February 1924

February 1, 1924 (Friday)

• The British government formally recognized the Soviet Union and began diplomatic relations with Robert M. Hodgson as the first chargé d'affaires.
• Honduran President Rafael López Gutiérrez, who had been elected in 1919 for a 4-year term that started on February 1, 1920, refused to leave office after his term expired, citing the failure of the Honduran Congress to elect a president following the lack of any candidate to receive a majority in the 1923 presidential election.
• Born:
• *Richard Hooker, American surgeon and author who wrote a novel based on his experiences at a mobile army surgical hospital during the Korean War, MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, later adapted into a successful film in 1970 and an even more successful TV series in 1972, M*A*S*H; in Trenton, New Jersey
• *Ruth Teitelbaum, American computer programmer who was one of six women assigned to enter data into the U.S. Army's Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer ; as Ruth Lichterman in the Bronx

  February 2, 1924 (Saturday)

• Alexei Rykov became Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union, equivalent to Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, filling the vacancy left by the death of Lenin.
• Felix Dzerzhinsky became Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the National Economy.
• The International Ski Federation was founded in Chamonix in France, site of France's International Ski Week, later recognized as the 1924 Winter Olympics, during a meeting of leaders of the skiing organizations of various nations.
• Woodrow Wilson fell into a coma shortly before 10:30 p.m.
• Born: Elfi von Dassanowsky, Austrian singer, pianist and film producer; in Vienna

  February 3, 1924 (Sunday)

• Woodrow Wilson, who had served as President of the United States from 1913 to 1921, died at the age of 67 in his home at 2340 S Street NW in Washington, D.C., at 11:15 in the morning.
• The Soviet Union welcomed Britain's diplomatic recognition of the USSR as an "historic step" and pledged to "make every effort to settle all misunderstandings and develop and consolidate economic relations."
• Germany and Turkey signed a Treaty of Friendship.
• Astra Club, based in Tokyo, defeated Shukyu-Dan of Nagoya, 2 to 1, to win the Emperor's Cup in football.

  February 4, 1924 (Monday)

• Indian freedom fighter Mohandas K. Gandhi, known for his campaign of passive resistance in pursuing the independence of India from the British Empire, was released from incarceration in Ahmedabad after serving less than two years of his six-year prison sentence for sedition. The release came on the recommendation of British physicians that Gandhi should be allowed six months convalescence to recover from a serious illness.

  February 5, 1924 (Tuesday)

• A flash flood inside an underground iron mine drowned 41 of the 46 miners inside, after the crew conducted blasting too close to the bottom of Foley Lake near Crosby, Minnesota.
• At 17:30:00 UTC, the Greenwich Observatory in England, near London, began its service of broadcasting regular of broadcasting a time signal for the standard of the exact time of day by hour, minute and second as measured at Greenwich. According to a press release from Greenwich, "the last four seconds of the preceding minute will be heard as 'clicks' when the signal is about to be given, representing the 55th, 56th, 57th, 58th and 59th second, and the final click, which will be a little louder than the others" every minute on shortwave radio to be heard worldwide, with an announcement of the exact time.
• The Winter Olympics closed in Chamonix, France. Norway and Finland tied for the most gold medals with four each, but Norway won 17 total medals to Finland's 11.
• Mexican rebels retreated from their former stronghold of Veracruz when federal troops won a crucial victory at Córdoba.
• The Show-Off, a play by American playwright George Kelly, opened on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre for the first of 571 performances.
• Born:
• *Patricia Lauber, American children's book author, chief editor of science for The New Book of Knowledge encyclopedia; in New York City
• *Robert Byron Bird, American chemical engineer and 1987 National Medal of Science recipient; in Bryan, Texas

  February 6, 1924 (Wednesday)

• The funeral of former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was conducted. He was buried in a vault beneath the center aisle of the chapel of the Washington National Cathedral, becoming the first, and only, U.S. president to be buried in the District of Columbia.
• Demonstrators raised disturbances outside the German embassy in Washington. About 200 taxi drivers walked onto the embassy lawn, and after planting the American flag, saluted it amid cheers and pistol shots. The controversy arose after the German Embassy had refused to offer condolences or to lower flags in honor of the late President Wilson, who had led the U.S. against the German Empire during World War One from 1917 to 1918.
• Born: Sir John Richardson, British art historian, in London
• Died:
• *Sir John Stewart, 1st Baronet, of Fingask, 46, Scottish whisky distiller, committed suicide at his home at Fingask Castle in Perthshire.
• *Queenie Scott-Hopper, 42, English children's author, committed suicide at her home in Whitley Bay, by slitting her own throat. Her suicide noted stated that she took her life because she was unable "to think up any new ideas for stories."

  February 7, 1924 (Thursday)

• Mexican rebel leader Adolfo de la Huerta and his staff withdrew by boat to Mérida, Yucatán after federal troops recaptured the key city of Veracruz.
• The Fascist government of Italy gave formal recognition of the Communist Soviet Union.

  February 8, 1924 (Friday)

• The first execution by lethal gas in American history was carried out in Carson City, Nevada at the Nevada State Prison. Chinese national Gee Jon, convicted of a gangland slaying, was put to death with a chemical reaction that put prussic acid into an airtight chamber.
• On the same day, the U.S. state of Texas executed five prisoners— all African-American inmates who had been convicted of murder— at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas, in the state's first use of the electric chair. Starting at 12:09 a.m., Charles Reynolds was the first to die "as Warden Walter Monroe Miller threw the switch which sent 2,500 volts and 11 amperes of electricity into Reynolds's body. Over the next hour, E. L. Morris, George Washington and Mack Matthews were put to death. The fifth inmate, Melvin Johnson, was electrocuted after a one-hour stay of execution.
• The Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created by the Soviet Union within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. On January 20, 1990, it would become the first part of the Soviet Union to secede.
• U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signed a resolution ordering the Doheny and Sinclair petroleum leases to be nullified due to the Teapot Dome scandal.
• Born:
• *Ada Sipuel Fisher, U.S. civil rights figure and lawyer known for her successful 1948 challenge to racial segregation in the case of Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma; in Chickasha, Oklahoma
• *Lady Wonder, American horse exhibited for her abilities to perform arithmetic and spelling while being accompanied by her owner and trainer, Claudia E. Fonda
• *Major General John W. Hepfer, U.S. Air Force officer and missile development engineer who oversaw the creation of the Minuteman and Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles; in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
• Died:
• *Annie Arniel, 50, American suffragist and women's rights activist died by suicide from natural gas in a rooming house where she was living in Wilmington, Delaware.
• *David Dunnels White, 79, Union Army veteran of the American Civil War who would be nominated for the Medal of Honor in 2016.
• *Madame Sorgue, 59, French anarchist, feminist and labor activist referred to as "the most dangerous woman in Europe", died of a heart attack.

  February 9, 1924 (Saturday)

• The Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established.

  February 10, 1924 (Sunday)

• As the Drenica-Dukagjin Uprisings drew to a close in Kosovo, Yugoslavian troops carried out the massacre of 25 Albanian-minority civilians in the Kosovan town of Dubnica, then set fire to the town.
• Mexican federal troops won a decisive battle over the rebels at Ocotlán.
• Born:
• *Norman "Bud" Poile, Canadian sports administrator and NHL hockey player, inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder of the sport; in Fort William, Ontario
• *John Peterson, American children's author who created The Littles series of books; in Bradford, Pennsylvania
• *Marc St. Gil, Dutch-born American photojournalist; in Helmond
• *Randy Van Horne, American singer and bandleader known for organizing the Randy Van Horne singers heard singing the theme songs for The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and other Hanna-Barbera cartoons; in El Paso, Texas
• *Carlos Gonzaga, Brazilian singer; in Paraisópolis, Minas Gerais state
• *Max Ferguson, English-born Canadian radio show host for the CBC; in Crook, County Durham
• Died: Alfred Verhaeren, 83, Belgian painter

  February 11, 1924 (Monday)

• The United States Senate voted, 47 to 34, to demand that President Coolidge remove Edwin Denby, who was under investigation for the Teapot Dome scandal, as Secretary of the Navy. Coolidge said in a statement that evening that, "As soon as special counsel can advise me as to the legality of these leases and assemble for me the pertinent facts in the various transactions, I shall take such action as seems essential for the full protection of the public interests".
• The five-day Negro Sanhedrin opened in Chicago with 250 delegates from trade unions, civic groups and fraternal organizations in an attempt to create a program to protect the legal rights of African-American tenant farmers.
• The Greek government deposited the instrument of ratification of the treaty of Lausanne, the peace treaty between Turkey and the Allied Powers, that was concluded on July 24, 1923.
• Born: Edward "Budge" Patty, U.S. tennis player who won the French Open and Wimbledon in 1950, later inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame; in Fort Smith, Arkansas
• Died: Jean-François Raffaëlli, 74, French painter, sculptor and printmaker