February 1914

February 1, 1914 (Sunday)

• The Imperial Japanese Navy set up a commission to investigate allegations of the Vice Admiral and other receiving illicit commissions on foreign contracts.
• The Tanganyika Railway reached Kigoma, German East Africa,.
• The Aero Club of America announced plans to sponsor an around-the-world airplane race.
• Canadian Arctic Expedition - Alistair Mackay, the expedition's medical doctor, along with three other members of the expedition crew, wrote and signed a letter dated February 1 for Karluk captain Robert Bartlett stating their desire to leave "Shipwreck Camp" – the temporary site the crew made shortly before the polar exploration ship sank in January: "We, the undersigned, in consideration of the present critical situation, desire to make an attempt to reach the land." The letter requested appropriate supplies, and concluded by emphasizing that the journey was on their own initiative and absolving Bartlett from all responsibilities.
• World Baseball Tour – The tour reached Cairo where the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox played to a tie of 3-3 after 10 innings when the game was called on account of darkness.
• The Argentinian association football club Patronato was formed in Paraná, Entre Ríos, Argentina.
• Born:
• * A. K. Hangal, Indian freedom fighter and character actor in Hindi language films; as Avtar Kishan Hangal, in Sialkot, Punjab, British India
• * Jale İnan, Turkish archaeologist, led excavations of Perga and Side, Turkey; in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
• Died:
• * Albert Günther, German-British biologist, credited with identifying close to 350 reptiles
• * James Grant Wilson, Scottish-American publisher and author, president of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society

  February 2, 1914 (Monday)

• The Union Party of the Faroe Islands retained power in following partial elections held in the southern part of the island nation, with 12 of the 20 seats in the Løgting.
• World Baseball Tour – Players with the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox toured the ancient Egyptian wonders of Alexandria in their baseball uniforms before the Giants trounced the White Sox 6-3 during an exhibition game of 5,000, more than double the crowd in Cairo.
• Members of an association football club in Belém, Brazil protested against a decision of the national football federation by terminating the team and refounding it as the Paysandu Sport Club, which won three national titles in the late 1990s and 2000s.
• Charlie Chaplin made his film debut in Making a Living, where he played Edgar English, a lady-charming swindler who ran afoul with the Keystone Cops. The film was written and directed by Henry Lehrman.
• James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man commenced serialization in The Egoist, a new London literary magazine founded by Dora Marsden.
• The song "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral", also known as "The Irish Lullaby," by Irish-American composer James Royce Shannon debuted in the Chauncey Olcott musical Shameen Dhu in New York City. The song became famous again when sung by Bing Crosby in Going My Way.
• The cartoon Abie the Agent by Harry Hershfield debuted in the New York Journal.

  February 3, 1914 (Tuesday)

• American engineer Willis Carrier patented the design for the air conditioner.
• Royal Navy destroyer HMS Legion was launched by William Denny and Brothers and would serve in the Battle off Texel during World War I.
• German aviator Bruno Langer set a new flight endurance record, flying nonstop for 14 hours 7 minutes.
• The association football club Santa Cruz was founded as a society by a group of teens who group up playing football on the street in front of the Santa Cruz Church in Recife, Brazil. The football society was eventually accepted into the Pernambucan Sport League in 1917. The club plays regularly at the Arruda Stadium in Recife.
• Born:
• * George Nissen, American gymnast and inventor of the trampoline; in Blairstown, Iowa, United States
• * Etti Plesch, Austro-Hungarian noble, famous socialite and racehorse owner; as Countess Maria Anna Paula Ferdinandine von Wurmbrand-Stuppach, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary
• * Felix Kelly, New Zealand artist, known for his cartoon and illustration work under the alias Fix; in Auckland, New Zealand
• * Michel Thomas, Polish-French linguist and Resistance fighter, patented the Michel Thomas Method for teaching languages; as Moniek Krostof, in Łódź, Russian Empire

  February 4, 1914 (Wednesday)

