In the largest American fleet of warships ever assembled, more than 100 U.S. Navy ships sailed on the
Hudson River off of New York City for review by Secretary of the Navy
George von L. Meyer, led by the
USS Connecticut. "This mobilization has demonstrated the preparedness of the American Navy for any emergency."[5][6] On the same day, most of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Ocean fleet sailed past Los Angeles, with 22 ships and 2 submarines, led by the
USS Oregon.[7]
Pope Pius X issued the papal bull Divino afflatu, requiring that the new
breviary be used in all Roman Catholic churches no later than October 23, 1917.[8]
Chinese Imperial troops were successful in recapturing
Hankou for the benefit of the Manchu dynasty Emperor, but a contingent of troops from the
Shanxi Province, brought along for assistance, mutinied at Shikiatan. The group massacred 1,000 Manchu civilians, including their own commander and the Governor, his family, and their own general.[9][10]
U.S. President Taft received a 3,690 gun salute on "the greatest naval day this country has known in time of peace", as he reviewed most of the fleet of the U.S. Navy. The occasion was marred by the death of Seaman Gustav Frey, who fell overboard and drowned.[11]
Died:Kyrle Bellew, 61, celebrated English actor who was popular in the late 19th and early 20th century.
November 3, 1911 (Friday)
The
Chevrolet Motor Company was incorporated by former General Motors Chairman
William C. Durant, to begin manufacture of an inexpensive automobile that had been designed by race car driver
Louis Chevrolet. The Chevrolet would prove so successful that Durant would be able to acquire sufficient GM stock to regain control of that company.[12]
Prince Chun, the
regent for his young son, the
Emperor of China, issued an edict accepting the National Assembly's 19 basic points for a new Constitution. The reform, which would have permitted the Emperor to remain on the throne in a
constitutional monarchy in a parliamentary government, came too late to prevent the foundation of a republic.[14]
Daniel Drawbaugh, 84, who claimed to have invented the telephone, pneumatic tools, hydraulic rams, folding lunchboxes, barrel faucets, self-measuring wrapping machines, coin separators, and a wireless burglar alarm.[15]
November 4, 1911 (Saturday)
The
Agadir Crisis ended with the signing of Franco-German peace treaty at Berlin between German Foreign Minister
Alfred von Kiderlen-Waechter and France's Ambassador to Germany,
Jules Cambon, ending Germany's threat to go to war over Morocco.[16]Germany withdrew all claims to North Africa, with
Morocco being partitioned between
France (as a protectorate) and
Spain (as the colony the
Spanish Sahara). In return, France ceded to Germany 107,270 mi² of the French Congo, as part of
Kamerun, and Germany ceded 6,450 mi² of German Kamerun to France as part of Chad. The territorial changes would last only seven years, and after Germany's defeat in World War One, German Kamerun would become French Cameroun and, decades later, the independent nation of
Cameroon.[17]
Piloted by
Melvin Vaniman, the dirigible balloon Akron (not to be confused with the 1930s airship
USS Akron), was tested at Atlantic City in its first flight, but lost altitude and came down nine miles north at Grassy Bay.[18]
Born:
Charles Assalé, Prime Minister of Cameroon, 1960–61, and of East Cameroon 1961-65; in
Ebolowa (d. 1999)
Calbraith P. Rodgers arrived in
Pasadena, California, landing his airplane, the Vin Fiz Flyer at 4:04 pm, to become the first person to fly across the United States. A crowd of 20,000 greeted him, with a large group breaking through police guards to mob him. Reportedly, "hundreds threw hats and caps into the air, and trampled them into the dirt when they fell".[19] He had started in New York City on
September 17 and flown 3,220 miles, making 69 stops.[20] Rodgers, who had replaced 98% of the original wood, wire and fabric of the plane during the trip, and had sustained a dozen crashes, would be killed in another crash five months later, on April 3, 1912.[21]
Giovanni Giolitti, the
