July 26, 1923: Ill from food poisoning, Warren G. Harding (in top hat) becomes first U.S. President to visit CanadaJuly 20, 1923: Mexican bandit Pancho Villa shot to death in MexicoJuly 4, 1923: Remote town of Shelby, Montana, bankrupted by staging heavyweight boxing bout
The following events occurred in July 1923:
July 1, 1923 (Sunday)
The
Chinese Immigration Act went into effect in Canada to bar Chinese immigrants (including those from Hong Kong) from coming to the Dominion of Canada, with only a few exceptions for foreign students and diplomats (whose stay was to be temporary), wealthy merchants and those who qualified for admission under "special circumstance".[1] The Act would remain the law in Canada for more than 24 years until its repeal on May 14, 1947.
Pope Pius XI sent a letter to the
papal nuncio in Berlin appealing to Germany to make every effort to make its payment obligations and cease its resistance campaign which removed the possibility of coming to an agreement.[3]
The Allied delegates at the
Conference of Lausanne made their final offer to Turkey to settle the matter of reparations.[5]
Exactly one month before his death, U.S. President
Warren G. Harding "realized a boyhood ambition" by being allowed to drive a railway
locomotive. Harding "took a lesson from the engineer in regard to the functions of the various buttons which are used in turning power off and on, giving signals and otherwise operating the engine" and drove the 10-car presidential train on a steep downgrade through the
Bitterroot Mountains in
Montana.[6] After arriving in
Spokane, Washington later in the day, Harding spoke out against "ultra-conservationists". Noting that "another century will give us a population of 300,000,000", Harding said, "There was a time when the public domain was thought of as a treasure house of potential wealth to be locked up against the day when we should need it... As a matter of fact, that would prevent it from being ready when needed." In the same speech, however, he said that he would urge Congress upon his return to Washington to add 400,000 acres (160,000 ha) to
Yellowstone National Park after having visited for two days.[7]
What would become the first "perfect copy" of the printed
Gutenberg Bible in the United States was purchased at an auction in London by an agent for the Rosenbach Company of New York and Philadelphia, a dealer in rare books, for the amount of £9,000, $43,350 in the dollar to pound exchange rate at the time and equivalent to $750,000 a century later.[8][9]
An unauthorized dockworkers' strike began in England protesting the reduction of wages by a shilling a day.[10]
Born:Wisława Szymborska, Polish writer and 1996
Nobel Prize in Literature laureate for her "poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality"; in
Prowent (d. 2012)
July 3, 1923 (Tuesday)
President Harding visited the small town of
Meacham, Oregon to speak at a celebration commemorating the 80th anniversary of the 1843 founding of the Oregon Trail.[12] While it does not appear to have been part of his prepared speech [13] a reporter wrote that Meacham was "the capital of the United States all day long," [14] although even if the remark had been made, Harding, the reporters and most of his audience would have been aware that the U.S. president has no authority to move the national seat of government from Washington.[15] Nevertheless, a
historic marker at Meacham includes the statement that "On July 3, 1923, reporters noted that on July 3, 1923, Meacham was the capitol [sic] of the U.S. when President Harding stopped and participated in the exercises commemorating the eightieth anniversary of the covered wagon migration of 1843."[16]
Four German civilians were shot by Belgian soldiers after violating a curfew that had been imposed in the Ruhr occupation zone. The curfew, and the "shoot on sight" order had been put into effect immediately after eight Belgian soldiers had been killed in the June 30 bombing of the
Duisburg-Hochfeld Railway Bridge, and took place in
Buer, 25 miles (40 km) from
Gelsenkirchen.[17]
Champion Jack Dempsey and challenger Tommy Gibbons fought in a boxing bout staged in the small town of
Shelby, Montana, in front of a crowd of less than 20,000 people, most of whom did not buy a ticket.[18]Dempsey defeated
Gibbons by decision to retain the World Heavyweight Championship, but the bout is mostly remembered as a debacle for the promoters who lost a fortune staging it in the remote oil town hoping to attract investors.[19] The $116,000 lost by promoters [20] would be equivalent to more than two million dollars a century later [21] Figures the next day showed that only 7,202 people paid to see the bout, but that the rentals of motion pictures would drop the deficit to $70,000.[22]
A massive
Ku Klux Klan rally, the largest in the organization's history, was held in
Kokomo, Indiana. Attendance estimates ran as high as 200,000.[23]
Stunt pilot
B. H. DeLay was killed at the age of 31, along with a passenger, business owner R. I. Short, while performing in an airshow at Ocean Park in
Venice, California. The wings of his airplane, the Wasp, collapsed as he was flying a loop-the-loop and the craft plunged downward. A subsequent investigation of the wreckage showed that the nuts and bolts for the wings had been tampered with in an act of sabotage [24] although no person was ever charged with a crime.
Born:Bernard Loomis, American toy developer and marketing coordinator who built up the Mattel, Kenner and Hasbro companies and conceived the idea of cartoon shows based on toys; in
the Bronx,
New York City (d. 2006) [25]
July 5, 1923 (Thursday)
Martial law was ended in the Kingdom of Egypt for the first time in almost nine years, with the release of 250 political prisoners who had been sentenced by British military courts during and after the outbreak of World War One.[26]
Ethel Barrymore was granted a divorce from Russell G. Colt in
Providence, Rhode Island court on grounds of nonsupport. Neither principal was present, but testimony taken by deposition for the court was entered in which Barrymore said that Colt had struck her on numerous occasions.[27]
Madame Claude (Fernande Grudet), French brothel manager who catered to prominent government officials and businessmen and built "the most exclusive prostitution network in Paris"; in
Angers (d. 2015) [31]
July 7, 1923 (Saturday)
A spokesman for the
White House announced that President Harding's tour of the United States had been extended by two days. The telegram from Walter Brown said "Impossible to omit Santa Catalina trip without greatly disappointing Mrs. Harding. Have therefore arranged for President to sail from San Diego Aug. 6", after which the president's ship would travel down the coast of Mexico and Central America, passing through the Panama Canal and taking him back around the Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast to return home.[32]
Bill Johnston defeated
Frank Hunter to win the men's championship at
Wimbledon. Both finalists at Britain's premier tennis tournament were American.[33]
American baseball pitcher
Francis "Lefty" O'Doul, later enshrined in the
Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame as an organizer, entered a game for the Boston Red Sox as a reliever and, in a single inning, gave up 13 runs to the host Cleveland Indians before being pulled back out. Cleveland went on to win the game, 27 to 3, having scored in every inning to set an American League record.[34][35]
In
Czechoslovakia, woman deputy Betta Kerpiskova introduced a bill that would make
bigamy mandatory, as it required all men to take two wives as a means of replenishing the population lost in the years of the war. Wives of the deputies shouted down the bill from the gallery, and one speaker said Czechoslovakia would face ridicule around the world if the law was passed. The session was adjourned after a shouting match.[39]
The bodies of
Takeo Arishima and his wife were found in the Japanese novelist's villa. They both committed suicide by hanging but were not found for a month.[40]
Born:Harrison Dillard, American track and field athlete and 1948 and 1952 Olympic gold medalist; in
Cleveland (d. 2019)[41]
Died: Augustine Tuillerie, 89, French children's book writer who used "G. Bruno" as her pen name
July 9, 1923 (Monday)
At 1:20 in the morning, the parties to the
Lausanne Conference reached an agreement on the amount of Turkey's World War One reparations.[42] The treaty was signed formally on July 24.
The
Curia Julia, the 1,967-year-old Roman Senate building constructed in 44 B.C. during the reign of
Julius Caesar, was purchased by the government of Italy from the
Collegio di Spagna.[49]
Marguerite Alibert, a French socialite who had had an affair with the
Prince of Wales during World War One, shot and killed her Egyptian husband of six months, Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey, during an argument at their suite in London's
Savoy Hotel. "[51] She would be acquitted of murder charges on September 15, 1923.[52]
Luther W. Mott, 48, U.S. Representative for New York since 1911, died after having been "ill a week with intestinal trouble."[53]
July 11, 1923 (Wednesday)
France notified Britain that it would not accept an international conference to discuss the German reparations problem. "The reparations commission was legally created by the
Versailles treaty to handle the problem and this cannot be transferred elsewhere without violating the treaty", a spokesperson for the government said.[54]
British Prime Minister
Stanley Baldwin made a speech before the
House of Commons about the issue of German reparations and the
occupation of the Ruhr, stating that "if we ask Germany to pay in excess of her capacity we shall not succeed ... We are convinced that an indefinite continuation of this state of affairs is fraught with great peril. Germany herself appears to be moving fast towards economic chaos, which may itself be succeeded by social and industrial ruin." Baldwin proposed that an impartial body be allowed to investigate Germany's capacity to pay.[57]
Sy Berger, American designer known for his 1952 creation of the modern
baseball card, with the format of concise statistical player information on the back of the player's photo; in
New York City (d. 2014) [60]
U.S. Senator
William P. Dillingham, 79, died during his fourth term as Senator for Vermont.
