The following events occurred in June 1910:
June 1, 1910 (Wednesday)
The British Antarctic Expedition, led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott on the steamer Terra Nova, departed from London with 55 people and a goal of reaching the South Pole in December."Expedition Starts for the South Pole", New York Times, June 2, 1910, p1 The first white settlements on the banks of Alaska's Iditarod River were made when a steamer brought gold prospectors to within of a gold strike. By August, there were two towns, each with 2,000 people: Iditarod and Flat."Iditarod of Yesteryear", AlaskaGeographic.org
June 2, 1910 (Thursday) Charles Stewart Rolls became the first person to fly across the English Channel and back again without stopping. Rolls took off from Dover and turned around over Sangatte in France, then returned to England after 90 minutes aloft."Flies English Channel Twice", New York Times, June 3, 1910, p1 Elections were held in Hungary, granting the ruling parties a larger majority in Parliament."Record of Current Events", The American Monthly Review of Reviews (July 1910), pp33–36 In fiction, June 2, 1910, is the date of Quentin Compson's suicide in William Faulkner's novel, The Sound and the Fury.
June 3, 1910 (Friday) The Norwegian Antarctic Expedition, led by Roald Amundsen on the steamer Fram, departed from Christiania (now Oslo) without fanfare, and no announcement until later in the year of Amundsen's intention to reach the South Pole.Paul Simpson-Housley, Antarctica: Exploration, Perception, and Metaphor (Routledge, 1992), p26 Ecuador and Peru withdrew their troops from the border between the two nations as the first step in the mediation of their dispute."Promise to Recall Armies", New York Times, June 4, 1910, p8; "Peru Recalls Troops", Washington Post, June 22, 1910, p1
June 4, 1910 (Saturday) A group of Mayan Indian rebels attacked the town of Valladolid in Mexico's Yucatán, killed 40 people, including local police. The navy gunboat Morelos was dispatched from Vera Cruz to Mérida with 600 troops."Yucatán Natives Sack Valladolid", New York Times, June 7, 1910, p1 A ballet adaptation of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite, Scheherazade, was first presented, by the Ballets Russes in Paris.Alexander Schouvaloff, The Art of Ballets Russes (Yale University Press, 1998), p62 Harvey Cushing performed his first sublabial submucosal trans-sphenoidal approach while Oskar Hirsch first performed his submucosal trans-sphenoidal operation endonasally.Harvey Cushing and Oskar Hirsch: early forefathers of modern transsphenoidal surgery, J Neurosurg 103:1096–1104, 2005
June 5, 1910 (Sunday)
William Sidney Porter, who, under the pen name O. Henry, was one of the most popular story writers in America, died in New York City at the age of 47. O. Henry, who suffered from cirrhosis of the liver and diabetes, had published more than 250 stories in his lifetime, and more after his death. Despite a large income from his writing, he was continuously broke. Jean-Baptiste Charcot and the crew of the Antarctic exploring ship Pourquoi-Pas returned to a hero's welcome in France, during the same week Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen were beginning their expeditions to the South Pole. The Nanking Exposition, an official world's fair hosted by the Imperial government, opened in China.HK.huaxia.com. "HK.huaxia.com ." 南洋勸業會：南京一個世紀前的世博會. Retrieved 2010-05-08.Big5.xinhuanet.com. "Xinhuanet.com ." 南京舉辦《跨越歷史的牽手--中國與世博會》圖片展. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
June 6, 1910 (Monday) President Taft met with the presidents of the Western railroads, and then the next day with the Presidents of the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central and Southern Railway. All the companies agreed to suspend proposed rate increases.
June 7, 1910 (Tuesday) An earthquake that struck Southern Italy at killed scores of people. Mexican troops were dispatched to suppress an uprising by the Maya Indians in Yucatán. The towns of Byron, Wyoming, and Bucoda, Washington, were both incorporated.
June 8, 1910 (Wednesday) Born: John W. Campbell, American science fiction pioneer, editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazine; in Newark, New Jersey (d. 1971) C.C. Beck, American comic book author, primarily of Captain Marvel; in Zumbrota, Minnesota (d.1989)
June 9, 1910 (Thursday) The Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, and uncle of King George V of the United Kingdom, was announced as the successor to Earl Grey as Governor General of Canada."Connaught in Grey's Place", New York Times, June 10, 1910, p4 Japan and Russia reached an agreement on the division of territory in the Far East.
