May 1911
Encyclopedia
January
January 1911
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in January 1911:-January 1, 1911 :...

 - February
February 1911
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in February 1911:-February 1, 1911 :...

 - March
March 1911
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in March 1911:-March 1, 1911 :...

 - April
April 1911
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in April 1911:-April 1, 1911 :...

 - May - June
June 1911
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in June 1911:-June 1, 1911 :*The Senate voted 48-20 to reopen the investigation of U.S...

 - July
July 1911
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in July 1911:-July 1, 1911 :...

  - August
August 1911
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in August 1911:-August 1, 1911 :...

 - September
September 1911
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in September 1911:-September 1, 1911 :*Emilio Estrada was inaugurated as the 23rd President of Ecuador...

  - October
October 1911
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in October 1911:-October 1, 1911 :...

  - November
November 1911
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in November 1911:-November 1, 1911 :*The first aerial bombardment in history took place when 2d.Lt...

 - December
December 1911
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in December 1911:-December 1, 1911 :...



The following events occurred in May 1911:

May 1, 1911 (Monday)

  • The United States Supreme Court ruled that the federal government, rather than the individual states, had the right to set apart lands for public use. The ruling, in Light v. United States (220 U.S. 523) initially applied to forest preserves, but would be extended to other federal use of land.
  • Born: Anthony Salerno
    Anthony Salerno
    Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno was a New York mobster who served as front boss of the Genovese crime family to family boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante from the 1970s until his conviction in 1986...

    , a/k/a "Fat Tony", member of American Mafia and a leader in the Genovese Family, in East Harlem, New York City (d. 1992)

May 2, 1911 (Tuesday)

  • The British House of Commons approved amendments to the Parliament Bill, a provision for veto of House of Lords power, with the first reading passing 299 to 193.
  • Professor Horatio W. Parker of Yale University, and former Yale professor Brian Hooker won the $10,000 prize from New York's Metropolitan Opera
    Metropolitan Opera
    The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

     for an opera written and composed entirely by Americans, with Mona receiving the grand prize.

May 3, 1911 (Wednesday)

  • The German Antarctic Expedition, organized by Wilhelm Filchner
    Wilhelm Filchner
    Wilhelm Filchner was a German explorer.At the age of 21, he participated in his first expedition, which led him to Russia. Two years later, he travelled alone and on horseback through the Pamir Mountains, from Osh to Murgabh to the upper Wakhan to Tashkurgan and back...

    , departed from Bremerhaven
    Bremerhaven
    Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham...

     on the ship Deutschland. Sailing into the Weddell Sea
    Weddell Sea
    The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha Coast, Queen Maud Land. To the east of Cape Norvegia is...

     and getting trapped by the ice there for eight months, the expedition would discover the Filchner Ice Shelf.

May 4, 1911 (Thursday)

  • The British National Insurance Bill
    National Insurance Act 1911
    The National Insurance Act 1911 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act is often regarded as one of the foundations of modern social welfare in the United Kingdom and forms part of the wider social welfare reforms of the Liberal Government of 1906-1914...

    , providing for both health insurance and unemployment insurance, was introduced by Chancell With workers paying 4 pence, employers 3p and the government 2p per worker per week, the system became operational on January 15, 1913, and provided sickness payments of up to 10 shillings per week during illness.

May 5, 1911 (Friday)

  • Sir George Kemp's suffrage bill passed its second reading, 255-88. The right to vote was proposed for every woman "possessed of the household qualification", excluding women servants and lodgers, and prohibited women from voting in the same constituency as their husbands.
  • Born: Andor Lilienthal
    Andor Lilienthal
    Andor Arnoldovich Lilienthal was a Hungarian and Soviet chess Grandmaster. In his long career, he played against ten male and female world champions, beating Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, and Vera Menchik...

    , Hungarian and Soviet chess Grandmaster, in Moscow
    Moscow
    Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

     (d. 2010)

May 6, 1911 (Saturday)

  • The first International Hygiene Exhibition
    International Hygiene Exhibition
    The International Hygiene Exhibition was a world's fair focusing on medicine and public health, held in Dresden, Germany, in 1911.The leading figure organizing the exhibition was German philanthropist and businessman Karl August Lingner, who had grown wealthy from his Odol mouthwash brand, and was...

     opened in Dresden
    Dresden
    Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

    , and attracted five million visitors to the German city.
  • The Colorado Senate adjourned after seven ballots with no replacement for the late Senator Charles J. Hughes, Jr.
    Charles J. Hughes, Jr.
    Charles James Hughes, Jr. was a Democratic U.S. Senator from Colorado.Born in Kingston, Missouri, Hughes attended the common schools and graduated from Richmond College in 1871. He then graduated from the law department of the University of Missouri in Columbia in 1873, was admitted to the bar in...

