December 1924

December 1, 1924 (Monday)

• An attempt by Communists to overthrow the government of Estonia failed, leaving 125 of the 335 rebels dead, and 500 more arrested. The Estonian Army lost 26 soldiers and cadets. Communist International, based in the Soviet Union, had ordered the Estonian Communist Party to stage the coup and provided weapons. The rebels attacked a dormitory for cadets of the Estonian Military Academy with grenades, but fled when the cadets fought back. The Toompea Castle in Tallinn and a military airfield at Lasnamäe were briefly under Communist control, but within five hours after the 5:00 a.m. start, government forces had defeated the rebels.
• Boston Arena hosted the first National Hockey League game ever played in the United States as the NHL's two newest franchises, with the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Maroons. Boston won, 2 to 1. Smokey Harris scored the first-ever Bruins goal.
• Plutarco Elías Calles was inaugurated to a 4-year term as the 47th President of Mexico.
• From Latakia, leaders of the Alawite State within the semi-autonomous Syrian Federation announced that they would not join the states of Aleppo and Damascus in the creation of the State of Syria.
• An agreement to start the first chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Canada was signed between C. Lewis Fowler of New York City and Richard L. Cowan of Toronto. Cowan named himself the Imperial Wizard of the white supremacist Knights of Ku Klux Klan of Canada on January 1.
• Fritz Angerstein, an official with a limestone mine in the German town of Haiger, murdered eight people in the villa where he lived, killing his wife, his mother-in-law and sister-in-law, his maid and two gardeners, and two of his fellow workers. He would be executed by beheading on November 17, 1925.
• The musical Lady, Be Good, with music by George and lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and starring Fred Astaire and sister Adele Astaire, opened at the Liberty Theatre on Broadway for the first of 330 performances. It closed on September 12, 1925.
• The drama film Romola, starring Lillian Gish, premiered at George M. Cohan's Theatre in New York City.
• Born:
• *Suraj N. Gupta, Indian-born U.S. theoretical physicist noted for his contributions to quantum field theory, including the Gupta–Bleuler quantization; in Punjab Province, British India
• *Fazle Kaderi Mohammad Abdul Munim, Chief Justice of Bangladesh from 1982 to 1989; in Dhaka, Bengal Province, British India
• *General Sawar Khan, Vice Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Army 1980 to 1984, and Governor of Punjab province, 1978-1980; in Rawalpindi District, Punjab Province, British India
• Died: Reuben "Dummy" Stephenson, 55, the first deaf Major League Baseball player. Stephenson played as a center fielder for eight games for the Philadelphia Phillies in September 1892.

  December 2, 1924 (Tuesday)

• A devastating earthquake struck Java in the Dutch East Indies, killing 727 people.
• Voldemārs Zāmuēls announced his resignation as Prime Minister of Latvia, along with his cabinet of ministers.
• The operetta The Student Prince, by Sigmund Romberg, premiered at Jolson's 59th Street Theatre on Broadway for the first of 608 performances.
• Born:
• *Alexander Haig, United States Secretary of State from 1981 to 1982, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 1974 to 1979, and White House Chief of Staff from 1972 to 1974; in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania
• *Jack Davis; American cartoonist and illustrator; in Atlanta
• Died:
• *Hugo von Seeliger, 75, German astronomer known for his discovery of the Seeliger Effect
• *Emmy Achté, 74, Finnish opera mezzo-soprano
• *Kazimieras Būga, 45, Lithuanian linguist

  December 3, 1924 (Wednesday)

• The third, and longest, expedition by the Compagnie générale transsaharienne to find an effective automobile route across the Sahara Desert completed an 18-day, journey, reaching Savè after having departed from Colomb-Béchar in Algeria on November 15. Led by CGT founder Gaston Gradis, with eleven other persons, the expedition featured three six-wheel, double-tired Renault automobiles.
• U.S. president Calvin Coolidge delivered his 2nd State of the Union message to the United States Congress. Unlike in 1923, Coolidge delivered a written address instead of giving a speech. The message stated that the present state of the Union "may be regarded with encouragement and satisfaction by every American."
• The US and British governments concluded an agreement respecting the rights of US citizens in British mandated Palestine.
• Born:
• *U.S. Army Major General Mary E. Clarke, the first woman to attain the rank of major general in the United States Army, known also for the longest U.S. Army career served by a woman; in Rochester, New York
• *F. Sionil José, Philippine novelist; in Rosales, Pangasinan

  December 4, 1924 (Thursday)

• The silent film Greed, written and directed by Erich von Stroheim, premiered at the Cosmopolitan Theatre in New York. The psychological thriller, starring Gibson Gowland and ZaSu Pitts, with Jean Hersholt, was edited to 22 reels and eventually to 10 reels for general audiences. It would be described by later filmmakers as a major influence on their technique, and by many critics as one of the greatest films ever made.
• Portuguese swindler Alves dos Reis carried out one of the largest frauds in history against the Bank of Portugal, approaching the currency printer Waterlow and Sons of London with a letter of introduction from the Joh. Enschedé currency printing company of the Netherlands and arranging for the printing of 200,000 bank notes, each with a face value of 500 Portuguese escudos, with the same serial numbers as a previous Waterlow printing. The first notes were delivered in February by accomplices of Reis.
• The high Gateway of India monument, designed by architect George Wittet, was inaugurated in Bombay in British India in a ceremony by the Governor-General, the Earl of Reading.
• The ocean liner SS Belgenland departed from New York City with at least 350 passengers to begin a cruise around the world that would last for more than four months. Only 235 of the passengers remained aboard on the Belgenland for the entire cruise.
• The trial of confessed serial killer Fritz Haarmann began in Germany.
• Died: Cipriano Castro, 66, president of Venezuela from 1899 to 1908

  December 5, 1924 (Friday)

• The Battle of Mecca took place as Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, ruler of the Sultanate of Nejd, overwhelmed the outnumbered defenders of the Kingdom of Hejaz and forced Ali bin Hussein, King of Hejaz, to flee the city. The final rout completed the Saudi conquest of Hejaz and the union of Nejd and Hejaz as Saudi Arabia. After the battle, Ibn Saud entered Mecca in ihram clothing, making the umrah, one of the two forms of the Muslim pilgrimage to the Great Mosque of Mecca. The umrah differs from the hajj in that the umrah pilgrimage takes place outside of the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, and Saud made the trip on the 8th day of Jumada I.
• The State of Syria was created within the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon by Decree No. 2980, uniting the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus under one common native assembly and administration.
• Fayzulla Xoʻjayev became the Chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Uzbek SSR, which had become a part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. On February 17, he would become Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars.
• Benito Mussolini introduced a bill enforcing widespread press censorship.
• A first Woolworths Australia department store opened in downtown Sydney, as predecessor name was Woolworths Stupendous Bargain Basement.
• Born:
• *Robert Sobukwe, South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and the founder and first president of the Pan Africanist Congress, from 1959 to 1963; in Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape
• *David Schwendeman, American taxidermist for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City from 1959 to 1988; in Milltown, New Jersey
• *John Keston, British-born American stage actor known for breaking long distance world records for his age group; in London
• *Abram Ilyich Fet, Soviet Russian mathematician; in Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
• Died:
• *S. Subramania Iyer, 82, founder of the Indian Home Rule movement and co-founder of the Indian National Congress
• *Arnold Sommerling, 26, a leader of the Communist attempt to overthrow the Estonian government, was shot by police after resisting arrest.

  December 6, 1924 (Saturday)

• France rounded up over 300 communists in raids on their headquarters, including some 70 of foreign nationality that were to be deported. "There are too many foreign communists in France who forget their duty to the country that has given them asylum", Prime Minister Édouard Herriot told the Chamber of Deputies. "They are indulging in political demonstrations, and we will not tolerate it, we will not let them meddle in our political life. If we meet with resistance we will break it, and we will deport as many as necessary."
• Born:
• *Wally Cox, American comedian and actor; in Detroit
• *George Pinker, British obstetrician and gynecologist for the British royal family; in Calcutta, British India
• Died:
• *Geneva "Gene" Stratton-Porter, 61, American author, screenwriter and naturalist
• *Annie Moore, 60, Irish-born American known for becoming, on January 1, 1892, the first immigrant to pass inspection at the newly-opened Ellis Island customs facility.

  December 7, 1924 (Sunday)

• Voting was held in Germany for all 493 seats of the Reichstag, which had increased in size from 472 seats since the election held in May. The coalition government of Chancellor Wilhelm Marx, composed of ministers from his own Zentrum Party, the Deusche Volkspartei and the Deutsche Demokratische Partei as the opposition Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands increased its plurality by 31 seats.
• A post-season game was played between the two teams with the best records in the NFL, as the first-place Cleveland Bulldogs lost to the Chicago Bears in Chicago, 22 to 0, before a crowd of 18,000 people. The game was described the next day in newspapers as the NFL championship. However, the NFL rules at the time provided that the season ended on November 30 and made no provision for a post-season championship, so Cleveland was deemed the title winner with the best season record and the contest was considered to be only an exhibition game.
• Born:
• *Mário Soares, president of Portugal from 1986 to 1996, and prime minister 1976 to 1978 and 1983 to 1985; in Lisbon
• *Ernest Fleischmann, German-born American musician who served as executive director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra from 1969 to 1999; in Frankfurt am Main
• *Bent Fabric, pianist and composer, in Frederiksberg, Denmark
• *Jovanka Broz, wife of Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito throughout his entire presidency from 1952 to 1980; in Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia