The following events occurred in August 1910:
August 1, 1910 (Monday) An aviator, known only as Monsieur Baeder, became the first pilot to carry three passengers in an airplane. The total weight lifted into the air was . Baeder was killed nine days later, one of 53 aviators killed in the worst year for flying to that time. Thomas Wood, a 15-year-old boy in Sunderland, England, became the second person in history to be killed on the ground by an airplane."Aeroplane Fatality. Machine Falls Among Spectators at East Boldon. A Youth Killed. Mme. Frank and Several Persons Injured.", The Evening Chronicle, August 2, 1910, p.4 French aviator Mathilde Franck clipped a flagpole and her plane struck the crowd watching at the Boldon racecourse. On October 18, 1909, a woman in France had become the first such fatality.
August 2, 1910 (Tuesday) Oklahoma's state constitution was amended to require literacy tests for all persons except descendants of persons who were free prior to the end of slavery, disenfranchising 30,000 African Americans."Record of Current Events", The American Monthly Review of Reviews (September 1910), pp289–292
August 3, 1910 (Wednesday) The last of the United Kingdom's "Anti-Catholic Oaths", the 1672 Declaration of Attestation, was repealed by Act of Parliament and Royal Assent.The Accession Declaration Act 1910 abolished the requirement that each new monarch was required to declare the belief "that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous". "Oaths, English Post-Reformation", in The Catholic Encyclopedia online The House of Commons had approved the legislation on July 27 by a vote of 410 to 84 "King's Accession Declaration Amended to Say Simply That He Is a Faithful Protestant", Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester NY), July 28, 1910, p1 and the House of Lords unanimously followed suit on August 2."English Lords Amend Wordng of King's Oath", Los Angeles Herald, August 3, 1910, p13"The Royal Assent", The Times (London) August 4, 1910, p4
August 4, 1910 (Thursday) Alexander Guchkov, Russia's highest-ranking legislator as President of the Duma, began a four-week jail sentence after being convicted of fighting a duel with opposition leader Count Uvaroff on November 30. He was released after five days."Guchkoff Soon Released", New York Times, August 9, 1910, p8 Born: Anita Page, American silent film actress, as Anita Pomares in Flushing, Queens, New York City (d. 2008) William Schuman, American classical music and opera composer, known for the 1950 Martha Graham ballet Judith, the libretto for The Mighty Casey (a 1953 operatic adaptation of "Casey at the Bat"); in Manhattan, New York City (d. 1992)
August 5, 1910 (Friday) Flooding in and around Tokyo killed more than 1,000 people and left 100,000 homeless."1,112 Japanese Drowned", New York Times, August 16, 1910, p2 Prime Minister of Canada Wilfrid Laurier was injured when the train he was on crashed head-on with a freight train. A crewmember was killed, while Laurier's injuries were described as minor."Laurier in a Train Wreck", New York Times, August 7, 1910, p1
August 6, 1910 (Saturday) , first of the "super-Dreadnought" class of Royal Navy battlecruisers, was launched at Devonport. The largest warship to date, the Lion was 700 feet long. Brazil announced its intention to build the largest and most powerful battleship in history, the Rio de Janeiro. However, a downturn in the economy required Brazil to scale back its plans, and a smaller version of the ship was sold by Brazil to Turkey.Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 (Naval Institute Press, 1985), p405 Outside a café in Leiden, Netherlands, Gustav Mahler met Sigmund Freud, and they conversed for four hours, before parting forever. Their encounter would be dramatized a century later in the German documentary film Mahler on the Couchhttp://bostonglobe.com/arts/2012/11/23/third-ear-classical-music-critic-take-mahler-couch/GXOsq3iOpzy87e0nArMKXI/story.html "A classical music critic’s take on ‘Mahler on the Couch’", by Jeremy Eichler, Boston Globe, November 23, 2010
August 7, 1910 (Sunday) The government issued an ultimatum to the Mujahidin in Tehran to turn in their weapons on August 4, 1910, and government troops attacked the residence of Sattar Khan in Tehran on August 7, 1910. Government troops attacked the Mujahidin in Atabak Park (garden of the Atabak-i A’zam) in Tehran on August 7, 1910, resulting in the deaths of some 30 Mujahidin."Battle in Tehran", New York Times, August 8, 1910, p3 Residents of Council Bluffs, Iowa, were shaken by the sight and impact of a large meteor that impacted near the town during the afternoon."Meteor Shakes a City", Washington Post, August 8, 1910, p1 Born: Lucien Hervé, Hungarian-born French photographer, as László Elkán, in Hódmezővásárhely (d. 2007)
August 8, 1910 (Monday) Pope Pius X issued the papal edict Quam singulari, which specified that children could receive their First Communion at age 7."Quam singulari" , Eternal World TV Network libraries A project begun in 1903, to raise the city of Galveston, Texas, above sea level, was completed."Raising Galveston: The Miracle After the 1900 Hurricane" , by Don Walden, Invention & Technology (Winter 1990) A railroad collision at Ignacio, California, killed 13 people. The city of Bethany, Oklahoma, was incorporated.