    , who had died on January 11. Colorado had only one U.S. Senator for more than two years, until Charles S. Thomas took office on January 20, 1913.
  • Died: George Maledon
    George Maledon
    George Maledon was a hangman aptly nicknamed "The Prince of Hangmen", who served in the federal court of Judge Isaac Parker.-Early life:...

    , 80, nicknamed "The Prince of Hangmen", for carrying out most of the 79 executions at Fort Smith, Arkansas
    Fort Smith, Arkansas
    Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 86,209 in 2010, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents which encompasses the Arkansas...

    , as ordered by "The Hanging Judge", Isaac Parker
    Isaac Parker
    Isaac Charles Parker served as a U.S. District Judge presiding over the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas for 21 years and also one-time politician. He served in that capacity during the most dangerous time for law enforcement during the western expansion...


May 7, 1911 (Sunday)

  • Porfirio Diaz
    Porfirio Díaz
    José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N...

     issued a "manifesto" declaring that he would eventually resign as President of Mexico
    President of Mexico
    The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...

    , but not until hostilities by Francisco I. Madero
    Francisco I. Madero
    Francisco Ignacio Madero González was a politician, writer and revolutionary who served as President of Mexico from 1911 to 1913. As a respectable upper-class politician, he supplied a center around which opposition to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz could coalesce...

    's rebel armies ceased, declaring that he would step down "when, according to the dictates of my conscience, I am sure my resignation will not be followed by anarchy".
  • Born: Ishirō Honda
    Ishiro Honda
    Ishirō Honda , sometimes miscredited in foreign releases as "Inoshiro Honda", was a Japanese film director...

    , Japanese film director, in Yamagata Prefecture
    Yamagata Prefecture
    -Fruit:Yamagata Prefecture is the largest producer of cherries and pears in Japan. A large quantity of other kinds of fruits such as grapes, apples, peaches, melons, persimmons and watermelons are also produced.- Demographics :...

     (d. 1993)

May 8, 1911 (Monday)

  • In what has been described as the birth of naval aviation, Captain Washington Irving Chambers
    Washington Irving Chambers
    Captain Washington Irving Chambers, USN was a United States Navy officer who played a major role in the early development of Naval aviation, serving as the first officer to have oversight of the Navy's aviation program....

     of the United States Navy awarded a contract to Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
    Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
    Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer that went public in 1916 with Glenn Hammond Curtiss as president. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the company was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States...

     for the Curtiss A-1 Triad.
  • The Chinese Grand Council was abolished, replaced by ten member constitutional cabinet, with Yikuang, Prince Qing
    Yikuang, Prince Qing
    Yikuang, the Prince Qing , was a Manchu prince of the late Qing Dynasty, who was the first premier of China...

     becoming the first Premier in China's history.
  • China
    China
    Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

     and the United Kingdom
    United Kingdom
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

     signed an agreement whereby the Chinese would phase out production of opium over a 7 year period, and the British would phase out exports of opium from India to China at the same rate.
  • The House of Lords approved Lord Lansdowne
    Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne
    Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, KG, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC was a British politician and Irish peer who served successively as the fifth Governor General of Canada, Viceroy of India, Secretary of State for War, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs...

    's proposal for reconstitution of the House of Lords
    House of Lords
    The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

     on its first reading.
  • Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

     issued a warning to France
    France
    The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

     that an attempted occupation of the Moroccan city of Fes
    Fes
    Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....

     would be considered a violation of a treaty between the two nations.
  • Born: Robert Johnson, American blues musician, and one of the original inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; ranked by Rolling Stone magazine in 2008 as fifth greatest guitarist of all time; in Hazlehurst, Mississippi
    Hazlehurst, Mississippi
    Hazlehurst is a city in and the county seat of Copiah County, Mississippi, United States, located about 30 miles south of the state capital Jackson along Interstate 55. The population was 4,400 at the 2000 census...

     (poisoned 1938); and Rudolf Flesch
    Rudolf Flesch
    Rudolf Flesch was an author , and also a readability expert and writing consultant who was a vigorous proponent of plain English in the United States. He created the Flesch Reading Ease test and was co-creator of the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test...

    , American educator whose 1955 book Why Johnny Can't Read successfully advocated a change from sight-word reading back to phonics
    Phonics
    Phonics refers to a method for teaching speakers of English to read and write that language. Phonics involves teaching how to connect the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters and teaching them to blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate pronunciations...

