Scott Carpenter, American astronaut who was the second U.S. astronaut (and fourth human space traveler) to orbit the Earth, known for the 1962 Mercury 7 mission; in Boulder, Colorado[8] (d. 2013)
Elections were held in Bolivia for the Presdident and for the Chamber of Deputies. The Partido Republicano won all 70 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and Jose Cabino Villeneuva was elected president, receiving almost 85% of the vote against Daniel Salamanca.[11] Although Villanueva was to be inaugurated on August 5, outgoing President Bautista Saavedra, dissatisfied that Gabino would obey his wishes, asked the Bolivian National Congress to postpone the transition to August 25, and then to nullify the results. On September 1, the Congress then voted to annul the election,[12] named Senate President Felipe Segundo Guzmán to serve as acting president, and scheduling new elections for January 10. As grounds, President Saavedra noted that Villanueva had continued to serve as the president's Minister of Public Instruction, violating an 1895 law that required candidates to resign from public office at least six months before an election.[13]
Jean Séguy, French sociologist of religions (d. 2007)
Robert Jonquet, French footballer with 58 caps for the France national team; in Paris (d. 2008)[19]
May 4, 1925 (Monday)
The Geneva Arms Conference began in Switzerland, seeking an international arms limitation agreement.[20]
Swains Island, with an area of 0.94 square miles and a population of about 100 people, was annexed by the U.S. as part of the territory of American Samoa.[21]
At the age of 64, coach James Naismith, the Canadian-born inventor of the sport of basketball, became a U.S. citizen 35 years after having moved to the United States.[22]
In Dayton, Tennessee, Dayton City School biology teacher John T. Scopes was arrested after teaching evolution from a chapter in the textbook Civic Biology, in a violation of a new Tennessee state law. The arrest was carried out by Rhea County Deputy Sheriff S. P. Swafford.[23] Scopes was released on May 9 after a bail bond of $1,000 was posted on his behalf.[24]
The government of the Kingdom of Romania passed the "Statute on the organization of the Romanian Orthodox Church", a comprehensive set of regulations for every aspect of the Eastern European nation's official church.[25]
The Wilno school massacre occurred in Wilno in Poland (now Vilnius in Lithuania when a pair of eighth-grade students, Stanislaw Lawrynowicz and Janusz Obrąpalski attacked teachers during final exams. Nine students and the school principal were wounded, and two students and a teacher were killed. Lawrynowicz, who carried a hand grenade as well as a pistol, exploded the grenade during a struggle over his gun, killing himself and two students, Tadeusz Domański and Aleksander Zahorski. Obrapalski shot teacher Jan Jankowski, fatally wounding him, and then killed himself.[26]
Baseball player Everett Scott of the New York Yankees, who had a record of 1,307 consecutive games dating back to June 20, 1916, saw his streak come to an end as Yankees manager Miller Huggins benched him.[27] Scott was placed on waivers by Huggins at the end of the month. Scott's record would stand for several more years until being broken by Lou Gehrig.
Glenn Wright, shortstop for baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates, became the fifth Major League Baseball player to accomplish the rare unassisted triple play. Wright's feat of causing three outs in a single play occurred in the 9th inning of a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Wright caught a line drive hit by Jim Bottomley, reached second base before a Roger Hornsby could arrive from first, and Glenn Wright out as Wright was returning to base. Despite the feat, Wright's Pirates lost to the Cardinals, 10 to 9.[28]
The capsizing and sinking of the steamboat M.E. Norman on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee killed 23 passengers and crew, although the death toll would have been higher had it not been for the rescues made by Tom Lee, an African-American riverworker, who came to the aid of survivors using his small motorboat, Zev, to save 32 passengers.[30][31] Another 20 were able to swim to shore.
The Preakness Stakes, now the second jewel of the American Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, was run at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore eight days sooner than the Kentucky Derby. Despite the short time between the two races, six of the 12 entrants at the Preakness (Backbone and Almadel, who finished first and second, and Voltaic, Single Foot, Prince of Bourbon and Swope) would run in the Kentucky Derby.[35]
Jockey Benny Marinelli, who had won the 1923 Preakness Stakes, was seriously injured in a racing accident at the Jamaica Race Course in Jamaica, New York. Marinelli was riding the horse "Upton" when he was thrown from his mount, then struck in the head by another horse.[36][37] Marinelli surprised doctors 10 days later by recovering consciousness, and returned to horse racing, but was unable to return to his previous success. He would commit suicide two years later.
The Tungus Republic, which had seceded from the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within Russia on July 14, 1924, brought an end to its war against the Soviet Union as the secessionist leader Mikhail Artemyev and his soldiers surrendered in return for amnesty. Artemyev would be permitted freedom until joining another rebel movement in 1927. Recaptured, he would be executed for treason on March 27, 1928.[40]
The Keats House, which once belonged to the Romantic poet John Keats, was opened to the public.
William Massey, Prime Minister of New Zealand since 1912, died from cancer.[41] He was succeeded by Francis Bell until his Reform Party could meet to select a new leader.
Born:
Sugako Hashida, Japanese screenwriter; in Seoul (Keijyo), Japanese Korea (d. 2021)
Paul von Hindenburg was sworn in for a seven-year term as President of Germany. His inaugural address emphasized the need to place unity and mutual progress ahead of political partisanship.[44] Hindenburg would win an election for a second term at the age of 84 in 1932, and die in office in 1934.
In New York City, the Brooklyn Bridge reopened to motor traffic for the first time in almost three years, after having been closed since July 6, 1922 because of problems with two suspension cables.[45]
American serial killer Martha Wise was convicted of murder after having poisoned 17 members of her family, three of whom died. She was sentenced the same to life imprisonment.[47] With the exception of a three days in 1962 when she had a commutation of her sentence, Mrs. Wise would remain in prison for the rest of her life, dying in 1971.[48]
The Gold Standard Act 1925 was given royal assent by King George V in Britain, officially returning the country to the gold standard.[51][52]
Died:Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, 71, British statesman and colonial administrator, former Governor of the Cape Colony (1897-1901), and, after the Boer War, Governor of the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony (1901-1905), later the Secretary of State for War (1918-1919) and the (1919-1921), died of African trypanosomiasis ("sleeping sickness")[53]
May 14, 1925 (Thursday)
The French captured Bibane Height in the Rif War.[54]
U.S. president Calvin Coolidge ruled out prohibitionist Wayne Wheeler's plan to use the U.S. Navy to enforce the Volstead Act, believing the navy's purpose should only be for national defense and not police duty.[55]
Editorials in the Japanese press decried American plans to strengthen the naval base at Pearl Harbor, as such plans either suggested fear of Japanese aggression towards America or American aggression towards Japan.[56]
Al-Insaniyyah, the first Arabic communist newspaper, was founded.
Died: U.S. Senator Selden P. Spencer, 62, who had recently won re-election to a second term representing Missouri, died of complications from surgery for a hernia.[58]
Baseball player Tris Speaker of the Cleveland Indians became the fifth player to accomplish the feat of making 3,000 hits in his career.
Baseball pitcher Buster Ross of the Boston Red Sox set a record, still standing after almost a century, by committing four errors in a single game. His dubious honor came while he played against the St. Louis Browns.
Died:Josiah Dallas Dort, 64, American automobile manufacturer who founded the Dort Motor Car Company that existed from 1915 to 1924[60]
In an expedition directed by explorer Roald Amundsen, two specially-equipped seaplanes (the N24 and N25) took off from Kings Bay (now Ny-Ålesund) in Svalbard, Norway in an attempt to be the first to fly to the North Pole.[67]
Legal 4.4 beer went on sale in the Canadian province of Ontario, triggering an influx of visitors from bordering U.S. states.[68]
Died:Hidesaburō Ueno, 53, Japanese agricultural scientist and guardian of Hachiko
May 22, 1925 (Friday)
Unsure of their position, experiencing engine trouble and with half their fuel used up, the crew of the N25 airplane touched down on the ice 150 miles (240km) short of the North Pole. The N24 spotted their predicament and landed as well. The Amundsen Polar Expedition group from the two planes, stopped at latitude 87°43' North, had traveled further north than any humans in history, but were stranded and would spend the next 24 days trying to chisel a primitive runway to take off again.[67][69]
Constantine VI resigned from his job as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church.[70] Constantine, who had held the job for only five months, would be replaced by the Archbishop Vasileios Georgiadis in July.
Willie Park Jr., 61, Scottish golfer and winner of the British Open in 1887 and 1889
May 23, 1925 (Saturday)
A 6.8 magnitude earthquake killed 428 people in Japan and injured over 1,000 others, and destroyed more than 7,800 buildings and 45,000 houses, primarily in the town of Toyooka in the Hyōgo Prefecture.[72] The quake struck at 11:11 in the morning local time.
Sir Edward Hulton, 56, British newspaper proprietor and thoroughbred racehorse owner, died of an undisclosed illness.[74]
May 24, 1925 (Sunday)
Voters in Switzerland overwhelmingly rejected the "Rothenberger initiative", a form of retirement social security payments for elderly people.[75] The vote required a "double majority", a majority of the popular votes as well as a majority of Switzerland's 22 cantons. The proposal was supported by only 42% of the registered voters, and only six of the cantons.[76]
The Soviet Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, intended for members of Komsomol, the youth organization of the Soviet Communist Party, published its first issue.[77]
A nova in the variable star RR Pictoris was first seen from the Earth, at least 1,644 years after it had happened in the 3rd century AD.[78] A telegraph operator who was an amateur astronomer, Mr. R. Watson of Beaufort West in South Africa first observed a bright star not previously visible in the Pictoris constellastion.[79] RR Pictoris continued to get brighter, reaching its peak magnitude 15 days later on June 9.
High school teacher John Scopes was indicted by the Rhea County grand jury in Dayton, Tennessee, for violation of the state'santi-evolution law.[80]
International plans were drawn up for possibly sending a rescue expedition towards the North Pole, as the Roald Amundsen plane expedition had not been heard from since its departure five days earlier.[81]
Chicago mobster Angelo Genna was assassinated by the North Side Gang, crashing his car after a high-speed chase in which he was shot numerous times. He died in a hospital the next day.
Died:Margaret Mick, 64, the first Canadian police officer to be killed in the line of duty, was beaten to death by three female inmates who were escaping from the Toronto Municipal Jail Farm for Women.[82]
In voting for leadership of the governing Reform Party of New Zealand, Gordon Coates received at least 19 of votes of the 37 Reform Party representatives required for a majority, defeating William Nosworthy and guaranteeing that Coates would become the new Prime Minister.[84]
British Home SecretaryWilliam Joynson-Hicks announced that he had issued instructions that no "aliens known to be engage in subversive activities abroad" would be allowed into the United Kingdom to participate in next week's communist conference in Glasgow.[85]
British aviator Alan Cobham set a new record for the longest nonstop flight in a light airplane, flying his de Havilland Moth from Croydon Aerodrome in London to Zürich, Switzerland. The flight consumed only twenty-five gallons of gasoline and six pints of oil.[86]
Los Angeles police announced they had foiled a plot to kidnap Hollywood film stars Mary Pickford, Pola Negri and Buster Keaton for ransom. Three arrests had been made.[87]
Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates set a Major League Baseball record that would stand 99 years later, hitting eight "triples" (a player's run to the third of four bases after a hits) in a 15 to 5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.[89]
May 31, 1925 (Sunday)
The German language opera Doktor Faust was given its first performance, 10 months after death of its composer, Ferruccio Busoni, and after its completion by Philipp Jarnach.[90] The premiere took place in Dresden at the Semperoper, the opera house of the Saxon State Opera and was conducted by Fritz Busch.
Died:John Palm, 39, Curaçao-born composer, died of tuberculosis.
References
↑ Hammond, Ken (2023). China's Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future. New York, NY: 1804 Books. p.130. ISBN9781736850084.
↑ Xypolia, Ilia (2017). British Imperialism and Turkish Nationalism in Cyprus, 1923-1939 Divide, Define and Rule. London: Routledge. ISBN9781138221291.
↑ Mercer, Derrik (1989). Chronicle of the 20th Century. London: Chronicle Communications Ltd. p.330. ISBN978-0-582-03919-3.
↑ Hakl, Hans Thomas (2010). "Franz Sättler (Dr. Musallam) and the Twentieth-Century Cult of Adonism". The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. Vol.12, no.1. London. p.11.
↑ Burgess, Colin (2011). Selecting the Mercury Seven: The Search for America's First Astronauts. Springer-Praxis books in space exploration. New York; London: Springer. p.325. ISBN978-1-4419-8405-0. OCLC747105631.
↑ Hans K. Van Tilburg, et al., Unlocking the Secrets of Swains Island: a Maritime Heritage Resources Survey (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, 2023) p.108
↑ "Arrest Under Evolution Law— Rhea County High Teacher Charged With Violating New Statute", Nashville (TN) Banner, May 6, 1925, p.1
↑ "U. K. Man Tests Evolution Act— John T. Scopes, Graduated at University in 1924, Held to Grand Jury in Tennessee", The Lexington (KY) Herald, May 10, 1925, p.1
↑ "Woman Takes Her Revenge in Death— Kills Man in Box at Vienna Theatre; Cites Bulgarian Murders In 1923 As Her Motive For Attack With Gun", The Windsor (ON) Star, May 9, 1925, p.17 (VIENNA, May 9.— While the Burg Theatre was ringing last night with the chorus of the fifth act of Peer Gynt, a woman arose from the audience and fired six shots toward a nearby box, killing one man and wounding two others. The woman was identified as Mencia Karniciu, aged 22. The man killed was Todor Arnautovitch-Panizza, aged 46.")
↑ "Woman Poisoner of 14 Is Found Guilty in Deaths of Three— Insanity Defense to Mrs. Martha Wise Fails to Influence Jury's Verdict; Will Get Life Sentence", The Columbus (O.) Daily Telegram, May 13, 1925, p.1
↑ "Oldest Woman At Reformatory Dies", by Shirley Otte, The Journal-Tribune (Marysville, O.), June 29, 1971, p.1
↑ ."New Belgian Cabinet Formed by Catholics— M. Van de Wyvere Heads Ministry, Which It Is Believed Will Be Short-Lived", The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1925, p.3
↑ Christensen, Lawrence O.; Foley, William E.; Kremer, Gary R. (1999). Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. pp.712–713.<
↑ 年北但馬地震における豊岡町の被害と復興過程]」 佛教大学歴史学部 Uemura, "Damage and Reconstruction Process of Toyooka Town in the 1925 Kita-Tajima Earthquake" (Bukkyo University Faculty of History ISSN 2185-4203
↑ Greenberg, Michael I. (2006). Encyclopedia of Terrorist, Natural, and Man-made Disasters. Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. p.186. ISBN978-0-7637-3782-5.
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