number of striking workers fell from 11,000 to 8,500, with many leaving the state as opposed to going back to work.

The Golden Jubilee celebrations of Elmfield College, which was founded fifty years previously.

The 1914 German football championship was held in Magdeburg, Germany with 6,000 in attendance. The club SpVgg Greuther Fürth beat VfB Leipzig 3-2 with Karl Franz scoring the winning goal.

Auto racer Willy Scholl of Germany won the second Russian Grand Prix in St. Petersburg, driving a Benz with a winning time of 2:23:54.6. The outbreak of World War One put an end to the racing event until it was revived in 2014.

Born: Akira Ifukube, Japanese classical music/film composer, best known for composing soundtracks to the Godzilla movies by Toho, in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan (d. 2006); Edmund S. Valtman, Estonian-American political cartoonist, winner of the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, in Tallinn, Estonia (d. 2005)

Died: Angelo Moriondo, Italian businessman, inventor of the espresso coffee machine (b. 1851)