Prime Minister of Italy, announced the royal decree annexing the Ottoman Empire provinces of
Tripoli and
Cyrenaica (both part of modern
Libya) to the Kingdom of Italy. The decree would be confirmed by the Parliament on February 25, 1912.[22]
Born:Roy Rogers, American cowboy, singer and actor; as Leonard Slye in
Cincinnati (d. 1998)
The first
straight pool tournament, using the rules for "
14.1 continuous" pocket billiards, was held, with
Alfredo De Oro winning. The game, adapted from the 1888 game of continuous pool on the suggestion of champion Jerome Keogh, scored points by the cumulative number of balls sunk.[23]
Yuan Shikai was named as the Prime Minister of the Chinese Empire.[27]
The legislature of the
Fujian Province of China voted to declare its independence from the Empire, and joined the Republic of China four days later.[28]
General Wu Lu-cheng, the Governor-General of the
Shaanxi Province, committed suicide after refusing instructions from the Emperor's court to surrender.[29]
November 8, 1911 (Wednesday)
Arthur Balfour resigned as leader of the Conservative Party and as
Leader of the Opposition in the British House of Commons, after being blamed by the B.M.G. ("Balfour Must Go") campaign for not opposing the Parliament Bill.[30]
The legislature of the
Anhui Province voted to secede from Imperial China.[32]
At his basement in St. Louis, inventor Anthony F. Wice tested his idea to generate heat by mixing compressed air and gasoline, after telling his son that he was on the verge of a breakthrough. An explosion killed him instantly.[33]
Born:Jacob B. Agus, Polish-born American rabbi; as Yakov Dov Agushewitz in
Swislocz (now Svislach, Belarus) (d. 1986)
November 9, 1911 (Thursday)
At
Hodgenville, Kentucky, President Taft dedicated the granite temple surrounding a replica of
Abraham Lincoln's log cabin. "Few men have come into public prominence who came absolutely from the soil as did Abraham Lincoln," said Taft. "With an illiterate and shiftless father and a mother who, though of education and force, died before he reached youth," said Taft, "his future was dark indeed."[34]
The
Kwangtung Province became the latest to secede from China as the National Assembly at Canton (now
Guangzhou) proclaimed a republic.[35]
Sultan
Abdelhafid of Morocco announced that he would consent to the conditions of the Franco-German peace treaty, which provided for French protection and control of all of Morocco's foreign affairs.[10]
The first, and only, time a November palindrome day occurred in the 20th century was on this date (11-9-1911). (Note that this is a seven-digit palindrome day which can also be interpreted as the full date number of January 19, 1911, if written as 1-19-1911 instead of 11-9-1911. The next one would occur on November 2, 2011 (11-02-2011).
Died:Howard Pyle, 76, American artist described as "the father of American magazine illustration" and "the most successful of American artists"
November 10, 1911 (Friday)
Manchu troops in
Nanjing, following the command of their Tartar general, carried out what a reporter described as "a scene of fire, rapine, desolation and butchery unrecorded in modern history" attacking the Chinese residents there indiscriminately, murdering "the aged, the young, and babies in arms". Any rebel who had cut off his
queue was beheaded; even the simple act of wearing white clothing (associated with the rebellion), or foreign clothing, was cause for murder.[36]
Andrew Carnegie donated $25,000,000 (equivalent to $500,000,000 in 2011) to the Carnegie Corporation to carry on his philanthropic work. His total bequests up until that time were counted as $208,233,000; of that, $50,935,000 had endowed "
Carnegie libraries".[37]
The
Whirlpool Corporation, a worldwide manufacturer and marketer of home appliances, was founded by Emory Upton, his nephew
Louis Upton, and investor Lowell Bassford in
St. Joseph, Michigan as the Upton Machine Company. [39] The initial product made by the Uptons was an electric washing machine, and by 1945, the company would introduced its "Whirlpool" automatic washing machine. Upton Machine would change its name to Whirlpool Corporation on April 20, 1950.
