December 1913

December 21, 1913: The first crossword puzzle is introduced

December 12, 1913: The world's most famous painting, stolen from the Louvre Museum two years earlier, is recovered by police in Italy

December 29, 1913: The first weekly episode of The Adventures of Kathlyn premieres

The following events occurred in December 1913:

December 1, 1913 (Monday)

• The Ford Motor Company introduced the first moving automobile assembly line, reducing chassis assembly time from ​12 ¹⁄₂ hours in October to 2 hours, 40 minutes. Although Ford was not the first to use an assembly line, and had started the process the month before with the assembly of magnetos, his successful adoption of the line for factories was a milestone in the beginning of the era of mass production.^[1]
• Crete, having obtained self rule from Turkey after the Greco-Turkish War (1897), was annexed by Greece.^[2]
• The Auckland Exhibition officially opened to the public in Auckland Domain Park, Auckland, New Zealand with an estimated 18 0000 attendees the opening day of the world's fair.^[3]
• In Pittsburgh, the first drive-in gasoline station opened.^[4]
• A record blizzard hit Colorado, with four to six feet (one to two meters) of snow falling in the first week of December. Georgetown, in the foothills west of Denver, was the hardest hit with a record 86 inches of snow, just over seven feet (over two meters).^[5]
• Born: Mary Martin, American actress and singer, known for roles in South Pacific and The Sound of Music, in Weatherford, Texas (d. 1990)
• Died: Juhan Liiv, 49, Estonian poet and short story writer

December 2, 1913 (Tuesday)

• In Woodrow Wilson's First State of the Union Address, the 28th President of the United States opened with a call for the end of the Victoriano Huerta regime in Mexico: "There can be no certain prospect of peace in America until Gen. Huerta has surrendered his usurped authority in Mexico."^[6]
• Louis Barthou, 78th Prime Minister of France, resigned after only eight months in office following a defeat on a budget vote.^[7]
• During a military practice in Saverne, Second Lieutenant Günter Freiherr von Forstner - the source of much of the town's outrage against the German military since the Saverne Affair began in November - was mocked by Karl Blank, a journeyman shoemaker. Eyewitnesses reported Forstner lost his temper and struck Blank with his saber, causing severe head injuries that paralyzed him on one side. Forstner was sentenced to 43 days in jail after the first trial, but an appellate trial reversed the sentence after the judge concluded Forstner had acted in self-defense.^[8]
• Archbishop José Antonio Lezcano y Ortega was ordained to the newly created Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Managua in Nicaragua.^[9]
• Danish author Karen Blixen left her native Rungstedlund, Denmark to settle in Kenya where she would live for almost 28 years on her African farm.^[10]

December 3, 1913 (Wednesday)

• Twenty-eight men were killed in a fire at the homeless shelter at the Arcadia Hotel in Boston.^[11][12]

December 4, 1913 (Thursday)

Soddy

Dr. Todd

• The word "isotope", referring to a variation of a chemical element containing the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons, was introduced into common usage when the British scientific journal Nature published an article by Frederick Soddy, a pioneer in radiochemistry; Soddy had postulated the existence of isotopes in a February 27 address before Britain's Royal Society, referring to "atoms of the same chemical properties, non-separable by any known process", but without using the term, which was suggested to him by his friend, Edinburgh physician Margaret Todd. ^[13]
• For the first time in the history of the Prussian Empire, the Reichstag passed a vote of no-confidence against the Chancellor, with 293 votes for, 54 against, and four abstentions against the government of Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg. Leaders of each non-governing party declared the actions of the government in relation to the Saverne Affair were "not the view of the Reichstag".^[8]
• Vladimir Lenin published his paper "The Poverty of People's Teachers" in the political magazine Za Pravdu.^[14]
• Georgetown, Colorado, had the highest recorded snowfall in a 24-hour period in U.S. history, with 63 inches (5 feet, 3 inches or 1.6 metres of snow.^[15]

December 5, 1913 (Friday)

• Isabella Newman of Mordialloc, Victoria, Australia was arrested on suspicion of several reported disappearances of infants in Melbourne. Investigators connected her to several advertisements that took in infants born out of wedlock for adoption in exchange for fee of services. Upon learning that she was to be taken into Melbourne for further questioning, Newman asked to be excused to change into traveling clothes before locking herself in her bedroom and taking strychnine. Investigation following her suicide uncovered at least three infant bodies, two on the Newman farm property and a third in a different location.^[16]

