May 1924

May 1, 1924 (Thursday)

• Iodized salt, now used in table salt worldwide, was introduced in the United States after Canadian-born pediatrician David Murray Cowie became aware that the Swiss addition of sodium iodide or potassium iodide to salt could safely remedy the problem of iodine deficiency that was a leading cause of thyroid problems. With problems including related goiters prevalent in Michigan, Dr. Cowie was able to persuade several saltmakers to use the Swiss process and distribute the product, starting in Michigan grocery stores.
• Two German automobile manufacturers, Benz und Companie and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft signed an Agreement of Mutual Interest to combine operations, which would result in their 1926 merger into Daimler-Benz, manufacturers of the Mercedes-Benz automobile.
• The German military suppressed attempts to hold May Day demonstrations all over the country. Eight people died and hundreds were wounded.
• The Whampoa Military Academy, which would later become the military academy for the Republic of China in Taiwan, officially opened at Guangzhou in China.

• Born:
• *Grégoire Kayibanda, the first President of Rwanda ; in Tare, Belgian territory of Ruanda-Urundi
• *Art Fleming, American TV actor, newscaster and television game show host known for the original version of the Jeopardy!; in New York City
• *Big Maybelle, American rhythm and blues singer, posthumous inductee into the Grammy Hall of Fame; in Jackson, Tennessee
• *Terry Southern, American screenwriter and novelist; in Alvarado, Texas
• *Enriko Josif, Yugoslavian Serbian composer; in Belgrade, Yugoslavia

  May 2, 1924 (Friday)

• The Craters of the Moon National Monument, located in the U.S. state of Idaho near the town of Arco, was designated for federal protection.
• U.S. President Calvin Coolidge issued an arms embargo on Cuba at the request of its government.
• Born:
• * Jamal Abro, Pakistani writer; in Mehar Tehsil, Bombay Province, British India
• * Lynn Evans Mand, American pop music singer for The Chordettes, known for "Mr. Sandman" and "Lollipop"; in Youngstown, Ohio

  May 3, 1924 (Saturday)

• In the closest finish ever for the championship of English football, Huddersfield Town A.F.C., with a record of 22 wins and 11 draws, defeated Nottingham Forest F.C., 3 to 0, while Cardiff City F.C. of Wales, with a record of 22 wins and 12 draws, played to a scoreless draw against Birmingham City F.C., leaving both with the same record of 57 points, to finish in first place in the English League's First Division. Under the English League rules, the tiebreaker for identical records was based on the ratio of goals scored divided by goals allowed, and Huddersfield's 60/33 ratio of 1.818 was slightly higher than Cardiff's 61/34 ratio of 1.794. If Huddersfield had scored only 2 goals in its final game, a ratio of 59/33 would have been 1.7878 for second place.
• The Jewish fraternity Aleph Zadik Aleph was formed in Omaha, Nebraska. It would in turn form the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization a year later.
• The steamship SS Catalina, known as "The Great White Steamer", and for making thousands of trips between Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Island in the U.S. state of California, was launched for the first time. Over the next 51 years, it would transport as many as 2,000 passengers at a time on the 2½ hour and trip to and from Santa Catalina, carrying 25 million people over the years, more passengers than any other vessel anywhere in the world, according to the Steamship Historical Society of America.
• In Argentina, 150,000 workers participated in a general strike protesting the mandatory deduction of 5% of their wages for a fund for old-age pensions.
• The "Bozenhardt incident" occurred in Berlin when German police raided the Soviet Trade Delegation.
• Zinaida Kokorina, the first female military pilot in history, made her first solo flight.
• Born:
• *Isadore Singer, American mathematician known for index theory and the Atiyah–Singer index theorem which paved the way for new interactions between pure mathematics and theoretical physics, as well as the Kadison–Singer problem, the Ambrose–Singer holonomy theorem and the McKean–Singer theorem; in Detroit
• *Jane Morgan, American singer and actress; in Newton, Massachusetts
• Died: Mykola Mikhnovsky, 50, Ukrainian nationalist, was found hanged outside the home of his longtime political ally, Volodymyr Shemet, after having been arrested and released by the Soviet secret police agency, the GPU.

