March 1923

March 1, 1923 (Thursday)

• The Kingdom of Greece became one of the last remaining world nations to switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, which was 13 days ahead of what had been used before. What would have been Thursday, February 16, 1923, on the Julian calendar became March the first.
• José Serrato was inaugurated as the President of Uruguay after winning the first popular election in the South American nation's history, held on November 26.
• France and Belgium decreed that they would impose the death penalty on anyone in occupied Germany sabotaging transport lines.
• Judgment was delivered in the Stopes v Sutherland libel trial in the High Court, London. The defendant, Dr Halliday Sutherland, successfully defeated the libel action brought by Marie Stopes.
• Pola Negri released a written statement saying she was breaking off her engagement to Charlie Chaplin. "I consider I am too poor to marry Charlie Chaplin", the statement read. "He needs to marry a wealthy woman, and he should have no difficulty in finding one in the United States – the richest and most beautiful country in the world." She rescinded the statement the next day, announcing that "We have made up. I believe that it is what you call it here in America", she stated.
• Died: William Bourke Cockran, 69, Irish-born U.S. Congressman for New York who served more than 10 years between 1887 and the time of his death, died the day after being honored on his birthday after a speech in Congress. Cockran, who had been re-elected on four months earlier, died at his Washington home came three days before he was to be sworn in for a new term in the 68th U.S. Congress. Cockran suffered a stroke two hours after blowing out candles on his birthday cake and telling the distinguished guests, "I may tell you my wish. It is that I may live many years with my dear wife."

  March 2, 1923 (Friday)

• Otto Blehr submitted his resignation as Prime Minister of Norway along with his entire cabinet, after the Parliament refused to ratify Norway's treaty with Portugal.
• French Army troops occupying Germany's Ruhr valley seized 232 locomotives and hundreds of freight train cars in early morning raids in the towns of cities of Düsseldorf, Hamborn, and Wanne, as collection for past due reparations.
• The U.S. Senate began an investigation into the possibly criminal activities of Charles R. Forbes, who had resigned two days earlier as Directors of the U.S. Veterans Bureau.
• Born:
• *Hito Çako, Albanian Communist politician, lieutenant general and honoree as "Hero of the People"; in Progonat, Principality of Albania
• *Shaikh Ayaz, Pakistani Sindhi language poet, book author and playwright; as Mubarak Ali Shaikh, in Shikarpur, Bombay Province, British India
• *Harriet Frank Jr., American screenwriter, known for her screenplay collaborations with her husband Irving Ravetch for director Martin Ritt for The Long, Hot Summer, Hud and Norma Rae; as Harriet Goldstein, in Portland, Oregon, United States
• *Nelly Wicky, one of the first 12 women to serve in the Parliament of Switzerland after women were allowed in 1971 to vote in national elections and serve in federal office; as Nelly Rosset, in Le Petit-Saconnex, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland

  March 3, 1923 (Saturday)

• The first issue of Time magazine, weekly summary of news founded by Briton Hadden and Henry R. Luce, was on newsstands. In that the cover dates of weekly magazines are for at least a week ahead to avoid the appearance of being out-of-date, the March 3, 1923 issue was actually put on newsstands on February 24. Joseph G. Cannon, the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and who was retiring from Congress after 50 years, was featured on the first cover.
• On the last full day of the 67th U.S. Congress, the U.S. Senate rejected President Warren G. Harding's proposal to have the U.S. join the World Court, with only 24 senators in favor and 49 against. Only one member of Harding's Republican Party, Senator Peter Norbeck of South Dakota, voted for the bill.
• The French Army extended its seizure of railway yards in the Ruhr occupational zone, taking control of the major industrial center at Darmstadt, along with the ports of Mannheim and Karlsruhe, and the villages of Lorch am Rhein and Knielingen, now a part of Karlsruhe.
• Twenty-two people were fatally poisoned at a dinner for students, teachers and family members at the First Provincial Normal School in Hangzhou in China's Zhejiang province, and 250 others required medical treatment. Five cooks were arrested after the deaths were traced to lethal toxins in rice.
• Born:
• *Doc Watson, folk musician; as Arthel Lane Watson, in Deep Gap, North Carolina, United States
• *Meghrajji III, Indian maharaja of the Dhrangadhra State, from 1942 until the independence of India in 1947, and later a politician; in Dhrangadhra, Kathiawar Agency, Bombay Presidency, British India

  March 4, 1923 (Sunday)

• A lengthy article titled "Better Fewer, But Better" by Vladimir Lenin was published in Pravda. In it, he wrote that global revolution was inevitable because Eastern countries like Russia, India and China accounted for the overwhelming majority of the world's population, but the victory of socialism may have to wait until they were sufficiently educated and developed.
• The 68th United States Congress began its new session with 435 representatives but only 95 of its 96 Senate seats were filled. The Senate, considering a challenge to Earle B. Mayfield by George Peddy regarding the 1922 election, declined to swear Mayfield in. Mayfield would be sworn in nine months later on December 3, pending a final investigation of Peddy's challenge.
• President Harding signed the Agricultural Credits Act, providing for the establishment of regional banks to provide loans to farm cooperative associations from which farmers could borrow.
• Elections were held for the 60-seat parliament in the Republic of San Marino. Later the country was taken over by the Fascist Party. All the seats were won by the "Patriotic Bloc", a set of right-wing political parties dominated by the Sammarinese Fascist Party, which would serve as San Marino's sole political party from 1926 until 1943.
• In Saltillo in Mexico's Coahuila state, the Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro, a public university and school of agriculture, was founded at the Buenavista Estate bequeathed to the public by the late philanthropist Antonio Narro Rodríguez.
• IK Göta defeated Djurgårdens IF, 3 to 0, to win the Swedish Ice Hockey Championship.
• In Ireland's national championship for hurling, Limerick's Shannonsiders defeated Dublin's Boys in Blue, 8 goals and 5 points to Dublin's 3 goals and 2 points, equivalent to a 29 to 11 victory, based on goals being worth 3-points each.
• The Anti-Flirt Club, whose purpose was to protect young women and girls from unwelcome attention from men, launched "Anti-Flirt Week".
• Born:
• *Patrick Moore, English astronomer; as Patrick Caldwell-Moore, in Pinner, Middlesex, England
• *Piero D'Inzeo, Italian Olympic show jumping rider and 1959 world champion; in Rome, Kingdom of Italy

  March 5, 1923 (Monday)

• Soviet Foreign Affairs Minister Georgy Chicherin delivered a note of protest to Finnish ambassador Antti Hackzell protesting Finland's negotiations with the League of Nations over the Karelia region, which the Soviets saw as theirs.
• The Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation, which would become one of the world's largest manufacturers of helicopters, was incorporated in the U.S. by Russian-born aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky.
• The U.S. state of Washington adopted an official flag for the first time, more than 33 years after becoming the 42nd U.S. state in 1889. The banner consisted of the state seal being displayed against a dark green background. Prior to 1923, a blue flag with a gold profile of U.S. President Washington had been displayed unofficially.
• Harry F. Young, a former steeplejack who had used his skills from working high on buildings as a construction worker before making more money as one of several building climbers who billed themselves as "The Human Fly", fell to his death from New York's Martinique Hotel, when he slipped while doing stunt work to draw attention to Harold Lloyds new comedy, Safety Last!. Young reached the ledge of the 10th floor of the 12-story hotel but his foot slipped. "For an incredible moment," The New York Times reported, "Young seemed to stand in space, then his white form came crashing down onto a coping and went in a quick plunge to the sidewalk."
• Born:
• *Laurence Tisch, American businessman and CEO of the CBS television network; in Brooklyn, New York City, United States
• *Robert Irsay, American professional football team owner of the NFL's Baltimore Colts and moved the team to Indianapolis in 1984 where it became the Indianapolis Colts; in Chicago, United States
• *Loren Singer, American novelist, author the bestselling book The Parallax View; in Buffalo, New York, United States

  March 6, 1923 (Tuesday)

• The Egyptian Feminist Union, the first nationwide feminist movement in Egypt, was founded at the home of activist Huda Sha'arawi.
• The Halibut Treaty was signed between the United States and Canada. It was the first time Canada had ever signed a treaty with a foreign nation without involving a representative from Britain.
• Radio station 5SC, owned by the British Broadcasting Company, began broadcasting from Glasgow and would become the first station in BBC Scotland, soon to expand to Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh.
• German Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno told the Reichstag that Germany would not enter direct negotiations with France over the reparations issue, but would do so through a third party.
• The government of British Prime Minister Bonar Law was pressured by the opposition to take a more definite stand on the issue of France's policy toward the Ruhr region.
• Five soldiers of the Irish Free State Army were killed by a "booby trap" bomb while searching a suspected Irish Republican Army at Baranarigh Wood near the village of Knocknagoshel in County Kerry. A gruesome reprisal was carried out the next day against nine IRA prisoners.
• Born:
• *Ed McMahon, American television personality known for being the sidekick of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and for starring in his own program, Star Search; in Detroit, United States
• *Wes Montgomery, African American jazz guitarist; as John Leslie Montgomery, in Indianapolis, United States
• Died: Joseph McDermott, 44, American film actor