December 6, 1913 (Saturday)

• The 1913-1914 World Baseball Tour began, with the National League champion New York Giants and the American League's fifth-place finishing Chicago White Sox starting their Asian visit in Tokyo. Although an exhibition game, it was the first Major League Baseball game to be played in Japan. The White Sox beat the Giants, 9-4. ^{[17] [18]} The 46-game tour had started in the U.S. on October 18, soon after the end of the World Series, with the Giants and White Sox starting in Cincinnati and ending in Portland, Oregon on November 19, before the players boarded the ship SS Empress of Japan to sail to Asia. ^[19]
• Born:
  • Mykola Amosov, Ukrainian heart surgeon, inventor, best-selling author, and exercise enthusiast, in Olkhovo, Russian Empire (d. 2002)
  • Eleanor Holm, American Olympic swimmer, gold medalist at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, who was later barred from the 1936 Olympics for conduct; in New York City (d. 2004)
• Died: Alec Hurley, 42, British music hall performer, married to Marie Lloyd, from pneumonia

December 7, 1913 (Sunday)

• The first baseball game between Major League Baseball players and a Japanese team took place in Tokyo as a combined Giants and White Sox team beat Keio University, 16 to 3. ^[18]
• During the ongoing Copper Country Strike of 1913-1914, a boarding house owner, Thomas Dally, and two English brothers at the boarding house in Painesdale, Michigan Arthur and Harry Jane, were killed by random rifle shots fired into the house from nearby woods. The Jane brothers had arrived in Michigan with the intention of crossing strike lines to work. Later, two Finnish immigrant brothers, and an Austrian, were charged with first degree murder in connection with the shooting, but the third escaped from custody and was never recaptured.^[20]
• Born: Donald C. MacDonald, Canadian politician, one time President of the New Democratic Party of Canada, in Cranbrook, British Columbia (d. 2008)
• Died:
  • Aaron Montgomery Ward, 70,American businessman, who pioneered mail order catalog sales and who founded the Montgomery Ward department store chain
  • Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano, 85, Italian Catholic churchman and Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals since 1896

December 8, 1913 (Monday)

• Construction began on the Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District of San Francisco, California for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition.^[21]
• Born: Delmore Schwartz, American poet, notable collections including In Dreams Begin, in New York City (d. 1966)

December 9, 1913 (Tuesday)

• Pancho Villa's forces left Chihuahua, Mexico in pursuit of federal troops fleeing to Ojinaga, Mexico, located on the Mexican-U.S. border.^[22]
• John K. Tener, former pro baseball player and former 25th Governor of Pennsylvania, was elected president of the National League.^[23]

December 10, 1913 (Wednesday)

Gitmo

• The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, located on 45 square miles (120 km²) of American-controlled land leased in southeastern Cuba by the United States Navy, was officially opened.
• The Nobel Prize Committee selected Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes as recipient for the Nobel Prize for Physics; Swiss Chemist Alfred Werner for the Nobel Prize for Chemistry; French physiologist Charles Richet for the Nobel Prize for Medicine' and Belgian lawyer Henri La Fontaine, head of the International Peace Bureau, for the Nobel Peace Prize.^[24]
• Copper Country Strike of 1913-1914 – Offices of the striking Western Federation of Miners throughout Houghton County, Michigan were raided by members of Citizens Alliance, an organization backed by mining companies affected by the ongoing strike, with assistance from sheriff's deputies.^[25]
• Born:
  • Morton Gould, American composer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music for Stringmusic, in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York (d. 1996)
  • Harry Locke, British character actor, notable role in BBC's adaptation of War and Peace, in London (d. 1987)

December 11, 1913 (Thursday)

• The Sikorsky Ilya Muromets four-engine airplane, a heavy bomber for the Imperial Russian Air Force, flew for the first time. The plane was designed by Russian aviation engineer Igor Sikorsky and named after Ilya Muromets, a hero from Russian mythology.^[26][27]
• Born: Jean Marais, French actor and director, most known for the title role in Beauty and the Beast, in Cherbourg, France (d. 1998)

December 12, 1913 (Friday)

