September 1923

September 1, 1923 (Saturday)

• A devastating earthquake with an approximate magnitude of 7.9 struck Japan at two minutes before noon. Over 120,000 people were killed and 2 million left homeless as half the city of Tokyo was destroyed. Among the dead were 112 people who were killed by a mudslide that swept the train that they were on down a embankment and into the ocean after it had stopped at the Nebukawa Station while traveling between Atami and Odawara.
• The Chosen Railway was established in Korea by the merger of six separate companies, and served as the largest privately owned corporation on the Korean Peninsula.
• The council of the League of Nations met at the request of Greece to discuss the Corfu crisis. The Italian government telegraphed the League that night saying that any decision made by the League regarding the Corfu incident would be ignored by Italy.
• An explosion killed 21 coal miners in Australia at the Bellbird Colliery in Bellbird, New South Wales.
• Born:
• *Rocky Marciano, American heavyweight boxer and world heavyweight champion from 1952 to 1956, known for retiring undefeated; as Rocco Marchegiano, in Brockton, Massachusetts, United States
• *McAllister Hull, American theoretical physicist who took part in the creation of the 1945 atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki to force the surrender of Japan in World War II; in Birmingham, Alabama, United States
• *Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet, Canadian businessman and collector; in North Bay, Ontario, Canada
• *Karen Chandler, American pop music singer who had hits in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s; as Eva Nadauld, in Rexburg, Idaho, United States
• Died:
• *Matsuoka Yasukowa, 77, Japanese politician, served as Minister of Agriculture and the first president of Nippon University; killed in his house when it collapsed during the Great Kanto Earthquake
• *Josephine Blatt, 54, American circus performer known for her tremendous strength, best known by her stage name of "Minerva"

  September 2, 1923 (Sunday)

• Admiral Yamamoto Gonnohyōe was installed as Prime Minister of Japan as part of an "emergency cabinet" installed the day after the earthquake, and to fill the vacancy left by the August 24 death of Katō Tomosaburō.
• The Kantō Massacre of non-Japanese ethnic minorities began in Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake the day before, starting with vigilante groups targeting Korean residents on the island of Honshu, at first with the encouragement of local police, and then with the participation of police and the Imperial Japanese Army. An estimated 6,000 people of Korean, Chinese or Ryukyuan descent were killed after rumors were spread that minorities were seeking to overthrow the Japanese government during the chaos following the earthquake.
• A "German Day" rally attended by over 100,000 nationalists was held in Nuremberg to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of victory over the French in the Battle of Sedan. Adolf Hitler and Erich Ludendorff were in attendance as Nazis were among the paraders.
• German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann suggested in a speech in Stuttgart that the passive resistance campaign in the Ruhr should be ended. "Every honest person in the Ruhr district and along the Rhine is longing for the hour when he will again return to work", Stresemann said. "This hour will have to come, and through German productive work the real solution of the conflict can be found. The purpose of passive resistance was to bring about this solution. We are ready to make the greatest material sacrifices, but we are not willing to give up the liberty of German soil."
• Lon Chaney established his role as the "Man of 1,000 Faces" portraying Quasimodo in the debut of the popular silent film adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, released by Universal Pictures and making its debut at the Astor Theatre in New York before going into nationwide release on September 6.
• Died: J. Campbell Cantrill, 53, U.S. Congressman for Kentucky and Democratic nominee for Governor of Kentucky; died in the middle of his campaign for state office, six days after having undergone surgery for a ruptured appendix. William J. Fields, another incumbent U.S. Representative, was nominated by the Democratic Party's central committee to fill the vacancy left by Cantrill's death and would win the general election in November.

