The following events occurred in September 1913:
September 1, 1913 (Monday) The anti-government rebellion in southern China was brought to an end, when all six rebellious provinces surrendered to the Beiyang Army, led by General Zhang Xun, retook Nanjing. French aviator Adolphe Pégoud demonstrated that he could fly an airplane upside-down on a sustained flight, traveling for . He was using a specially constructed Bleriot monoplane, and after reaching , put the plane in a quarter-loop and kept it in the upside down position. Pégoud, who would fly a full vertical loop on September 21, also did a "vertical-S" trick, which was reported in the press as having "looped the loop". George Bernard Shaw's satirical play, Androcles and the Lion, was performed for the first time. A tropical storm off the East Coast of the United States intensified into a Category 1 hurricane. The National Conservation Exposition officially opened in Knoxville, Tennessee. Lucy Maud Montgomery published her novel The Golden Road, one of the few not involving her famous character Anne Shirley. The story was inspired by childhood stories shared by her great-aunt Mary Lawson, who Montgomery dedicated in her book. The first major post office opened in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. It would be added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The Willamette University College of Medicine merged with the medical program of the University of Oregon. Born: Ludwig Merwart, Austrian artist, noted artist for the documenta exhibition; in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (present-day Austria) (d. 1979) Woody Stephens, American racehorse trainer, trained 11 Eclipse Award horses, five time Belmont Stakes champion; as Woodford Stephens, in Stanton, Kentucky, United States (d. 1998)
September 2, 1913 (Tuesday) A collision between two trains on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in New Haven, Connecticut killed 21 passengers and injured 30."Facts Held Back in Fatal Wreck". New York Times. September 4, 1913."Arrest Engineer of Fatal Train". New York Times. September 5, 1913. A rear-end collision between two sections of the London-Scotland express at Carlisle, England caused a fire that burned 15 passengers to death."14 Dead in English Train". New York Times. September 3, 1913. The village of Abbey, Saskatchewan was established. Born: Bill Shankly, Scottish association football player and manager, midfielder for Preston from 1933 to 1949 and the Scotland national football team from 1938 to 1949, coach for Liverpool from 1959 to 1964, two time FA Cup champion; as William Shankly, in Glenbuck, Scotland (d. 1981) Israel Gelfand, Soviet mathematician, known for his contributions to group theory, representation theory, and functional analysis, recipient of the Order of Lenin; in Okny, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) (d. 2009) Died: Thomas Sperry, American entrepreneur, co-founder of S&H Green Stamps (b. 1864) Bill Miner, American outlaw, nicknamed "The Gentleman Robber", reputed for coming up with the phrase "Hands up!" (b. 1847)
September 3, 1913 (Wednesday) A hurricane struck North Carolina with 85 mph (140 km/h) winds and a minimum barometric pressure of , causing five deaths and $4–5 million in property and crop damages. Severnaya Zemlya, a group of islands located above the Arctic Circle, was discovered on a hydrographic expedition by the crew of the Russian icebreakers Taimyr and Vaigach, and was named 'Emperor Nicholas II Land' by the explorers, in honor of the Tsar. The archipelago would prove to be the last major group of previously unknown lands on Earth to be discovered. William Howard Taft, who had finished his term as President of the United States six months earlier, was elected President of the American Bar Association."Taft Elected Head of Bar Association". New York Times. September 4, 1913. p. 8. The battleship Reşadiye was launched by Vickers in Barrow-in-Furness, England to serve in the Ottoman Navy. She was seized by the Royal Navy at the start of World War I and recommissioned as HMS Erin. She was decommissioned in 1922. Born: Alan Ladd, American actor, best known for the title role in the movie Western Shane, as well as film noir films This Gun for Hire, The Glass Key, and The Blue Dahlia; in Hot Springs, Arkansas, United States (d. 1964)
September 4, 1913 (Thursday) Ernst August Wagner, a schoolteacher in the German village of Mühlhausen, Württemberg, Germany, murdered his wife, four local children and eleven other adults, after setting fires in different locations."Mad Teacher Kills 15 and Wounds 16". New York Times. September 6, 1913. "Teacher Planned Murders". New York Times. September 7, 1913. The hurricane that lashed North Carolina weakened and dissipated over Georgia. Dormer Tools was founded in Sheffield, England, growing to become an international supplier of high-end cutting tools. Born: Stanford Moore, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into ribonuclease; in Chicago, United States (d. 1982) Kenzō Tange, Japanese architect, recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize for developing metabolism in modern building construction; in Sakai, Empire of Japan (present-day Japan) (d. 2005) Mickey Cohen, American gangster, crime boss in New York City and Los Angeles; as Meyer Harris Cohen, in New York City, United States (d. 1976) Boone Guyton, American aviator, test pilot for the Vought F4U Corsair aircraft; in East St. Louis, Illinois, United States (d. 1996) Died: Henry Billings Brown, American judge, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1890 to 1906, best known for authoring the majority opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation laws (b. 1836) Shōzō Tanaka, Japanese politician, leader promoter of the Meiji Restoration in Japan (b. 1841)
September 5, 1913 (Friday) A fire in the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas, destroyed 55 city blocks of property, causing damages of six million dollars. The blaze started "in a negro dwelling on Church Street," then spread southeast, destroying the county courthouse, the city high school, four hotels, the Iron Mountain railroad station and "a hundred or more business buildings and many residences.""$6,000,000 Damage in Hot Springs Fire". New York Times. September 6, 1913. The Firemen's Memorial was unveiled on Riverside Drive in Manhattan, New York City to commemorate the firefighters that died in service to the city since the Revolutionary War. Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 was performed for the first time. The manuscript would be destroyed by fire in 1917 during the Russian Revolution, and Prokofiev would reconstruct it, introducing a new version on May 8, 1924. Born: George E. Valley, American nuclear physicist who developed the H2X radar for American bombers in World War II, and later conceptualized the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) missile defense system; in New York City, United States (d. 1999)
September 6, 1913 (Saturday) Professional track athlete Hans Holmér won the British championship for the mile run, winning in Edinburgh at 4 minutes, 24.4 seconds. The Arsenal Football Club played their first game in the newly opened Arsenal Stadium in Highbury, England, with a 2–1 win against Leicester. Hideyo Noguchi of the Rockefeller Institute announced that he had isolated the virus that causes rabies. Excavation of the Panama Canal was completed, and the Culebra Cut was scheduled to be flooded on October 9. The Central Library, designed by architect A. E. Doyle, opened in Portland, Oregon, as one of the first libraries in the United States to be built around an open plan design. It would be added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and his physician, Dr. Carey Grayson, were almost run over by a streetcar while walking back to the White House at night. To avoid an accident, a policeman jumped in front of the streetcar, raising both of his hands to signal it to stop. The car stopped within from the President and physician. Born: Ross Munro, Canadian journalist, known for his coverage of all key Canadian military campaigns during World War II; as Robert Ross Munro, in Ottawa, Canada (d. 1990) Wesley A. Swift, American religious leader, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ–Christian and proponent of the white supremacist ideology Christian Identity; in New Jersey, United States (d. 1970) Died: James Orr, Scottish theologian, contributor to The Fundamentals, a collection of works considered the foundation of Christian fundamentalism (b. 1844)
September 7, 1913 (Sunday) Outraged over the killing of Japanese nationals at Nanjing, China, 15,000 people protested outside the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo and demanded military action against China. Japan demanded an apology and payment of damages, a request which would initially be ignored."15,000 Japanese Storm the Ministry". New York Times. September 8, 1913. The association football club Alagoano was established in Maceió, Brazil. The association football club União was established in Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil. Born: Valerie Taylor, American novelist, pioneer in lesbian pulp fiction during the 1950s and 1960s; as Velma Nacella Young, in Aurora, Illinois, United States (d. 1997)
September 8, 1913 (Monday) The poem "September 1913", by W. B. Yeats, was first published, in The Irish Times, with the title "Romance in Ireland." The 32 line poem referred to late Irish separatist John O'Leary, and contained the refrain, "Romantic Ireland's dead and gone, It's with O'Leary in the grave." The Broadway musical Sweethearts, with music by Victor Herbert and lyrics by Robert B. Smith, premiered at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City. Born: Mary Carew, American athlete, gold medalist at the 1932 Summer Olympics; in Medford, Massachusetts, United States (d. 2002)
September 9, 1913 (Tuesday)
In the skies near Kiev, Russian aviator Pyotr Nesterov became the first person to execute a loop. Nesterov, a pilot for the Imperial Russian Air Service took a Nieuport airplane aloft, and when he reached an altitude of , shut off the engine, then took the plane on a vertical dive, restarted it at , and "kept on pulling until the horizon slid up over his head," then came back to right-side up.Flying August 1992, pp. 48-50 When he landed, he was arrested and spent ten days in jail for negligent use of government property. Adolphe Pégoud of France would make a loop nine days later and get publicity first. Fourteen German Navy members were killed out of 21 crewmen on the Zeppelin L-1, newly commissioned by the Imperial German Navy, wrecked in the North Sea, off the coast of Heligoland.
Chemical manufacturer BASF started the world's first plant for the production of fertilizer based on the Haber–Bosch process in Ludwigshafen, Germany, feeding today about a third of the world's population. The United States Department of Agriculture reported an "unprecedented" yield in wheat production for 1913. "Never before in the history of the country has there been such a bountiful wheat harvest as has been gathered this year," The New York Times noted. Robert Owen Jr. was awarded U.S. patent number 1,072,980 for his invention of the ratchet wrench, applied for on February 3. The Olivebridge Dam was completed on the Hudson River, creating the Ashokan Reservoir, to provide 250,000,000 gallons of water a day to New York City. In 1924, the Gilboa Dam would open, providing twice as much water to the city. The sculpture Fountain of the Great Lakes by Lorado Taft was unveiled on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. It was later moved to the Art Institute of Chicago in Grant Park. Born: Harry Snyder, Canadian-American entrepreneur, co-founder of In-N-Out Burger; in Vancouver, Canada (d. 1976) Died: Paul de Smet de Naeyer, Belgian state leader, 16th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1843)