    ; in Vienna
    Vienna
    Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

    , Austria
    Austria
    Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

     (d. 1986)

May 9, 1911 (Tuesday)

  • The American Psychoanalytic Association
    American Psychoanalytic Association
    American Psychoanalytic Association is an association of psychoanalysts in the United States. It was founded in 1911, and forms part of the International Psychoanalytical Association.-External links:**...

     was founded, at an organizational meeting in Baltimore
    Baltimore
    Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

    .
  • A fire broke out at the Empire Palace Theatre
    Edinburgh Festival Theatre
    The Edinburgh Festival Theatre is a performing arts venue located on Nicolson Street in Edinburgh Scotland used primarily for performances of opera and ballet, large-scale musical events, and touring groups. After its most recent renovation in 1994, it seats 1,915...

     in Edinburgh
    Edinburgh
    Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

    , Scotland
    Scotland
    Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

    , during a performance of the variety and magic show of Sigmund Neuberger
    Sigmund Neuberger
    Sigmund Neuberger, or Sigmund Newburger, was born on 25 February 1871 in Munich, Germany and died on 9 May 1911 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was otherwise known as famous illusionist The Great Lafayette and was the highest paid magician of his time....

    , who billed himself as "The Great Lafayette". The audience of 1,500 was evacuated, without panic, in four minutes, but eleven members of the troupe, including Lafayette himself, died in the blaze.
  • Professor Boris Rosing
    Boris Rosing
    Boris Lvovich Rosing was a Russian scientist and inventor in the field of television.Born to a family of Swedish descent, Rosing first envisioned a Television system using the CRT on the receiving side in 1907. Rosing filed a patent application in Germany on November 26, 1907 and—on the improved...

     of the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology
    Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology
    Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Russia , it currently trains around 5000 students.-History:...

    , assisted by his student Vladimir Zworykin
    Vladimir Zworykin
    Vladimir Kozmich Zworykin was a Russian-American inventor, engineer, and pioneer of television technology. Zworykin invented a television transmitting and receiving system employing cathode ray tubes...

    , demonstrated the transmission of a scanned image-- "four luminous bands" on to a cathode ray tube
    Cathode ray tube
    The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...

    . Zworykin would build upon Rosing's discoveries in the development of television.
  • Johann Orth, formerly known as Archduke John Salvator of Austria, was declared legally dead 20 years after he had disappeared.
  • Died: Thomas Wentworth Higginson
    Thomas Wentworth Higginson
    Thomas Wentworth Higginson was an American Unitarian minister, author, abolitionist, and soldier. He was active in the American Abolitionism movement during the 1840s and 1850s, identifying himself with disunion and militant abolitionism...

    , 87, American minister and abolitionist who had commanded the First South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, a Union army regiment composed of African-American soldiers, during the Civil War.

May 10, 1911 (Wednesday)

  • At 2:30 pm, General Juan Navarro surrendered the city of Ciudad Juarez
    Ciudad Juárez
    Ciudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande...

     to the rebel forces of Pascual Orozco
    Pascual Orozco
    Pascual Orozco Vazquez was a Mexican revolutionary leader who, after the triumph of the Mexican Revolution, rose up against Francisco I...

     and Pancho Villa
    Pancho Villa
    José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....

    , who had attacked the city in defiance of Francisco Madero. The fall of Juarez was the first loss of territory to the rebels. Madero proclaimed himself President the next day.
  • Born: Bel Kaufman
    Bel Kaufman
    Bella "Bel" Kaufman is an American teacher and author, best known for writing the 1965 bestselling novel Up the Down Staircase.-Early life:...

    , German-born American author (Up the Down Staircase), in Berlin
    Berlin
    Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

    ; Alexander D. Goode
    Alexander D. Goode
    Alexander D. Goode was a rabbi and a lieutenant in the United States Army. He was one of the Four Chaplains who gave their lives to save other soldiers during the sinking of the USAT Dorchester during World War II...

    , U.S. Army Chaplain who was one of the Four Chaplains
    Four Chaplains
    The Four Chaplains, also sometimes referred to as the "Immortal Chaplains," were four United States Army chaplains who gave their lives to save other civilian and military personnel during the sinking of the troop ship USAT Dorchester during World War II. They helped other soldiers board lifeboats...

     to give up their lives as the USAT Dorchester sank on February 3, 1943; in Columbus, Ohio
    Columbus, Ohio
    Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...


May 11, 1911 (Thursday)

  • The United States Senate failed, after seven ballots, to elect a replacement for the office of president pro tempore
    President pro tempore of the United States Senate
    The President pro tempore is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate. The United States Constitution states that the Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate and the highest-ranking official of the Senate despite not being a member of the body...

    , two weeks after the death of Senator William P. Frye
    William P. Frye
    William Pierce Frye was an American politician from the U.S. state of Maine. Frye spent most of his political career as a legislator, serving in the Maine House of Representatives and U.S. House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served for 30 years and died in...

     of Maine. Senator Jacob H. Gallinger of New Hampshire
    New Hampshire
    New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

     failed to win majority support. The deadlock was broken by an agreement to rotate the position among five different U.S. Senators until the 62nd U.S. Congress session ended in 1913.
  • Born: Phil Silvers
    Phil Silvers
    Phil Silvers was an American entertainer and comedy actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah." He is best known for starring in The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a U.S...

