The following events occurred in March 1912:
March 1, 1912 (Friday)
Emmeline Pankhurst was among 148 suffragettes who were arrested in London, after they began breaking windows in order to attract attention. At 6:00 p.m., the women, marching in favor of their right to vote, brought out rocks they had been carrying, and attacked storefronts in Westminster. "Never since plate glass was invented has there been such a smashing and shattering of it as was witnessed this evening when the suffragettes went out on a window-breaking raid in the West End of London," The New York Times wrote the next day. Attacks took place on famous streets such as the Strand, Haymarket, Piccadilly, Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street, and even at Prime Minister H. H. Asquith's residence at 10 Downing Street. Mrs. Pankhurst was sentenced to two months in jail, along with Mabel Tuke and Christabel Marshall. Albert Berry became the first person to make a parachute jump from an airplane in flight, leaping from above the Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, after being taken aloft by pilot Tony Jannus. A few months earlier, Berry had been tried in connection with a lynching in Pennsylvania. The British coal miners' strike, which had started earlier in the week at one company in Derbyshire, continued to spread across the United Kingdom, with one million workers walking off the job until a fair minimum wage could be guaranteed them. Hungarian composer Béla Bartók first heard Bulgarian folk music during a visit to the Austro-Hungarian principality of Transylvania, now part of Romania, where he had been collecting Romanian folk music. Born: Boris Chertok, Russian electrical engineer, chief designer of control engineering for the Soviet space program; in Łódź, Russian Empire (now Poland) (d. 2011). Died: Edward Blake, 78, Canadian politician, second Premier of Ontario, Leader of the Official Opposition from 1880 to 1887 (b. 1833). George Grossmith, 65, English actor and comic writer, best known for his collaborations with Gilbert and Sullivan (b. 1847). Ludvig Holstein-Ledreborg, 72, Danish state leader, 17th Council President of Denmark, cabinet minister for the Jens Christian Christensen administration (b. 1839). Pyotr Lebedev, 46, Russian physicist, first to measure radiation pressure caused by light (b. 1866).
March 2, 1912 (Saturday)
As rioting broke out in response to the fall of the Manchu dynasty in China, Beijing was placed under martial law. Foreign troops arrived the next day to protect the citizens of their respective nations."Martial Law Calms Riot Ridden Peking". Milwaukee Sentinel. March 3, 1912, p. 1. U.S. President William Howard Taft issued a proclamation warning American citizens to avoid visiting Mexico, and advised those who lived there to be prepared to leave."Taft Orders Citizens to Quit Mexico". Milwaukee Sentinel. March 3, 1912, p. 1. The All England Badminton Championships came to an end in London, with the following results: Frank Chesterton defeated Guy A. Sautter 15-10 and 15–13 in the men's singles finals. Margaret Tragett beat Ethel Thomson Larcombe 11–14, 11–2, and 14–13 in the women's singles finals. Doubles team Henry Norman Marrett and George Thomas defeated Chesteron and Sautter 15-9 and 15–12 in the men's doubles finals. Doubles team Alice Gowenlock and Dorothy Cundall beat runners-up Ireland and Drake 15-2 and 15–5 in the women's doubles finals. Edward Hawthorn and Hazel Hogarth defeated Percy Fitton and Lavinia Radeglia 17-16 and 15–9 in the mixed doubles finals.
March 3, 1912 (Sunday) Mexican General Pascual Orozco, who had helped Francisco I. Madero win the revolution of 1911 and become President of Mexico, declared a revolt against the Madero government after having been denied a major role. Orozco and his followers, the "Orozquistas," then assisted Victoriano Huerta in overthrowing Madero.Don M. Coerver, et al., Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History (ABC-CLIO, 2004) p. 361. An Italian force of 15,000 troops led by Luigi Capello defeated a combined Ottoman-Senussi force under the command of Enver Pasha near Derna, Libya, with around 200 casualties for both sides.George W. Gawrych, The Young Atatürk: From Ottoman Soldier to Statesman of Turkey, p. 25. Pilot Wilfred Parke made the first successful flight of the Avro 500, the forerunner to the Avro 504 that would be used by the Royal Flying Corps in World War I.Jackson, A.J. Avro Aircraft since 1908. London:Putnam, 1990. , p. 32. Parke would be killed in a plane crash on December 15, 1912, at Wembley, England. Frieda Weekley met her future husband author D. H. Lawrence in Nottingham.
March 4, 1912 (Monday) Ground was broken for a new baseball stadium by Charles Ebbets for his baseball team, the Brooklyn Dodgers.Bob McGee, The Greatest Ballpark Ever: Ebbets Field and the Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers (Rutgers University Press, 2005) p. 50. The city of Duncan, British Columbia, was incorporated. Born: Afro Basaldella, Italian painter, member of the Scuola Romana art movement; in Udine, Italy (d. 1976). Judith Furse, British actress, known for character roles in including the Carry On film series; in Camberley, England (d. 1974). Died: Alexander Arthur, 65, British engineer and entrepreneur, founder of the cities of Middlesboro, Kentucky and Harrogate, Tennessee (b. 1846). Augusto Aubry, 62, Italian naval officer, Commander of Italian Navy during the Italo-Turkish War, of illness while on the flagship Vittorio Emanuele at Taranto, Italy (b. 1849).
