February 12, 1912: Regent Empress abdicates on behalf of her ward...February 14, 1912: Arizona admitted as 48th state of the U.S....Emperor Puyi (standing), brings end to Manchu DynastyFebruary 13, 1912: Sun Yat-sen resigns as President of the rest of China as monarchy ends
After only four years of existence, the city of Strathcona, Alberta was incorporated into Edmonton, which had been incorporated in 1904. The merger had been approved by a 518–178 margin of Strathcona voters.[2]
A general strike in Brisbane involving tramway workers turned violent when police officers and special constables attacked a crowd of 15,000 demonstrators assembling in the city's Market Square in what became known as "Baton Friday" and later, "Black Friday".[5] Many of demonstrators were women, including hundreds of elderly. One of the elderly group reportedly stood her ground against a mounted police officer, stabbing the horse in the side with a hairpin that caused the horse to buck the officer off.[6][7]
U.S. Senator Robert M. La Follette had been the foremost challenger against incumbent U.S. President William Howard Taft for the Republican Party nomination, until he went ahead with a speech to the Periodical Publishers' Association, despite being ill with a stomach virus. Instead of making the planned brief remarks, La Follette made a long, rambling speech that criticized the assembled newspaper reporters, then dropped out of sight. La Follette's disastrous showing cleared the way for former President Theodore Roosevelt to get the nomination instead.[9]
The French government decreed that the indigenes of Algeria, male residents of Arab descent, were to be drafted for three years service into the French Army. The move was opposed by French Algerians, who did not want the indigenous population to be trained to use weapons, and the non-French Algerians themselves.[12]
The rules of American football were revised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association following two days of deliberations. Among the alterations were that the length of the field was shortened from 110 yards to 100, teams would now have four downs instead of three to try to gain ten yards, kickoffs were to be made from the 40 yard line rather than the middle of the field, and the touchdown was now worth six points instead of five.[13]
An ice bridge over Niagara Falls broke and carried an Ohio teenager and a Canadian husband and wife to their deaths over the falls, as thousands of spectators watched in horror. The 1,000-foot-wide (300 m) bridge had formed two weeks earlier from the piling up of ice fields from up river, and was 60 feet (18 m) thick. An article in The New York Times remarked: "This is the first time in the history of the Niagara that lives have been lost in this way."[17]
U.S. President William Howard Taft ordered an increase of the number of American troops guarding the nation's border with Mexico.[18][19]
The first threat to the Mormon colonies in Mexico, that had been founded by Americans more than 25 years earlier, when the residents of Colonia Juárez refused a demand by a force of Mexican rebels for weapons, horses and supplies. Initially, the colonists were able to resist a takeover by pledging to remain neutral and by requesting intervention by the American consul.[20]
The British Arbitration League, a peace society, issued an appeal against air warfare, with signatories including renowned British authors Arthur Conan Doyle and Thomas Hardy, and American painter John Singer Sargent.[21]
The first exhibition of Futurist painting was held, opening in Paris.[22]
Thornton Burgess published the first installment of his syndicated newspaper column "Bedtime Stories", which ran six days a week.[23] He wrote 15,000 of the columns, along with 100 books, retiring in 1960 at the age of 86.[24]
Portuguese army reinforcements began arriving in Dili, East Timor to help put down a revolt in the interior.[26]
The colonial administration of German Samoa abolished the chieftain position of Ali'i Sili (paramount chief) following the death of Mata'afa Iosefo. Samoans Tanumafili I and Tamasese Meaole I were appointed fautua, or advisers to the colonial administration, in place of the position.[27]
Emmanouel Argyoropoulos became the first Greek pilot, taking a Nieuport airplane aloft at Athens. On his second flight of the day, he was accompanied by Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos as his co-pilot.[34]
Australia inaugurated its first wireless telegraphic station, at Melbourne, as part of a plan to establish a network of 19 stations nationwide.[35]
An eight-year old Tunisian Arab child was struck and killed by a tram operating by an Italian operator in Tunis. Witnesses to the tragic accident reported the operator being drunk while operating the vehicle. A boycott was called on all Italian-owned trams in Tunis until reparations were paid to the family of the deceased child. The boycott would last nearly two months with none of the protestors' demands met, but it did lay the groundwork for the Tunisian national movement.[37]
Seven state governors sent former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt a letter urging him to declare that he would accept the Republican nomination for the presidency. Roosevelt would answer on February 24.[40]