July 13, 1923 (Friday)
Andrews
Near the
Flaming Cliffs in
Mongolia, a party of paleontologists led by U.S. explorer
Roy Chapman Andrews became the first people to discover dinosaur eggs. The fossilized eggs would be determined 72 years later to belong to an
oviraptorosaur.[61]
The
Hollywood Sign was officially dedicated. It was originally erected earlier that year as a temporary structure to promote the real estate development ""Hollyoodland", and would prove a popular landmark in
Hollywood, California, eventually dropping the last four letters in 1949.[62]
France refused to sign on to the British reply to Germany's offer on reparations unless its primary demand stated that passive resistance in the Ruhr be ended.[64]
Eugène Chigot, 62, pioneering French post-impressionist painter
George C. Hale, 72, novelty inventor who created "Hale's Tours and Scenes of the World", creating a 10-minute simulated train ride to exotic destinations using film, sound effects, a wind machine and a rocking platform.
July 15, 1923 (Sunday)
The Soviet Union's first national airline,
Dobrolet, began operations by making a flight from
Moscow to
Nizhny Novgorod to inaugurate regularly scheduled commercial passenger service in the U.S.S.R.;[citation needed] the state-owned company's name would be changed to
Aeroflot in 1932.
The government of Egypt banned its Muslim citizens from making the
Hajj, the pilgrimage to
Mecca, as well as its annual subsidy to the
Kingdom of Hejaz, after King
Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz barred the Egyptian medical escort caravan from accompanying the Egyptian pilgrims into the kingdom. The custom of sending a medical mission as part of the Hajj was "a precaution rendered necessary by the total lank of sanitary protection in the Hedjaz", and Hussein's decree was made on grounds that the escort was an infringement on Hejazi independence.[67]
U.S. President
Warren G. Harding symbolically completed construction of the
Alaska Railroad by using a hammer to drive the
golden spike linking the rails that had been built from different directions, in a ceremony near the town of
Nenana.[68][69]
Bobby Jones, a 21-year-old amateur from the U.S. state of Georgia, won his first career major golf championship at the
U.S. Open, defeating
Bobby Cruickshank of Scotland.[71]
French Prime Minister
Raymond Poincaré made a speech to the senate rejecting almost every item of
Stanley Baldwin's speech, saying that "we wish only that the treaty signed by twenty-eight powers shall not be considered an antediluvian fossil and placed in an archaeological museum after four years. It seems that we ask too much. Certain friends say to make concessions for a common interest. Since the end of the armistice we have done nothing but make concessions. We are at the end of making concessions because until now we stood all the costs ... Instead of helping us obtain payment Germany has organized resistance, forcing us to accentuate the pressure. We thus are not responsible for the resulting situation."[72]
Born: Herb Sargent (pen name for Herbert Supowitz), American television producer and comedy writer known for the co-creation of the popular Weekend Update feature on Saturday Night Live; in
Philadelphia (d. 2005)
Died:
Semyon Alapin, 66, Russian chess master and the namesake for nine different opening moves in chess
Died: Charles Boardman Hawes, 34, American novelist, died of pneumonic meningitis two days before the publication of his new book, Gloucester, by Land and Sea, and three months before the release of his children's adventure, The Dark Frigate.
July 17, 1923 (Tuesday)
Nearly all of the Philippine-born officials of the territorial government of the U.S.-controlled Philippines resigned in protest over the actions of U.S. Governor-General
Leonard Wood. The entire Council of State and the Filipino members of Wood's cabinet walked out after Wood had reinstated an American official who had been charged with bribery.
Manuel Quezon, who quit as president of the Philippine Senate, sent a cable message to U.S. president Harding, saying "We welcome the present crisis because it will call the attention of Congress to the need of a definite status of government here. In the resignations of members of the Council of State and departmental secretaries, there is no attack on the sovereign power of the United States, nor a challenge to the authority of its representative in the Philippine Islands... but it is a protest against the encroachment of the Governor-General on the constitutional rights already enjoyed by the Filipino people, against usurpation of power in direct violation of existing laws."[77]
A
libel trial opened in England between
Lord Alfred Douglas and The Morning Post of London. Douglas was suing the newspaper for printing a letter from a Jewish correspondent saying that it must no longer be a paying proposition for men like Douglas "to invent vile insults against the Jews." This remark was a reference to Douglas' newspaper, Plain English, which regularly printed
antisemitic articles alleging Jewish conspiracies.[78][79]
Winston Churchill took the stand in the
Lord Alfred Douglas libel trial and said that the plaintiff told an absolute lie when he alleged that
Ernest Cassel had paid Churchill to print a false account of the
Battle of Jutland attributing victory to Germany so
stocks would fall and a group of Jews could turn a profit when they went up again. A deposition from
Arthur Balfour was read in which he said that he alone had written the Jutland report and that Churchill had nothing to do with it. The jury returned a verdict awarding Douglas one
farthing in damages.[80]
Italy published a "timetable" for the
Italianization of South Tyrol. Italian was to be made the official language of the mostly German-speaking region, and Austro-German immigration into the region would be banned.[76]
Russell Maughan's second attempt at the first
dawn-to-dusk transcontinental flight across the United States ended 738 miles short of his goal of San Francisco when an oil leak forced him to land in
Rock Springs, Wyoming.[81] Maughan, who was flying averaging 192 miles per hour (309 km/h) was only 598 miles (962 km) short of his destination when he was forced to end his effort.[82] Maughan decided, with the increasingly shorter daylight hours as the summer progressed, he would not try again until the following year.
General
Pancho Villa, the retired guerrilla leader who had led the
Mexican Revolution that forced out President
Porfirio Díaz and brought
Francisco I. Madero to power in 1911, was shot dead along with his assistant Daniel Tamayo, his chauffeur Miguel Trujillo, and two bodyguards, Rafael Madreno and Claro Huertado. Villa and his entourage had traveled from his ranch in Canutillo to the nearby town of
Hidalgo del Parral to pick up cash to pay his employees. As he was being driven through town on his way back home, Villa was shot by a group of seven men who fired more than 40 rounds into his automobile.[84] Villa, who had caused the deaths of countless numbers of people, was hit by nine bullets and killed instantly, along with all but one of his bodyguards.[85] Only Ramon Contreras, who was wounded but killed one of the gunmen, survived.[86] Reports from Mexico suggested that the assassination had been commissioned by Francisco Herrera, whose father and three brothers had been executed by Villa during the Revolution, and the death "was accepted as life answering for life."[87]
A survey by the
Carnegie Institute concluded that Germany was unable to pay any further
reparations at this time because all the country's movable capital had been exhausted.[88]
Wearing the cowls on their robes, about 1,000 members of the
Ku Klux Klan paraded on the main street of
Topeka, Kansas, in defiance of an order issued to Topeka authorities by
Kansas Attorney General Charles B. Griffith to prevent the marchers from wearing masks.
Topeka's Mayor Earl Akers declined to abide by the order, declaring that there was no law against parading while wearing a mask.[89]
All but one of the 32-member crew of the American oil tanker
SS Swiftstar disappeared after the ship exploded and sank near the
Colombian island of
San Andrés while en route from the U.S. city of
San Pedro, California to
Fall River, Massachusetts, after passing through the
Panama Canal. In addition to the wreckage of the ship, the schooner Albert H. Willis found the remains of thee lifeboats from the Swiftstar and a floating box that had the charred body of one of the crew. A review by investigators concluded that a bolt of lightning hit the tanker based on the pattern of the burns to the lone remains recovered.[90]
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck near
San Bernardino, California at 11:28 p.m. The County Hospital and Hall of Records were badly damaged but there were no fatalities.[93]
The Navy transport U.S.S. Henderson departed from
Sitka, Alaska with U.S. President Harding en route to Canada and his return to the continental United States.[94]
Born:
Bob Dole, U.S. Representative for
Kansas 1961-1969, later U.S. Senator from 1969 to 1996) and twice the Senate Majority Leader (1985 to 1987 and 1995 to 1996) before making an unsuccessful run as the Republican candidate for President in 1996; in
Russell, Kansas (d. 2021)
Two trains collided in
Bulgaria near the city of
Pleven, and the reports of the number of dead was unclear from reports. A dispatch the next day reported 103 killed and 200 injured.[95][96] A followup report declared that 200 people died and 300 were injured in the accident "in which an engine and 11 coaches were derailed and flattened by the contact" and added "From 10 coaches, no one escaped alive." [97] The next dispatch from Havas, the Bulgarian news agency, reported that the toll was 8 persons killed and about 20 injured and that "The correspondent's dispatch does not bear out published reports that the death list would mount into hundreds." [98][99]
The chiefs of 16
Squamish villages in the Canadian provinces of the
British Columbia signed an agreement to form the
Squamish Nation (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw), which now administers 24 Indian Reserves as one of the
First Nations governments.[100]
Norman Clyde became the first person to ascend an 8,610 feet (2,620 m) mountain summit in
Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of
Montana,[102] one of 11 first ascents that he made in 36 days of climbing 36 different mountains, and out of 130 first ascents that he made in his lifetime. Park officials named the summit
Clyde Peak in his honor.