    , American TV actor and comedian, as Philip Silver in Brooklyn
    Brooklyn
    Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

     (d. 1985); Doodles Weaver
    Doodles Weaver
    Winstead Sheffield Weaver , who used the professional name Doodles Weaver, was an American actor and comedian on radio, recordings, and television. He was the brother of NBC executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver and the uncle of actress Sigourney Weaver.Born in Los Angeles, Weaver was given the nickname...

    , American TV actor and comedian, in Los Angeles
    Los Ángeles
    Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

     (d. 1983); and Jeanne Behrend
    Jeanne Behrend
    Jeanne Behrend was an American pianist, music educator, musicologist and composer.-Life:Jeanne Behrend was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the Curtis Institute in 1934, where she studied piano with Josef Hofmann and composition with Rosario Scalero.After completing her education, she...

    , American composer, in Philadelphia (d. 1988)

May 12, 1911 (Friday)

  • At the request of the parliament of Persia, William Morgan Shuster, a 34 year old American lawyer, arrived in what is now Iran
    Iran
    Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

     to manage the nation's economy as its Treasurer General. Shuster was forced to leave eight months later after the Russian Empire sent troops to prevent him from seizing the assets of the former royal family.

May 13, 1911 (Saturday)

  • An Imperial Decree was issued in China, annexing the railroad lines from Hankou
    Hankou
    Hankou was one of the three cities whose merging formed modern-day Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers where the Han falls into the Yangtze...

     to Guangzhou
    Guangzhou
    Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...

     and Chungqing, in advance of the receipt of the first installment of a loan from foreign banks to construct a new railroad.
  • Born: Wayne Hays
    Wayne Hays
    Wayne Levere Hays was an American politician whose strong rule of the House Administration Committee extended to even the smallest items. In the mid-1970s, lawmakers avoided crossing Hays for fear that he would shut off the air conditioning in their offices...

    , U.S. Representative from Ohio, 1949–76, and onetime chairman of the House Administration Committee until scandal forced his resignation; in Bannock, Ohio
    Bannock, Ohio
    Bannock is a census-designated place in northwestern Richland Township, Belmont County, Ohio, United States, along Wheeling Creek. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 43972. It lies along State Route 331....

     (d. 1989); and Maxine Sullivan
    Maxine Sullivan
    Maxine Sullivan , born Marietta Williams, was an American blues and jazz singer.She was born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, and married jazz musician John Kirby in 1938 , and stride pianist Cliff Jackson in 1956...

    , American blues singer, in Homestead, Pennsylvania
    Homestead, Pennsylvania
    Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the "Mon Valley," southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relations in the United...

     (d. 1987)

May 14, 1911 (Sunday)

  • Prince Lij Iyasu was proclaimed as Emperor Iyasu V of Ethiopia
    Iyasu V of Ethiopia
    Iyasu V , also known as Lij Iyasu was the designated but uncrowned Emperor of Ethiopia . His baptismal name was Kifle Yaqob...

    , referred to at the time as Abyssinia
    Ethiopian Empire
    The Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia, covered a geographical area that the present-day northern half of Ethiopia and Eritrea covers, and included in its peripheries Zeila, Djibouti, Yemen and Western Saudi Arabia...

    .

May 15, 1911 (Monday)

  • Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States
    Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States
    Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, 221 U.S. 1 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States found Standard Oil guilty of monopolizing the petroleum industry through a series of abusive and anticompetitive actions...

    : Upholding a judgment that the Standard Oil Company held a monopoly in violation of American antitrust law, the United States Supreme Court ordered that Standard Oil be dissolved within six months. Among the 38 companies created were Standard Oil of New Jersey (later Exxon) and Standard Oil of New York (Mobil), which merged in 1999 as ExxonMobil
    ExxonMobil
    Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...

    ; Standard Oil of Indiana (Amoco), Standard Oil of California (Chevron), Atlantic Refining (ARCO) and Continental Oil Company (Conoco).
  • The Parliament Act of 1911, nicknamed the "Veto Bill" because it gave the right of the lower house of Parliament to reverse decisions by the House of Lords
    House of Lords
    The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

    , passed the British House of Commons
    British House of Commons
    The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

     on its third reading, 362-241, and moved on to the House of Lords.
  • Born: Max Frisch
    Max Frisch
    Max Rudolf Frisch was a Swiss playwright and novelist, regarded as highly representative of German-language literature after World War II. In his creative works Frisch paid particular attention to issues relating to problems of human identity, individuality, responsibility, morality and political...