Iyasu V

Emperor Menelik II

• The stolen Mona Lisa was recovered in Florence after Vincenzo Perugia was arrested while trying to sell it.^[28]
• Menelik II, the Emperor of Ethiopia since 1889, died at the age of 69. He was succeeded by his 18-year old grandson, Kiffle Yaqob, whom he had designated as in 1909 as his successor. The grandson would reign as Iyasu V but would be deposed less than three years later without ever having been crowned.
• Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition – Following a speaking tour in Brazil and Argentina, former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt met up with Brazilian military officer and explorer Cândido Rondon to embark on a joint exploration of the "River of Doubt", a 1,000-mile (1,600 km) river (later renamed Rio Roosevelt) located in a remote area of the Brazilian Amazon basin.^[29]
• Copper Country Strike of 1913-1914 – Charles Lawton, general manager of the Quincy Mining Company in Houghton County, Michigan, reported in a letter to mining company president William Rogers Todd that local police would often forgo arresting strikers that they had caught, writing that "some of them were ... fit subjects for the hospital...in fact, they were very roughly treated.”^[25]
• In the second of three “Brides in the Bath murders”, George Joseph Smith’s new (second) wife, Alice Burnham, was found dead in her bath in her home in Blackpool, England.^[30]
• Born: Stanley Bate, British composer, studied under Ralph Vaughan Williams and other composers (d. 1959)

December 13, 1913 (Saturday)

Kaulen, who spent 3½ days in the air

• German balloonist Hugo Kaulen returned to the ground after staying aloft for almost four days (87 hours), a record at that time for the longest time spent floating in the air. His time would not be exceeded until 1935. ^[31]
• Born:
  • Archie Moore, American boxer who was the longest reigning light heavyweight boxing world champion (for more than nine years, 1952 to 1962), in Benoit, Mississippi (d. 1998)
  • John Pope-Hennessy, British art historian, Director of the British Museum 1974-1976, and leading scholar of Italian Renaissance art, in London (d. 1994)
  • Arnold Brown, English-born Canadian charity fundraiser and 11th General of the Salvation Army 1977 to 1981; in London (d. 2002)

December 14, 1913 (Sunday)

• The Giants beat the White Sox, 7-4, in the first Major League Baseball game to be played in Hong Kong. A December 11 game in Shanghai, that would have been the first in China, had been canceled because of rain. ^[18] The Hong Kong game was delayed because British health authorities had to determine first that none of the players had smallpox. ^{[19] [17]}
• The Imperial Japanese Navy launched the battleship Haruna at the Kawasaki Shipyards in Kobe, Japan.^[32]

December 15, 1913 (Monday)

• Nicaragua became a signatory to the Buenos Aires Convention 1910 copyright treaty, the third Latin American country to do so.^[33]
• The British Royal Navy launched the battlecruiser HMS Tiger - the 11th Royal Navy ship to bear that name - at the John Brown and Company shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland.^[34]
• The new Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre opened in Toronto, with American composer Irving Berlin performing at the opening of the new facility.^[35]
• Born: Muriel Rukeyser, American poet, author of The Book of the Dead, in New York City (d. 1980)

December 16, 1913 (Tuesday)

• An explosion at Vulcan Mine in New Castle, Colorado killed 38 miners.^[36]
• Parliamentary elections were held in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. The Croat-Serb Coalition won with 39.09% of the vote.^[37]
• Born: George Ignatieff, Russian-born Canadian diplomat who was the Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations from 1966 to 1969, and who was recipient of the 1984 Pearson Medal of Peace, in St. Petersburg (d. 1989)

December 17, 1913 (Wednesday)

• The first Major League Baseball game to be played in the Philippines took place in Manila, where the White Sox beat the Giants, 2-1. The teams met again the next day in Manila, with the Whites Sox winning again, 7-4. ^{[18] [17]}
• Died: Stefano Gobatti, Italian opera composer, 61, composer of I Goti (b. 1852)

December 18, 1913 (Thursday)

