November 1912

November 1, 1912 (Friday)

• General Mario García Menocal, the nominee of Cuba's Conservative Party, was elected President of Cuba, defeating Vice-president Alfredo Zayas.
• The Bulgarian Army occupied Demotika, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace.
• Pope Pius X sent a letter to Portuguese Roman Catholic clergy condemning Portugal's Law of Separation of the State and the Church and censured those clergy who had accepted stipends under the law.
• The Germany to Russia Gordon Bennett Cup hot air balloon race, from Stuttgart to Moscow, was won by the French team of Maurice Bienaimé and René Rumpelmayer.
• In Warsaw, then part of the Russian Empire, Lieutenant Dahm of the Imperial German Army was sentenced to five years hard labor for espionage.
• A federal grand jury in Omaha, Nebraska, indicted five railroads for illegal rebate policies in violation of the Elkins Act.
• The last of the cattle from the XIT Ranch, once one of the largest in the Texas Panhandle at 150,000 head, were sold off at auction.
• Born: Gunther Plaut, German-born Canadian rabbi and author, president of the Canadian Jewish Congress 1977–1980, and recipient of the Order of Canada; as Wolf Gunter Plaut, in Münster, German Empire
• Died: Homer Lea, 35, American writer, advisor to Sun Yat-sen during the 1911 Revolution, died of Bright's disease

  November 2, 1912 (Saturday)

• The Ottoman Army retreated to Çatalca, Turkey, ending the Battle of Lule Burgas at a cost of 22,000 killed or wounded for the Ottoman Empire.
• King Peter of Serbia entered Uskub after it was captured from the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War.
• Former Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II was taken to Constantinople from Salonika.
• Royal Navy battleships and destroyers were ordered to Turkish waters.
• Adolfo Díaz, who had been named President of Nicaragua by the National Assembly in October 1911, was elected by popular vote, without opposition.
• Three days before the presidential election, candidate Woodrow Wilson sustained a head injury when his limousine struck a hole in the street and threw him against the car's ceiling. The accident took place in Hightstown, New Jersey, at the intersection of Main Street and Monmouth Street, and although the impact was hard enough that his glasses were broken, no stitches were required to close the wound.
• Ottoman Army troops rallied at Tcherkesskeui in the Marmara Region.
• An explosion on the battleship USS Vermont near Norfolk, Virginia, killed two men and seriously injured another four people.
• The first airplane flights in Japan by Imperial Japanese Navy personnel were made by two officers at Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal using Farman and Curtiss seaplanes.

  November 3, 1912 (Sunday)

• At Urga, Mongolia, the Russian Empire concluded a treaty with the country. The Russian Minister to China, Ivan Korostovets negotiated a pact with Mongolia's Foreign Minister, Mijiddorjin Khanddorj. In return for Russia's recognition of "Outer Mongolia" as an autonomous state to be protected from China, the Mongolian government would give Russia "most favored nation" status for trade and mining and timber rights.
• The Turkish government appealed to the Great Powers to intervene in the Balkan Wars, a claim which was rejected the next day by France.
• The Greek Army captured Preveza, Epirus.
• Louth beat Antrim 1–7 to 1–2 in the final for the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in front of a crowd of 13,000 spectators at Jones Road in Dublin.
• Born:
• * Alfredo Stroessner, President of Paraguay and dictator from 1954 to 1989; in Encarnación, Paraguay
• * Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, French partisan fighter, member of the French Resistance during World War II, recipient of the Legion of Honour; as Marie-Claude Vogel, in Paris

  November 4, 1912 (Monday)

• The British House of Commons rejected, by a vote of 265–162, a proposed amendment to the Home Rule Bill that would have set up proportional representation for an Irish legislature.
• The Greek Army captured Yenidje, Central Macedonia.
• French Astronomer Alphonse Borrelly discovered a new comet while observing at Marseille.
• The keel was laid for USS Nevada at Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts.
• A rail line of in length opened between Zeerust and Ottoshoop in Transvaal, South Africa.
• Born: Vadim Salmanov, Soviet composer, known for his collaborations with conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky; in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire

  November 5, 1912 (Tuesday)