    , Swiss author, in Zurich
    Zürich
    Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

     (d. 1991)
  • Died: James Smith, 53, Chairman of Manufacturing Committee of Standard Oil Company

May 16, 1911 (Tuesday)

  • The massacre of 200 Chinese residents followed the fall of the city of Torreon
    Torreón
    Torreón is a city and seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name in the Mexican state of Coahuila. As of 2010, the city's population was 608,836 with 639,629 in the municipality. The metropolitan population, including Matamoros, Coahuila, and Gómez Palacio and Lerdo in adjacent Durango,...

     to Mexican insurgents. After a three day defense, government troops departed and twelve hours of rioting began. Among the victims was Dr. J.W. Lim, a wealthy Chinese-Mexican banker, who was dragged through the streets before being shot. In all, 316 Chinese residents were murdered during the revolution, and China's ambassador to Mexico, Shung As Sune, demanded compensation from the Mexican government of 33,600,000 pesos, worth $16,800,000 for the loss of lives and property.
  • Henry Lewis Stimson was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new U.S. Secretary of War, four days after the resignation of Jacob M. Dickinson
    Jacob M. Dickinson
    Jacob McGavock Dickinson was United States Secretary of War under President William Howard Taft from 1909 to 1911. He was succeeded by Henry L. Stimson.-Biography:...

    .
  • Died: Margaret A. Weller, 68, the first person to learn how to use the QWERTY
    QWERTY
    QWERTY is the most common modern-day keyboard layout. The name comes from the first six letters appearing in the topleft letter row of the keyboard, read left to right: Q-W-E-R-T-Y. The QWERTY design is based on a layout created for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter and sold to Remington in the...

     keyboard. Mrs. Weller, the wife of a court reporter, tested the prototype of the typewriter
    Typewriter
    A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...

     invented by C. Latham Sholes in 1867.

May 17, 1911 (Wednesday)

  • Born: Maureen O'Sullivan
    Maureen O'Sullivan
    Maureen Paula O’Sullivan was an Irish actress.-Early life:O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, the daughter of Roman Catholic parents Mary Lovatt and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in The Connaught Rangers who served in The Great War...

    , Irish-born American film actress, in Boyle, County Roscommon
    Boyle, County Roscommon
    Boyle is a town in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is located at the foot of the Curlew Mountains near Lough Key in the north of the county. Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery, the Drumanone Dolmen and the popular fishing lakes of Lough Arrow and Lough Gara are also close by...

    , Ireland
    Ireland
    Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

     (d. 1998)); Clark Kerr
    Clark Kerr
    Clark Kerr was an American professor of economics and academic administrator. He was the first chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley and twelfth president of the University of California.- Early years :...

    , American educator, in Stony Creek, Pennsylvania (d. 2003); and Lisa Fonssagrives
    Lisa Fonssagrives
    Lisa Fonssagrives , born Lisa Birgitta Bernstone was a Swedish fashion model widely credited as the first supermodel.-Biography:...

    , Swedish fashion model, described in the New York Times in 1997 as "The First Supermodel", in Västra Götaland County
    Västra Götaland County
    Västra Götaland County is a county or län on the western coast of Sweden.The county is the second largest of Sweden's counties and it is subdivided into 49 municipalities . Its population of 1,550,000 amounts to 17% of Sweden's population...

     (d. 1992)
  • Died: William Benjamin Baker
    William Benjamin Baker
    William Benjamin Baker was a U.S. Congressman who represented the second Congressional district of Maryland from 1895 to 1901....

    , 70, former U.S. Congressman of South Dakota and "father of rural free delivery"; and Constance Faunt Le Roy Runcie
    Constance Faunt Le Roy Runcie
    Constance Faunt Le Roy Runcie was an American pianist, author and composer. She was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the granddaughter of Welsh industrial reformer Robert Owen...

    , 75, American musical composer

May 18, 1911 (Thursday)

  • The Illinois State Senate voted to reopen the investigation into the controversial election of U.S. Senator William Lorimer
    William Lorimer (politician)
    William Lorimer was a U.S. Representative from the State of Illinois. He subsequently served in the United States Senate and was known as the "Blond Boss" in Chicago. In 1912, however, the Senate held Lorimer's election invalid due to the use of corrupt methods and practices including...

    , a day after committee concluded that he would nothave been elected without bribery.
  • Born: Big Joe Turner
    Big Joe Turner
    Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...

    , American blues singer whose song "Shake, Rattle and Roll" made him a rock star in his 40s; inducted posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987; in Kansas City, Missouri
    Kansas City, Missouri
    Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

     (d. 1985)
  • Died: Gustav Mahler
    Gustav Mahler
    Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...

