The following events occurred in April 1921:
April 1, 1921 (Friday) Eight people drowned in the sinking of the passenger ship SS Governor after it collided in the fog with the freighter SS West Harlland, but 232 others were safely rescued in the 20 minutes available before the ship sank. French pilot Adrienne Bolland made the first flight across the Andes by a woman, when she flew a Caudron G.3 from Mendoza, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile. Croatia's Republican Peasant Party launched the "Constitution of the Neutral Peasant Republic of Croatia". The lockout of striking coal miners in the United Kingdom began. An attempt to impeach Governor of Oklahoma J. B. Robertson failed when the state House of Representatives result was 42 for and 42 against, insufficient to pass the resolution for a trial. The cabinet of U.S. president Warren G. Harding issued a statement proclaiming that its members, individually, were in sympathy with the Allied Powers regarding Germany's indemnity payments. Born: Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, American country musician; in Clinton, South Carolina(d. 2014)
April 2, 1921 (Saturday)
The February Uprising in Armenia was suppressed by the Soviet Union, seven weeks after the Armenian Bolsheviks had been driven out by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Under the new Home Rule Act in Ireland, Lord Edmund Talbot was appointed as the final Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, succeeding Viscount French as the King's representative from Great Britain. Greece was forced to abandon Eskişehir after a counterattack by the Turks. The Autonomous Government of Khorasan was declared at Mashhad in Iran by Colonel Mohammad Taqi Pessian after Pessian overthrew the Iranian Governor, Ahmad Qavam. Six months later, Qavam, named the Prime Minister of Iran, would engineer the death of Pessian in a countercoup.
April 3, 1921 (Sunday) Coal rationing began in the United Kingdom. The U.S. State Department announced the first "Pan-Pacific Educational Conference", to be held in Honolulu in August, inviting the representatives of all nations on the Pacific Ocean with the exception of the Soviet Union and Mexico. The German classic horror silent film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, had its U.S. premiere with English-language dialogue cards at the Capitol Theatre in New York. Italian rider Costante Girardengo won the 14th Milan–San Remo cycle race. Died: Annie Louise Cary, 78, American opera contralto (b. 1842)
April 4, 1921 (Monday) A census of the Commonwealth of Australia, taken overnight, gave a figure of 5,435,734 for the total population. Died: Edmund Cogswell Converse, 71, American financier (b. 1849)
April 5, 1921 (Tuesday) Saad Zaghlul Pasha, who had agitated for Egypt's independence, returned from exile to an enthusiastic welcome. Charles, the last Emperor of Austria-Hungary, abandoned his attempt to reclaim his position as King Karoly IV of Hungary, after facing opposition from the Allied Council and from his former subjects in Czechoslovakia, along with a cold reception by his former Hungarian subjects. The "Russian Council" was set up as a government in exile for Russia by the Menshevik leaders who had been evacuated from the Crimea to Turkey. The council, chaired by Baron Pyotr Wrangel received no recognition and would disband after 17 months. Dr. Earle Page was elected as the Chairman of the Australian Country Party. The 1921 Stanley Cup Final, a best-of-5 series, concluded in Vancouver as the Ottawa Senators (champions of the National Hockey League), won Game 5, defeating the Vancouver Millionaires (champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association) by 2 goals to 1. Voters in Michigan approved a referendum measure for a bonus to be paid by the state to men who had served as soldiers in World War I. A "Gurdwara Bill" was introduced in the Punjab Legislative Assembly of India, ignoring protests from Sikhs. In the San Diego mayoral election in California in the U.S., Republican candidate John L. Bacon won by only 82 votes (out of 16,522 cast). Died: George Harrison Mifflin, 75, American publisher and co-founder of the Houghton Mifflin textbook company (b. 1845)
April 6, 1921 (Wednesday)
Simon Kimbangu reportedly carried out a miraculous healing in Belgian Congo, effectively founding the "Church of Jesus Christ on Earth through the Prophet Simon Kimbangu." The King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy dissolved the Chamber of Deputies and proclaimed that new elections would be held on May 15. Yvonne Vendroux married then-French Army Major and future French prime minister and president Charles de Gaulle. Born: Arnold Marquis, German voice actor known for dubbing the roles of John Wayne, Lee Marvin and other stars in German-language releases of U.S. films; in Dortmund, Weimar Republic (d. 1990) Draga Garašanin, French-born Serbian Yugoslavian archaeologist; in Paris (d. 1997) Died: Maximilian Berlitz, 68, German linguist, founder of Berlitz Language Schools (b. 1852)
April 7, 1921 (Thursday) Lakehurst, New Jersey, was incorporated in the United States. Born: Feza Gürsey, Turkish mathematician and physicist; in Istanbul (d. 1992) Died: Lorenz Adlon, 71, German hotel owner who built the palatial Hotel Adlon in Berlin; killed after being struck by a car while crossing the Pariser Platz (b. 1849) Mehmet Nuri Efendi, 35-36, Turkish Ottoman interpreter of Islamic law; killed in an ambush by Greek troops (b. 1885)
April 8, 1921 (Friday) Dimitrios Gounaris replaced Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos as Prime Minister of Greece. The short-lived "Albona Republic", proclaimed on March 7 by striking coal miners in the then-Italian town of Albona (now Labin in Croatia) was suppressed by Italian soldiers at the request of the mining companies. The wreckage of the U.S. Navy airship A-5597 was located in the Gulf of Mexico, 16 days after crashing during a training flight on March 23; no trace of the five member crew was found. An annular solar eclipse took place, visible from northern Scotland, the northwestern tip of Norway, and some islands in the Arctic Ocean in Russian SFSR. Born: Franco Corelli, Italian operatic tenor; in Ancona, Kingdom of Italy (d. 2003) Died: James H. Jones, 90, coachman and confidential courier for Jefferson Davis and later a North Carolina local public official
April 9, 1921 (Saturday) The Banco Nacional de Cuba, largest bank in Cuba, suspended operations after the collapse of the island's sugar export economy. In Georgia, white plantation owner Jasper S. Williams was convicted of the murder of an African-American employee.
