October 1912

October 1, 1912 (Tuesday)

• The capital of British India was formally moved to Delhi from Calcutta.
• Turkey and Greece both mobilized their armies in preparation of war.
• The tenth Salon d'Automne was held in Paris. Over 1,770 works were on display for over a month, with artists focused on Cubism given their own exhibit room as well a Cubist architecture installation by Raymond Duchamp-Villon titled La Maison Cubiste. Artistic works exhibited included paintings Dancer in a Café and Femme à l'Éventail by Jean Metzinger, Man on a Balcony, The Bathers, Harvest Threshing and Passy, Bridges of Paris by Albert Gleizes, The Spring by Francis Picabia, and sculptures Groupe de femmes and Danseuse by Joseph Csaky. Following the closing of the art event, Metzinger and Gleizes published On "Cubism", the first major text detailing the theory and techniques surrounding the emerging art movement.
• Edmund Knox, Bishop of Manchester, consecrated St John's Church in Great Harwood, Lancashire, England.
• Aboard the U.S. Navy destroyer, the port main turbine split open, killing five men.
• Born: Kathleen Ollerenshaw, British mathematician, known for research in order theory and abstract algebra; as Kathleen Timpson, in Withington, England

  October 2, 1912 (Wednesday)

• Bulgarian troops seized control of Turkish blockhouses at Djuma-i-Bala district.
• Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria delivered an ultimatum to the Ottoman Empire over Macedonia.

  October 3, 1912 (Thursday)

• General Smedley Butler and Colonel Joseph Henry Pendleton of the United States Marine Corps had given Nicaraguan rebel general Benjamín Zeledón an ultimatum to surrender the El Coyotepe fortress by 8:00 am or face bombardment by American artillery and then an invasion. The rebels refused to capitulate, and American shelling began minutes later.
• Turkish frontier guards attacked troops of Montenegro at Berane.
• Crowds in Constantinople demonstrated in favor of Turkey going to war with Bulgaria.
• The longest drought in U.S. history began in Bagdad in San Bernardino County, California. For the next 767 days, more than two years, no rain fell on the town in the Mojave Desert.
• From the Manger to the Cross, the silent film about Jesus, by Sidney Olcott, premiered in London, followed on October 10 by its New York City release and was the first to be filmed on location in the Holy Land.

  October 4, 1912 (Friday)

• Off the coast of Dover, the collision of the Royal Navy submarine HMS B2 with the Hamburg America Line ship Amerika killed 15 sailors. B2 was part of a flotilla of 13 submarines patrolling four miles from Dover as part of Royal Navy maneuvers, and crossed in front of the bow of Amerika, which was moving twice as fast and was unable to stop. Only one man, Lt. Richard I. Pulleyne, survived, swimming upward after the sub broke in two.
• The U.S. Marines attacked Nicaragua's rebels before dawn, advanced uphill and captured the fortress on El Coyotepe despite being fired on by the remaining rebels. Four Americans and 27 rebels were killed, and another 14 U.S. infantrymen wounded.
• Sixteen-year old black teen Ernest Knox and his friend were tried and convicted for the rape and murder of 18-year old white teen Sleety Mae Crow, in Forsyth County, Georgia. Despite evidence of Knox's confession to the crime pointed to him being under duress from local authorities, both black teens were sentenced to be executed by hanging, bringing an end to most of the immediate racial violence in the county.
• The first University of Calgary began classes, with a faculty of three professors. The Alberta provincial legislature would not give the University power to confer degrees, and the University of Alberta did not welcome the competition. As result, the university would close its doors in October 1915.
• Golfer Harry Vardon won a rematch against Ted Ray at the 10th News of the World Matchplay, beating him by one hole. Vardon lost his defending title to Ray at The Open Championship in June.

  October 5, 1912 (Saturday)

• French Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré addressed the British Foreign Office regarding averting war in the Balkans, with the assistance of Austria-Hungary and Russia.
• The parliaments of Bulgaria and Serbia met in extraordinary session to discuss going to war.
• Jack Zelig, a witness for the prosecution in the trial of New York City Police Department lieutenant Charles Becker, was shot and killed in New York City while preparing to board a trolley, two days before Becker's trial was to start.
• Carl Stearns Clancy, 22, began his quest to become the first person to take a motorcycle around the world, setting sail from Philadelphia to Dublin. He would complete the job on August 27, 1913, after 18,000 miles.
• The New York Highlanders played their final baseball game, ending a seven-game losing streak to defeat the Washington Senators 8–6, and finishing in last place in the American League with 50 wins and 102 losses. In 1913, the team would have a new manager, mostly new players, and a new name, as the New York Yankees.
• Born:
• * Karl Hass, German SS officer, perpetrator of the Ardeatine massacre in Italy in 1944; in Kiel
• * Bora Laskin, Chief Justice of Canada from 1973 to 1984; in Fort William, Ontario
• *João Marinho Neto Brazilian supercentenarian, known for becoming the world's oldest man on November 25, 1914; in Maranguape, Ceará state. As of January 2026, Neto was the 20th oldest person in the world, with 19 women older than him, alongside being the 20th oldest man in history.