  May 4, 1924 (Sunday)

• At least 50 Muslims were killed in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk by the British-sponsored Assyrian Levies paramilitary force.
• Elections were held in Germany for all 472 seats of the Reichstag. The Social Democratic Party of Germany narrowly maintained its small plurality of 100 seats, and the German National People's Party finished second with 95. Among the new Reichstag electees was Erich Ludendorff, who ran under the banner of the National Socialist Freedom Movement, a stand-in for the Nazi Party which was banned at the time.
• The Summer Olympics preliminary competitions began in Paris, with a 41 to 3 win by France's Olympic rugby league team over the Romanian team in front of 15,000 people at the Colombes Stadium, although the official opening ceremony would not be held until July 5.
• Soviet officials said the Bozenhardt incident would have serious consequences unless Germany apologized and paid reparations.
• Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor, written by Russian composer Nikolai Myaskovsky, premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
• Real Unión defeated Real Madrid, 1 to 0, to win the 24th Copa del Rey football championship.
• Born: Tatiana Nikolayeva, Soviet Russian pianist and composer; in Bezhitsa, Russian SFSR
• Died: E. Nesbit, 65, English author

  May 5, 1924 (Monday)

• The Pusan Public Industrial Continuation School, later the Busan National University of Technology, was established in Japanese-ruled Korea near Busan in Bosu. It is now part of Pukyong National University.
• The Cuban rebellion spread to Oriente Province.
• Born: Betty Cooke, American jewelry designer; in Baltimore
• Died:
• *Kate Claxton, 75, American stage actress, star of The Two Orphans on Broadway
• *Chattampi Swamikal, 70, Indian Hindu social reformer

  May 6, 1924 (Tuesday)

• The Soviet Union suspended trade with Germany as it had not received satisfaction over the Bozenhardt incident.
• Near Iași, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu opened the founding meeting of the new anti-Semitic Romanian organization, Frăția de Cruce. The meeting was invaded by Romania's national police, the Poliția Română, on orders of the local police chief, Constantin Manciu. Codreanu and his associates were severely beaten and tortured before they were released, and he made plans to take revenge on Manciu, whom he would assassinate five months later on October 24.
• Macedonian separatists presented the May Manifesto, an attempted declaration of independence.
• The Batley Bulldogs defeated the Wigan Warriors 13–7 to win the championship of the Northern Rugby Football League a predecessor to England's Rugby Football League.
• The strike in Argentina ended in victory for the workers.

  May 7, 1924 (Wednesday)

• The first issue of Liberty magazine, with a cover date of May 10, appeared on newsstands. The weekly general-interest magazine would decline in popularity, becoming a monthly magazine and ceasing publication in July 1950.
• The American Popular Revolutionary Alliance was founded in Mexico City by Peruvian politician Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre.
• In the Ruhr region of Germany, 300,000 miners went on strike over working hours.
• The Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, founded by Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu, published its first issue.
• Died:
• *Dimitar Blagoev, 67, Bulgarian political leader
• *Alluri Sitarama Raju, 26, Indian independence activist, was executed by firing squad in the village of Koyyuru (now in the state of Andhra Pradesh by orders of the British Indian government.

  May 8, 1924 (Thursday)

• The Klaipėda Convention was signed in Paris between the government of Lithuania and representatives of the Conference of Ambassadors from the Allied powers of World War One, recognizing Lithuania's January 19 annexation of the Memel Territory between Germany and Lithuania, on condition that the annexed region would have limited autonomy.
• In a lawsuit between inventors Edwin Howard Armstrong and Lee de Forest on the question of who was entitled to the patent for the regenerative circuit, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia reversed a finding by the interference board of the U.S. Patent Office, and held that de Forest had invented regeneration. The decision would be upheld by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Federico Laredo Brú, leader of the short-lived Cuban rebellion, negotiated the terms of his surrender.
• The revised version of the Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 was premiered more than 10 years after the September 5, 1913, premiere of the original version. Prokofiev had reconstructed the music after the only manuscript had been destroyed by a fire in 1917.
• Died: Sophie Lyons, 75, American philanthropist and reformed swindler, was fatally injured in a home invasion by three men.

  May 9, 1924 (Friday)

• U.S. President Coolidge's attempt to delay the controversial anti-Japanese immigration bill, until March 1, 1925, was defeated in the House of Representatives by a vote of 191 to 171.
• The Richard Strauss ballet Schlagobers was given its first performance, in a premiere at the Vienna State Opera.
• A home rule bill for Scotland was introduced by George Buchanan into the British House of Commons, but the debate degenerated into a shouting match and the Speaker of the House adjourned the session for the day.
• The futuristic Westland Dreadnought, designed for Britain's Westland Aircraft company by Russian-born inventor Nicolas Woyevodsky, crashed on its first, and only, flight. Test pilot Stuart Keep, who had taken the Dreadnought on short takeoff and landing hops, lost control of the aircraft at an altitude of and plummeted to the ground. Keep survived, but was seriously injured.
• Born: Bulat Okudzhava, popular Soviet Russian folk music singer; in Moscow