Striking miners in Scotland and Wales brought operations to a halt in 38 coal mines by abandoning pumps and allowing the pits to flood. The number of men walking off the job exceeded 100,000. After a truce was brokered by the British government between the labour unions and the mining companies, the pumping of water was resumed later in the day to prevent irreparable damage to the mines. Chaim Weizmann and Albert Einstein were welcomed in New York City by supporters of Zionism and the proposition of the return of Israel as a Jewish state in the Mandate of Palestine. A reception for the two men at the Metropolitan Opera House filled every seat, including the orchestra pit, and attracted hundreds more who were willing to stand. Ishar Singh, a soldier of the British Indian Army fighting as part of the British Empire as part of the Waziristan campaign, risked his life to protect the 28th Punjabis unit, an act which later earned him recognition as the first Sikh winner of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for bravery in the United Kingdom. Born: Chuck Connors, American actor and professional baseball and basketball player, best known for playing Lucas McCain in The Rifleman, played for both the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Celtics; as Kevin Joseph Connors, in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1992) Bertram Fernando, Sri Lankan film and stage actor; as Emanuel Anthony Bertram Fernando, in Negombo, British Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) (d. 1986) Mary Jackson, African-American mathematician and engineer, later profiled in the film Hidden Figures; as Mary Winston, in Hampton, Virginia (d. 2005) Yitzhak Navon, Israeli politician, President of Israel from 1978 to 1983; in Jerusalem (d. 2015)
April 11, 1921 (Monday)
The Emirate of Transjordan was created from the portion of the British Mandate for Palestine east of the River Jordan. Abdullah, son of Hussein bin Ali al-Hashimi, King of the Hejaz (now part of Saudi Arabia), was selected by the British to be the ruler of the emirate, now the Kingdom of Jordan. Nineteen of the 22 crew on the U.S. cargo ship Colonel Bowie died when the ship foundered in the Gulf of Mexico. Iowa reversed a longtime ban on the sale of cigarettes as Governor Nathan E. Kendall signed a bill permitting adults to purchase tobacco starting on July 4, 1921, in any locality that chose the option of legalizing the product. Kendall commented that "The original statute was sufficiently rigorous to banish cigarettes utterly," but added that "the disregard of a restrictive law because it is unpopular entails discredit upon all laws of similar character." The Emperor of Japan sent a note of regret to U.S. President Harding, declaring that Crown Prince Hirohito would not be able to accept the President's invitation to visit the United States. Direct telephone service was established between the United States and Cuba. Born: Maura McNiel, American feminist; in Minneapolis (d. 2020) Died: Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, 62, former Empress Consort of Germany, wife of Wilhelm II, German Emperor (b. 1858)
April 12, 1921 (Tuesday) Italy and Turkey revealed that they had entered into a secret military pact, with Italy vowing to prevent Greece from obtaining Turkish territory if successful in the ongoing war. U.S. President Harding delivered his first message to Congress by appearing in person before a joint session, and declared that his administration would support the creation of "a non-political association of nations," and a pact separate from the Treaty of Versailles to end the state of war with Germany and the states of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. He added that "In the existing League of Nations, world-governing with its super-powers, this Republic will have no part." First World War French General Joseph Gallieni, who died in 1916, was posthumously created a Marshal of France. France's Minister for the Colonies, Albert Sarraut, revealed his plans for a colonial development program, primarily affecting Niger and Indo-China. D. W. Griffith's silent film Dream Street with a two-hour run time, premiered at the Central Theatre in New York. On May 2, it became the first feature-length film to experiment with Griffith's Photokinema process for sound. Born: James Dougherty, American police detective, first trainer of the Special Weapons and Tactics, first husband of actress Marilyn Monroe; in Los Angeles (d. 2005) Died: William Strang, 62, British painter and engraver (b. 1859)
April 13, 1921 (Wednesday)
Britain's "Triple Alliance" of the trade unions for miners, railroad workers and transport workers issued a manifesto declaring a national strike to begin at 10:00 in the evening on April 15. The trial of István Friedrich, the former Prime Minister of Hungary, for attempting to murder one of his predecessors in office, István Tisza, began in Budapest. Born: Frank Emilio Flynn, blind Cuban pianist; as Francisco Emilio Flynn Rodríguez, in Havana (d. 2001) Jean Dulieu, Dutch comic strip cartoonist and children's book writer, known for creating the popular European comic character Paulus the gnome; as Jan van Oort, in Amsterdam (d. 2006)
April 14, 1921 (Thursday)
Pál Teleki resigned as Prime Minister of Hungary along with his government, after his weak response to an attempt by former Austro-Hungarian monarch Karoly IV to return to the throne. Teleki was replaced by István Bethlen.