  October 6, 1912 (Sunday)

• American troops captured the city of León, Nicaragua, effectively ending the insurgency in Nicaragua.
• Lieutenant Yōzō Kaneko made the first flight for the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal in Japan, piloting a Farman seaplane for 15 minutes and reaching an altitude of 30 meters.
• Died:
• * Auguste Beernaert, 83, Belgian state leader, Prime Minister of Belgium 1884 to 1894
• * William A. Peffer, 81, U.S. Senator for Kansas from 1891 to 1897 as the first senator to be elected from the Populist Party
• * Walter William Skeat, 76, English linguist, author of The English Dialect Dictionary
• * Susie King Taylor, 64, American medical officer, the first African-American army nurse

  October 7, 1912 (Monday)

• A proposed peace agreement to end the Italo-Turkish War was presented by Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti to the Italian cabinet.
• Born: Fernando Belaúnde, President of Peru 1963-1968 and 1980-1985; as Fernando Sergio Marcelo Marcos Belaúnde Terry, in Lima, Peru

  October 8, 1912 (Tuesday)

• The First Balkan War began as the tiny Kingdom of Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire, with the army attacking Novi Pazar and the Detchitch fort across from Podgorica. Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece would join in on October 17, and the war would last until May 30, 1913, with Turkey giving up its European possessions under the Treaty of London.
• Died:
• * Wilhelm Kuhe, 88, Czech composer, known for his collaborations with Giuseppe Verdi
• * Millie and Christine McKoy, 61, American singers, conjoined twins that toured as the musical act "The Carolina Twins"

  October 9, 1912 (Wednesday)

• King Nicholas of Montenegro called on his subjects to join in a "holy war" against Turkey, as Detchitch fell to the Montenegrins.
• Romania assured Bulgaria of its neutrality.
• The second game of the World Series ended with no winner, with the teams tied 6-6 after 11 innings before darkness forced an early end, meaning that the second game would have to be replayed. The Boston Red Sox had won the first game, 4-3.

  October 10, 1912 (Thursday)

• The first major battle between Greece and the Ottoman Empire in the First Balkan War occurred at Sarantaporo, with Greek forces capturing Servia and Kozani from the Ottomans.
• The Maternity Allowance Act was passed in Australia, granting a "baby bonus" of five pounds to the mother of every child born in the country, except the coverage did not include indigenous mothers and other non-citizens.
• The Rice Institute was dedicated at Houston.
• The Freewoman feminist weekly newspaper ceased publications in London. It was revived at The New Freewoman the following year and published for another six months.
• A total eclipse of the Sun cast a shadow across South America, and was visible in parts of Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Brazil.
• Died: James Mackay, 80, British-born New Zealand politician, main developer of the West Coast of New Zealand

  October 11, 1912 (Friday)

• The Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne and the future King Edward VIII, began his studies at Magdalen College as a commoner.
• Italy and Turkey broke off peace negotiations as Montenegro took Ottoman territory near Skiptchanik.

  October 12, 1912 (Saturday)

• A fire broke out at a mine owned by North Mount Lyell on the west coast of Tasmania, killing 42 miners.
• Stock prices dropped in London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna as the First Balkan War escalated.
• The province of Hsikangseng, with a capital at Batang, was created from West Sichuan and Eastern Tibet.
• The largest grain elevator in the world opened at the Port of Montreal, more than doubling the capacity of the port. Over the next five years, the amount of grain shipped through Montreal increased more than 25 times.
• A new abbey was consecrated on the historic site of Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight.
• Born:
• * Edward Hidalgo, Mexican-born U.S. government official, United States Secretary of the Navy 1979-1981 and highest ranking Hispanic official in the United States Department of Defense; as Eduardo Hidalgo y Kunhardt, in Mexico City, Mexico
• * Grigory Kravchenko, Soviet air force officer, commander of the 215th Fighter Aviation Division during World War II, recipient of the Hero of the Soviet Union; in Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire