October 1914

[October 1], 1914 (Thursday)

• The Battle of Arras began when General Louis de Maud'huy ordered troops with the French Tenth Army to attack German forces southeast of Arras and Lens in northern France, but vastly underestimated the strength of the German forces positioned there.
• Mexican revolutionary leader Venustiano Carranza called on all other revolutionary leaders to meet for convention in Mexico City in what was perceived as "the last attempt to create unity among the revolutionaries."
• Former Canadian Labor Minister and future Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, who had been a director for the Rockefeller Foundation since June, was assigned by the American business family to head an inquiry into the Colorado mine strike that resulted in violence and dozens of deaths earlier in 1914, particularly at Ludlow.
• The 6th Regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery merged with the 4th Regiment Royal Artillery.
• The Southern Line of the State Railway of Thailand was extended in the Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Thailand, with stations Khao Chum Thong Junction serving the line.
• The Billinge Green rail station opened in Davenham, England.
• The rail station in Pontygwaith, Wales, was closed.
• The Kiever Synagogue was established in Toronto.
• The one-mile oval Bowie Race Track was opened for horse racing outside of Bowie, Maryland by the Southern Maryland Agricultural Society.
• The Edward VII Monument, designed by Louis-Philippe Hébert, was unveiled at Phillips Square in Montreal by Edward's brother Prince Arthur, who was then the Governor General of Canada. Edward had visited Montreal in 1860, when he was the Prince of Wales, to open the Victoria Bridge.
• British mathematician Edgar Buckingham introduced the use of the symbol "_i" for the dimensionless variables in what becomes known as the Buckingham π theorem, significant to dimensional analysis.
• Born:
• * Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian, 12th Librarian of Congress; in Atlanta, United States
• * Marvin Gay Sr., American religious leader and murderer, father to R&B music artist Marvin Gaye and his killer; in Jessamine County, Kentucky, United States
• * Lê Trọng Tấn, Vietnamese military officer, Chief of General Staff for the People's Army of Vietnam from 1975 to 1986; as Lê Trọng Tố, in Hoài Đức District, Tonkin
• Died: Kitty Lange Kielland, 70, Norwegian painter, best known for her landscapes of Jæren in southern Norway

  [October 2], 1914 (Friday)

• Battle of Arras — French forces gave up Douai in northern France after the German reserve units staged a successful counterattack.
• William Howard Hearst became Premier of Ontario, succeeding James Whitney who died suddenly on September 25.
• Violent fallout from the Komagata Maru incident continued in India when Sikh passengers of the Japanese vessel refused orders to board a train from Calcutta to Punjab and opened fire, killing one police officer and wounding several others. British troops opened fire and killed 16 Sikhs and arrested dozens more.
• Porto Velho was established as the capital of Rondônia, Brazil.
• Born: Jack Parsons, American rocket engineer, one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Aerojet in California; as Marvin Whiteside Parsons, in Los Angeles, United States

  [October 3], 1914 (Saturday)

• Battle of Arras — The French line held against the German advance on Arras.
• German and Austro-Hungarian forces clashed in what is now southwestern Poland. Russian forces had been ordered to pull back but only the cavalry obeyed, leaving behind an infantry group that believed it could hold its position. They were destroyed the next day, with 7,000 Russian troops captured.
• Forces under command of Essad Pasha Toptani took Durrës, the capital of Albania, with no resistance.
• The Port Adelaide Football Club defeated the Carlton Football Club to be crowned Champions of Australia for a record fourth time and becoming the only League club in Australian football to go through its entire season undefeated.
• The New Athletic Field for Mississippi State University opened for its first game, the fourth oldest college stadium in the United States.
• The Green Line of the Boylston Street subway in Boston opened stations Copley and Massachusetts.

  [October 4], 1914 (Sunday)

• An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the surface-wave magnitude scale shook Lake Burdur in southwestern Turkey, causing an estimated 4,000 deaths and destroying more than 17,000 homes.
• The Canadian Expeditionary Force of 31,000 men set off to Great Britain in 31 ocean liners, arriving in Plymouth Sound, England, within a week.
• Battle of Arras — The French Tenth Army failed to hold back the German advance and lost Lens in northern France.
• The Manifesto of the Ninety-Three was proclaimed in Germany, in which 93 prominent German scientists, scholars and artists signed a document declaring their unequivocal support of German military actions in the early period of World War I. While the document galvanized public support in Germany, it was met with outrage by the international intellectual community, especially since it came after reports of atrocities committed by occupying German forces in Belgium in August.
• U.S. President Woodrow Wilson declared a national day of prayer throughout the United States for the end of World War I.
• The Northern Group of the French Army was established.
• The Baltic Exhibition closed in Malmö, Sweden, four days after its official closing date of September 30.
• Canoga Park High School opened to students in Canoga Park, California.
• Born: Jim Cairns, Australian politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia from 1974 to 1975; as James Cairns, in Carlton, Victoria, Australia

  [October 5], 1914 (Monday)

• Essad Pasha Toptani became the fourth Prime Minister of Albania and formed the fifth cabinet of Albania.
• Winston Churchill visited government officials in Antwerp with the Royal Marines Brigade where he offered to resign from his position as First Lord of the Admiralty to take command of the newly formed Royal Navy Division and help with defending Belgium from the German invasion. Although the offer was supported by Field Marshal Herbert Kitchener, the British cabinet rejected it.
• A mine explosion killed 16 near Birmingham, Alabama.
• Sergeant Joseph Frantz and Corporal Louis Quenault of the Armée de l'Air Française were the first aviators in history to shoot down another aircraft with gunfire, downing a German Aviatik fighter plane with machine gun fire from their Voisin aircraft over Jonchery, Reims.
• The Sekihoku railroad opened in Kitami, Hokkaido, Japan, with stations Ponmuka serving the line.
• The first session of Loyola University New Orleans College of Law was held in the College of the Immaculate Conception in New Orleans.
• Ethel Barrymore made her screen debut in the drama The Nightingale, written by American playwright Augustus Thomas, who was a close friend to Ethel's father Maurice Barrymore. The film has long been considered lost.
• Died: Albert Solomon, 38, Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Tasmania; of tuberculosis

  [October 6], 1914 (Tuesday)

• Joseph Kennedy married Rose Fitzgerald in Boston.
• The first Sopwith Gunbus airplane was given a test flight in England.
• British singer Mark Sheridan released the first recording of the hit World War I song "Belgium Put the Kibosh on the Kaiser".
• The city of Dunn Center, North Dakota was established.
• Born:
• * Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer, leader of the Kon-Tiki expedition; in Larvik, Norway
• * Leonida Bagration, Russian noble, consort to Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich; in Tiflis, Caucasus Viceroyalty, Russian Empire

  [October 7], 1914 (Wednesday)

• Battle of Jabassi — British forces launched an unsuccessful attack against German defenses dug in at the village of Jabassi on the Wuri River in German Cameroon.
• The Quiches District was established in Sihuas Province, Peru.
• Born:
• * Begum Akhtar, Indian singer of Hindustani classical music; as Akhtari Bai Faizabadi, in Faizabad, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India
• * Josef František, Czech air force pilot, member of the No. 303 Polish Squadron during World War II, three-time recipient of the Cross of Valour and Distinguished Flying Medal; in Otaslavice, Austria-Hungary

  [October 8], 1914 (Thursday)

• In a raid planned by Royal Naval Air Service Wing Commander Charles Samson, two Sopwith Tabloids attacked the Zeppelin sheds at Düsseldorf and the Cologne railway station. Flight Lieutenant Reginald Marix was able to destroy Zeppelin Z IX by bombing the hangar it was held in, the first time that an aircraft destroyed an airship.
• The popular World War I patriot song "Keep the Home Fires Burning", composed by Ivor Novello with lyrics by Lena Guilbert Ford, was published with the original title "'Til the Boys Come Home" by Ascherberg, Hopwood and Crew Ltd. in London. The song was re-titled to its current name in 1915.
• Born:
• * William A. Egan, American politician, first and fourth Governor of Alaska; in Valdez, Territory of Alaska, United States
• * Rowland Wolfe, American gymnast, gold medalist at the 1932 Summer Olympics; as Merrill Rowland Wolfe, in Dallas, United States
• Died: Adelaide Crapsey, 36, American poet, known for her poetry collection Verses published posthumously

  [October 9], 1914 (Friday)

• Siege of Antwerp — Finding no resistance from the defending fortresses around Antwerp, German commanding officer Hans Hartwig von Beseler ceased bombardment and called on Belgian General Victor Deguise to surrender. However, four civilian representatives, including the Mayor of Antwerp Jan De Vos, met with Beseler beforehand to request an end to the bombardment of the city and signed a capitulation. The document forced Deguise to accept the terms a day later and surrender along with 30,000 Allied troops. German troops occupied the city until the end of World War I.
• Battle of the Vistula River — German forces arrived at Vistula River but found little resistance on the river's west bank. General Nikolai Ruzsky, commander of the Russian Northwest Front, sent troops from Warsaw to attack the German's left flank, but the Germans knew of the army's strength from orders found on the body of a Russian officer. They knew three Russian armies would concentrate against the German Ninth Army to relieve pressure on the Austro-Hungarian line in the south.
• A German airplane appeared over Lille, France, and dropped two bombs on the city's post office. By the afternoon, all men of fighting age were ordered to leave Lille immediately, while civilians in the surrounding towns and villages were evacuated.
• The IV Corps of the British Army was established, with John French in command.
• The Torrens Island Concentration Camp opened on Torrens Island south of Adelaide, Australia, to house 400 German and Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war.
• The Orpheum Theatre opened in Champaign, Illinois as a live vaudeville theater. It is now the site of the Orpheum Children's Science Museum.
• Born: Joseph L. Melnick, American medical scientist, lead breakthrough research in how polio was spread; in Boston, United States
• Died: Dumitru C. Moruzi, 64, Romanian writer, member of the Sămănătorul group