Born:Morris Halle, Latvian-born American linguist and pioneer in the study of
phonology; as Moriss Pinkovics in
Liepaja (d. 2018)
The
Treaty of Lausanne was signed in
Switzerland at the
Beau-Rivage Palace, as the final peace treaty of
World War I, formally ending hostilities between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire.[103][104] Among the provisions was the agreement by Turkey to abolish the
Ottoman Empire and completion of transition to the
Republic of Turkey; acknowledgment of the right of the merchant ships of Allied nations to pass through the
Turkish Straits (the
Dardanelles and
Bosphorous); the safe transition of the Greek population of Turkey to Greece; recognition of the British control of the island of
Cyprus; and cession of the
Danube River island of
Ada Kaleh (now submerged) to
Romania. In return, the Britain, France, Italy and Greece Allies agreed to
remove their occupational forces from
Constantinople (now
Istanbul), and agreed that the debts of the Ottoman Empire would be borne by all the nations created from the empire's breakup, and not solely by Turkey. Occupational troops were removed by October 4, before the entry of the treaty into force on August 6, 1924.
Cardinal
Albert Vanhoye, Roman Catholic priest who, at 98, was the oldest member of the College of Cardinals at the time of his death; in
Hazebrouck,
département du Nord (d. 2021)
Li Yuru, Chinese opera singer and actress; in
Beijing (d. 2008)
David Lam, Chinese Canadian banker and philanthropist who served as the
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (the provincial representative for the Governor General and the reigning British monarch) from 1988 to 1995; in
Hong Kong as David See-chai Lam (d. 2010)
At 11:00 in the morning,
Warren G. Harding became the first U.S. President to visit
Canada, disembarking from the U.S.S. Henderson at
Vancouver on his way back from Alaska. After a luncheon and a round of golf at the Shaughnessy Heights Golf Club, President Harding addressed a crowd of 50,000 people at
Stanley Park as the guest of British Columbia Premier
John Oliver.[107] At 7:00 in the evening, the Canadian government hosted a formal dinner in honor of the President and Mrs. Harding at the Hotel Vancouver, after which the presidential party returned to the Henderson.[108] While the ship was traveling through Puget Sound on the way from Vancouver to Seattle, President Harding dined on crab and became ill in the evening. According to The New York Times summary of the physician report three days later, "The President's indisposition is attributed primarily to eating crabs on the transport Henderson.... That night President Harding had severe pains in the abdomen and had a generally disagreeable time." [109]
Donald Macadie of England was granted British patent 200,977 for his invention of the
volt-ohm-milliammeter (or "multimeter") which could measure electrical voltage, resistance and current.[citation needed]
The first opera performance in what is now
Israel took place at a movie theater in
Tel Aviv, where former Russian conductor Mordechai Golinkin had organized the Eretz-Israeli Opera Company. Golinkin conducted an orchestra for the performance of
Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata.[citation needed]
President
Harding arrived in
Seattle, where he delivered what would be his last major speech. He spoke at the
University of Washington's
Husky Stadium, addressing the audience about the future of the
Alaska Territory, where he had stayed a few days earlier. "Alaska is designed for ultimate Statehood," Harding said, although he was only referring to a portion of it. Harding told the audience, "In a very few years we can well set off the Panhandle and a large block of the connecting southeastern part as a State. This region now contains easily 90 percent of the white population and of the developed resources. As to the remainder of the territory, I would leave the Alaskans of the future to decide."[113][114]
The Republican Party announced that President Harding's scheduled July 31 speech from the San Francisco Civic Auditorium would be heard on a nationwide radio broadcast by as many as five million people, with the aid of telephone lines linking stations KPO in San Francisco, WOAW in Omaha, Nebraska; WMAQ in Chicago; WEAF in New York City; WMAF near Boston; and WCAP in Washington.[115]
Born:Ray Boone, American baseball player and 1955 RBI leader in the American League; in
San Diego,
California (d. 2004)
President
Harding canceled his planned visits to
Oregon and
Yosemite National Park due to an illness reported to be
ptomaine poisoning.[109] On doctor's orders, Harding remained in bed on his special train and canceled a speaking engagement planned at stops in
Eugene, Oregon and at
El Portal, California outside
Yosemite National Park. U.S. Secretary of the Interior
Hubert Work told a disappointed crowd at a stop in
Grants Pass, Oregon, "It comes about that during our last day at sea many of us were attacked by a temporary indisposition, not due to seasickness but to food put up in a can. I will not say what the item of food was, for thereby I might depress the value of the canned product."[109] His train continued on to
San Francisco.[116]
Xia Peisu, Chinese computer scientist known for her development of China's first general purpose electronic computer; in
Chongqing,
Sichuan province (d. 2014)
German communists staged a "Red Sunday" with public demonstrations across the country, but turnouts in most cities were low. Four were killed in
Neuruppin when communists rushed the city jail and police fired on the unruly mob.[119]
President Harding's personal physician, Dr.
Charles E. Sawyer, issued a nighttime bulletin saying the president's condition had worsened with new symptoms, and that his itinerary for the rest of speaking tour in California was canceled.[120]
Italy's Prime Minister
Benito Mussolini received "telegrams, letters and missives of all kinds from all classes of people" on the occasion of his 40th birthday, with greetings from more than 30,000 arriving at his office in the Foreign Ministry Building, and at his private residence.[121]
Outside of
Yazoo City, Mississippi, a mob captured Willie Minnifield, an African American accused of attacking a white woman with an axe, and burned him at the stake at a swamp where he had been captured. A man captured along with Minnifield escaped.[122]
The physicians attending President
Harding issued another nighttime bulletin reporting
bronchopneumonia in the right lung and describing his condition as "grave".[123]
U.S. Vice President
Calvin Coolidge received bulletins of President Harding's condition while on vacation in
Plymouth, Vermont. Coolidge and his wife were visiting his father's home, and the vice president told reporters that he had been given news by long distance telephone and "expressed the view that there was not the occasion for alarm over the President's condition that he felt earlier in the day might exist."[124]
Eleanora Duse
Italian actress
Eleonora Duse became the first woman to be featured on the cover of Time magazine, after 21 consecutive covers with men. A woman would not appear again on the cover until the April 21, 1924 issue, with
Lou Henry Hoover.
Sidney Bechet made his recording debut, cutting "Wild Cat Blues" and "Kansas City Man Blues" as part of a quintet known as
Clarence Williams' Blue Five.[125]
The
execution of Roy Mitchell, an African-American convicted of six murders, was carried out by a public hanging in
Waco, Texas, pursuant to a sentence by the county court.
Hrant Shahinyan, Soviet Armenian gymnast and 1952 Olympic gold medalist; in
Gyulagarak, Armenia, Transcaucasian SSR, Soviet Union (d. 1996)[126]
Died:
Charles Hawtrey, 64, English actor, director, producer and manager
Constance von Stumm, 34, American heiress who had married German diplomat Baron Ferdinand Carl von Stumm, by suicide after 13 years of marriage
July 31, 1923 (Tuesday)
A railway accident killed 47 people at the German city of
Kreiensen, where a stopped train was hit by a locomotive on the Hamburg to Munich express. Initial reports said that 100 people were killed and 34 injured.[127]
Dr.
Charles E. Sawyer, the Physician to the President, reported from the Palace Hotel in San Francisco that U.S. President Harding's condition had improved and that he was resting comfortably.[128] An evening bulletin from the five members physician team said "The President has maintained the ground gained since last night. His temperature is 100; pulse 120; respiration 44 and regular. Nourishment is being taken regularly, and the laboratory findings indicate elimination is improving. In general he is more comfortable and resting better." [129]
The text of President Harding's national address by radio, which he had planned to give on the evening of July 31, was made public by his press secretary, George B. Christian. In a statement, Christian said "But for his illness the President would have delivered the speech according to schedule; but this being prevented, he now feels that it should go to the public through the medium of the press and for the information and consideration of the people."[130]
In Britain, royal assent was given to several bills, including the Oxford and Cambridge Bill and
Lady Astor's liquor sales restriction bill.[76]
British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's cabinet voted to approve the report of a cabinet subcommittee that formally approved the British
Mandate for Palestine and endorsed the 1917
Balfour Declaration. The legally binding document was the first official British report for the policy of Zionism and the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.[132]
^"France to Build Fleet of Giant Undersea Craft". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 3, 1923. p. 2.
^De Santo, V. (July 3, 1923). "Pope Demands Germany Halt Ruhr Sabotage". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^Peter Semmens, Railway Disasters of the World: Principal Passenger Train Accidents of the 20th Century (Patrick Stephens Ltd, 1994) p. 78
^Sheean, Vincent (July 2, 1923). "Allies Present Final Demands to Ismet Today". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 11.
^"Harding Drives Locomotive for 12 Miles, Realizing an Ambition of His Boyhood", The New York Times, July 3, 1923, p. 1
^"Harding Says Time Has Come to Unlock Natural Resources; Predicting a Nation of 300,000,000, He Urges Gradual Development; For Larger Yellowstone", The New York Times, July 3, 1923, p. 1
^Hodges, David (1967). The French Grand Prix. pp. 65–70.
^"Harding Takes Part in Pioneer Pageant of the Oregon Trail; Meacham Reverts to 40's; Cowboys and Indians, Hoop Skirts, High Beavers and Boots Appear in Streets", The New York Times, July 4, 1923, p. 1
^(a reporter did comment "Meacham is today the center of the eyes of the entire United States", "Huge Crowd Is Already at Meacham", La Grande (OR) Observer, July 3, 1923, p. 5)
^"May Break Even on Dempsey Bout— Face Value of Tickets Sold Reaches $224,485— 7,202 Persons Paid to See Match", by Elmer Davis, The New York Times, July 6, 1923, p. 1
^Cox, Jim (2013). Radio Journalism in America: Telling the News in the Golden Age and Beyond. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 34.
ISBN978-0-7864-6963-5.
^"Sheriff Suspects Aerial Murder of B. H. DeLay, Well Known Stunt Aviator", Indianapolis Star, July 7, 1923
^"Bernard Loomis, 82, Dies; Made Toys TV Stars", by Douglas Martin, The New York Times, June 6, 2006, p. C-13
^"New Era in Egypt Today; Abolition of Martial Law and Release of Political Prisoners Promised", The New York Times, July 5, 1923, p. 9
^"Miss Barrymore Obtains Divorce; Tells of Abuse". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 6, 1923. p. 3.
^Wilcox, Grafton (July 6, 1923). "Harding Sails Intrenched as G.O.P. Leader". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 2.
^Skene, Don (July 7, 1923). "Suzanne Beats Kitty for "World's" Title". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 9.
^"Fernande Grudet, who presided over exclusive Paris brothel, dies at 92", by Matt Schudel, Washington Post, December 25, 2015
^"Home Trip Plans Changed", The New York Times, July 8, 1923, p. 3
^Skene, Don (July 8, 1923). "Little Bill Wins World Title as Hunter Falls". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. Part 2 p. 4.
^"Indians Set Record in Beating Red Sox; Triumph by 27 to 3 for New American League Mark — Score in Every Inning", The New York Times, July 8, 1923, p. 22
^"Continental Flight Halted by Gas Clog; Lieutenant Maughan Is Forced Down Near St. Joseph (Mo.) in Daylight-to-Dark Venture", The New York Times, July 10, 1923, p. 1
^"Maughan Forced to Abandon Dark and Dawn Flight; Broken Oil Line Compels Persistent Aviator to Descend at Rock Springs, Wyoming Near End of Trip", Montgomery (AL) Advertiser, July 20, 1923, p. 1
^"Hero of Kapp 'Putsch' Breaks Leipsic Jail; Captain Ehrhardt, Awaiting Trial for Treason, Flees Through a Hole in the Roof", The New York Times, July 14, 1923, p. 1
^Wales, Henry (July 14, 1923). "Offers Berlin "A Way Out"". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^"World Law College Begins in the Hague— Celebrities Witness Realization of "Second Utopian Dream" of Peacemakers", The New York Times, July 15, 1923, p. 4
^"Alaskan Town Warmly Greets Harding Party". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 15, 1923. p. 9.
^"Egypt Halts 'Holy Carpet' Pilgrimage to Mecca, Incensed by Hussein's Action", The New York Times, July 16, 1923, p. 1
^"Harding in Gay Mood As He Speeds North Under Midnight Sun— Drives a Spike of Gold— This symbolizes the Connection of the Pacific and Arctic Oceans by Rail", The New York Times, July 16, 1923, p. 1
^De Santo, V. (July 15, 1923). "Dictatorship of Italy Clinched for Mussolini". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 3.
^"Jones, an Amateur, Beats Cruickshank, Pro, For Golf Title— 21-Year-Old Georgian Downs Scottish Star at 18th Hole, 76 to 78", The New York Times, July 16, 1923, p. 1
^De Santo, V. (July 17, 1923). "Anglo-Italian Agreement on Ruhr Reached". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^"Johnson Is Elected Minnesota Senator; Leads Now by 23,122; Farmer-Laborite Has Probably Beaten Preus by About 50,000 Votes", The New York Times, July 17, 1923, p. 1
^
abcMercer, Derrik (1989). Chronicle of the 20th Century. London: Chronicle Communications Ltd. p. 308.
ISBN978-0-582-03919-3.
^"Filipinos Appeal to the President over Wood's Head; Native Leaders in Cabinet Walkout Charge That the Governor Usurps Power", The New York Times, July 19, 1923, p. 1
^Frank McLynn, Villa and Zapata: A History of the Mexican Revolution (Basic Books, 2000) p. 393
^Friedrich Katz, The Life and Times of Pancho Villa (Stanford University Press, 1998)
^"Villa Slain, As He Slew Many, from Ambush". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 21, 1923. p. 1.
^"Feudists Slay Villa, Avenging Execution of Herrera Family; Brother Is Believed to Have Squared With Old Rebel Chief for Deaths of Four of Kin", The New York Times, July 21, 1923, p. 1
^"Germany Can't Pay, Carnegie Survey Finds". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 21, 1923. p. 1.
^"Kansas Defied by Klan; Mask Parade is Held". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 22, 1923. p. 1.
^"Bolt Sinks Swift Star— Lightning Destroyed Tanker Which Sailed From Los Angeles Harbor, Owners Decide", Los Angeles Times, August 18, 1923, p. 1
^"Lightning Bolt May Have Sunk Oil Tanker", Boston Globe, August 18, 1923, p. 16
^"Harding Returning on Ship from Alaska", The New York Times, July 24, 1923, p. 10
^"103 Dead, 200 Injured in Wreck in Bulgaria", United press report in St. Louis Star, July 24, 1923, p. 9
^"100 Killed in Train Smash", Birmingham (England) Gazette, July 25, 1923, p. 1
^"Recover 160 Bodies from Train Wreck— 200 Killed in Bulgarian Disaster, According to Latest Reports", U.P. report in Buffalo (NY) Evening News, July 26, 1923, p. 1
^"Death Toll from Bulgar Train Wreck Lowered— Latest News Places Total Killed at Eight With 20 Injured", The Tennessean (Nashville), July 27, 1923, p. 1
^"8 Killed in Wreck", Los Angeles Evening Express, July 27, 1923, p. 5
^Bruce MacDonald, Vancouver: A Visual History (Talonbooks, 1992) p. 17
^Ryan, Thomas (July 24, 1923). "British Spurn Disarm Parley; 'Time Not Ripe'". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^Wilcox, Grafton (July 27, 1923). "Harding at Vancouver". Chicago Daily Tribune. pp. 1–2.
^"Canadians Cheer Harding Assurance of Our Friendship— President, First in Office to Cross Line, Gets a Stirring Reception in Vancouver", The New York Times, July 27, 1923, p. 1
^
abc"Harding Has Attack of Ptomaine Poison; Drops Yosemite Trip— President Will Go Direct to San Francisco and Rest There for Two Days; He Suffers Acute Pains— But His Condition, Due to Eating Crabs or Canned Food, Is Declared Not Serious", The New York Times, July 29, 1923, p. 1
^"Dundee Wins Title; Outpoints Criqui— American Earns Featherweight Championship by Decisive Margin in 15 Rounds", The New York Times, July 27, 1923, p. 9
^Roberts, James; Skutt, Alexander G. (2006). The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book (4th Ed.). Ithaca, New York: McBooks Press, Inc. p. 95.
ISBN978-1-59013-121-3.
^"President Suffers from New Symptoms in Ptomaine Illness; Consultation Held; Whole California Program Canceled— Decision Late at Night— President's Temperature Was then 102 and His Pulse 120", The New York Times, July 30, 1923, p. 1
^"Italians Hail Mussolini as Nation's Savior In Thousands of Messages on 40th Birthday", The New York Times, July 30, 1923, p. 1
^"Mississippi Negro Is Burned at Stake; Mob Takes Alleged Assailant of Woman from Posse — Another One Escapes", The New York Times, July 30, 1923, p. 3
^"Bulletins of the Physicians on the President's Condition", The New York Times, August 1, 1923, p. 1
^"Speech for World Court Made Public; Favors Tribunal As Is; Still Against the League; No Recognition for the Soviet— Hopeful of Results as to Mexico", The New York Times, August 1, 1923, p. 1
^Knox, William (1987). James Maxton. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 44.
ISBN978-0-7190-2152-7.
^"Flawed Foundations: The Balfour Declaration and the Palestine Mandate", by James Renton, in Britain, Palestine and Empire: The Mandate Years, ed. by Rory Miller (Routledge, 2016). pp. 15–37
^"La FEB cumple 95 años" ("The FEB reaches 95 years"), Federación Española de Baloncesto" website, July 30, 2018
July 26, 1923: Ill from food poisoning, Warren G. Harding (in top hat) becomes first U.S. President to visit CanadaJuly 20, 1923: Mexican bandit Pancho Villa shot to death in MexicoJuly 4, 1923: Remote town of Shelby, Montana, bankrupted by staging heavyweight boxing bout
The following events occurred in July 1923:
July 1, 1923 (Sunday)
The
Chinese Immigration Act went into effect in Canada to bar Chinese immigrants (including those from Hong Kong) from coming to the Dominion of Canada, with only a few exceptions for foreign students and diplomats (whose stay was to be temporary), wealthy merchants and those who qualified for admission under "special circumstance".[1] The Act would remain the law in Canada for more than 24 years until its repeal on May 14, 1947.
Pope Pius XI sent a letter to the
papal nuncio in Berlin appealing to Germany to make every effort to make its payment obligations and cease its resistance campaign which removed the possibility of coming to an agreement.[3]
The Allied delegates at the
Conference of Lausanne made their final offer to Turkey to settle the matter of reparations.[5]
Exactly one month before his death, U.S. President
Warren G. Harding "realized a boyhood ambition" by being allowed to drive a railway
locomotive. Harding "took a lesson from the engineer in regard to the functions of the various buttons which are used in turning power off and on, giving signals and otherwise operating the engine" and drove the 10-car presidential train on a steep downgrade through the
Bitterroot Mountains in
Montana.[6] After arriving in
Spokane, Washington later in the day, Harding spoke out against "ultra-conservationists". Noting that "another century will give us a population of 300,000,000", Harding said, "There was a time when the public domain was thought of as a treasure house of potential wealth to be locked up against the day when we should need it... As a matter of fact, that would prevent it from being ready when needed." In the same speech, however, he said that he would urge Congress upon his return to Washington to add 400,000 acres (160,000 ha) to
Yellowstone National Park after having visited for two days.[7]
What would become the first "perfect copy" of the printed
Gutenberg Bible in the United States was purchased at an auction in London by an agent for the Rosenbach Company of New York and Philadelphia, a dealer in rare books, for the amount of £9,000, $43,350 in the dollar to pound exchange rate at the time and equivalent to $750,000 a century later.[8][9]
An unauthorized dockworkers' strike began in England protesting the reduction of wages by a shilling a day.[10]
Born:Wisława Szymborska, Polish writer and 1996
Nobel Prize in Literature laureate for her "poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality"; in
Prowent (d. 2012)
July 3, 1923 (Tuesday)
President Harding visited the small town of
Meacham, Oregon to speak at a celebration commemorating the 80th anniversary of the 1843 founding of the Oregon Trail.[12] While it does not appear to have been part of his prepared speech [13] a reporter wrote that Meacham was "the capital of the United States all day long," [14] although even if the remark had been made, Harding, the reporters and most of his audience would have been aware that the U.S. president has no authority to move the national seat of government from Washington.[15] Nevertheless, a
historic marker at Meacham includes the statement that "On July 3, 1923, reporters noted that on July 3, 1923, Meacham was the capitol [sic] of the U.S. when President Harding stopped and participated in the exercises commemorating the eightieth anniversary of the covered wagon migration of 1843."[16]
Four German civilians were shot by Belgian soldiers after violating a curfew that had been imposed in the Ruhr occupation zone. The curfew, and the "shoot on sight" order had been put into effect immediately after eight Belgian soldiers had been killed in the June 30 bombing of the
Duisburg-Hochfeld Railway Bridge, and took place in
Buer, 25 miles (40 km) from
Gelsenkirchen.[17]
Champion Jack Dempsey and challenger Tommy Gibbons fought in a boxing bout staged in the small town of
Shelby, Montana, in front of a crowd of less than 20,000 people, most of whom did not buy a ticket.[18]Dempsey defeated
Gibbons by decision to retain the World Heavyweight Championship, but the bout is mostly remembered as a debacle for the promoters who lost a fortune staging it in the remote oil town hoping to attract investors.[19] The $116,000 lost by promoters [20] would be equivalent to more than two million dollars a century later [21] Figures the next day showed that only 7,202 people paid to see the bout, but that the rentals of motion pictures would drop the deficit to $70,000.[22]
A massive
Ku Klux Klan rally, the largest in the organization's history, was held in
Kokomo, Indiana. Attendance estimates ran as high as 200,000.[23]
Stunt pilot
B. H. DeLay was killed at the age of 31, along with a passenger, business owner R. I. Short, while performing in an airshow at Ocean Park in
Venice, California. The wings of his airplane, the Wasp, collapsed as he was flying a loop-the-loop and the craft plunged downward. A subsequent investigation of the wreckage showed that the nuts and bolts for the wings had been tampered with in an act of sabotage [24] although no person was ever charged with a crime.
Born:Bernard Loomis, American toy developer and marketing coordinator who built up the Mattel, Kenner and Hasbro companies and conceived the idea of cartoon shows based on toys; in
the Bronx,
New York City (d. 2006) [25]
July 5, 1923 (Thursday)
Martial law was ended in the Kingdom of Egypt for the first time in almost nine years, with the release of 250 political prisoners who had been sentenced by British military courts during and after the outbreak of World War One.[26]
Ethel Barrymore was granted a divorce from Russell G. Colt in
Providence, Rhode Island court on grounds of nonsupport. Neither principal was present, but testimony taken by deposition for the court was entered in which Barrymore said that Colt had struck her on numerous occasions.[27]
Madame Claude (Fernande Grudet), French brothel manager who catered to prominent government officials and businessmen and built "the most exclusive prostitution network in Paris"; in
Angers (d. 2015) [31]
July 7, 1923 (Saturday)
A spokesman for the
White House announced that President Harding's tour of the United States had been extended by two days. The telegram from Walter Brown said "Impossible to omit Santa Catalina trip without greatly disappointing Mrs. Harding. Have therefore arranged for President to sail from San Diego Aug. 6", after which the president's ship would travel down the coast of Mexico and Central America, passing through the Panama Canal and taking him back around the Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast to return home.[32]
Bill Johnston defeated
Frank Hunter to win the men's championship at
Wimbledon. Both finalists at Britain's premier tennis tournament were American.[33]
American baseball pitcher
Francis "Lefty" O'Doul, later enshrined in the
Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame as an organizer, entered a game for the Boston Red Sox as a reliever and, in a single inning, gave up 13 runs to the host Cleveland Indians before being pulled back out. Cleveland went on to win the game, 27 to 3, having scored in every inning to set an American League record.[34][35]
In
Czechoslovakia, woman deputy Betta Kerpiskova introduced a bill that would make
bigamy mandatory, as it required all men to take two wives as a means of replenishing the population lost in the years of the war. Wives of the deputies shouted down the bill from the gallery, and one speaker said Czechoslovakia would face ridicule around the world if the law was passed. The session was adjourned after a shouting match.[39]
The bodies of
Takeo Arishima and his wife were found in the Japanese novelist's villa. They both committed suicide by hanging but were not found for a month.[40]
Born:Harrison Dillard, American track and field athlete and 1948 and 1952 Olympic gold medalist; in
Cleveland (d. 2019)[41]
Died: Augustine Tuillerie, 89, French children's book writer who used "G. Bruno" as her pen name
July 9, 1923 (Monday)
At 1:20 in the morning, the parties to the
Lausanne Conference reached an agreement on the amount of Turkey's World War One reparations.[42] The treaty was signed formally on July 24.
The
Curia Julia, the 1,967-year-old Roman Senate building constructed in 44 B.C. during the reign of
Julius Caesar, was purchased by the government of Italy from the
Collegio di Spagna.[49]
Marguerite Alibert, a French socialite who had had an affair with the
Prince of Wales during World War One, shot and killed her Egyptian husband of six months, Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey, during an argument at their suite in London's
Savoy Hotel. "[51] She would be acquitted of murder charges on September 15, 1923.[52]
Luther W. Mott, 48, U.S. Representative for New York since 1911, died after having been "ill a week with intestinal trouble."[53]
July 11, 1923 (Wednesday)
France notified Britain that it would not accept an international conference to discuss the German reparations problem. "The reparations commission was legally created by the
Versailles treaty to handle the problem and this cannot be transferred elsewhere without violating the treaty", a spokesperson for the government said.[54]
British Prime Minister
Stanley Baldwin made a speech before the
House of Commons about the issue of German reparations and the
occupation of the Ruhr, stating that "if we ask Germany to pay in excess of her capacity we shall not succeed ... We are convinced that an indefinite continuation of this state of affairs is fraught with great peril. Germany herself appears to be moving fast towards economic chaos, which may itself be succeeded by social and industrial ruin." Baldwin proposed that an impartial body be allowed to investigate Germany's capacity to pay.[57]
Sy Berger, American designer known for his 1952 creation of the modern
baseball card, with the format of concise statistical player information on the back of the player's photo; in
New York City (d. 2014) [60]
U.S. Senator
William P. Dillingham, 79, died during his fourth term as Senator for Vermont.