August 9, 1910 (Tuesday) William Jay Gaynor, the Mayor of New York City, was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt. Mayor Gaynor was preparing to board a liner for a European vacation, when a recently fired city employee shot him."Gaynor Shot", New York Times, August 10, 1910, p1; Inside the Apple, by Michelle and James Nevius The first commercially successful, automatic, washing machine, invented by Alva J. Fisher, was granted U.S. Patent No. 966,677. The "Thor" machine was marketed by the Hurley Machine Company.David J. Cole, Eve Browning, and Fred E.H. Schroeder The Encyclopedia of Everyday Inventions (Greenwood Press, 2003) pp269–270 The Sungari agreement, between Russia and China, was signed at Beijing, with China giving up claims for free trade on the border between the two empires. Explorer Roald Amundsen departed Norway on what was announced as his third expedition to the North Pole. As it turned out, Amundsen and his crew were planning to race against Britain's Robert F. Scott to reach the South Pole."The Polarship Fram" Died: Huo Yuanjia, 43, Chinese martial artist, subject of Jet Li film Fearless, died of hemoptysis
August 10, 1910 (Wednesday) The first oil well in Malaysia began yielding oil. Located at Miri, on Sarawak, Shell Oil Well No. 1 produced 600,000 barrels of oil from 1910 to 1962.Steve Frankham, Malaysia and Singapore (Footprint Travel Guides, 2008) p353 Fifteen separate persons were indicted for murder by a jury in Newark, Ohio, as the result of a lynching on July 8."Indict 39 For Lynching", New York Times, August 11, 1910, p3 Aviator Walter Brookins crashed into a crowd while flying in an airshow at Asbury Park, New Jersey, injuring eight people."Brookins Falls; Eight Injured", New York Times, August 11, 1910, p1 Born: Aldo Buzzi, Italian author architect screenwriter, in Como (d. 2009)
August 11, 1910 (Thursday) At the Pan-American Conference held in Buenos Aires, the participating nations voted to create a Pan-American Union, to be led by the U.S. Secretary of State. The boundaries between the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), and German East Africa (now part of Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi) were established by a Belgian-German treaty. Robert Fox of Putney, England, was granted a U.K. Patent for "means of producing cinematograph effects ... by means of the motion of a railway carriage". Though never used, the system called for images on the side of underground subway tunnels, to be viewed in succession like frames on a film. A later commentator noted "Not quite flat-screen video panels, but a bold effort that had to wait almost a century to be realised."http://fisherscircle.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/32/ Fisher's Circle A military air base was established near Saint-Dizier, France.St. Dizier Air Base history (French)
August 12, 1910 (Friday)
One of the most popular songs of the early 20th century, "Down by the Old Mill Stream", by Tell Taylor, was introduced by the Forster Music company, with 4,000,000 copies of the sheet music for the piano being sold. At the time, relatively few Americans purchased phonographs or recordings, and most new music was taken home to be played on the family piano.William Studwell, The Popular Song Reader: A Sampler of Well-known Twentieth Century-songs (Haworth Press, 1994) ISBN 9781560243694. Uhlan became the first racehorse to run a mile in less than two minutes, running at 1 minute, seconds at the North Randall racetrack near Cleveland. The prior world record had been 2:01."Uhlan Trots Mile in Record Time", New York Times, August 13, 1910, p5 Born: Yusof bin Ishak, the first President of Singapore, from 1965 to 1970, in Perak state (d. 1970) Jane Wyatt, American film and TV actress best known for Father Knows Best; in Mahwah, New Jersey (d. 2006)
August 13, 1910 (Saturday) What George F. Will has called the "baseball game of perfect symmetry"George F. Will, Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball, p7 (Harper Collins, 1990) took place as the Brooklyn Superbas and the Pittsburgh Pirates played an 8–8 tie before the game was called for darkness. Each team had 8 runs, 13 hits, 2 errors, 12 assists, 5 strikeouts, 3 walks, one base hit, and one passed ball."Baseball Can Be A Game of Incredible Irony", by Wayne Stewart, Baseball Digest (August 1989), p61"A Defeat and Tie for Brooklyn", The New York Times, August 14, 1910, p. C-1 Died: Florence Nightingale, 90, English founder of professional nursing
August 14, 1910 (Sunday) A collision between an excursion train and a freight train, at Saujon, France, killed 37 people and injured 58 others."37 Killed by Collision", New York Times, August 16, 1910, p3 A fire at the World's Fair in Brussels destroyed the Belgian, English and French exhibition buildings and caused ten million dollars damage. Vaika Birds' Reserve was founded by Estonia on the Vilsandi. Dutch Zwilling, the last Major League Baseball player (alphabetically), made his major league debut, for the Chicago White Sox.SI.com, June 6, 2008 Born: Pierre Schaeffer, French composer, in Nancy (d. 1995) Died: Mayor William F. Robinson of El Paso, Texas, was killed, along with a fireman, when a wall at Calisher's Department Store collapsed during the blaze."Mayor Killed at Fire", New York Times, August 15, 1910, p1
August 15, 1910 (Monday)
The National Association of Rotary Clubs was created at a convention in Chicago. At that time, there were 15 Rotary Clubs. A century later there would be more than 32,000 worldwide.Rotary International site Fifteen college registrars and nine college accountants gathered at Detroit and founded the American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO).AACRAO website
August 16, 1910 (Tuesday) The Campbell Brothers Circus was traveling between towns on a train, when a passenger train crashed into it at Babcock, Wisconsin, at 8:30 in the morning. One man was killed, along with six camels, six ponies and two elephants. Another two elephants ran off into the woods before being recaptured."Circus Train Wrecked", Stevens Point (Wis.) Daily Journal, August 17, 1910, p1 The event is commemorated by a historical marker at Babcock. Died: Pedro Montt Montt, the 15th President of Chile, died at the age of 64, a few hours after arriving in Bremen, Germany, on the liner Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. Elías Fernández Albano, who was sworn in to succeed Montt, died three weeks later on September 6.Chile: General Descriptive Data (Pan American Union, 1921) p7
August 17, 1910 (Wednesday)