January 1911

January 1, 1911 (Sunday)

• The Australian Capital Territory officially came into existence, and the Northern Territory was politically separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control.
• General Juan Jose Estrada was inaugurated s the new President of Nicaragua
• The Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, was created, after being separated from the Parish of St. Landry.
• Under 38 U.S.C. 2301, a medal for Mexican Border Service could be awarded for any U.S. soldier who served between January 1, 1911, and April 5, 1917.
• Stamps were first issued for the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, now the nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu.
• The magazine Barton's Boys' Life, which would later become Boys' Life and the official Boy Scouts of America magazine, was first published.
• Toccoa Falls College was created in Toccoa, Georgia, after being relocated from North Carolina, where it had been the Golden Valley Institute.
• Born:
• *Roman Totenberg, Polish-born American violinist; in Łódź
• *Hank Greenberg, American baseball player and inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame; in Manhattan

  January 2, 1911 (Monday)

• The National Council of the Boy Scouts of America was established at 200 Fifth Avenue in New York, with seven employees.
• Manuel Bonilla declared his intention to return to his former post as President of Honduras after he and his forces landed on that nation's Atlantic coast, near Puerto Cortez. From the capital at Tegucigalpa, President Miguel R. Dávila cabled instructions to seek American aid in resisting the attack.
• The Islamic calendar year 1329 AH began with the 1st of Muharram, marking the closest the Islamic and Christian years came in the 20th century to starting at on the same day.
• Born: Ray R. Myers, known as the "world famous armless musician," in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

  January 3, 1911 (Tuesday)

• An earthquake of 7.7 moment magnitude struck near Almaty in Russian Turkestan, killing at least 450 people.
• In the Siege of Sidney Street in London's East End, 1,500 members of the Metropolitan Police and the Scots Guards fought a gunbattle with a trio of anarchists who had killed three police officers earlier. When the building caught fire, two of the men burned to death.
• Nearly 13 years after its destruction in Havana Harbor, the battleship USS Maine was dredged to remove the remains of the sailors on board.
• The United States Postal Savings System, with 48 branches, one for each of the 46 states plus the territories of Arizona and New Mexico, formally began business.
• A truce was made between the two rival tongs of New York's Chinatown, with the Hip Sing and the On Leong gangs hosting each other for banquets, then participating in a ceremony as the 100 men in each group cut off their queues simultaneously. The truce would last for only one year, before the Hip Sing leader was murdered.
• Born:
• *John Sturges, American film director known for The Magnificent Seven; in Oak Park, Illinois
• *Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., founder of Americans for Democratic Action; in Cincinnati, Ohio

  January 4, 1911 (Wednesday)

• The British Antarctic Expedition, led by Robert Falcon Scott, accompanied by the crew of the Terra Nova reached Antarctica, landing at Cape Evans, and prepared for an expedition to the South Pole that would begin on November 1.
• Born: Izzy Leon, light-skinned Cuban baseball player who pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1945, after first playing in the Negro leagues ; in Cruces
• Died:
• *Stephen B. Elkins, 69, former U.S. Secretary of State and incumbent U.S. Senator from West Virginia
• *Charlotte E. Ray, 60, first female African-American lawyer

  January 5, 1911 (Thursday)

• The African-American fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity was founded, with the first chapter at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. The organization now has 713 chapters and over 250,000 members worldwide.
• White burley tobacco growers from Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina met at Lexington, Kentucky, and agreed not to plant a crop in 1911.
• The town of Zillah, Washington, was incorporated.
• Born: Jean-Pierre Aumont, French film actor and war hero; in Paris

  January 6, 1911 (Friday)

• U.S. President Taft refused to grant a pardon to H.S. Harlan, a wealthy lumber and turpentine factory manager convicted of labor violations, and signaled that he would not keep white collar criminals from serving prison time. "Fines are not effective against men of wealth," Taft wrote, adding that to relieve "men of large affairs and business standing" from incarceration "would be to break down the authority of the law with those of power and influence... What is worse, it would give real ground for the contention so often heard that it is only the poor criminals who are really punished."
• Died:
• *Sir John Aird, 77, architect of the Aswan Dam
• *George Walker, 38, African-American comedian with the Williams and Walker vaudeville duo, died of syphilis.