July 13, 1923 (Friday)
Andrews
Near the
Flaming Cliffs in
Mongolia, a party of paleontologists led by U.S. explorer
Roy Chapman Andrews became the first people to discover dinosaur eggs. The fossilized eggs would be determined 72 years later to belong to an
oviraptorosaur.[61]
The
Hollywood Sign was officially dedicated. It was originally erected earlier that year as a temporary structure to promote the real estate development ""Hollyoodland", and would prove a popular landmark in
Hollywood, California, eventually dropping the last four letters in 1949.[62]
France refused to sign on to the British reply to Germany's offer on reparations unless its primary demand stated that passive resistance in the Ruhr be ended.[64]
Eugène Chigot, 62, pioneering French post-impressionist painter
George C. Hale, 72, novelty inventor who created "Hale's Tours and Scenes of the World", creating a 10-minute simulated train ride to exotic destinations using film, sound effects, a wind machine and a rocking platform.
July 15, 1923 (Sunday)
The Soviet Union's first national airline,
Dobrolet, began operations by making a flight from
Moscow to
Nizhny Novgorod to inaugurate regularly scheduled commercial passenger service in the U.S.S.R.;[citation needed] the state-owned company's name would be changed to
Aeroflot in 1932.
The government of Egypt banned its Muslim citizens from making the
Hajj, the pilgrimage to
Mecca, as well as its annual subsidy to the
Kingdom of Hejaz, after King
Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz barred the Egyptian medical escort caravan from accompanying the Egyptian pilgrims into the kingdom. The custom of sending a medical mission as part of the Hajj was "a precaution rendered necessary by the total lank of sanitary protection in the Hedjaz", and Hussein's decree was made on grounds that the escort was an infringement on Hejazi independence.[67]
U.S. President
Warren G. Harding symbolically completed construction of the
Alaska Railroad by using a hammer to drive the
golden spike linking the rails that had been built from different directions, in a ceremony near the town of
Nenana.[68][69]
Bobby Jones, a 21-year-old amateur from the U.S. state of Georgia, won his first career major golf championship at the
U.S. Open, defeating
Bobby Cruickshank of Scotland.[71]
French Prime Minister
Raymond Poincaré made a speech to the senate rejecting almost every item of
Stanley Baldwin's speech, saying that "we wish only that the treaty signed by twenty-eight powers shall not be considered an antediluvian fossil and placed in an archaeological museum after four years. It seems that we ask too much. Certain friends say to make concessions for a common interest. Since the end of the armistice we have done nothing but make concessions. We are at the end of making concessions because until now we stood all the costs ... Instead of helping us obtain payment Germany has organized resistance, forcing us to accentuate the pressure. We thus are not responsible for the resulting situation."[72]
Born: Herb Sargent (pen name for Herbert Supowitz), American television producer and comedy writer known for the co-creation of the popular Weekend Update feature on Saturday Night Live; in
Philadelphia (d. 2005)
Died:
Semyon Alapin, 66, Russian chess master and the namesake for nine different opening moves in chess
Died: Charles Boardman Hawes, 34, American novelist, died of pneumonic meningitis two days before the publication of his new book, Gloucester, by Land and Sea, and three months before the release of his children's adventure, The Dark Frigate.
July 17, 1923 (Tuesday)
Nearly all of the Philippine-born officials of the territorial government of the U.S.-controlled Philippines resigned in protest over the actions of U.S. Governor-General
Leonard Wood. The entire Council of State and the Filipino members of Wood's cabinet walked out after Wood had reinstated an American official who had been charged with bribery.
Manuel Quezon, who quit as president of the Philippine Senate, sent a cable message to U.S. president Harding, saying "We welcome the present crisis because it will call the attention of Congress to the need of a definite status of government here. In the resignations of members of the Council of State and departmental secretaries, there is no attack on the sovereign power of the United States, nor a challenge to the authority of its representative in the Philippine Islands... but it is a protest against the encroachment of the Governor-General on the constitutional rights already enjoyed by the Filipino people, against usurpation of power in direct violation of existing laws."[77]
A
libel trial opened in England between
Lord Alfred Douglas and The Morning Post of London. Douglas was suing the newspaper for printing a letter from a Jewish correspondent saying that it must no longer be a paying proposition for men like Douglas "to invent vile insults against the Jews." This remark was a reference to Douglas' newspaper, Plain English, which regularly printed
antisemitic articles alleging Jewish conspiracies.[78][79]
Winston Churchill took the stand in the
Lord Alfred Douglas libel trial and said that the plaintiff told an absolute lie when he alleged that
Ernest Cassel had paid Churchill to print a false account of the
Battle of Jutland attributing victory to Germany so
stocks would fall and a group of Jews could turn a profit when they went up again. A deposition from
Arthur Balfour was read in which he said that he alone had written the Jutland report and that Churchill had nothing to do with it. The jury returned a verdict awarding Douglas one
farthing in damages.[80]
Italy published a "timetable" for the
Italianization of South Tyrol. Italian was to be made the official language of the mostly German-speaking region, and Austro-German immigration into the region would be banned.[76]
Russell Maughan's second attempt at the first
dawn-to-dusk transcontinental flight across the United States ended 738 miles short of his goal of San Francisco when an oil leak forced him to land in
Rock Springs, Wyoming.[81] Maughan, who was flying averaging 192 miles per hour (309 km/h) was only 598 miles (962 km) short of his destination when he was forced to end his effort.[82] Maughan decided, with the increasingly shorter daylight hours as the summer progressed, he would not try again until the following year.
General
Pancho Villa, the retired guerrilla leader who had led the
Mexican Revolution that forced out President
Porfirio Díaz and brought
Francisco I. Madero to power in 1911, was shot dead along with his assistant Daniel Tamayo, his chauffeur Miguel Trujillo, and two bodyguards, Rafael Madreno and Claro Huertado. Villa and his entourage had traveled from his ranch in Canutillo to the nearby town of
Hidalgo del Parral to pick up cash to pay his employees. As he was being driven through town on his way back home, Villa was shot by a group of seven men who fired more than 40 rounds into his automobile.[84] Villa, who had caused the deaths of countless numbers of people, was hit by nine bullets and killed instantly, along with all but one of his bodyguards.[85] Only Ramon Contreras, who was wounded but killed one of the gunmen, survived.[86] Reports from Mexico suggested that the assassination had been commissioned by Francisco Herrera, whose father and three brothers had been executed by Villa during the Revolution, and the death "was accepted as life answering for life."[87]
A survey by the
Carnegie Institute concluded that Germany was unable to pay any further
reparations at this time because all the country's movable capital had been exhausted.[88]
Wearing the cowls on their robes, about 1,000 members of the
Ku Klux Klan paraded on the main street of
Topeka, Kansas, in defiance of an order issued to Topeka authorities by
Kansas Attorney General Charles B. Griffith to prevent the marchers from wearing masks.
Topeka's Mayor Earl Akers declined to abide by the order, declaring that there was no law against parading while wearing a mask.[89]
All but one of the 32-member crew of the American oil tanker
SS Swiftstar disappeared after the ship exploded and sank near the
Colombian island of
San Andrés while en route from the U.S. city of
San Pedro, California to
Fall River, Massachusetts, after passing through the
Panama Canal. In addition to the wreckage of the ship, the schooner Albert H. Willis found the remains of thee lifeboats from the Swiftstar and a floating box that had the charred body of one of the crew. A review by investigators concluded that a bolt of lightning hit the tanker based on the pattern of the burns to the lone remains recovered.[90]
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck near
San Bernardino, California at 11:28 p.m. The County Hospital and Hall of Records were badly damaged but there were no fatalities.[93]
The Navy transport U.S.S. Henderson departed from
Sitka, Alaska with U.S. President Harding en route to Canada and his return to the continental United States.[94]
Born:
Bob Dole, U.S. Representative for
Kansas 1961-1969, later U.S. Senator from 1969 to 1996) and twice the Senate Majority Leader (1985 to 1987 and 1995 to 1996) before making an unsuccessful run as the Republican candidate for President in 1996; in
Russell, Kansas (d. 2021)
Two trains collided in
Bulgaria near the city of
Pleven, and the reports of the number of dead was unclear from reports. A dispatch the next day reported 103 killed and 200 injured.[95][96] A followup report declared that 200 people died and 300 were injured in the accident "in which an engine and 11 coaches were derailed and flattened by the contact" and added "From 10 coaches, no one escaped alive." [97] The next dispatch from Havas, the Bulgarian news agency, reported that the toll was 8 persons killed and about 20 injured and that "The correspondent's dispatch does not bear out published reports that the death list would mount into hundreds." [98][99]
The chiefs of 16
Squamish villages in the Canadian provinces of the
British Columbia signed an agreement to form the
Squamish Nation (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw), which now administers 24 Indian Reserves as one of the
First Nations governments.[100]
Norman Clyde became the first person to ascend an 8,610 feet (2,620 m) mountain summit in
Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of
Montana,[102] one of 11 first ascents that he made in 36 days of climbing 36 different mountains, and out of 130 first ascents that he made in his lifetime. Park officials named the summit
Clyde Peak in his honor.
