September 1923

September 1, 1923 (Saturday)

A devastating earthquake with an approximate magnitude of 7.9 struck Japan at two minutes before noon. Over 120,000 were killed and 2 million left homeless as half the city of Tokyo was destroyed.

The council of the League of Nations met at the request of Greece to discuss the Corfu crisis.

The Italian government telegraphed the League of Nations that night saying that any decision made by the League regarding the Corfu incident would be ignored by Italy.

Born: Rocky Marciano, boxer, in Brockton, Massachusetts (d. 1969); Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet, businessman and collector, in North Bay, Ontario, Canada (d. 2006)

Died: Matsuoka Yasukowa, 77, Japanese politician (house collapse during earthquake)

September 2, 1923 (Sunday)

A "German Day" rally attended by over 100,000 thousand nationalists was held in Nuremberg to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of victory over the French in the Battle of Sedan. Adolf Hitler and Erich Ludendorff were in attendance as Nazis were among the paraders.

Chancellor Gustav Stresemann suggested in a speech in Stuttgart that the passive resistance campaign in the Ruhr be ended. "Every honest person in the Ruhr district and along the Rhine is longing for the hour when he will again return to work", Stresemann said. "This hour will have to come, and through German productive work the real solution of the conflict can be found. The purpose of passive resistance was to bring about this solution. We are ready to make the greatest material sacrifices, but we are not willing to give up the liberty of German soil."

September 3, 1923 (Monday)

U.S. President Calvin Coolidge appealed to the American public for aid in the Japanese earthquake disaster.

The film Rosita premiered at the Lyric Theatre in New York City.

The Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News was first published.

Born: Mort Walker, comic artist (Beetle Bailey), in El Dorado, Kansas

September 4, 1923 (Tuesday)

Benito Mussolini threatened to have Italy withdraw from the League of Nations if it insisted on arbitrating the Corfu crisis, saying the League was "absolutely not competent" to address the issue.

The musical revue London Calling!, produced by André Charlot with music by Noël Coward and Philip Braham, opened at London's Duke of York's Theatre.

Sad Sam Jones pitched a no-hitter for the New York Yankees against the Philadelphia Athletics by a final score of 2–0. It was the first no-hitter ever thrown by a visiting player in Shibe Park.

Born: Gloria Shayne Baker, composer and songwriter, in Brookline, Massachusetts (d. 2008); Mirko Ellis, actor, in Locarno, Switzerland (d. 2014); Ram Kishore Shukla, politician and activist, in Beohari, British India (d. 2003)

Died: Howdy Wilcox, 34, American racecar driver (car crash at Altoona Speedway)

September 5, 1923 (Wednesday)

Nearly all the coal mines in the Ruhr were active as the passive resistance campaign in the region wound down.

The musical stage comedy The Beauty Prize, with music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by George Grossmith and P. G. Wodehouse, opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in London.

Died: Dots Miller, 36, American baseball player (tuberculosis)

September 6, 1923 (Thursday)

The League of Nations handed the Corfu crisis to the Conference of Ambassadors to mediate. Mussolini said that Italy would abide by the Conference's decision.

The comedy film Potash and Perlmutter was released.

Born: Peter II of Yugoslavia, in Belgrade (d. 1970)

September 7, 1923 (Friday)

Mary Katherine Campbell retained her title in the 3rd Miss America pageant. She is the only Miss America to ever win twice, as previous winners were only eligible to be re-crowned during the earliest years of the pageant.

Howard Ehmke of the Boston Red Sox pitched a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics, 4–0 at Shibe Park. It was the second time the Athletics were no-hit in the space of four days.

Born: Madeleine Dring, English composer and actress (d. 1977)

September 8, 1923 (Saturday)

The Conference of Ambassadors announced the terms upon which the Corfu dispute between Italy and Greece would be settled. The terms were highly favorable to Italy but both sides approved the settlement.

The Honda Point Disaster off California sank seven destroyers and killed 23 sailors in the worst peacetime accident in U.S. Navy history.

A parade of housewives marched through Berlin carrying empty baskets in protest of their inability to buy food due to hyperinflation.

September 9, 1923 (Sunday)

Carlo Salamano of Italy won the Italian Grand Prix.

Born: Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, virologist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, in Yonkers, New York (d. 2008)

Died: Hermes Rodrigues da Fonseca, 68, Brazilian general and 8th President of Brazil

September 10, 1923 (Monday)

The Irish Free State was admitted to the League of Nations.

A total solar eclipse occurred.

September 11, 1923 (Tuesday)

German military police shot six dead in a riot by unemployed people in front of Dresden City Hall.

September 12, 1923 (Wednesday)

Southern Rhodesia became a British colony when the Crown took it over from the British South Africa Company.

The melodrama film The Daring Years, starring Mildred Harris, Charles Emmett Mack and Clara Bow, was released.

Police in Bulgaria began arrests of over 2,500 communists that the government suspected of plotting an uprising.

Born: Larry Brink, American football player, in Milaca, Minnesota

September 13, 1923 (Thursday)

A military coup orchestrated by General Miguel Primo de Rivera seized control of Spain.

A localized uprising around Gorna Dzhumaya in Bulgaria was quickly put down by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization.

September 14, 1923 (Friday)

The Jack Dempsey vs. Luis Ángel Firpo boxing match took place at the Polo Grounds in New York City. Dempsey knocked out Firpo in the second round of a short but sensational fight to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

Boston Red Sox first baseman George Burns turned an unassisted triple play against the Cleveland Indians.

September 15, 1923 (Saturday)

Oklahoma Governor Jack C. Walton declared statewide martial law in his fight against the Ku Klux Klan. The official proclamation said that anyone who aided or abetted the Klan would be "deemed to be enemies of the sovereign state of Oklahoma and shall be dealt with by the military forces of the state."

Miguel Primo de Rivera was sworn in as Prime Minister of Spain and appointed his new cabinet. At de Rivera's behest, King Alfonso XIII suspended the Spanish Constitution and imposed martial law.

Twelve were killed and many wounded in food riots in Sorau, Silesia, Germany.

The costume adventure film Scaramouche premiered at the Shubert-Belasco Theater in Washington, D.C.

September 16, 1923 (Sunday)

The Amakasu Incident occurred in Japan when two anarchists and a young child were arrested, beaten to death and thrown in a well by military police.

The romantic drama Zaza, starring Gloria Swanson and H. B. Warner was released.

The Harold Lloyd comedy film Why Worry? was released.

Born: Tommy James, American football player, in Canton, Ohio (d. 2007); Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore, in Singapore (d. 2015)

Died: Noe Itō, 28, Japanese anarchist; Sakae Ōsugi, 38, Japanese anarchist

September 17, 1923 (Monday)

The Berkeley Fire consumed hundreds of buildings in Berkeley, California.

The Sutton Vane play Outward Bound premiered at the Everyman Theatre in Hampstead, London, England.

Club Deportivo Luis Ángel Firpo, a football club based in Usulután, El Salvador, was founded.

Born: Hank Williams, country musician, in Butler County, Alabama (d. 1953)

September 18, 1923 (Tuesday)

The newspapers of New York City were paralyzed by a pressman's strike.

Born: Queen Anne of Romania, in Paris, France

Died: General Stafford, 55, American baseball player

September 19, 1923 (Wednesday)

The Ernst Toller play The German Hinkemann premiered in Leipzig, about the hardships of a soldier who returns from the war disabled. German nationalists disrupted the premiere of the play and the cast received death threats.

September 20, 1923 (Thursday)

September Uprising: A communist-led revolt broke out in Bulgaria against the government of Aleksandar Tsankov.

The New York Yankees clinched their third straight American League pennant when they defeated the St. Louis Browns 4–3.

Born: Geraldine Clinton Little, American poet, in Northern Ireland (d. 1997); Stefan Bozhkov, footballer and coach, in Sofia, Bulgaria (d. 2014)

September 21, 1923 (Friday)

The pressman's strike in New York City ended.

September 22, 1923 (Saturday)

Police cells in Chicago were filled to capacity after 600 arrests were made in a citywide raid on speakeasies.

Born: Dannie Abse, poet, in Cardiff, Wales (d. 2014)

September 23, 1923 (Sunday)

King Boris III of Bulgaria dissolved parliament, which had not met anyway since the ovethrow of Aleksandar Stamboliyski, and declared a state of emergency.

Died: Carl L. Boeckmann, 56, Norwegian-American artist; John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn, 84, British statesman and writer

September 24, 1923 (Monday)

Governor Walton of Oklahoma directed all citizen soldiers of the state to be prepared "with such arms as they possess or can obtain to come to the assistance of the sovereign state of Oklahoma when ordered to do so by the governor."

September 25, 1923 (Tuesday)

The German government officially ended its campaign of passive resistance against occupying forces.

September 26, 1923 (Wednesday)

German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann suspended seven articles of the Weimar Constitution and declared a state of emergency.

Bavarian Prime Minister Eugen von Knilling appointed Gustav von Kahr State Commissioner and granted him dictatorial powers.

Bulgarian troops went on the offensive against the rebels, attacking Ferdinand and Boychinovtsi.

The Council of Ambassadors awarded Italy an indemnity of 50 million lire against Greece over the Corfu incident, over British protests.

The dramatic film A Woman of Paris, directed by Charlie Chaplin and starring Edna Purviance, premiered at the Criterion Theatre in Hollywood.

Born: Dev Anand, actor and filmmaker, in Bombay, British India (d. 2011)

September 27, 1923 (Thursday)

Italian forces withdrew from Corfu in compliance with the Council of Ambassadors agreement.

Bulgarian troops captured Ferdinand from the rebels, effectively ending the September Uprising.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court allowed a referendum for October 2 to go forward in which voters would decide if the state legislature could convene without call of the governor. If voters approved the measure than impeachment proceedings were sure to go ahead against Governor Jack C. Walton, which was why he was fighting to block the referendum.

September 28, 1923 (Friday)

Britain officially assumed control of the Palestine Mandate.

Abyssinia was admitted to the League of Nations.

The New York Giants beat the Brooklyn Robins 3–0 to clinch the National League pennant and meet the New York Yankees in the World Series for the third straight year.

This is the cover date of the first issue of Radio Times.

Violent windstorms and flooding struck Louisville, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa, killing 14.

September 29, 1923 (Saturday)

Bavarian State Commissioner Gustav von Kahr defied the federal government and refused to obey an order directing the suppression of publications by Adolf Hitler.

Benito Mussolini returned 10 million of the 50 million lire Greece had to pay over the Corfu incident and directed it to be spent on needy Greek and Armenian refugees.

Hack Wilson made his major league baseball debut for the New York Giants, going 0-for-2.

September 30, 1923 (Sunday)

A riot broke out in Düsseldorf, Germany after a mob rushed a crowd gathered outdoors to hear a speech by separatist leader Josef Friedrich Matthes. 16 were killed in the fighting.

Küstrin Putsch: groups of the Black Reichswehr, led by Bruno Ernst Buchrucker, attempted to start a coup against the government by seizing three forts around the city of Küstrin, east of Berlin.

The French airship Dixmude completed a record nonstop flight of 118 hours and 41 minutes from Cuers across the Mediterranean into the Sahara and back towards Paris and then back to Cuers again.

Born: Donald Swann, composer (Flanders and Swann), in Llanelli, Wales (d. 1994)