    , 50, Austrian composer

May 19, 1911 (Friday)

  • Parks Canada
    Parks Canada
    Parks Canada , also known as the Parks Canada Agency , is an agency of the Government of Canada mandated to protect and present nationally significant natural and cultural heritage, and foster public understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment in ways that ensure their ecological and commemorative...

    , the governmental agency which regulates national parks in the Dominion of Canada, was created as the Dominion Parks Branch of the Canadian Department of the Interior, and was the first national parks service in any nation.

May 20, 1911 (Saturday)

  • The Hukuang Loan Agreement, which would prove to be the downfall of the Manchu Dynasty and the Chinese Empire, was signed in Beijing
    Beijing
    Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

    , providing for a $30,000,000 loan to the Imperial Government.
  • Born: Gardner Fox
    Gardner Fox
    Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer best known for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic-book historians estimate that he wrote over 4,000 comics stories....

    , American comic book writer for DC Comics, who helped create the "Justice Society of America" and later the "Justice League of America" series; in Brooklyn
    Brooklyn
    Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

     (d. 1986); and Milt Gabler
    Milt Gabler
    Milton Gabler was an American record producer, responsible for many innovations in the recording industry of the 20th century.-Early life:...

    , American record producer who introduced multiple innovations in the recording industry; in Harlem; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (d. 2001)
  • Died: Williamina Fleming
    Williamina Fleming
    -External links:* * * * from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific- Obituaries :*...

    , 54, Scottish astronomer who perfected the Pickering-Fleming system for classification of variable star
    Variable star
    A star is classified as variable if its apparent magnitude as seen from Earth changes over time, whether the changes are due to variations in the star's actual luminosity, or to variations in the amount of the star's light that is blocked from reaching Earth...

    s

May 21, 1911 (Sunday)

  • The Treaty of Ciudad Juárez
    Treaty of Ciudad Juárez
    The Treaty of Ciudad Juárez was a peace treaty signed between the then President of Mexico, Porfirio Díaz, and the revolutionary Francisco Madero on May 21, 1911...

     was signed in that city, formally ending the Mexican Revolution
    Mexican Revolution
    The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...

    . The treaty was to have been signed at the customs office at Juarez, which was on the Mexican-American border and had served as the headquarters for rebel leader Francisco I. Madero
    Francisco I. Madero
    Francisco Ignacio Madero González was a politician, writer and revolutionary who served as President of Mexico from 1911 to 1913. As a respectable upper-class politician, he supplied a center around which opposition to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz could coalesce...

    , but, as the New York Times reported later, "By some mistake, as yet unexplaned, the Custom House was locked when the Police Commmissioners arrived." Judge Francisco S. Carbajal, appearing as representative for Mexico's President Porfirio Díaz
    Porfirio Díaz
    José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N...

    , and Madero and two other insurgent leaders, decided to sign the treaty on the steps of the customs building, under the illumination of automobile headlights.
  • French Minister of War Henri Berteaux
    Henri Maurice Berteaux
    Henri Maurice Berteaux was the Minister of Defence in France from 14 November 1904 to 12 November 1905, and from 2 March 1911 until his accidental death on 21 May 1911.-Biography:...

     was killed, and Prime Minister Ernest Monis
    Ernest Monis
    Antoine Emmanuel Ernest Monis was a French politician of the Third Republic, deputy of Gironde from 1885 to 1889 and then senator of the same department from 1891 to 1920...

     was seriously injured, after they were struck by an airplane at Issy-les-Moulineaux
    Issy-les-Moulineaux
    Issy-les-Moulineaux is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. On 1 January 2003, Issy-les-Moulineaux became part of the Communauté d'agglomération Arc de Seine along with the other communes of Chaville, Meudon, Vanves and Ville-d'Avray...

    . The occasion was the start of a race from Paris to Madrid, with 200,000 spectators turning out to watch. Piloted by a Messieur Train, the monoplane took off without clearance, was caught in a downdraft and plunged into the assembled dignitaries. Berteaux was struck by the propeller which severed his left arm, fractured his skull and cut his throat, and Monis sustained compound fractures of his right leg and a broken nose.
  • Born: Peter Hurkos
    Peter Hurkos
    Peter Hurkos , born Pieter van der Hurk, was a Dutchman who allegedly manifested extra-sensory perception following a head injury and coma resulting from a fall from a ladder when he was age 30. During World War II he was a member of the Dutch Resistance against the Nazis and was imprisoned in...

    , Dutch-born housepainter who claimed to have obtained psychic powers after falling from a roof in 1941; in Dordrecht
    Dordrecht
    Dordrecht , colloquially Dordt, historically in English named Dort, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the fourth largest city of the province, having a population of 118,601 in 2009...