Born:Morris Halle, Latvian-born American linguist and pioneer in the study of
phonology; as Moriss Pinkovics in
Liepaja (d. 2018)
The
Treaty of Lausanne was signed in
Switzerland at the
Beau-Rivage Palace, as the final peace treaty of
World War I, formally ending hostilities between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire.[103][104] Among the provisions was the agreement by Turkey to abolish the
Ottoman Empire and completion of transition to the
Republic of Turkey; acknowledgment of the right of the merchant ships of Allied nations to pass through the
Turkish Straits (the
Dardanelles and
Bosphorous); the safe transition of the Greek population of Turkey to Greece; recognition of the British control of the island of
Cyprus; and cession of the
Danube River island of
Ada Kaleh (now submerged) to
Romania. In return, the Britain, France, Italy and Greece Allies agreed to
remove their occupational forces from
Constantinople (now
Istanbul), and agreed that the debts of the Ottoman Empire would be borne by all the nations created from the empire's breakup, and not solely by Turkey. Occupational troops were removed by October 4, before the entry of the treaty into force on August 6, 1924.
Cardinal
Albert Vanhoye, Roman Catholic priest who, at 98, was the oldest member of the College of Cardinals at the time of his death; in
Hazebrouck,
département du Nord (d. 2021)
Li Yuru, Chinese opera singer and actress; in
Beijing (d. 2008)
David Lam, Chinese Canadian banker and philanthropist who served as the
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (the provincial representative for the Governor General and the reigning British monarch) from 1988 to 1995; in
Hong Kong as David See-chai Lam (d. 2010)
At 11:00 in the morning,
Warren G. Harding became the first U.S. President to visit
Canada, disembarking from the U.S.S. Henderson at
Vancouver on his way back from Alaska. After a luncheon and a round of golf at the Shaughnessy Heights Golf Club, President Harding addressed a crowd of 50,000 people at
Stanley Park as the guest of British Columbia Premier
John Oliver.[107] At 7:00 in the evening, the Canadian government hosted a formal dinner in honor of the President and Mrs. Harding at the Hotel Vancouver, after which the presidential party returned to the Henderson.[108] While the ship was traveling through Puget Sound on the way from Vancouver to Seattle, President Harding dined on crab and became ill in the evening. According to The New York Times summary of the physician report three days later, "The President's indisposition is attributed primarily to eating crabs on the transport Henderson.... That night President Harding had severe pains in the abdomen and had a generally disagreeable time." [109]
Donald Macadie of England was granted British patent 200,977 for his invention of the
volt-ohm-milliammeter (or "multimeter") which could measure electrical voltage, resistance and current.[citation needed]
The first opera performance in what is now
Israel took place at a movie theater in
Tel Aviv, where former Russian conductor Mordechai Golinkin had organized the Eretz-Israeli Opera Company. Golinkin conducted an orchestra for the performance of
Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata.[citation needed]
President
Harding arrived in
Seattle, where he delivered what would be his last major speech. He spoke at the
University of Washington's
Husky Stadium, addressing the audience about the future of the
Alaska Territory, where he had stayed a few days earlier. "Alaska is designed for ultimate Statehood," Harding said, although he was only referring to a portion of it. Harding told the audience, "In a very few years we can well set off the Panhandle and a large block of the connecting southeastern part as a State. This region now contains easily 90 percent of the white population and of the developed resources. As to the remainder of the territory, I would leave the Alaskans of the future to decide."[113][114]
The Republican Party announced that President Harding's scheduled July 31 speech from the San Francisco Civic Auditorium would be heard on a nationwide radio broadcast by as many as five million people, with the aid of telephone lines linking stations KPO in San Francisco, WOAW in Omaha, Nebraska; WMAQ in Chicago; WEAF in New York City; WMAF near Boston; and WCAP in Washington.[115]
Born:Ray Boone, American baseball player and 1955 RBI leader in the American League; in
San Diego,
California (d. 2004)
President
Harding canceled his planned visits to
Oregon and
Yosemite National Park due to an illness reported to be
ptomaine poisoning.[109] On doctor's orders, Harding remained in bed on his special train and canceled a speaking engagement planned at stops in
Eugene, Oregon and at
El Portal, California outside
Yosemite National Park. U.S. Secretary of the Interior
Hubert Work told a disappointed crowd at a stop in
Grants Pass, Oregon, "It comes about that during our last day at sea many of us were attacked by a temporary indisposition, not due to seasickness but to food put up in a can. I will not say what the item of food was, for thereby I might depress the value of the canned product."[109] His train continued on to
San Francisco.[116]
Xia Peisu, Chinese computer scientist known for her development of China's first general purpose electronic computer; in
Chongqing,
Sichuan province (d. 2014)
German communists staged a "Red Sunday" with public demonstrations across the country, but turnouts in most cities were low. Four were killed in
Neuruppin when communists rushed the city jail and police fired on the unruly mob.[119]
President Harding's personal physician, Dr.
Charles E. Sawyer, issued a nighttime bulletin saying the president's condition had worsened with new symptoms, and that his itinerary for the rest of speaking tour in California was canceled.[120]
Italy's Prime Minister
Benito Mussolini received "telegrams, letters and missives of all kinds from all classes of people" on the occasion of his 40th birthday, with greetings from more than 30,000 arriving at his office in the Foreign Ministry Building, and at his private residence.[121]
Outside of
Yazoo City, Mississippi, a mob captured Willie Minnifield, an African American accused of attacking a white woman with an axe, and burned him at the stake at a swamp where he had been captured. A man captured along with Minnifield escaped.[122]
The physicians attending President
Harding issued another nighttime bulletin reporting
bronchopneumonia in the right lung and describing his condition as "grave".[123]
U.S. Vice President
Calvin Coolidge received bulletins of President Harding's condition while on vacation in
Plymouth, Vermont. Coolidge and his wife were visiting his father's home, and the vice president told reporters that he had been given news by long distance telephone and "expressed the view that there was not the occasion for alarm over the President's condition that he felt earlier in the day might exist."[124]
Eleanora Duse
Italian actress
Eleonora Duse became the first woman to be featured on the cover of Time magazine, after 21 consecutive covers with men. A woman would not appear again on the cover until the April 21, 1924 issue, with
Lou Henry Hoover.
Sidney Bechet made his recording debut, cutting "Wild Cat Blues" and "Kansas City Man Blues" as part of a quintet known as
Clarence Williams' Blue Five.[125]
The
execution of Roy Mitchell, an African-American convicted of six murders, was carried out by a public hanging in
Waco, Texas, pursuant to a sentence by the county court.
Hrant Shahinyan, Soviet Armenian gymnast and 1952 Olympic gold medalist; in
Gyulagarak, Armenia, Transcaucasian SSR, Soviet Union (d. 1996)[126]
Died:
Charles Hawtrey, 64, English actor, director, producer and manager
Constance von Stumm, 34, American heiress who had married German diplomat Baron Ferdinand Carl von Stumm, by suicide after 13 years of marriage
July 31, 1923 (Tuesday)
A railway accident killed 47 people at the German city of
Kreiensen, where a stopped train was hit by a locomotive on the Hamburg to Munich express. Initial reports said that 100 people were killed and 34 injured.[127]
Dr.
Charles E. Sawyer, the Physician to the President, reported from the Palace Hotel in San Francisco that U.S. President Harding's condition had improved and that he was resting comfortably.[128] An evening bulletin from the five members physician team said "The President has maintained the ground gained since last night. His temperature is 100; pulse 120; respiration 44 and regular. Nourishment is being taken regularly, and the laboratory findings indicate elimination is improving. In general he is more comfortable and resting better." [129]
The text of President Harding's national address by radio, which he had planned to give on the evening of July 31, was made public by his press secretary, George B. Christian. In a statement, Christian said "But for his illness the President would have delivered the speech according to schedule; but this being prevented, he now feels that it should go to the public through the medium of the press and for the information and consideration of the people."[130]
In Britain, royal assent was given to several bills, including the Oxford and Cambridge Bill and
Lady Astor's liquor sales restriction bill.[76]
British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's cabinet voted to approve the report of a cabinet subcommittee that formally approved the British
Mandate for Palestine and endorsed the 1917
Balfour Declaration. The legally binding document was the first official British report for the policy of Zionism and the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.[132]
^"France to Build Fleet of Giant Undersea Craft". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 3, 1923. p. 2.
^De Santo, V. (July 3, 1923). "Pope Demands Germany Halt Ruhr Sabotage". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^Peter Semmens, Railway Disasters of the World: Principal Passenger Train Accidents of the 20th Century (Patrick Stephens Ltd, 1994) p. 78
^Sheean, Vincent (July 2, 1923). "Allies Present Final Demands to Ismet Today". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 11.
^"Harding Drives Locomotive for 12 Miles, Realizing an Ambition of His Boyhood", The New York Times, July 3, 1923, p. 1
^"Harding Says Time Has Come to Unlock Natural Resources; Predicting a Nation of 300,000,000, He Urges Gradual Development; For Larger Yellowstone", The New York Times, July 3, 1923, p. 1
^Hodges, David (1967). The French Grand Prix. pp. 65–70.
^"Harding Takes Part in Pioneer Pageant of the Oregon Trail; Meacham Reverts to 40's; Cowboys and Indians, Hoop Skirts, High Beavers and Boots Appear in Streets", The New York Times, July 4, 1923, p. 1
^(a reporter did comment "Meacham is today the center of the eyes of the entire United States", "Huge Crowd Is Already at Meacham", La Grande (OR) Observer, July 3, 1923, p. 5)
^"May Break Even on Dempsey Bout— Face Value of Tickets Sold Reaches $224,485— 7,202 Persons Paid to See Match", by Elmer Davis, The New York Times, July 6, 1923, p. 1
^Cox, Jim (2013). Radio Journalism in America: Telling the News in the Golden Age and Beyond. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 34.
ISBN978-0-7864-6963-5.
^"Sheriff Suspects Aerial Murder of B. H. DeLay, Well Known Stunt Aviator", Indianapolis Star, July 7, 1923
^"Bernard Loomis, 82, Dies; Made Toys TV Stars", by Douglas Martin, The New York Times, June 6, 2006, p. C-13
^"New Era in Egypt Today; Abolition of Martial Law and Release of Political Prisoners Promised", The New York Times, July 5, 1923, p. 9
^"Miss Barrymore Obtains Divorce; Tells of Abuse". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 6, 1923. p. 3.
^Wilcox, Grafton (July 6, 1923). "Harding Sails Intrenched as G.O.P. Leader". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 2.
^Skene, Don (July 7, 1923). "Suzanne Beats Kitty for "World's" Title". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 9.
^"Fernande Grudet, who presided over exclusive Paris brothel, dies at 92", by Matt Schudel, Washington Post, December 25, 2015
^"Home Trip Plans Changed", The New York Times, July 8, 1923, p. 3
^Skene, Don (July 8, 1923). "Little Bill Wins World Title as Hunter Falls". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. Part 2 p. 4.
^"Indians Set Record in Beating Red Sox; Triumph by 27 to 3 for New American League Mark — Score in Every Inning", The New York Times, July 8, 1923, p. 22
^"Continental Flight Halted by Gas Clog; Lieutenant Maughan Is Forced Down Near St. Joseph (Mo.) in Daylight-to-Dark Venture", The New York Times, July 10, 1923, p. 1
^"Maughan Forced to Abandon Dark and Dawn Flight; Broken Oil Line Compels Persistent Aviator to Descend at Rock Springs, Wyoming Near End of Trip", Montgomery (AL) Advertiser, July 20, 1923, p. 1
^"Hero of Kapp 'Putsch' Breaks Leipsic Jail; Captain Ehrhardt, Awaiting Trial for Treason, Flees Through a Hole in the Roof", The New York Times, July 14, 1923, p. 1
^Wales, Henry (July 14, 1923). "Offers Berlin "A Way Out"". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^"World Law College Begins in the Hague— Celebrities Witness Realization of "Second Utopian Dream" of Peacemakers", The New York Times, July 15, 1923, p. 4
^"Alaskan Town Warmly Greets Harding Party". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 15, 1923. p. 9.
^"Egypt Halts 'Holy Carpet' Pilgrimage to Mecca, Incensed by Hussein's Action", The New York Times, July 16, 1923, p. 1
^"Harding in Gay Mood As He Speeds North Under Midnight Sun— Drives a Spike of Gold— This symbolizes the Connection of the Pacific and Arctic Oceans by Rail", The New York Times, July 16, 1923, p. 1
^De Santo, V. (July 15, 1923). "Dictatorship of Italy Clinched for Mussolini". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 3.
^"Jones, an Amateur, Beats Cruickshank, Pro, For Golf Title— 21-Year-Old Georgian Downs Scottish Star at 18th Hole, 76 to 78", The New York Times, July 16, 1923, p. 1
^De Santo, V. (July 17, 1923). "Anglo-Italian Agreement on Ruhr Reached". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^"Johnson Is Elected Minnesota Senator; Leads Now by 23,122; Farmer-Laborite Has Probably Beaten Preus by About 50,000 Votes", The New York Times, July 17, 1923, p. 1
^
abcMercer, Derrik (1989). Chronicle of the 20th Century. London: Chronicle Communications Ltd. p. 308.
ISBN978-0-582-03919-3.
^"Filipinos Appeal to the President over Wood's Head; Native Leaders in Cabinet Walkout Charge That the Governor Usurps Power", The New York Times, July 19, 1923, p. 1
^Frank McLynn, Villa and Zapata: A History of the Mexican Revolution (Basic Books, 2000) p. 393
^Friedrich Katz, The Life and Times of Pancho Villa (Stanford University Press, 1998)
^"Villa Slain, As He Slew Many, from Ambush". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 21, 1923. p. 1.
^"Feudists Slay Villa, Avenging Execution of Herrera Family; Brother Is Believed to Have Squared With Old Rebel Chief for Deaths of Four of Kin", The New York Times, July 21, 1923, p. 1
^"Germany Can't Pay, Carnegie Survey Finds". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 21, 1923. p. 1.
^"Kansas Defied by Klan; Mask Parade is Held". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 22, 1923. p. 1.
^"Bolt Sinks Swift Star— Lightning Destroyed Tanker Which Sailed From Los Angeles Harbor, Owners Decide", Los Angeles Times, August 18, 1923, p. 1
^"Lightning Bolt May Have Sunk Oil Tanker", Boston Globe, August 18, 1923, p. 16
^"Harding Returning on Ship from Alaska", The New York Times, July 24, 1923, p. 10
^"103 Dead, 200 Injured in Wreck in Bulgaria", United press report in St. Louis Star, July 24, 1923, p. 9
^"100 Killed in Train Smash", Birmingham (England) Gazette, July 25, 1923, p. 1
^"Recover 160 Bodies from Train Wreck— 200 Killed in Bulgarian Disaster, According to Latest Reports", U.P. report in Buffalo (NY) Evening News, July 26, 1923, p. 1
^"Death Toll from Bulgar Train Wreck Lowered— Latest News Places Total Killed at Eight With 20 Injured", The Tennessean (Nashville), July 27, 1923, p. 1
^"8 Killed in Wreck", Los Angeles Evening Express, July 27, 1923, p. 5
^Bruce MacDonald, Vancouver: A Visual History (Talonbooks, 1992) p. 17
^Ryan, Thomas (July 24, 1923). "British Spurn Disarm Parley; 'Time Not Ripe'". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^Wilcox, Grafton (July 27, 1923). "Harding at Vancouver". Chicago Daily Tribune. pp. 1–2.
^"Canadians Cheer Harding Assurance of Our Friendship— President, First in Office to Cross Line, Gets a Stirring Reception in Vancouver", The New York Times, July 27, 1923, p. 1
^
abc"Harding Has Attack of Ptomaine Poison; Drops Yosemite Trip— President Will Go Direct to San Francisco and Rest There for Two Days; He Suffers Acute Pains— But His Condition, Due to Eating Crabs or Canned Food, Is Declared Not Serious", The New York Times, July 29, 1923, p. 1
^"Dundee Wins Title; Outpoints Criqui— American Earns Featherweight Championship by Decisive Margin in 15 Rounds", The New York Times, July 27, 1923, p. 9
^Roberts, James; Skutt, Alexander G. (2006). The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book (4th Ed.). Ithaca, New York: McBooks Press, Inc. p. 95.
ISBN978-1-59013-121-3.
^"President Suffers from New Symptoms in Ptomaine Illness; Consultation Held; Whole California Program Canceled— Decision Late at Night— President's Temperature Was then 102 and His Pulse 120", The New York Times, July 30, 1923, p. 1
^"Italians Hail Mussolini as Nation's Savior In Thousands of Messages on 40th Birthday", The New York Times, July 30, 1923, p. 1
^"Mississippi Negro Is Burned at Stake; Mob Takes Alleged Assailant of Woman from Posse — Another One Escapes", The New York Times, July 30, 1923, p. 3
^"Bulletins of the Physicians on the President's Condition", The New York Times, August 1, 1923, p. 1
^"Speech for World Court Made Public; Favors Tribunal As Is; Still Against the League; No Recognition for the Soviet— Hopeful of Results as to Mexico", The New York Times, August 1, 1923, p. 1
^Knox, William (1987). James Maxton. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 44.
ISBN978-0-7190-2152-7.
^"Flawed Foundations: The Balfour Declaration and the Palestine Mandate", by James Renton, in Britain, Palestine and Empire: The Mandate Years, ed. by Rory Miller (Routledge, 2016). pp. 15–37
^"La FEB cumple 95 años" ("The FEB reaches 95 years"), Federación Española de Baloncesto" website, July 30, 2018