  January 7, 1911 (Saturday)

• The world's first downhill skiing race was held, taking place at Crans-Montana in the Alps of Switzerland. Lord Roberts of Kandahar, British war hero, sponsored the trophy, the Roberts of Kandahar Challenge Cup. Twenty competitors climbed to a hut at the Plaine Morte glacier and then made the descent. Cecil Hopkinson of Britain was the first winner.
• Monaco's Prince Albert I promulgated that nation's first constitution in response to protests against the absolute monarchy in the tiny European principality.

  January 8, 1911 (Sunday)

• The Australasian Antarctic Expedition, led by Douglas Mawson, commander of the Aurora, arrived at Cape Denison and encountered constantly blowing winds that dogged the group throughout its journey. Unlike Roald Amundsen and Robert F. Scott, Mawson sought to explore the Antarctic continent closest to Australia.
• Born:
• *Butterfly McQueen,, African-American stage, film, radio and TV actress, known for Gone With the Wind; later the winner of a Daytime Emmy Award; in Tampa
• *Gypsy Rose Lee, American striptease entertainer; in Seattle

  January 9, 1911 (Monday)

• A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a federal court decision that had granted inventor George B. Selden an exclusive patent for the automobile. Henry Ford, who had been sued for damages in the form of royalties owed to Selden's Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers had lost to Selden in September. Ford posted a $350,000 bond to fight the appeal and the Court ruled that Selden's patent was limited. Victorious, Ford was cleared to create the nation's largest automobile company.

  January 10, 1911 (Tuesday)

• The fastest recorded temperature drop in meteorological history took place in Rapid City, South Dakota. Unseasonably warm weather saw a temperature of at 7:00 am. Over the next fifteen minutes, the thermometer reading dropped to below freezing. The weather warmed and chilled again two days later for another record.
• Manuel Enrique Araujo was elected President of El Salvador.
• The United States signed a treaty with Honduras, guaranteeing a loan to the Central American nation without assuming a protectorate over it.
• The town of Gladstone, Oregon, was incorporated.

  January 11, 1911 (Wednesday)

• Dr. Russell A. Hibbs performed the first spinal fusion, at the New York Orthopedic Hospital. Using techniques learned from knee surgery, and applying them to the vertebrae of the spine, Dr. Hibbs operated upon a patient with spinal tuberculosis to prevent further progression in the curvature of the spine.
• Created to promote research in the natural sciences in Germany, the Kaiser Wilhelm Society was founded in Berlin.
• Emilio Estrada was elected as President of Ecuador.
• Southern Arkansas University began its first classes, with 75 students and 5 instructors beginning their term at what was then called the "Third District Agricultural School". In 1925, it was renamed Magnolia A & M College, and in 1951, Southern State College. The current name was adopted in 1976.
• The town of Mamou, Louisiana was incorporated.
• Born: Zenko Suzuki, Prime Minister of Japan from 1980 to 1982; in Yamada, Iwate Prefecture.

  January 12, 1911 (Thursday)

• An earthquake in Russia, at Vyerny, killed more than 250 people.
• For the second time in three days, Rapid City set a weather record. At 6:00 in the morning, the temperature in the South Dakota city was an unseasonable 49 degrees. Over the next two hours, the temperature dropped 62 degrees to 13 below zero.

  January 13, 1911 (Friday)

• De Nachtwacht, painted in 1642 by Rembrandt van Rijn, was vandalized for the first time at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. A recently unemployed cook slashed through the 269-year-old canvas with a knife. On September 14, 1975, a retired schoolteacher cut through the 333-year-old painting and tore off a section in the center, and on April 6, 1990, another vandal sprayed sulfuric acid on the now 348-year-old masterpiece, which has been restored each time.
• Born: Joh Bjelke-Petersen, New Zealand-born Australian politician who served as Premier of Queensland for 19 years from 1968 to 1987; in Dannevirke, New Zealand

  January 14, 1911 (Saturday)

• The Norwegian Antarctic Expedition, led by Roald Amundsen, commander of the Fram, arrived at the Bay of Whales, where the base camp, Framheim, was established at the Ross Ice Shelf.

  January 15, 1911 (Sunday)

• Future Chinese Premier Wu Tingfang addressed a crowd of 40,000 at the Zhang Gardens in Shanghai and announced that he had cut off the queue which he had worn in his hair as a sign of deference to the Qing dynasty, then urged the crowd to follow suit. At least 1,000 did so, and others followed suit as publicity spread.