• Canadian Arctic Expedition - Bjarne Mamen, who scouted for a four-man team led by the Karluk's first officer Alexander Anderson to the north shore of Wrangel Island in the Beaufort Sea, returned to "Shipwreck Camp" and reported to Karluk captain Robert Bartlett that he had left the group a few miles short of land that was evidently not Wrangel Island, and was probably Herald Island, from their intended destination. Mamen was the last to see the Anderson party alive; their ultimate fate was not established until ten years later, when their remains were found on Herald Island.
• The same day of Mamen's return to Shipwreck Camp, the expedition's medical officer Alistair Mackay presented a letter to Barlett that he and three other members signed, expressing desire to leave camp and seek land. In a decision later censured by an admiralty commission as questionable leadership, Bartlett allowed Mackay and his group to leave and allocated them a sledge, a tent, and food supplies for up to 50 days.
• Lens manufacturer LOMO was established in Saint Petersburg.
• A staging of George A. Birmingham's comedy General John Regan at Westport Town Hall in Ireland provoked a riot.
• Cuban chess player José Raúl Capablanca won against Ossip Bernstein of Russia during an exhibition game in Moscow, the first of several noted victories against other fellow chess masters before competition at the St. Petersburg chess tournament in April.
• Born:
• * Alfred Andersch, German writer, author of The Father of a Murderer; in Munich, German Empire
• * João Hogan, Portuguese painter, famous for his neo-figurative landscapes; in Lisbon, Portugal
• Died:
• * Frederick Lorz, American long-distance runner, cheated during the men's marathon at the 1904 Summer Olympics
• * Sigmund Mogulesko, Yiddish-American actor, founder of the Rumanian Opera House in New York City

  [February 5], 1914 (Thursday)

• Prince Abdullah I bin al-Hussein, son of Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, met with Herbert Kitchener, British Governor General of Egypt and the Sudan, in Cairo to discuss British support against potential Turkish military movement against Hejaz region in what is now Saudi Arabia. While Kitchener made no immediate pledges of support, talks between Britain and the Sharif continued, resulting in a firm alliance during the outbreak of World War I and incentive for Arabia to side with the Allies.
• Canadian Arctic Expedition - Alistair Mackay and three other members of the expedition left "Shipwreck Camp" with a sled fully stocked with supplies in an attempt to find land. They were last seen a few days later by Karluk ship steward Ernest Chafe and the Inuit members of the party who were on a return mission from Herald Island to check on the four-man scouting team that left for the island about two weeks earlier. Open water prevented Chafe's team from reaching the island, forcing them back and running into Mackay's party who were struggling to make headway. Despite some members showing signs of hypothermia, Mackay's group refused assistance and rejected Chafe's pleas that they return with him to Shipwreck Camp. The group was never seen alive after that although there was evidence they might have been crushed by shifting surface ice or else had fallen through.
• Adolf Hitler failed his physical exam in Salzburg and was declared unfit for military service.
• The Mikawa railroad opened in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, with stations Ōhama-minat, Kariyamachi, Kita Shinkawa, Ogakie, Shinkawa-machi, Takahama-minato, and Yoshihama serving the line.
• The final issue of the British weekly magazine Vanity Fair was published, after which it merged with the magazine Hearth and Home.
• The village of Empress, Alberta was established.
• Born:
• * William S. Burroughs, American Beat Generation writer, author of Naked Lunch; in St. Louis, United States
• * Alan Hodgkin, British physiologist, recipient of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research into neurons; in Banbury, England
• Died: William Rhodes, American football player and manager, tackle and coach for the Yale University football team

  [February 6], 1914 (Friday)

• A protest march of 32,000 farmers, organized by Conservative opponents of the Liberal government of Prime Minister of Sweden Karl Staaff, gathered in the courtyard of Stockholm Palace to demand higher defense spending that reflected growing political tension in Europe. In what became known as the Courtyard Crisis, Swedish monarch King Gustaf declared to the demonstrators that he shared their concerns, violating Sweden's constitution for the monarchy to be non-partisan.
• The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cajazeiras was established in Brazil.
• The United Suffragists was established in Great Britain.
• Born:
• * Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor, best known as the voice of Tony the Tiger for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes; in Norfolk, Nebraska, United States
• * Forrest Towns, American runner, gold medalist at the 1936 Summer Olympics, in Fitzgerald, Georgia
• Died: Albert Neuhuys, Dutch painter, associated with the Hague School that flourished between 1860 and 1890