The following events occurred in February 1910:
February 1, 1910 (Tuesday) Wollert Konow became the new Prime Minister of Norway, taking over from Gunnar Knudsen."Record of Current Events", The American Monthly Review of Reviews (March 1910), pp289–293 Elections for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom were completed, with the Liberal Party having 274 seats, and the Unionists having 272. Prime Minister Asquith retained power, with the Liberals forming a coalition with the Irish nationalists. Thirty-four coal miners were killed in an explosion of the Browder Coal Company in Drakesboro, Kentucky. The blast was believed to have been caused by a repairman entering a section with an uncovered lamp. August Euler became the first person to obtain a pilot's license from Germany.
February 2, 1910 (Wednesday) Billy Gohl, the "Ghoul of Gray's Harbour", was arrested in Aberdeen, Washington, for the murder of his former henchman Charley Hatberg, bringing his string of killings to an end. Gohl, a local leader in the Sailors' Union of the Pacific, was suspected in the murders of as many as 124 people whose bodies were found, and of others who had disappeared. Since Washington had recently abolished its death penalty, Gohl spent the rest of his life in prison, dying in 1927.Jeff Davis and Al Eufrasion, Weird Washington: Your Travel Guide to Washington's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets (Sterling Publishing, 2008), pp111–112 In the third mine disaster in as many days, sixty-eight miners were killed at the Palau coal mine at Las Esperanzas, in the State of Coahuila in Mexico. Initial reports blamed the explosion on someone lighting a cigarette inside the mine."Mine Blast Kills 70—Cigarette Blamed for Disaster", Washington Post, February 3, 1910, p1
February 3, 1910 (Thursday) Greytown, Nicaragua's Caribbean port, was bombarded for twenty minutes by the gunboat Ometepe, commandeered by rebel forces at war with the government of José Madriz. One hundred people died in the day's fighting, and nine buildings in Greytown were destroyed, but the Ometepe was driven off by the town's batteries."Greytown Shelled", Washington Post, February 5, 1910, p1 The first pyloromyotomy, a surgery to correct the congenital narrowing (in infants) of the path between the stomach and the intestines (pyloric stenosis) was performed in Edinburgh by Sir Harold Stiles. However, the procedure is named for Dr. Wilhelm Ramstedt, who did the surgery seven months later on July 28, 1911.N.M.A. Bax, et al., Endoscopic Surgery in Infants and Children (Springer, 2008) p281 The village of Strome, Alberta was incorporated. Born: Robert Earl Jones, African-American actor; in Senatobia, Mississippi (d. 2006)
February 4, 1910 (Friday) The steamship Kentucky began sinking off the coast of Cape Hatteras at 6:00 in the morning. Wireless operator W.D Maginnis, continuously transmitted an S.O.S. and the coordinates: "We are sinking our latitude is 32°10' longitude 76°30' Kentucky". At , E.D. Seaman, the operator on the steamship Alamo, picked up the signal 65 miles away. After more than four hours travel at full speed, the Alamo sighted the Kentucky, whose hold was, by then, more than half full of water. All forty-seven men on board were saved by lifeboats, which the sailors of the Alamo sent out in stormy waters. "Save 47 After Wireless Call", New York Times, February 5, 1910, p1 Died: William C. Lovering, 75, Massachusetts U.S. Congressman since 1897, died of pneumonia.
February 5, 1910 (Saturday) Eleven men, all but one of them Hungarian, were killed at the Jefferson Clearfield Coal Company mine at Ernest, Pennsylvania, but another 110 were able to escape. Indiana University of Pennsylvania Libraries ; "Blast Kills Eleven", New York Times, February 6, 1910, p1 Dillon County, South Carolina was created.Joseph Nathan Kane, The American Counties (4th Ed.), (The Scarecrow Press, 1983), p480 Born: Francisco Varallo, Argentina national football team member and last living footballer from the first World Cup; in La Plata (d. 2010)
February 6, 1910 (Sunday) The U.S. Navy tugboat departed Norfolk, Virginia, bound for Boston, and disappeared along with her crew of 31. She was last sighted off the Capes of the Chesapeake in the midst of a gale and would be declared lost on March 15. The residents of Argentina saw airplanes for the first time. Several aviators from France appeared at a show held as part of the South American nation's centennial year celebrations. Born: Carlos Marcello, American Mafia boss; in Tunis, French North Africa (d. 1993) Died: Alfonso Maria Fusco, 70, Italian priest and founder of the Baptistine Sisters ministry to the poor
February 7, 1910 (Monday) France became the latest nation to join the naval arms race, as its cabinet approved the bill for the largest expansion of the French Navy. The $28,000,000 plan called for construction of 28 battleships, 52 torpedo boats, 94 submarines, and 22 other boats over a ten-year period. "$28,000,000 For French Navy", New York Times, February 8, 1910, p1 Edmond Rostand's allegorical play Chantecler was presented for the first time, with Lucien Guitry in the title role as a rooster, and other actors portraying farm animals. The play opened at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, and a translated version appeared on Broadway in 1911, with Maude Adams in the title role. Born: Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete, gold medalist in at 1936 Olympics; in Crushington (killed by train, 1949)
February 8, 1910 (Tuesday)
The Boy Scouts of America was founded, after Chicago publisher William D. Boyce observed the Boy Scouts during a visit to Great Britain. Boyce incorporated the BSA in the District of Columbia. Boyce, and with the help of attorney James West, then set about merging other scout groups into the organization, which received a charter by act of Congress in 1916.Rick Perry, On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For (Stroud and Hall, 2008), p41 The town of Dyer, Indiana, was incorporated.