June 10, 1910 (Friday) Sir Charles Hardinge, British Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, was appointed as the Viceroy of India, succeeding the Earl of Minto."Hardinge to Rule India", New York Times, June 11, 1910, p3 Born: Armen Takhtajan, Soviet Armenian botanist, creator of Takhtajan system for plant taxonomy; in Shusha, Russian Empire (d. 2009) Professor Backwards (stage name for James Edmondson), American comedian; in Atlanta (murdered 1976)
June 11, 1910 (Saturday) In a referendum to determine the permanent location of the capital of Oklahoma, voters favored Oklahoma City over the existing state capital of Guthrie, by a margin of 96,261 to 31,301 (a third choice, Shawnee, received 8,382 votes). Although the enabling act had designated Guthrie as capital until at least 1913, Governor Charles N. Haskell moved the state seal to Oklahoma City, and declared the Lee Huckins Hotel there to be the new capitol until a permanent structure could be built.Arrell Morgan Gibson, Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries (University of Oklahoma Press, 1981), p206 Born: Jacques Cousteau (Jacques-Yves Cousteau), French undersea explorer; in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, Gironde département (d. 1997)
June 12, 1910 (Sunday) Torrential rains caused record floods throughout central Europe. The Ahr River overflowed in Germany, killing 200 people around Oberammergau."Flood Drowns 150 in Rhenish Prussia", New York Times, June 14, 1910, p1 An armed mob in the town of Darrington, Washington, drove out 30 Japanese workers who had recently been hired by the United States Lumber Company. The men were given until Sunday morning to gather their effects, then placed on a train bound for Arlington."Japanese Put Out of Town", New York Times, June 15, 1910, p1 The Francisco Ferrer Association was created in New York City by 22 anarchists and sympathizers in memory of Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia. The Association founded a cultural center, a school, and, in 1915, a community built on of land near New Brunswick, New Jersey.Laurence R. Veysey, The Communal Experience: Anarchist and Mystical Communities in Twentieth-Century America (University of Chicago Press, 1978) p77
June 13, 1910 (Monday) A 35-ton water tank, located on top of the four-story high Montreal Herald building, fell through the roof after one of its supports collapsed, killing 32 people."Water Tank Wrecks Building", New York Times, June 14, 1910, p1 Halley's Comet was no longer visible, from Earth, with the naked eye, and would not be again until late 1985."Comet Has Disappeared", Logansport (IN) Pharos, June 13, 1910, p4
June 14, 1910 (Tuesday) The University of the Philippines Los Baños was opened as a college of agriculture, with 50 students taught by Dr. Edwin Copeland. Born: Rudolf Kempe, German orchestra conductor; in Dresden (d. 1976)
June 15, 1910 (Wednesday) In a battle at Celege in Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique), Portuguese soldiers fought against hundreds of African tribesmen, and reportedly killed more than 100 of them without sustaining casualties. Born: Suleiman Frangieh, President of Lebanon from 1970 to 1976; in Zgharta (d. 1992)
June 16, 1910 (Thursday) A cloudburst in Hungary added to existing flood waters, killing 800 people in villages in the Kronstadt district, another 180 in Temesvar and 100 in Moldava."1,000 Dead in Hungary", New York Times, June 18, 1910, p1 The United States Senate unanimously passed a bill extending statehood to the territories of Arizona and New Mexico. Admission as a state still required adopting a proposed state constitution, subject then to the approval of Congress and the president, as well as other procedures."Statehood Bills Passed", New York Times, June 17, 1910, p1 Born: Juan Velasco Alvarado, dictator of Peru from 1968 to 1975; in Piura (d. 1977)
June 17, 1910 (Friday) Portugal's Prime Minister, Francisco da Veiga Beirão, resigned along with his cabinet. James A. Patten and seven other men were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to monopolize the raw cotton industry. At Cotroceni, near Bucharest, Romania, Aurel Vlaicu successfully flew the Vlaicu I airplane that he had constructed, becoming a national hero and pioneer of military aviation in Romania.http://english.mapn.ro/aboutmod/daysofarms.php Romanian Ministry of National Defence website The United States Lighthouse Service was created as federal agency to regulate lighthouses throughout the nation. The office of the Commissioner was transferred to the United States Coast Guard in 1935."Lighthouses: An Administrative History", National Park Service website The U.S. House of Representatives changed its rules in order to prevent bills from being held indefinitely in committee."Speakers Reed, Cannon, and Gingrich: Catalysts of Institutional and Procedural Change" , by Walter J. Oleszek Born: Red Foley (Clyde Julian Foley), American country music singer; Madison County, Kentucky (d. 1968)
June 18, 1910 (Saturday) The first "ticker tape parade" was held, as former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was welcomed back to the United States after being overseas in Africa and Europe for more than a year. The liner SS Kaiserin Auguste Victoria arrived at New York City, and parades were held to welcome back the former chief executive."Famous Ticker-Tape Parades in New York City", FOX New York website, November 5, 2009; "Triumph To-Day For Roosevelt", New York Times, June 18, 1910, p1 Alex Smith won the U.S. Open golf tournament in an 18-hole playoff, after he, John J. McDermott, and Macdonald Smith had played the first three-way tie in the event's history. The Mann-Elkins act was passed, giving the Interstate Commerce Commission jurisdiction to begin government regulation of interstate telephone, telegraph and cable communications. Another provision of the act gave the ICC immediate power to suspend railroad rate hikes.Gordon Carruth, ed., The Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates (3rd. Ed.), (Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1962), pp418–422 The city of Glendale, Arizona, was incorporated.
June 19, 1910 (Sunday) Father's Day was observed for the first time, as the result of the efforts of Mrs. John B. Dodd (Sonora Smart Dodd) to honor her late father, William Smart, and all other fathers. The city of Spokane, Washington, proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father's Day, a date that later received recognition nationwide.Ralph LaRossa, The Modernization of Fatherhood: A Social and Political History (University of Chicago Press, 1997), pp171–172 Born: Paul Flory, American expert on polymers and 1974 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate; in Sterling, Illinois (d. 1985) Abe Fortas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice 1965 to 1969 (d. 1982)
June 20, 1910 (Monday) At 1:40 pm, President Taft signed the Enabling Act of 1910, granting the conditions for New Mexico and Arizona to be admitted as states. A solid gold pen, presented by Postmaster General Hitchcock, and an eagle feather pen, presented by New Mexico's delegate to Congress, were used in the White House Ceremony."Signs With Eagle's Feather", New York Times, June 21, 1910, p3 Statehood was achieved in 1912 for New Mexico as the 47th state and Arizona as the 48th.
June 21, 1910 (Tuesday) Thirty-four representatives of different organizations met in New York to establish the Boy Scouts of America.