• Woodrow Wilson was elected President of the United States, with former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and incumbent U.S. President William Howard Taft finishing in second and third place, respectively. Several state elections were also held with the following results:
• * Democrat Park Trammell was elected to state governor of Florida.
• * Democrat Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne defeated Republican incumbent Charles S. Deneen for governorship of Illinois.
• * Democrat Woodbridge N. Ferris was elected governor of Michigan.
• * Republican Adolph Olson Eberhart was elected governor of Minnesota.
• * Democrat Elliot Woolfolk Major defeated Republican candidate John C. McKinley for state governor of Missouri.
• * Democrat incumbent Coleman Livingston Blease was re-elected state governor of South Carolina.
• * Republican Frank M. Byrne defeated Democrat Edwin S. Johnson for state governor of South Dakota.
• * Republican Henry D. Hatfield was elected governor of West Virginia.
• Arizona, Kansas, Michigan and Oregon became the latest states to approve women's suffrage in state and local elections, but Wisconsin's men rejected the right of women to vote.
• In the Battle of Monastir, Serbian forces under the command of General Radomir Putnik inflicted heavy casualties on Turkish forces, with the Turks losing more than half of their battle force, having 25,000 killed and wounded, and 2,000 taken prisoner.
• The Greek Army captured Prilep, Macedonia.
• Wheeler County, Georgia, was created from the western section of Montgomery County by approval of voters for an amendment to the state constitution. On November 14, the town of Alamo would become the county seat.

  November 6, 1912 (Wednesday)

• Turkish Grand Vizier Kâmil Pasha summoned the Council of Ministers and Generals for a meeting at Istanbul to decide whether to continue the war with the Balkan League or seek peace. The Council elected to continue the war.
• Ottoman forces defeated Greek forces near what is now Amyntaio, Greece.
• Born:
• * George Cakobau, Fijian state leader, Governor-General of Fiji 1973 to 1983; on the island of Bau, Colony of Fiji, British Empire
• * Vashti McCollum, American activist, advocated for separation of church and state as plaintiff in McCollum v. Board of Education, which struck down religious instruction in American public schools; as Vashti Cromwell, in Lyons, New York

  November 7, 1912 (Thursday)

• Jack Johnson, the reigning world heavyweight boxing champion and controversial African American athlete, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Chicago for violation of the Mann Act. Belle Schreiber, a white prostitute, testified that Johnson had arranged for her railroad trip from Chicago to Pittsburgh for immoral purposes. Johnson was convicted six months later, and fled to France. He eventually served a one-year sentence in 1920 at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.
• The largest French battleship, France, was launched from the shipyard at Saint-Nazaire, France.
• The silent film drama The Honor of the Family was released by the Rex Motion Picture Company. The film was supposedly the film debut of Lon Chaney, but could not be confirmed as the film and production and casting notes have been lost.
• The Manx English play The Charm by Christopher R. Shimmin was first performed by The Peel Players on the Isle of Man.
• Ernest Riebe's cartoon, Mr. Block, made its debut in The Industrial Worker.
• Born: Henry Evans, Australian-born New Zealand geologist, known for discovering major bauxite in the Australian area of Weipa; in Greymouth, South Island, Australia

  November 8, 1912 (Friday)

• The Greek Army reached the Aegean Sea port city of Salonika hours ahead of the Bulgarian Army, and, at 8:00 pm local time, arranged terms of surrender of the city by Ottoman Empire forces without firing a shot. Although Salonika was prepared for an attack from the sea, it had no fortification to defend against an assault from the surrounding land. Both Bulgaria and Greece had historical claims to the port city, which had been Thessalonica in ancient Greece, and Solun in the Bulgarian Empire in medieval times; "the Bulgarians were outraged at having been deprived of their prize", which would have given Bulgaria a port on the Aegean and access to the Mediterranean Sea, and the loss of Salonika would lead to the Second Balkan War, with Bulgaria fighting Greece and Serbia.
• Born: June Havoc , Canadian-born American film and television actress, known for film roles including Gentleman's Agreement, daughter to Rose Thompson Hovick and sister to Gypsy Rose Lee; in Vancouver

  November 9, 1912 (Saturday)

• A rail line of in length opened between Newington and Tzaneen in Transvaal, South Africa.
• Led by Jim Thorpe, the Carlisle Indians defeated the Army Cadets, 27–6, in a college football game at West Point, New York. Future U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, playing for Army, tackled Thorpe and forced a fumble. Later in the game, Eisenhower injured his right knee while attempting to bring down Thorpe again.
• Died: Mahuta Tāwhiao, 58, New Zealand indigenous noble, King of the Māori people since 1894. He was succeeded by his son, Te Rata Mahuta