     (d. 1988

May 22, 1911 (Monday)

  • A monument was unveiled at Arlington, Virginia, to Pierre L'Enfant, with U.S. President Taft and French Ambassador Jusserand speaking in honor of the Frenchman who had designed the city of Washington, D.C. Said Taft, "There are not many who have to wait 100 years to receive the reward to which they are entitled, until the world shall make the progress which enables it to pay the just reward."
  • Born: Anatol Rapoport
    Anatol Rapoport
    Anatol Rapoport was a Russian-born American Jewish mathematical psychologist. He contributed to general systems theory, mathematical biology and to the mathematical modeling of social interaction and stochastic models of contagion.-Biography:...

    , Russian-born American mathematician and pioneer in mathematical biology
    Mathematical biology
    Mathematical and theoretical biology is an interdisciplinary scientific research field with a range of applications in biology, medicine and biotechnology...

    ; in Lozovaya, Russia (d. 2007)

May 23, 1911 (Tuesday)

  • The New York Public Library
    New York Public Library
    The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...

     was dedicated by President Taft and by the library's greatest benefactor, Andrew Carnegie
    Andrew Carnegie
    Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...

     . It opened the next day at 9:00 to the general public.
  • Pinellas County, Florida
    Pinellas County, Florida
    Pinellas County is a county located in the state of Florida. Its county seat is Clearwater, Florida, and its largest city is St. Petersburg. This county is contained entirely within the telephone area code 727, except for some sections of Oldsmar, which have the area code 813...

     was established.

May 24, 1911 (Wednesday)

  • At a speech in Kansas City, Missouri
    Kansas City, Missouri
    Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

    , U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Franklin MacVeagh
    Franklin MacVeagh
    Franklin MacVeagh was an American banker and Treasury Secretary.Born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Yale University in 1858, where he was a member of Skull and Bones. He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1864. He worked as a wholesale grocer and lawyer...

     endorsed the plan of the National Monetary Commission
    National Monetary Commission
    National Monetary Commission was a study group created by the Aldrich Vreeland Act of 1908. After the Panic of 1907 American bankers turned to Europe for ideas on how to operate a central bank. Senator Nelson Aldrich, Republican leader of the Senate, personally led a team of experts to major...

     to create the Federal Reserve Board.
  • Born: Ne Win
    Ne Win
    Ne Win was Burmese a politician and military commander. He was Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974 and also head of state from 1962 to 1981...

    , Prime Minister and then President of Burma from 1958 to 1981, and Chariman of the nation's sole political party until his 1988 ouster, in Paungdale
    Paungdale
    Paungdale` is a small town about 12 miles from Pyay in Myanmar. Notable people from Paungdale` include U Ne Win....

     (d. 2002); Carleen Hutchins
    Carleen Hutchins
    Carleen Maley Hutchins was an American former high school science teacher, violinmaker and researcher, best-known for her creation, in the 1950s/60s, of a family of eight proportionally-sized violins now known as the violin octet and for a considerable body of research into the acoustics of violins...

    , American violin maker, in Springfield, Massachusetts
    Springfield, Massachusetts
    Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...

     (d. 2009), and Barbara West
    Barbara West
    Barbara Joyce Dainton was the second-to-last remaining survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic on 14 April 1912 after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage.-Early life:...

    , one of the last two survivors of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, in Bournemouth
    Bournemouth
    Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...

    , England (d. 2007)

May 25, 1911 (Thursday)

  • Mexico
    Mexico
    The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

    's President Porfirio Díaz
    Porfirio Díaz
    José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N...

     and Vice-President Ramón Corral
    Ramón Corral
    Ramón Corral was the Vice President of Mexico under Porfirio Díaz from 1904 until their deposition in 1911.-Early Years:...

     presented their resignations to the Chamber of Deputies in Mexico City at 4:25 pm, and at 4:54, the Chamber voted 167-0 to accept. Foreign Minister Francisco León de la Barra
    Francisco León de la Barra
    Francisco León de la Barra y Quijano was a Mexican political figure and diplomat, who served as interim president of Mexico from May 25 to November 6, 1911....

     was then sworn in as Provisional President of Mexico.

May 26, 1911 (Friday)

  • Born: Ben Alexander, American actor, in Goldfield, Nevada
    Goldfield, Nevada
    Goldfield is an unincorporated community and the county seat of Esmeralda County, Nevada, United States, with a resident population of 440 at the 2000 census. It is located about southeast of Carson City, along U.S...