The Qing dynasty of China, also called the Manchu dynasty came to an end after 268 years as the Empress Dowager Longyu signed an agreement on behalf of Puyi, the six year old Emperor of China, to dissolve the Imperial Advisory Council and making General Yuan Shikai the president of the new Republic. The end came on "the 25th day of the 12th moon of the 3rd year of Hsuan Tung". In return for the peaceful transition, the Republicans signed the "Articles of Favorable Treatment". The Emperor was allowed to keep his title, his palace and servants, and to continue to live the Imperial life. The arrangement lasted until 1924, when Feng Yuxiang forced the Imperial family to flee from the Forbidden City to the Japanese Embassy.[45]
China's Foreign Ministry wired its diplomats around the world, directing them to abandon their traditional Chinese clothing in favor of "the usual dress of American civil officials". At home, many Chinese citizens began accepting foreign attire as well.[46]
The stern of the battleship USS Maine was raised from Havana Harbor, where it had exploded and sunk on February 15, 1898. After the stern was refloated, the ship's hulk was, on March 16, towed to the Straits of Florida, and following a ceremony, sunk in 620 fathoms of water within American territorial limits.[53]
Dr. Sun Yat-sen informed the National Assembly at Nanjing of his resignation as President of China, and asked the legislators "to elect a good and talented man as the new president", Yuan Shikai. Yuan was sworn in as president in Beijing on March 10.[54]
Born:
Antonia Pozzi, Italian poet, known for poetry collections including Breath. Poems and Letters, in Milan (d. 1938)
King George gave a speech in the British Parliament about his visit to the imperial colonies and expressed his trust to the people of India and their government when he visited the country in 1911.[56]
Amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson wrote a letter to British paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward, describing his finding of "part of a thick human skull" in "a very old Pleistocene bed" between Uckfield and Crowborough in East Sussex, England. Dawson's "discovery", known as the "Piltdown Man", became one of the great hoaxes of the 20th century.[57]
The Times of London announced that Captain W.S. Patton, a British physician in Madras, had discovered the parasite that caused black fever.[58]
Yuan Shikai, who had been leader of North China from Beijing, was declared as President of the Republic of China by the assembly that controlled South China from Nanjing, at the recommendation of President Sun Yat-sen. Sun "had committed himself to put the unity of China before his own position and, had he not done so, the consequence would almost certainly have been civil war".[59]
Residents of La Mesa Springs voted 249–60 to incorporate the city of La Mesa, California. Now a suburb of San Diego, the city grew in one century from 700 people to over 57,000.[61]
The Mexican town of Garza Galán, in Coahuila State and across the Rio Grande from Del Rio, Texas, was renamed in honor of poet Manuel Acuña. The name was shortened to Villa Manuel Acuña to Ciudad Acuña on September 16, 1957.[62]
Thomas Jennings, the first American criminal to be convicted by fingerprint evidence, was executed by hanging.[63]
British polar explorer Edgar Evans, 35, became the first of the five members of Robert Falcon Scott's South Pole group to perish as the group attempted to return to their base. Evans collapsed the previous day as the party descended Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica, likely due to combination of frostbite, exhaustion, and complications from injuries to his hand and head during the return trek. The group was forced to leave his body behind and it was never recovered.[64]
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, commonly called the "B&O", reversed a decision to have separate waiting rooms for black and white passengers at its stations. On January 25, the managing editor of the Baltimore Afro-American, John H. Murphy Sr., had written to B&O President Daniel Willard and pledged to use his influence to divert the black tourist and convention business to other railroad lines.[67]
Under pressure from Russia and the United Kingdom, the government of Persia restored a pension to its former King, Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, and granted amnesty to the followers who had attempted to return him to the throne.[70]
Fifty people drowned in the sinking of a boat at Rangoon.[16]
Carl Hayden was sworn in as the first U.S. Representative for the newly admitted state of Arizona. In 1927, he became one of the state's U.S. Senators, and became the first person to serve fifty years in the U.S. Congress, serving until 1969.[73]
The city of Houston was heavily damaged by a fire that destroyed 19 businesses and destroyed 200 buildings in the downtown. There were no deaths, but 1,000 people were left homeless. The blaze, which started in an empty rooming house, was spread by a gale across the Texas city.[77]
Construction workers successfully bored a nearly six mile tunnel through the Swiss Alps to make possible the Jungfrau Railway. The tunnel was made beneath the Eiger and Mönch mountains, both more than 13,000 feet tall. The line, at the time the highest in Europe, would open on August 1, 1912.[78]