The French film
Zigomar premiered in Japan, and became an unexpected hit, particularly among kids who had never seen violence portrayed in a theatre production. Later, when Japanese producers would begin making their own Zigomar action thrillers, "scores of juvenile offenders were produced", and Japan's Home Ministry would respond with strict censorship.[41]
The temperature in
Oklahoma City stood at 83 °F in the afternoon, until
a cold front arrived, dropping the mercury dramatically to 17 °F in before midnight.[42]
In the last years of
Austro-Hungarian rule, the city of
Visoko (now part of the Republic of
Bosnia and Herzegovina) was almost completely burned down by fire, which was started by accident.[43]
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that motion pictures could not be adapted from books and plays without consent of the original authors, upholding an appellate court decision, in Kalem Company v. Harper & Brothers, arising from the Kalem Studios 1907 production of
Ben Hur.[47]
The German government announced that the approval of the
Reichstag would be necessary for any treaties changing boundaries of any part of the German Empire.[6]
Maurice Bienaime and Rene Rumpelmayer became the first persons to fly an airplane non-stop for 1,000 miles, covering 1,056 miles in 16+1⁄2 hours.[10]
The
American Tobacco Company was reorganized with approval of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.[50] The corporation, which had held 92% of the market share of U.S. tobacco sales, was split into four smaller entities:
Lorillard Tobacco Company (15% share, Kool);
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (20%, maker of Camel cigarettes);
Liggett & Myers (28%; Chesterfield, L & M); and a smaller American Tobacco (38%, Lucky Strike). New competition would come in 1919 from
Philip Morris, Inc., most famous for Marlboro cigarettes.[51]
An earthquake struck Switzerland and Germany at 10:27 pm local time.[52]
BornWilliam 'Si' Redd, American casino games developer described as "King of Video Poker", a son of sharecroppers who became a multimillionaire in gaming; near
Union, Mississippi (d. 2003)[53]
November 17, 1911 (Friday)
The
Omega Psi Phi fraternity, first black fraternity at a
historically black college, was founded by three
Howard University undergraduates (Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman) and Professor Ernest Everett Just. As of its 100th anniversary, it had more than 700 chapters in nine nations.[54]
The
United States Navy temporarily abandoned the use of fish names for
submarine classification, renaming the Adder, Viper, Octopus and Narwhal class subs as A, B, C and D class, respectively. Names would be revived in 1931.[55]
Thirty miners at the Bottom Creek Coal and Coke Company died in an explosion at
Vivian, West Virginia in McDowell County.[10]
Train robbers in France attacked three cars carrying $600,000 worth of gifts, breaking in through the roofs after the cars departed from
Paris en route to
Lyons. The theft was discovered when the train stopped at
Mâcon.[57]
November 19, 1911 (Sunday)
Ramón Cáceres, the
President of the Dominican Republic, was assassinated in
Santo Domingo. Caceres was attacked by assailants while riding in his coach on a public road.[58] His murder was plotted by Luis Tejera, a "Jimenista" who supported former President
Juan Isidro Jimenes Pereyra, while Caceres had been a "Horacista" and follower of former President
Horacio Vásquez. Caceres was succeeded by another Horacista,
Eladio Victoria. Increasing instability would lead to U.S. troops occupying the Dominican Republic in 1916.[59]
Guglielmo Marconi demonstrated an advance in wireless radio transmission, telegraphing a greeting to the New York Times between two
Marconi stations located 4,000 miles apart. Marconi's signal went from the newest station in Italy (at Coltano, near
Pisa) was sent to a receiver at
Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. The previous record had been 2,250 miles. The Marconigram read "My best greetings transmitted by wireless telegraph from Italy to America—- G. Marconi, Pisa. 5:47 P.M."[60]
Texas Governor
Oscar Colquitt ordered all Mexican rebels in Texas to leave within 48 hours, and deployed the
Texas Rangers to the border to enforce the order.[63]
Russian troops invaded Iran, with several hundred occupying
Rasht, the largest port on the Persian side of the
Caspian Sea. The conditions given for the troops' withdrawal included the dismissal of
W. Morgan Shuster as the Persian Treasurer, and an agreement not to employ foreign advisers without the approval of Russia and Britain.[66]
The collapse of a railway bridge in France, near
Montreuil-Bellay, killed 30 people. The cars carried about 100 passengers who were on their way from
Angers to
Poitiers, and sank in the
Thouet River. Some persons, who had escaped the cars before they sank, were swept away in the flood-swollen waters.[67]
As the
Italo-Turkish War continued, Italy informed the other European powers that it would send its Navy into Turkish waters to create a blockade of the
Dardanelles.[68]
Wu Tingfang, a leader of the Republican revolution in
China, informed foreign diplomats in
Nanjing an attack would be held off for three days, in order to give foreign residents a chance to evacuate before November 26.[69]
Died:Bernard Tancred, 47, South African cricketer, died after a short illness.
November 24, 1911 (Friday)
At the Hotel Gotham in Manhattan, Texas businessman
Edward M. House had his first meeting with New Jersey Governor
Woodrow Wilson, and began the process for a successful campaign to elect Wilson to the office of President of the United States in 1912[70]
After seven years, the secret articles of the Anglo-French declaration of 1904 (which concerned Egypt and Morocco) were published.[71]
A boiler explosion at the J. Bibby & Sons oil cake mills in
Liverpool killed 27 people and injured 100.[72]
In an elaborate ceremony at the ancestral temple, the
Regent for China's Emperor took an oath to uphold the 19 Articles of the new Chinese constitution, stating "Following the fall of the sacred dynasty I accept the advice of the national assembly. I swear to uphold the nineteen constitutional articles and organize a parliament, excluding the nobles from administrative posts. I and my descendants will adhere to it forever. Your heavenly spirits will see and understand." Bombardment of Nanjing began the same day.[74]
Six members of the family of Norbert Randall of
Lafayette, Louisiana, were killed in their beds by an
axe murderer, continuing a string of similar killings that had already claimed eleven people in January and five more in April. Police arrested an African-American woman, Clementine Bernabet, but would release her after nine more killings took place during her incarceration.[75]
Born:Gilbert F. White, American geographer described as "The Father of Floodplain Management"; in
Chicago (d. 2006)
Hurling rotten fruit and vegetables, Irish-born Americans protested what they perceived as insulting stereotypes of Irish people, shouting insults and throwing produce at the actors during the New York City opening of
John Millington Synge's production of The Playboy of the Western World[76][77]
Spanish commanders in the Sahara agreed to terms with 65
Rif chiefs.[10]
Born:
David Merrick (stage name for David Lee Margulois), American theater producer and four time Tony Award winner known for Hello, Dolly!); in
St. Louis (d. 2000)
Renowned lawyer
Clarence Darrow was accused of attempting to bribe a juror after a detective whom he had hired, Bert Franklin, was arrested in Los Angeles for offering a juror $4,000 to bring about a hung jury in the trial of the McNamara brothers for the bombing of the Los Angeles Times building. After Franklin testified that Darrow had ordered him to attempt bribery, Darrow was indicted on two separate charges. He would be
acquitted in both trials.[78]
Born:
Václav Renč, Czech poet, dramatist and translator; in
Wodochod (now Vodochody), Austro-Hungarian Empire (d. 1973)
Russia delivered its
ultimatum to
Persia, giving the government 48 hours to either dismiss American businessman W. Morgan Shuster from his post as Persia's Treasurer General, or to see Tehran invaded.[79]
November 30, 1911 (Thursday)
In the annual Thanksgiving Day college football game at
Jackson between
Mississippi and
Mississippi State (at that time Mississippi A & M), fifty people were injured when a set of bleachers collapsed, throwing 1,000 spectators to the ground.
Mississippi Lt. Governor Luther Manship and Secretary of State J.N. Power were hurt slightly in the tumble.[80]
The keel for the biggest
White Star Line ship ever,
HMHS Britannic, was laid down in
Belfast. The ship would be launched on February 26, 1914, and soon called into World War One service, sinking on November 21, 1916, after striking a mine.[81]
^Christopher Chant, Austro-Hungarian aces of World War I (Osprey Publishing, 2002) p39
^Gerard J. De Groot, The Bomb: A Life (Harvard University Press, 2005) p2
^Susan Solomon, The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition (Yale University Press, 2002) p173
^David Crane, Scott of the Antarctic: A Life of Courage and Tragedy (Random House, 2007)
^"Our Greatest Fleet Reviewed by Meyer", New York Times, November 2, 1911
^
abcd"Record of Current Events", The American Monthly Review of Reviews (December 1911), pp678-681
^"Pacific Fleet Reviewed", New York Times, November 2, 1911
^"Pius X", in The Catholic Encyclopedia (The Encyclopedia Press, 1922) p584
^"Chinese Troops Kill Thousands", New York Times, November 3, 1911
^
abcdefghiThe Britannica Year-Book 1913: A Survey of the World's Progress Since the Completion in 1910 of the Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, 1913) pp. xviii to xix
^"Taft Reviews Mighty Fleet", New York Times, November 3, 1911
^Ottilie M. Leland and Minnie Dubbs Millbrook, The Master of Precision: Henry M. Leland (Wayne State University Press, 1996) p117
^"Rebels Take Shanghai", New York Times, November 4, 1911; Jonathan Fenby, Chiang Kai Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost (Da Capo Press, 2005) p31