  September 3, 1923 (Monday)

• U.S. President Calvin Coolidge appealed to the American public for aid in the Japanese earthquake disaster.
• The film Rosita premiered at the Lyric Theatre in New York City.
• The Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News was first published after being founded by Cornelius Vanderbilt IV. The newspaper would cease publication on December 18, 1954.
• The musical Poppy made its debut on Broadway, premiering at the Apollo Theater for a run of 346 performances, and included in its cast comedian W. C. Fields as Professor Eustace McGargle.
• Born:
• *Glen Bell, American restaurant entrepreneur, founder of the Taco Bell fast food chain; in Lynwood, California, United States
• *Mort Walker, comic strip artist known for Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois; as Addison Morton Walker, in El Dorado, Kansas, United States
• *Alan Bristow, British entrepreneur, founder of Bristow Helicopters Ltd, one of the world's largest helicopter service companies; in Balham, London, England
• *Alice Gibson, Belizean librarian who established most of the libraries in Belize; in Belize City, British Honduras

  September 4, 1923 (Tuesday)

• Benito Mussolini threatened to have Italy withdraw from the League of Nations if it insisted on arbitrating the Corfu crisis, saying the League was "absolutely not competent" to address the issue.
• The airship USS Shenandoah made its first flight.
• The musical revue London Calling!, produced by André Charlot with music by Noël Coward and Philip Braham, opened at London's Duke of York's Theatre. The musical was the first for Coward, and featured a 3-D stereoscopic shadowgraph as part of its opening act.
• Sad Sam Jones pitched a no-hitter for the New York Yankees against the Philadelphia Athletics by a final score of 2–0. It was the first no-hitter ever thrown by a visiting player in Shibe Park, and only the second in which none of the players had struck out.
• Born:
• *Warren M. Robbins, American art collector whose collection led to the formation of the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution; in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
• *Gloria Shayne Baker, American composer and songwriter, known for the melody of the 1962 Christmas carol "Do You Hear What I Hear?" ; as Gloria Shain, in Brookline, Massachusetts, United States
• *Mirko Ellis, Swiss-Italian actor; as Mirko Korcinsky, in Locarno, Switzerland
• *Ram Kishore Shukla, Indian politician and activist; in Beohari, British India
• *Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi, Pakistani humorist and satire writer; in Tonk, Jaipur State, British India
• Died:
• *Howdy Wilcox, 34, American race car driver who won the 1919 Indianapolis 500; killed while racing at the Altoona Speedway in Altoona, Pennsylvania
• *Kawai Yoshitora, 21, Japanese Communist activist; shot and killed in prison two days after his arrest on accusations of causing anarchy in the aftermath of the September 1 earthquake
• *Paul Friedländer, 66, German chemist known for the Friedländer synthesis process of extracting dyes

  September 5, 1923 (Wednesday)

• Nearly all the coal mines in the Ruhr were active as the passive resistance campaign in the region wound down.
• The musical stage comedy The Beauty Prize, with music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by George Grossmith and P. G. Wodehouse, opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in London.
• Born: Gustavo Rojo, Mexican actor; born on the German cruise ship Krefeld as it was transporting his family across the Atlantic Ocean to Montevideo, Uruguay
• Died: John "Dots" Miller, 36, American professional baseball player; died of tuberculosis

  September 6, 1923 (Thursday)

• The League of Nations handed the Corfu crisis to the Conference of Ambassadors to mediate. Mussolini said that Italy would abide by the Conference's decision.
• The comedy film Potash and Perlmutter was released.
• Born: Petar II Karadordević, served as the last King of Yugoslavia from 1934 to 1945; in Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
• Died: Pedro José Escalón, 76, President of El Salvador from 1903 to 1907

  September 7, 1923 (Friday)

• Interpol was founded as the International Criminal Police Commission at a conference of police officials from 16 nations meeting in Austria at Vienna. It would adopt its present name in 1956. A century later, the Interpol network would be present in all but a few of the world's nations.
• Mary Katherine Campbell retained her title in the 3rd Miss America pageant. She is the only Miss America to ever win twice, as previous winners were only eligible to be re-crowned during the earliest years of the pageant.
• Howard Ehmke of the Boston Red Sox pitched a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics, 4–0 at Shibe Park. It was the second time the Athletics were no-hit in the space of four days.
• Born:
• *Madeleine Dring, English composer and actress; at Harringay, London, England
• *Byron Seaman, Canadian oil company magnate, co-owner of the Calgary Flames NHL team franchise; in Rouleau, Saskatchewan, Canada
• Died:
• *James V. Ganly, 44, U.S. Congressman representing the 24th New York district; died from injuries sustained the night after he crashed his car into a tree
• *Charles Newton Little, 65, American mathematician and expert in knot theory; died of heart failure