Captain Fesa Bey became the first member of the Turkish Army to complete flight training and to be awarded a pilot's license.[79]
A fire at the No. 5 mine of Western Coal Company in Lehigh, Oklahoma, killed nine people. The death toll would have been higher, but for Rufino Rodrigues, who saved as many as 259 miners, by venturing further into the mine to warn his fellow employees. Rodrigues, a 22-year-old native of Mexico, was awarded a bronze medal by the Carnegie Hero Fund.[81]
In Vernon, California, Johnny Kilbane defeated champion Abe Attell for the world featherweight boxing championship. Attell had held the title for 11 years, and Kilbane would hold it for 11 more.[83]
The illuminated Leaders of the World sign in New York City is destroyed by a record-breaking storm.[84]
The Italian Chamber of Deputies voted 431–38 in favor of approving the royal proclamation to annex Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, both part of modern-day Libya.[85] The Italian Senate approved the measure unanimously the next day.[86]
February 24, 1912 (Saturday)
In an attempt to force the Ottoman Empire to accept the annexation of Tripoli and Cyrenaica, Italy made a surprise attack on Beirut, at the time a part of the Empire. The cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi and the gunboat Volturno sailed into the Lebanese port and demanded the surrender of the Turkish ships Ankara and Avnillah. Before the Ottoman provincial governor could reply, the Italian ships began bombardment, sinking both ships. The final death toll was 97 sailors and civilians.[87]
Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt replied to the February 10 letter from several state governors, and declared that he would be willing to accept the Republican party nomination for President "if it is tendered to me", and added that "I will adhere to this decision until the convention has expressed its preference". The letter was released the next day.[88]
Born:Al Tomaini, American circus performer billed as "The Tallest Man in the World", (standing 8'4" in 1931); in Long Branch, New Jersey. He and his wife, 2'6" Jeanie Tomiani, were later billed as "The World's Strangest Married Couple" (d. 1962)
February 26, 1912 (Monday)
Coal miners in the United Kingdom walked out on strike, beginning with employees of the Alfretor coal pits in Derbyshire, England. By Thursday, 600,000 miners had stopped work. The walkout lasted for seven weeks.[94] By the end of the week, one million miners joined the strike, seeking a minimum wage guarantee.[95]
After announcing that he would run against U.S. President William Howard Taft for the 1912 Republican nomination, former President Theodore Roosevelt was asked at a press conference in Boston whether he intended "to support the Republican nominee, whoever he may be" and replied that he would.[96] After Taft received the nomination, Roosevelt ran against him as candidate of the Progressive Party.
Eladio Victoria was sworn in as President of the Dominican Republic after his nephew, General Alfredo Victoria, pressured the Dominican Congress to elect his uncle. As a result, Horacio Vasquez returned from exile and led his followers, the "Horacistas", in a revolt against the government.[97]
General Electric Company obtained the U.S. Patent 1,018,502 for a tungsten filament lamp that had been invented by Austrian scientists Alexander Just and Franz Hanaman.[98]
A storm at Lake Tamehua, within the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, caused a barge to overturn, killing 35 people. Many of the drowning victims were American employees of the Pearson Oil Company.[101]
Serbia and Bulgaria secretly signed a treaty of alliance for a term of eight years, with each pledging to come to the defense of the other during war. The two nations fought together against the Ottoman Empire later that year during the First Balkan War, then against each other in the Second Balkan War and in World War I.[105]
Russian gold miners at the Lena Mining Company in Siberia went out on strike, originally in protest about the quality of food sold to them by the company.[106]
King Vajiravudh of Siam (now Thailand) was overseeing military maneuvers at Nakhon Pathom, when he was informed by his army chief of staff, Prince Chakrabongse, that several junior officers were plotting his overthrow. There were 92 men arrested, and most of them had been in the class of 1909 at the military academy.[107]
Walter Wagner filed for a patent for the "bayonet and valve closed reservoir system", granted as U.S. Patent No. 1,142,210 but not put into use for water coolers until 80 years later. The invention reduced the possibility of contamination of bottled water during the filling and dispensing process.[108]
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^Bruce, J. M. The Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing). London:Putnam, 1982. ISBN0-370-30084-X, p. 344
^"Submarine Sinks; 14 Dead"", New York Times, February 3, 1912
^Melvin I. Urofsky, Louis D. Brandeis: A Life (Random House, 2009) p. 335 "La Follette Ill; Makes No Excuses", New York Times, February 4, 1912; "La Follette Now out of the Race", New York Times, February 6, 1912
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^ abcdefghThe Britannica Year-Book 1913: A Survey of the World's Progress Since the Completion in 1910 of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. 1913. pp. xxi–xxii.
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^Serge Ricard, ed., A Companion to Theodore Roosevelt (John Wiley & Sons, 2011) p. 462; "Roosevelt Says He Will Accept the Nomination"", New York Times, February 28, 1912
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^E. G. Ruoff, ed., Death Throes of a Dynasty: Letters and Diaries of Charles and Bessie Ewing, Missionaries to China (Kent State University Press, 1990) pp. 202-203; "Manchus Quit China's Throne"", New York Times, February 13, 1912
^Xu Guoqi, China and the Great War: China's Pursuit of a New National Identity and Internationalization (Cambridge University Press, 2005) p. 36; Henry Pu Yi and Paul Kramer, The Last Manchu: The Autobiography of Henry Pu Yi, Last Emperor of China (Skyhorse Publishing, 2010)
^William Mulligan, The Origins of the First World War (Cambridge University Press, Apr 30, 2010) p. 79
^James M. Morris and Patricia M. Kearns, Historical Dictionary of the United States Navy (Scarecrow Press, 2011)
^Yuan-tsung Chen, Return to the Middle Kingdom: One Family, Three Revolutionaries, and the Birth of Modern China (Sterling Publishing, 2008) pp. 37-38
^"President Signs the Proclamation of Statehood", St. Petersburg (FL) Daily Times, February 15, 1912, p1; "Arizona Admitted to Sisterhood of States", Arizona Journal-Miner (Prescott AZ), February 15, 1912,
^James Minahan, Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: S-Z (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002) p. 1892
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^"Tripoli Annexation Ratified", New York Times, February 25, 1912; Dirk J. Vandewalle, A History of Modern Libya (Cambridge University Press, 2006) p xii
^"Italian Warships Bombard Beirut", New York Times, February 25, 1912
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^Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, ISBN1-902304-04-7, p. 9.
^Roy A. Church and Quentin Outram, Strikes and Solidarity: Coalfield Conflict in Britain, 1889–1966 (Cambridge University Press, 2002) p. 115; "England in Alarm as Strike Begins", New York Times, February 26, 1912, p1
^"1,000,000 British Miners Strike", New York Times, March 2, 1912, p. 1; "Coal Strike Halts British Industry", New York Times, March 3, 1912, p. C5
^"Roosevelt Won't Bolt", New York Times, February 27, 1912
^Frank Moya Pons, The Dominican Republic: A National History (Markus Wiener Publishers, 1998) p306
^George W. Stocking and Myron Webster Watkins, Cartels in Action, Case Studies in International Business Diplomacy (William S. Hein Publishing, 1988) p. 308
^Andreae, Christopher (1997). Lines of country: an atlas of railway and waterway history in Canada. Boston Mills Press, Erin, Ontario. p. 194. ISBN1-55046-133-8.
^"35 Drowned by a Storm", New York Times, February 29, 1912
^Meyer, Torben (1952). "Appendix I: Biographical". Carl Nielsen, Symphonist, 1865–1931. Translated by Harald Knudsen. pp. 183–211, 238. in Simpson, Robert (1952). Carl Nielsen, Symphonist, 1865–1931 (1st ed.). London: J. M. Dent. ASINB0000CIDKO.
^Gary A. Wilson, Honky-tonk Town: Havre, Montana's Lawless Era (Globe Pequot, 2006) p. 29
^M. Edith Durham, Twenty Years of Balkan Tangle (Echo Library, 2008) p. 147
^Mauricio Borrero, Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present (Infobase Publishing, 2004) p. 212; Igor V. Naumov and David N. Collins, The History of Siberia (Taylor & Francis, 2006) p. 150
^David K. Wyatt, Thailand: A Short History (Yale University Press, 2003) pp. 212-213
^Nicholas Dege, Technology of Bottled Water (John Wiley & Sons, 2011) p. 292