• Croke Park in Dublin was purchased by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and has, since then, been the permanent site for the GAA championship games for the national sport of Gaelic football and for hurling, as well as for Gaelic handball and for the GAA version of rounders. Originally accommodating a few thousand people in its stands, Croke Park now is the site of Ireland's largest stadium, with room for 79,500 people. ^[38]
• Creation of the Mancomunitat de Catalunya, a regional governing body for the Catalan language speakers in the northeastern section of Spain, was approved by the Spanish legislature ^[39]. In addition to providing some autonomy for the Catalonians, the Mancomunitat provided common policy for the provinces of Barcelona, Gerona (now Girona), Lerida (now Lleida) and Tarragona. The Mancomunitat, with a President and two councilors from each province, would begin its operation on April 6, 1914, but would be dissolved in 1925. ^[40]
• The 1913-1914 World Baseball Tour concluded its Philippine stage as the White Sox and Giants took time off to spend the holidays in the Far East before sailing to Australia for a New Year's Day game in Brisbane. ^[17]
• Born:
  • Willy Brandt, Chancellor of West Germany from 1969 to 1974, recipient of the 1971 Nobel Peace Prize; as Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm in Lübeck (d. 1992)
  • Alfred Bester, American science fiction author, Hugo Award winner for The Demolished Man, in New York City (d. 1987)
  • Lynn Bari, American actress, known for film roles such as The Bridge of San Luis Rey, in Roanoke, Virginia (d. 1989)
  • Ray Meyer, American basketball coach for DePaul University from 1942 to 1984, in Chicago (d. 2006)
  • Saburō Takata, Japanese composer, known for the classical piece Takuboku Tankashu, in Nagoya (d. 2000)

December 19, 1913 (Friday)

• Boxers Jack Johnson and Battling Jim Johnson fought a 10-round match for the world heavyweight title in Paris. The novelty of two black professionals competing for the world title drew crowds, but a sportswriter from the Indianapolis Star observed spectators becoming unruly, and demanding their money back, when it became apparent that neither boxer was putting up a fight. At one point, Jack Johnson was only using his right arm to box. Organizers claimed Johnson's left arm had been broken during the third round, but there was no evidence of any injury.

The fight was ruled a draw, and Jack Johnson retained his title.

December 20, 1913 (Saturday)

• The "Great Strike of 1913" in Wellington, New Zealand ended after the United Federation of Labour (UFL) conceded defeat. Their labor ally, the Federated Seamen's Union, had broken ranks by reaching a deal with shipowners to return to work. The bitter, two-month labor struggle involved up to 16,000 unionists across New Zealand, and sparked violent clashes between strikers and police.^[41]
• A serious fire at Portsmouth Dockyard destroyed the semaphore tower.^[42]

December 21, 1913 (Sunday)

• The first crossword puzzle in history, Arthur Wynne's "word-cross", was published in the New York World.^[43][44][45]
• An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 struck the Yunnan Province, China. At least 942 people died. Another 112 were injured, and scores of homes were destroyed.^[46]
• Born:
  • Arnold Friberg, American painter, known for the painting The Prayer at Valley Forge, in Winnetka, Illinois (d. 2010)
  • Raich Carter, English soccer football player and coach, team captain for Sunderland and Derby County, England national team member, and manager of the Hull City A.F.C.; in Hendon (d. 1994)

December 22, 1913 (Monday)

• British racing driver L.G. Hornsted set a new land speed record in excess of 200 kilometers per hour driving in a Benz 200 horse power racing car (“Blitzenbenz”) at the Brooklands racing circuit in southern England.^[47]

December 23, 1913 (Tuesday)

• The Federal Reserve Act was signed into law by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System as the central banking system of the United States.^[48]
• Died: James Bonnor Middleton, 48, South African national team cricketer, played six Tests from 1896 to 1902

December 24, 1913 (Wednesday)

• Seventy-three people were killed in a stampede at the Italian Hall in Calumet, Michigan (59 of them children) during a Christmas Eve celebration for over 400 striking miners and their families. An unknown person had yelled "Fire!" (even though there wasn't one). Speculation included the theory that an anti-union ally of mine management had yelled out the false alarm in order to disrupt the party.^[49]

December 25, 1913 (Thursday)

• The polar expedition crew on the Karluk celebrated Christmas, with decorations, presents, a programme of sports on the ice, and a banquet.^[50] The polar ship had been drifting west in the ice for nearly three months and was now just 50 miles (80 km) north of Herald Island, a rocky outpost east of Wrangel Island, in the Beaufort Sea.
• Born:
  • Henri Nannen, German journalist, founder of Gruner + Jahr and the news magazine Der Stern, in Emden (d. 1996)
  • Tony Martin, American singer, known for hits such as Fools Rush In and La Vie en Rose; as Alvin Morris, in San Francisco (d. 2012)
  • Arvid Nilssen, Norwegian actor and comedian, first recipient of the Leonard Statuette by the Norwegian Comedy Writers' Association in 1968; in Alvdal (d. 1976)

December 26, 1913 (Friday)