February 9, 1910 (Wednesday) The French liner General Chanzy sank in the Mediterranean, after striking rocks near the Spanish island of Menorca. There was only one survivor of the 157 men, women and children on board. "Dead From Wreck Line Menorca Coast", New York Times, February 13, 1910, pC4 Born: Jacques Monod, French biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965; in Paris (d. 1976) Anna Sokolow, American choreographer; in New York City (d. 2000)
February 10, 1910 (Thursday) In what became known as the "Dreadnought hoax", Prince Makalin of Abyssinia and five other members of royalty were welcomed aboard the British battleship following the receipt of a telegram from the office of the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Charles Hardinge. The prince turned out to be prankster Horace de Vere Cole, and the group included Virginia Woolf and her brother, all wearing costumes and painted faces. Dr. Bennett Clark Hyde was arrested after being charged with murder in the death of Colonel Thomas H. Swope, the wealthiest man in Kansas City, Missouri. Colonel Swope had died suddenly on October 3, 1909, and his exhumed body had traces of strychnine. Dr. Hyde was witnessed giving a pill to the 82-year-old Swope, who died 20 minutes later. Hyde's conviction was reversed on appeal, and two subsequent trials in 1911 ended without a verdict. The case was dismissed in 1917. Born: Dominique Pire (born Georges Pire), Belgian friar and humanitarian, 1958 Nobel Peace Prize laureate; in Dinant (d. 1969)
February 11, 1910 (Friday) After French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot, and the crew of his ship Pourquoi Pas, returned from their Antarctic expedition more than a year after their departure, arriving at Punta Arenas, Chile. Charcot cabled the word that they had failed to reach the South Pole, but was congratulated for having gone further south than any men had gone before."Did Not Find South Pole", San Antonio Express, February 12, 1910, p1 Howard Little, who had murdered a family of three adults and three children in Hurley, Virginia, on the previous September 22, was put to death in the electric chair in Richmond. "Slayer of Seven Persons and Assailant of Woman Put to Death", New York Times, February 12, 1910, p5 The town of Hingham, Montana, was incorporated.
February 12, 1910 (Saturday) A force of 2,000 Chinese troops, under the command of General Chao Er-Feng and led by General Chung Ying, marched into Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. The 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, was forced to flee to India in a scene that would be repeated in 1959. A squadron of Tibetan soldiers, commanded by 24-year-old Chensal Namgang and equipped with only 34 rifles, was able to hold off a pursuing force of 200 Chinese troops at the Tsang-po River, giving the Lama enough time to reach British officials.Alex McKay, Tibet and the British Raj: The Frontier Cadre, 1904–1947 (Routledge, 1997), pp46–47"Troops In Lhasa; Dalai Lama Flees", New York Times, February 24, 1910, p7 The National Negro Committee changed its name to its present name, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).Nicholas J. Santoro, Atlas of Slavery and Civil Rights (iUniverse, Inc., 2006), pp120–121 Died: Lewis Wolfley, 70, former Territorial Governor of Arizona, was killed in a streetcar accident.
February 13, 1910 (Sunday) Thousands of workers marched in Berlin in protest over the Prussian three-class franchise, a law in which the wealthiest one-fifth of the voters had two-thirds of the seats in Germany's parliament, and were attacked with bayonets by the city police and the Prussian army. Surprisingly, nobody was killed, but 40 were wounded, and led to further uprisings. The Prussian system was finally abolished with the fall of the German Empire in 1918.Eric D. Weitz, Creating German Communism, 1890–1990: From Popular Protests to Socialist State (Princeton University Press, 1997), pp44–45 With the completion of excavations at San Pedro Bay, and the annexation of San Pedro and Wilmington into the city of Los Angeles, the name of the Port of San Pedro was changed to Los Angeles Harbor.John Steven McGroarty, Los Angeles: From the Mountains to the Sea (American Historical Society, 1921) pp142–143 Born: William Shockley, American inventor who won the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for his role in inventing the transistor, later a controversial proponent of eugenics; in London, England (d. 1989). Shockley was one of three Nobel laureates born over a five-day period.
February 14, 1910 (Monday) In the only shakeup of the four Great Offices of State following the January 1910 United Kingdom general election, 35-year-old Winston Churchill became the Home Secretary in Prime Minister Asquith's cabinet, replacing Herbert Gladstone. Churchill would become Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1924, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1940.Stuart Ball, Winston Churchill, (New York University Press, 2003), p138 The town of Norman, Arkansas, was incorporated.
February 15, 1910 (Tuesday) The ILGWU strike against New York's shirtwaist (blouse) factories ended after almost three months. The walkout of 20,000 women began on November 23, and ended after 339 manufacturers agreed to a reduced workweek (52 hours a week rather than 56), increased wages, and union recognition. "Responses to Industrial America""Uprising of 20,000 (1909)", Jewish Women's Archive Born: Irena Sendler, Polish social worker who helped more than 2,500 Jewish children, in the Warsaw Ghetto, escape extermination by the Nazis; as Irena Krzyzanowska in Warsaw (d. 2008)
February 16, 1910 (Wednesday)