March 5, 1912 (Tuesday)
King Vajiravudh of Siam (now Thailand) ordered mass arrests of officers of the Siamese Army, who had been conspiring to overthrow his government. Most had been graduates of the 1909 class of the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy.David K. Wyatt, Thailand: A Short History (Yale University Press, 2003) pp. 212-213.The Britannica Year-Book 1913: A Survey of the World's Progress Since the Completion in 1910 of the Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, 1913) pp. xxiii-xxv. Italian forces became the first to use airships in war, as two dirigibles dropped bombs on Turkish troops encamped at Janzur, Libya from an altitude of 6,000 feet."Dirigibles in Tripoli War". New York Times. March 8, 1912. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology received a check in the amount of 2.5 million dollars (equivalent to $50,000,000 today) from Eastman Kodak founder George Eastman, fueling the growth of MIT to national prominence.Mark Jarzombek, Designing MIT: Bosworth's New Tech (UPNE, Oct 28, 2004) p. 38. The musical The Whirl of Society by Louis Hirsch opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City and ran for 136 performances. Ecuadoran General Julio Andrade, former ambassador to Colombia, was killed by his own troops, seven weeks after suppressing the Ecuadorian rebellion."Record of Current Events", The American Monthly Review of Reviews (April 1912), pp. 414-417.https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/03/07/100353673.html?pageNumber=4 The drama Milestones by Arnold Bennett and Edward Knoblock opened at the Royalty Theatre in London and ran for 612 performances. Born: David Astor, British newspaper publisher, long-time editor and publisher of The Observer, member of the Astor family; in London (d. 2001). Velma Bronn Johnston, American activist, best known as "Wild Horse Annie" for her successful campaigns to save and protect American wild horses; in Reno, Nevada (d. 1977). Jack Marshall, New Zealand state leader, 28th Prime Minister of New Zealand; in Wellington (d. 1988).
March 6, 1912 (Wednesday)
China's Provisional National Assembly voted to accept the resignation of President Sun Yat-sen and to elect Yuan Shikai to succeed him.James Zheng Gao, Historical Dictionary of Modern China (1800-1949) (Scarecrow Press, 2009) p. 285. Nicaragua's President Adolfo Díaz ordered the arrest of nearly one hundred newspaper editors and reporters for implying the threat of harm to visiting United States Secretary of State Philander C. Knox, who was touring Central America."100 Are Put in Jail for Assailing Knox". New York Times. March 7, 1912. A general strike involving thousands of tramway workers in Brisbane officially ended but many of the striking workers were fired from their jobs. Following a successful acquittal for the murder of former XIT Ranch manager Albert Boyce, Jr. in Fort Worth, Texas, cattle baron John Beal Sneed's father was shot and killed by tenant farmer R. O. Hilliard in Georgetown, Texas. Hilliard committed suicide after, leaving a note that said the killing was in retaliation of Sneed shooting Boyce in January. The National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco) introduced the Oreo cookie.Richard Sax, Classic Home Desserts: A Treasury of Heirloom and Contemporary Recipes from Around the World (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999) p. 283. John F. Mariani, Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink (Lebhar-Friedman Books, 1999) p. 225. The Hydrox cookie, which also consisted of two chocolate cookies with a creme filling in-between, had been introduced by Sunshine Biscuits in 1908, but was less popular, and the brand name was changed in 1999 to "Keebler Droxies.""Oreos to Hydrox: Resistance Is Futile", by Paul Lukas, Fortune Magazine (March 15, 1999) Born: George Webb, British actor who portrayed "Daddy" on the British television sitcom Keeping Up Appearances; in Paddington, England (d. 1998). Died: Manuel Sánchez Mármol, 72, Mexican novelist, member of the literary realism movement in Mexico (b. 1839).
March 7, 1912 (Thursday) The United States Senate voted 76–3 to ratify the American arbitration treaties with the United Kingdom and France, with amendments that removed most controversies from being arbitrated.John Whiteclay Chambers II, The Eagle and the Dove: The American Peace Movement and United States Foreign Policy, 1900-1922 (Syracuse University Press, 1991) p. 21. "World Peace Code Ratified by Senate". Milwaukee Sentinel. March 8, 1912, p. 1. Bulgaria and Serbia signed a mutual defense agreement, providing that if one nation was attacked by Austria-Hungary or the Ottoman Empire, the other would go to war as well.Richard C. Hall, The Balkan Wars, 1912-1913: Prelude to the First World War (Taylor & Francis, 2000) p. 11. Károly Khuen-Héderváry, Prime Minister of Hungary within Austria-Hungary, resigned along with his cabinet after a dispute with the Austrian government."Hungarian Cabinet Out". New York Times. March 8, 1912. The Norwegian Antarctic Expedition came to an end as Roald Amundsen and the ship Fram sailed into Hobart at the Australian state of Tasmania, after having departed Antarctica on January 30. Upon his arrival, he brought the news that he and his party of five had become the first persons to reach the South Pole, planting the flag there on December 14, 1911."All Norway Rejoicing". New York Times. March 9, 1912. "AMUNDSEN DESCRIBES HIS POLAR DASH; FOUND THE POLE'S ALTITUDE 10,500 FEET; FORCED TO KILL AND EAT HIS DOGS". New York Times. March 11, 1912.Max Jones, The Last Great Quest: Captain Scott's Antarctic Sacrifice (Oxford University Press, 2003) p. 87. Standard Oil of Indiana (now Amoco) increased its capital stock from one million to a record $30,000,000 following a vote by its shareholders."New Oil Capital $30,000,000". New York Times. March 8, 1912.
March 8, 1912 (Friday) The Reichstag approved a bill to make the Imperial German Navy the greatest in the world by 1920, with construction of 60 large ships and 40 cruisers. One historian noted that the new law proved to be "the death knell to any potential understanding between Britain and Germany." The expansion of the German Navy would be halted, and then reversed, by Germany's 1918 defeat in World War I.Hermann Knell, To Destroy a City: Strategic Bombing and Its Human Consequences in World War II (Da Capo Press, 2003) p. 97.