     (d. 1969)

May 27, 1911 (Saturday)

  • The Dreamland amusement park
    Dreamland (amusement park)
    Dreamland was an ambitious amusement park at Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City from 1904 to 1911. It contained primarily freak shows.- History :Created by a Tammany Hall-connected businessman William H...

     at New York's Coney Island
    Coney Island
    Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....

     was destroyed by a fire that began after workmen had been repairing a ride called the Hell Gate. The park had been built only 7 years earlier by William H. Reynolds
    William H. Reynolds
    William H. Reynolds was an American film editor whose career spanned six decades. His credits include such notable films as The Sound of Music, The Godfather, The Sting, and The Turning Point...

     for $3.5 million (equivalent to $70,000,000 a century later), included a 70 foot tall tower, and employed 2,500 people. It was never rebuilt.
  • Born: Hubert H. Humphrey, U.S. Vice President 1965-69, U.S. Senator for Minnesota, and unsuccessful candidate for U.S. President in 1968, in Wallace, South Dakota
    Wallace, South Dakota
    Wallace is a town in Codington County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 85 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Watertown, South Dakota Micropolitan Statistical Area....

     (d. 1978); Vincent Price
    Vincent Price
    Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...

    , American horror-film actor, in St. Louis (d. 1993); Teddy Kollek
    Teddy Kollek
    Theodor "Teddy" Kollek was mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993, and founder of the Jerusalem Foundation. Kollek was re-elected five times, in 1969, 1973, 1978, 1983 and 1989...

    , Mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993; as Kollek Tivadar in Nagyvázsony
    Nagyvázsony
    - External links :* *...

    , Austria-Hungary (d. 2007)

May 28, 1911 (Sunday)

  • The body of Belle Walker, an African -American cook, was found 25 yards from her home on Garibaldi Street in Atlanta. Her throat had been cut by an unknown slayer, and the crime was reported in the Atlanta Constitution under the headline "Negro Woman Killed; No Clew to Slayer" On June 15, another black woman, Addie Watts, was found with her throat slashed, followed on June 27 by Lizzie Watkins. The search for the serial killer
    Serial killer
    A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...

    , called "the Atlanta Ripper" by the press, found six different suspects, but no convictions were ever made, nor was the crime ever solved. By the end of 1911, fifteen women, all black or dark-skinned, all in their early 20s, had been murdered in the same manner. The "Ripper" may have had as many as 21 victims.
  • The United States Post Office Department announced a surplus for the first time in its history. Postmaster General Frank H. Hitchcock
    Frank H. Hitchcock
    Frank Harris Hitchcock , was chairman of Republican National Committee from 1908 to 1909. He was then Postmaster General of the United States under President William Howard Taft from 1909 to 1913.-Biography:...

     returned $3,000,000 to the U.S. Treasury, declaring it necessary because of a surplus "considerably over $1,000,000".
  • Born: Fritz Hochwälder
    Fritz Hochwälder
    Fritz Hochwälder also known as Fritz Hochwaelder, was an Austrian playwright. Known for his spare prose and strong moralist themes, Hochwälder won several literary awards, including the Austrian State Prize for Literature in 1966...

    , Austrian playwright, in Vienna
    Vienna
    Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

    , Austria-Hungary (d. 1986)

May 29, 1911 (Monday)

  • The United States Supreme Court followed its breakup of the Standard Oil Company with a decision dissolving the American Tobacco Company
    American Tobacco Company
    The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company...

    .
  • Crowley County, Colorado
    Crowley County, Colorado
    Crowley County is one of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county population was 5,518 at U.S. Census 2000. The county seat is Ordway.- History :...

    , was established.
  • Died: W.S. Gilbert, British playwright

May 30, 1911 (Tuesday)

  • Ray Harroun
    Ray Harroun
    Ray Harroun was an American racecar driver, born in Spartansburg, Pennsylvania.-Early driving:As noted in the Columbia Car webpages, Harroun participated in the original setting of the record from Chicago to New York in 1903, and the re-taking of that record in 1904...

     won the very first running of the Indianapolis 500
    Indianapolis 500
    The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...

     automobile race, driving car #32, a Marmon Wasp. At an average speed of 74.59 miles per hour, Harroun, who was the only driver not to have a mechanic riding with him, completed the race in 6 hours and 42 minutes.

May 31, 1911 (Wednesday)

  • The White Star liner RMS Titanic, at the time the largest mobile object ever constructed, was launched from Belfast
    Belfast
    Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

     at 12:13 pm. It was 883 feet long, 58 feet high and weighed 46,000 tons. It would sink less than a year later.
  • The terrorist bombing of the barracks at Fort La Loma in Nicaragua
    Nicaragua
    Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

     killed 130 people.
  • Porfirio Díaz
    Porfirio Díaz
    José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N...

     left Mexico to begin his exile in Spain, departing from Veracruz
    Veracruz
    Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...

     on the steamer Ypiranga. Before departing, he declared, "I shall die in Mexico." He died in exile in France.
  • Born: Maurice Allais
    Maurice Allais
    Maurice Félix Charles Allais was a French economist, and was the 1988 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics "for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization of resources."...

    , French economist, 1988 Nobel Prize in Economics laureate, in Paris
    Paris
    Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

    (d. 2010)
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK