The following events occurred in March 1909:
March 1, 1909 (Monday) Robert Peary, Matthew Henson, Ootah, Egingwah, Seegloo and Ookeah; and 18 other men set off from Ellesmere Island at for their final push to the North Pole.
March 2, 1909 (Tuesday) The United States Congress passed an act that provided no new ambassadorships would be permitted except by act of Congress. While the U.S. had ministers at legations in many countries, its only embassies at the time were in Austria-Hungary, Brazil, Japan and Turkey. With two days left in his term, President Roosevelt extended federal protection over the Zuni National Forest. Corson County, South Dakota, was founded. Born: Mel Ott, Hall of Fame baseball player who hit 511 home runs between 1926 and 1947; in Gretna, Louisiana (died in auto accident, 1958)
March 3, 1909 (Wednesday) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of sodium benzoate as a preservative in foods, in its Decision 104, in spite of a ban recommended on July 20, 1908. On his last full day in office, President Roosevelt signed into law a bill creating the 600,000 acre Mount Olympus National Monument in Washington State. President Roosevelt's Executive Order 969 directed that the U.S. Marines would be limited to shipboard duty with tasks determined by the ships' commanding officers. The unpopular change in the Marines' status was rescinded by President Taft on March 26.
March 4, 1909 (Thursday) William Howard Taft was inaugurated as the 27th President of the United States. Because of a snowstorm, Taft took the oath indoors, becoming the first American president to do so since Andrew Jackson. Born: Harry Helmsley, American real estate entrepreneur, who began as an office boy and worked his way up to being a billionaire; in the Bronx, New York (d. 1997)
March 5, 1909 (Friday) The first person to violate New York City's new law banning smoking in its subways was arrested. Louis Funcke lit up two days after the new law took effect and was released with a reprimand. The charter of the Mutual Benefit Health and Accident Association, creating what is now referred to as the Mutual of Omaha insurance company, was signed in Omaha, Nebraska.V. J. Skutt, Mutual of Omaha, "The Good Neighbor" (Newcomen Society in North America, 1961) p11
March 6, 1909 (Saturday) The infamous SS General Slocum sank a second and last time. On June 15, 1904, the steamboat burned and then sank, killing 1,081 people. Nevertheless, the hull of the ship was raised and refitted as the Maryland, a barge. With a load of 500,000 bricks, the Maryland split in half and sank at New Brunswick, New Jersey, albeit without a loss of life."Last of the General Slocum", New York Times, March 1, 1909, p1 The Simplified Spelling Board released its list of 3,300 words that should be reformed.Robert Morris Pierce, Dictionary of Hard Words (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1910), p24 Born: Obafemi Awolowo, Nigerian politician and independence leader who served as premier of the British African colony's Western State (including Lagos) prior to the creation of the Republic of Nigeria; in Ikenne (d.1987)
March 7, 1909 (Sunday) The United States Senate entered the automotive age with the inauguration of transportation by electric cars, running underground through a tunnel between the new Senate Office Building and the United States Capitol."Capitol Auto Line Tested", New York Times, March 8, 1909, p1
March 8, 1909 (Monday) U.S. President William Howard Taft rescinded Theodore Roosevelt's executive orders closing the navy yards at New Orleans and Pensacola."Taft Reverses Roosevelt", New York Times, March 9, 1909, p1 In California, the new Bank Act was signed into law, to take effect on July 1. A loophole within the legislation gave the Bank of Italy an advantage in opening branch banks across the state, leading to its growth into the colossal Bank of America.Marquis James and Bessie R. James, The Story of Bank of America: Biography of a Bank (Beard Books, 2002), pp46–48
March 9, 1909 (Tuesday) In Paris, the Chamber of Deputies of France voted 388 to 129 to enact an income tax law.Edwin R.A. Seligman, The Income Tax: A Study of the History, Theory, and Practice of Income Taxation at Home and Abroad (The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 2004) pp314–315 The Salvadoran gunboat Presidente was allegedly attacked by three Nicaraguan naval vessels, including the Momotombo."Nicaragua Beaten in Sea Battle", New York Times, March 13, 1909, p1 Bennett County, Mellette County, and Todd County, South Dakota, were all founded. Lincoln County, Montana, was created separately on the same day.Joseph Nathan Kane, The American Counties (4th Ed.), (The Scarecrow Press, 1983), pp479–480
March 10, 1909 (Wednesday) The Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand) signed a treaty ceding the Malayan peninsular states of Kelantan, Trengganu, Perlis and Kedah to the British Empire.Herbert Adams Gibbons, The New Map of Asia (1900–1919) (The Century Co., 1919), p86 The Russian Imperial Army adopted an official field uniform, a greenish-grey, single-breasted cloth tunic with five buttons, which remained in use until the formation of the Soviet Union.Mikhail Khvostov, The Russian Civil War (Osprey Publishing, 1997), p6 Heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, and challenger (and future film star) Victor McLaglen, fought to a draw in Vancouver, in an exhibition.Edward Zawadzki, The Ultimate Canadian Sports Trivia Book (Dundurn Press Ltd., 2001), p41 Greenlee County, Arizona, was created from the eastern section of Graham County. Born: Gerard Croiset, Dutch psychic, in Laren (d. 1980)
March 11, 1909 (Thursday) Saying "I have made mistakes and I have been indiscreet," Los Angeles Mayor Arthur C. Harper, who was facing a March 26 recall election amid accusations of corruption, resigned and asked that his name be removed from the ballot. In Havana, the wife of "a poor cigarmaker" gave birth to quadruplets. She was already the mother of 14 children. The new President of Cuba, José Miguel Gómez, pledged substantial assistance to the new family. The first airplane flight over the U.S. state of Washington took place, six years after the Wright Brothers' first flight, as Charles K. Hamilton piloted a Reims Racer over Seattle. Homer Sanders defeated A.C. Jellison in a gold medal competition held in Pittsburgh by the American Bowling Congress. Both men had bowled a perfect game in 1908, and a roll-off determined the better bowler.
March 12, 1909 (Friday) In Denmark, women were allowed to vote for the first time, at least in municipal elections, and women candidates were on the ballot. All women at least 25 years old, or women of any age married to a registered voter, were allowed to participate. New York City Police Department Detective Joseph Petrosino, on assignment in Sicily to investigate ties between the Italian Mafia and New York gangsters, was gunned down in Palermo on his way to meet an informant. The incident, never solved, is still cited as a cautionary tale against meeting an informant alone. Three American warships, the Yorktown, the Dubuque and the Tacoma, were ordered to Nicaragua in response to a "warlike attitude" on the part of Nicaraguan President Zalaya, and an armored cruiser remained off the coast until the ships could arrive.
Independent Moving Pictures (IMP) was founded by Carl Laemmle as a motion picture studio and production company based in Fort Lee, New Jersey. In 1912, it would merge with several other production companies to form Universal Film Manufacturing Company, later Universal Pictures, with Laemmle as president.
March 13, 1909 (Saturday) In college basketball, the University of Chicago beat the University of Minnesota 20–15 to close an unbeaten (12–0) season. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to arrange a three-game championship series against Columbia University."Undergraduate Life", in The University of Chicago Magazine (May 1909), p269 Columbia had completed the 1908–09 season with a record of 16–1. "Columbia Earns Basketball Title" , New York Times, March 7, 1909, p IV-2 Although there was no official champion, the Helms Athletic Foundation (in 1936) would retroactively list the Chicago Maroons as the national champion for the 1908–09 season.2001 ESPN Sports Almanac (Hyperion, 2000), p269
March 14, 1909 (Sunday) A 14-year-old boy in Tuxedo Park, New York, was killed when a decorative balanced rock at the city park rolled over him.
March 15, 1909 (Monday) The United States Congress met in a special session called by President Taft to consider the Payne Tariff Act. House Speaker Joe Cannon was re-elected for a fourth term, but 12 of his fellow Republicans voted against him.Roger H. Davidson, Susan Webb Hammond, and Raymond Smock, Masters of the House: Congressional Leadership Over Two Centuries (Westview Press, 1998), p73 At 4:15, Edward Payson Weston, 71, set off from the New York Post Office building on a walk, hoping to become the first person to go from New York to San Francisco on foot."Weston's Big Walk to Pacific Coast", New York Times, March 14, 1909, p1 Delayed by blizzards, he missed his target of 100 days, arriving 105 days later in Los Angeles.William Shepard Walsh, Handy Book of Curious Information (J.B. Lippincott Company, 1913), p616 Selfridges department store opened in London.
March 16, 1909 (Tuesday) The creation of the United States Department of Justice's new Bureau of Investigation was announced by Attorney General George Wickersham. In 1934, the word "federal" was added to the name, creating the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).John Simeone and David Jacobs, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the FBI (Alpha Books, 2002), pp22, 59 The city of Lubbock, Texas (site of Texas Tech University) was incorporated. Died: Henry Timken, 76, inventor of improved roller bearing, and founder of the Timken Company Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton of Tatton, 77, chairman of the Manchester Ship Canal
March 17, 1909 (Wednesday) The first concrete was poured as construction of the Panama Canal entered a new phase, beginning with the spillway at Gatun.Captain Miles. DuVal, Jr., And the Mountains Will Move (Stanford University Press, 1947), p299 Born Ken Anderson, American animator, storyboard artist and architect, in Seattle (d. 1993)
March 18, 1909 (Thursday) Einar Dessau of Denmark spoke over a wireless radio transmitter to a government post distant, becoming, in effect, the first person to ever talk on the radio. Willie Whitla, the 8-year-old son of a leading attorney in Sharon, Pennsylvania, was kidnapped by two men who appeared at the East Ward School, and hours later a ransom note was received by his parents, demanding $10,000 and closing with the note, "Dead boys are not desirable". After the father delivered $10,000 to a woman at a drugstore, Willie was released unharmed and put on a streetcar in Cleveland, where he was reunited with his father at the city's Hollenden Hotel. James and Helen Boyle were arrested in Cleveland the next day, with $9,790 of the money. James Boyle was given a life sentence and died in prison. William Whitla died of pneumonia in 1932, at the age of 31. Born: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., who died 8 months later on November 8, 1909. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's fifth child, also named Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., would be born five years later.
March 19, 1909 (Friday) The first airplane-manufacturing company was formed as Glenn Curtiss partnered with Augustus M. Herring to create the Herring-Curtiss Company. After parting ways with Herring the next year, Curtiss formed Curtiss Aeroplane Company, which later merged into Curtiss-Wright.Charles Brian Hayward, Donald M. Pattillo, Pushing the Envelope: The American Aircraft Industry (University of Michigan Press, 2001), pp11–13