^"Curbs Chinese Ruler's Power", New York Times, November 4, 1911; Stanley K. Hornbeck, Contemporary Politics in the Far East (D. Appleton & Co., 1916, reprinted by Ayer Publishing, 1970) p38
^"Daniel F. Drawbaugh Dead", New York Times, November 4, 1911
^Frank E. Trout, Morocco's Saharan Frontiers (Librairie Droz, 1969) pp198-199
^Ieuan Ll Griffiths, The African Inheritance (Routledge, 1995) p37
^"Vaniman Confident Despite Mishaps", New York Times, November 6, 1911
^Carlos A. Schwantes, Going Places: Transportation Redefines the Twentieth-Century West (Indiana University Press, 2003) pp192-193
^Waniss A. Otman and Erling Karlberg, The Libyan Economy: Economic Diversification and International Repositioning (Springer, 2007) p13
^Mike Shamos, The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards (Globe Pequot, 2002) p107
^"Inaugurate Madero in Mexican Capital", New York Times, November 6, 1911
^James W. Hurst, Pancho Villa and Black Jack Pershing: the Punitive Expedition in Mexico (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008)
^"Awarded to Mme. Curie", New York Times, November 7, 1911
^Michael Dillon, China: A Modern History (I.B.Tauris, 2010) p147
^Ryan Dunch, Fuzhou Protestants and the Making of a Modern China, 1857-1927 (Yale University Press, 2001) p108
^"Viceroy Dies by Own Hand", New York Times, November 9, 1911
^Alfred F. Havighurst, Britain in Transition: The Twentieth Century (University of Chicago Press, 1985) p103; "Balfour Quits His Leadership", New York Times, November 9, 1911
^"Portuguese Ministry Resigns", New York Times, November 9, 1911
^Annping Chin, Four Sisters of Hofei: A History (Simon and Schuster, 2002) p19
^"President Taft Ends His 15,000-mile Tour", New York Times, November 12, 1911; "None to Welcome Taft", New York Times, November 13, 1911
^Larry L. Witherell, Rebel on the Right: Henry Page Croft and the Crisis of British Conservatism, 1903-1914 (University of Delaware Press, 1997); "Unionists Elect Bonar Law", New York Times, November 14, 1911
^Kerry Segrave, Piracy in the Motion Picture Industry (McFarland, 2003) p48
^Yuan May Assume Office To-day, New York Times, November 16, 1911
^"Tobacco Trust Plan Has Final Approval", New York Times, November 17, 1911
^Jeffrey L. Cruikshank, Arthur W. Schultz, The Man who Sold America: The Amazing (but true!) Story of Albert D. Lasker and the Creation of the Advertising Century (Harvard Business Press, 2010) p248
^"Earthquake in Germany", New York Times, November 17, 1911 "Earthquake Scares Swiss and Germans" (10:27 pm), New York Times, November 18, 1911
^Jack Harpster, King of the Slots: William "Si" Redd (ABC-CLIO, 2010);
"'Si' Redd, gaming legend, dies", Seattle Times, October 20, 2003
^"Virginia Barckley" in American Nursing: A Biographical Dictionary (Springer, 2004), pp. 14-16
^F. Arturo Rosales, Pobre Raza!: Violence, Justice, and Mobilization among México Lindo Immigrants, 1900-1936 (University of Texas Press, 1999) p12
^Jens Malte Fischer and Stewart Spencer, Gustav Mahler (Yale University Press, 2011) p563
^Gunter Faure and Teresa M. Mensing, The Transantarctic Mountains: Rocks, Ice, Meteorites and Water (Springer, 2010) p173
^Janet Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 1906-1911: Grassroots Democracy, Social Democracy, & the Origins of Feminism (Columbia University Press, 1996) p330
^"30 Drowned in a Train", New York Times, November 24, 1911
^"Italy to Blockade the Dardanelles", New York Times, November 23, 1911
^Eiko Woodhouse, The Chinese Hsinhai revolution: G.E. Morrison and Anglo-Japanese relations, 1897-1920 (Routledge, 2004) p85
^Jim Powell, Wilson's War: How Woodrow Wilson's Great Blunder Led to Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, and World War II (Random House, 2005) p79
^"Anglo-French Secret Out", New York Times, November 25, 1911
^"Explosion Kills 33", New York Times, November 25, 1911
^Robert Ryal Miller, Mexico: A History (University of Oklahoma Press, 1989) p292;
"Plan de Ayala", from John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution (Knopf, 1969) pp400-404
^"Rebels Pour Shot into Chinese City", Milwaukee Sentinel, November 27, 1911, p1
^Michael Newton, The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes (Infobase Publishing, 2010) 263
^Diana Klebanow and Franklin L. Jonas, People's Lawyers: Crusaders for Justice in American History (M.E. Sharpe, 2003) pp123-125; "Charges of Bribery in M'Namara Trial", New York Times, November 29, 1911
^"Persia Inclined to Defy Russia", New York Times, November 30, 1911; Janet Afary, The Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 1906-1911: Grassroots Democracy, Social Democracy, and the Origins of Feminism (Columbia University Press, 1996) p204
^"Jammed Bleachers Fall", Milwaukee Sentinel, December 1, 1911, p1