September 1931

September 1, 1931 (Tuesday)

Chilean naval mutiny: Chilean Navy crews stationed at Coquimbo revolted against proposed reductions in salaries.

In a suburb of Havana at 2:20 in the morning, a large bomb exploded at the branch of the Royal Bank of Canada. The blast caused several thousand dollars worth of damage.

Born: Cecil Parkinson, politician, in Carnforth, England; Javier Solís, singer and actor, in Tacubaya, Mexico City, Mexico (d. 1966)

September 2, 1931 (Wednesday)

The Italian government announced a surprise agreement with the Vatican allowing Azione Cattolica to operate as long as it abstained from politics and did not compete with the interests of the state in any way.

The Chilean cabinet resigned over the naval mutiny crisis.

September 3, 1931 (Thursday)

King Alexander I of Yugoslavia issued the Yugoslav Constitution by decree.

The German stock exchange reopened for the first time since being shut on July 13.

The P. G. Wodehouse novel If I Were You was first published.

September 4, 1931 (Friday)

Jimmy Doolittle set a new transcontinental flight record of 11 hours 15 minutes.

Born: Mitzi Gaynor, actress, singer and dancer, in Chicago, Illinois

September 5, 1931 (Saturday)

The Chilean military attacked the mutinous naval base of Talcahuano.

By an 8–7 vote the World Court ruled that the Austro-German customs agreement violated the 1922 Protocol for the reconstruction of Austria.

Died: John Thomson, 22, Scottish footballer (on-field injury)

September 6, 1931 (Sunday)

The Chilean Air Force bombed the rebel warships at Coquimbo.

Hack Wilson was suspended by the Chicago Cubs for the rest of the season for "failure to observe training rules".

September 7, 1931 (Monday)

The Chilean mutineers surrendered.

King George V opted to take a pay cut of £50,000 a year for as long as the depression lasted.

September 8, 1931 (Tuesday)

Ramsay MacDonald's First National ministry passed its first test in the British House of Commons, winning a vote of confidence 309-250. The Labour Party voted solidly against the new government.

Born: Jack Rosenthal, playwright, in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, England (d. 2004)

September 9, 1931 (Wednesday)

Ramsay MacDonald's government won a vote of cloture 306-212 to cut off debate about its emergency economic bill.

Born: Earl Averill, Jr., baseball player, in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 2015)

September 10, 1931 (Thursday)

A hurricane struck British Honduras, killing about 2,500 people.

Born: Philip Baker Hall, actor, in Toledo, Ohio

Died: Salvatore Maranzano, 45, Sicilian-born American mob boss (assassinated)

September 11, 1931 (Friday)

Britain put the R100 airship up for sale due to lack of funds.

September 12, 1931 (Saturday)

Mexico was admitted to the League of Nations.

Mahatma Gandhi arrived in London to attend the Round Table Conference on Indian independence. He took a small room at Kingsley Hall in the city's East End.

Born: Ian Holm, actor, in Goodmayes, Essex, England; George Jones, country musician, in Saratoga, Texas (d. 2013)

Died: Francis J. Higginson, 88, U.S. Navy officer

September 13, 1931 (Sunday)

A train near Biatorbágy, Hungary was sabotaged by a viaduct explosion, killing 22. Authorities blamed communists, but a mentally disturbed man by the name of Szilveszter Matuska was later convicted of the crime.

Austrian troops put down a Heimwehr revolt in the province of Styria.

Great Britain won the Schneider Trophy as Flight Lieut. George Stainforth set a new seaplane speed record of 386.1 mph.

September 14, 1931 (Monday)

The second Round Table Conference on Indian independence opened in London.

Born: Ken Rush, racing driver, in High Point, North Carolina (d. 2011)

September 15, 1931 (Tuesday)

The Invergordon Mutiny began when sailors of the Royal Navy at Invergordon srarted refusing orders in protest against pay cuts.

The Philadelphia Athletics clinched their third straight American League pennant with a 14–3 victory over the Cleveland Indians.

September 16, 1931 (Wednesday)

The gangland killing known as the Collingwood Manor Massacre occurred in Detroit.

The Texas Senate passed a resolution calling Louisiana Governor Huey Long a "consumate liar" for his statement that the Texas legislature had been bought off.

The Invergordon Mutiny ended when the British government made some concessions.

The St. Louis Cardinals clinched the National League pennant when the second-place New York Giants were eliminated by losing 7-3 to the Cincinnati Reds.

Died: Omar Mukhtar, 73, Libyan revolutionary (hanged)

September 17, 1931 (Thursday)

RCA Victor introduced the LP record in a demonstration at the Savoy-Plaza Hotel in New York. However, they were too expensive at the time to be commercially successful.

Karlag, one of the largest forced labour camps in the Soviet Union, was established in the Kazakh SSR.

Born: Anne Bancroft, actress, in the Bronx, New York (d. 2005)

Died: Marcello Amero D'Aste, 78, Italian admiral and politician; Marvin Hart, 55, American heavyweight boxing champion

September 18, 1931 (Friday)

The Mukden Incident occurred in China.

Died: Geli Raubal, 23, half-niece of Adolf Hitler (suicide)

September 19, 1931 (Saturday)

The Japanese invasion of Manchuria began.

In Clarksburg, West Virginia, an angry mob of 10,000 people tried to storm the county jail to get at Harry Powers. Police fired tear gas to bring the crowd under control.

Charles and Anne Lindbergh flew to Nanjing.

Died: David Starr Jordan, 80, American ichthyologist and activist

September 20, 1931 (Sunday)

Britain decided to abandon the gold standard.

Died: Joan Beauchamp Procter, 34, English zoologist (cancer)

September 21, 1931 (Monday)

The British emergency measure to suspend the gold standard was rushed through the House of Commons and House of Lords and granted royal assent all in the same day.

The German stock exchange was closed again. It would not reopen until April 1932.

Born: Gertrude Alderfer, baseball player, in Kulpsville, Pennsylvania; Gloria Cordes, baseball player, in Staten Island, New York; Larry Hagman, actor, in Fort Worth, Texas (d. 2012)

September 22, 1931 (Tuesday)

Charlie Chaplin visited Mahatma Gandhi in Canning Town, London.

Born: Leo Labine, ice hockey player, in Haileybury, Ontario, Canada (d. 2005); Fay Weldon, writer, in Birmingham, England; George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, politician and banker, in Stirling, Scotland (d. 2003)

September 23, 1931 (Wednesday)

The Soviet Union notified Japan of its disapproval of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Foreign Affairs Comissar Maxim Litvinov told the Japanese minister that the Soviet government was displeased at not being informed ahead of time and that the conflict could have been settled through compromise.

Born: Gerald Merrithew, politician and statesman, in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada (d. 2004)

Died: Asger Ostenfeld, 64, Danish civil engineer

September 24, 1931 (Thursday)

Japan told the League of Nations that it would it begin to withdraw troops from Manchuria if the safety of Japanese residents in the area and their property was guaranteed.

Born: Anthony Newley, 67, English actor, singer and songwriter

September 25, 1931 (Friday)

Mahatma Gandhi visited the Lancashire cotton mills. Despite the Indian boycott damaging the British textile industry, Gandhi was cheered by workers.

Scotland Yard raided the offices of the Daily Worker, the newspaper of the Communist Party of Great Britain, due to articles printed last week about the Invergordon Mutiny.

Born: Peggy Connelly, singer and actress, in Shreveport, Louisiana (d. 2007)

Died: Aleksander Skrzyński, 49, 12th Prime Minister of the Second Polish Republic

September 26, 1931 (Saturday)

A printer of the Daily Worker was brought into police court and charged with inciting mutiny.

The film Five Star Final starring Edward G. Robinson was released.

The comedy film Sidewalks of New York starring Buster Keaton was released.

Died: Albert Capellani, 57, French film director and screenwriter; Harry Macdonough, 60, Canadian singer and recording executive

September 27, 1931 (Sunday)

Norway, Sweden and Egypt all abandoned the gold standard.

In local elections in Hamburg, the Social Democratic Party of Germany narrowly edged out the Nazi Party, winning 46 seats to the NSDAP's 43.

Edd Roush of the Cincinnati Reds played in the final game of his major league baseball career, going 2-for-3 with a triple and a walk in a 5–3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

September 28, 1931 (Monday)

France and Germany created a new trade commission to improve trade relations between the two countries.

Denmark abandoned the gold standard.

Prague Zoo was opened.

Born: John Gilmore, jazz saxophonist, in Summit, Mississippi (d. 1995)

September 29, 1931 (Tuesday)

George Stainforth broke his own speed record by flying 408.8 mph.

The British Ministry of Labour reported 2.8 million out of work, a new record.

Huge crowds of unemployed poured into Westminster to protest. Many arrests were made as the demonstrators clashed with mounted police.

The Estevan Riot occurred in Estevan, Saskatchewan between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and striking coal miners.

Born: Eddie Barth, actor, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2010); James Cronin, nuclear physicist and Nobel laureate, in Chicago, Illinois; Anita Ekberg, actress and model, in Malmö, Sweden (d. 2015)

September 30, 1931 (Wednesday)

London police clashed again with unemployed outside the Bow Street police station and Magistrates' Court where those arrested in last night's disturbances were being tried.

Mahatma Gandhi met with Prime Minister MacDonald in London.

The British pound lost 20% of its value in the last ten days.

The film Alice in Wonderland, the first talking screen adaptation of the Lewis Carroll novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, was released.

Born: Angie Dickinson actress, in Kulm, North Dakota; Wesley L. Fox, U.S. Marine Corps officer and Medal of Honor recipient, in Herndon, Virginia

Died: Henry C. Warmoth, 89, American attorney, Civil War officer and 23rd Governor of Louisiana