Bierce

• Ambrose Bierce, a 71-year-old American writer and journalist, author An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, disappeared after writing a letter to Blanche Partington, from the city of Chihuahua. Dated December 26, 1913, the letter ended with the sentence: "As to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination."^[51][52][53] Theories for Bierce's vanishing after the date of the letter are numerous. Stories from locals in Sierra Mojada, Coahuila, documented by the priest James Lienert, stated that Bierce was executed by firing squad in a local town cemetery.^[54] However, no firm evidence has yet to turn up that resolves the mystery surrounding the famous author's fate.
• Charles Moyer, president of the Western Federation of Miners that was on strike, was attacked in his hotel room in Hancock, Michigan, by assailants allegedly working for the mining companies. After being beaten with a pistol, Moyer was shot in the back and then dragged to a nearby train station. Moyer reported being met by Jim McNaughton, manager of the Calumet and Hecla Mine Company, at the station and being told "If I ever come back to Houghton or the range he would see me hanged." Moyer was forced onto a train heading to Chicago where he was treated at the city's St. Luke's Hospital for his injuries. McNaughton denied he made any threats to Moyer. The assault remains unsolved.^[55]
• Born: Frank Swift, English football (soccer) goalie and journalist who played goal for Manchester City and England; in Blackpool (killed in Munich air disaster 1958)

December 27, 1913 (Saturday)

Joe Tinker

• Baseball's new Federal League signed its first major star when Brooklyn Dodgers shortstop Joe Tinker (of "Tinker to Evers to Chance" fame) signed a contract with the Chicago Whales.^[56]
• Born: Elizabeth Smart, Canadian author, known for By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, in Ottawa (d. 1986)

December 28, 1913 (Sunday)

• The "Venus of Cyrene", a headless marble sculpture, was discovered by Italian troops in Cyrene, Libya after torrential rains washed away the topsoil at the Trajan’s Baths in the Sanctuary of Apollo.^[57] It would be displayed in Rome for 94 years, but would be returned to Libya in 2008.
• Born: Lou Jacobi, Canadian-American actor, famous for stage and film roles including Broadway's The Diary of Anne Frank, in Toronto (d. 2009)

December 29, 1913 (Monday)

• The first movie serial, The Adventures of Kathlyn starring Kathlyn Williams, premiered in Chicago.^[58][59]
• Charlie Chaplin signed a contract with Mack Sennett to begin making films at Keystone Studios.^[60]
• The Girl on the Film, a Broadway production, opened at the 44th Street Theatre and ran for 64 performances.^[61][62]
• Born: Pierre Werner, Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1979 to 1984, in Saint-André-lez-Lille, France (d. 2002)

December 30, 1913 (Tuesday)

• The Sydney Morning Herald broke the news that thousands of people were starving in the Aomori and Hokkaidō prefectures of Japan, in one of the worst famines in the country since 1809.^[63]
• Italy returned the Mona Lisa to France.^[28]
• English cricketer Sydney Barnes took 17 wickets in a match between England and South Africa (8-56 and 9-103), totaling 49 wickets, the most in a Test series.^[64]
• Born:
  • Elyne Mitchell, Australian author, creator of the Silver Brumby series of children's novels; in Melbourne (d. 2002)
  • Svend S. Schultz, Danish composer and conductor (d. 1996)
  • Lucio Agostini, Italian-born Canadian composer, known for his collaborative work with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, in Fano, Italy (d. 1996)

December 31, 1913 (Wednesday)

• Airplane co-inventor Orville Wright made the first public demonstration of the next generation of airplanes, the Wright Model E, an airplane that had came equipped with an automatic pilot that could not only keep the plane in the air, but could also turn the plane on a preset course. ^[65] Before a crowd of onlookers at Huffman Prairie outside Dayton, Ohio ^[66], Wright showed off the new "automatic stabilizer" and "made seven successive turns with his hands completely removed from the controls of the airplane", holding his hands high above his head so that the onlookers could see that he wasn't touching the controls, before taking back over to come in for a landing. For his accomplishment, timed by the Wright for the last day of the year to avoid being bested by his rival, Glenn H. Curtiss, Wright won the Collier Trophy, awarded by the Aero Club of America, for the year's most significant innovation in aeronautics. ^[67]
• For the first time in its 6,400 year history, the Holy City of Jerusalem was the site of an airplane landing ^[68] The pilot, French Army General Gaëtan Bonnier ^[69] landed his Blériot XI near the Pool of Siloam, and was welcomed by Jerusalem Mayor Hussein al-Husayni, the executive appointed by the Ottoman Empire.

References