August 1922

The following events occurred in August 1922:

August 1, 1922 (Tuesday)

• Britain published the Balfour Note, which declared that Britain would give up reparations claims as well as claims on other Allies to the extent that the United States would do the same with respect to Britain's debts. The Note was met with great anger by the Americans for their being made to appear as greedy and an obstacle to international recovery.^[1][2]
• 40 were killed and 50 injured when two trains carrying pilgrims to Lourdes collided near Auch.^[3]

August 2, 1922 (Wednesday)

• A devastating typhoon came ashore at Swatow (now Shantou) in China, killing about 60,000 people.^[4]
• Pro-government forces in Ireland captured Tralee.^[5]
• Died: Alexander Graham Bell, 75, Scottish-born inventor; Harry Boland, 35, Irish republican (shot)

August 3, 1922 (Thursday)

• Two days of street fighting between Socialists and Fascists began in Milan, Italy. The building housing the Socialist newspaper Avanti! was destroyed.^[4]
• The U.S. Treasury said that the Balfour Note would have no effect on the American policy towards foreign debts.^[6]
• Born: Robert Sumner, evangelist and author, in Norwich, New York
• Died: Minna Cauer, 80, German educator, journalist and activist; Ture Malmgren, 71, Swedish journalist, book publisher and municipal politician

August 4, 1922 (Friday)

• At 6:25 p.m. Eastern, the time of the burial of Alexander Graham Bell, all telephone service in the United States was suspended for one minute.^[7][8]
• Died: Nikolai Nebogatov, 73, Russian admiral; Enver Pasha, 40, Ottoman military officer (killed in battle)

August 5, 1922 (Saturday)

• The Battle of Kilmallock ended in an Irish Free State victory.
• A train collision in Sulphur Springs, Missouri killed 34 people and injured 186, the worst train disaster in Missouri history.^[9]
• Albert Einstein left Germany due to threats on his life by the same group of extremists that assassinated Walther Rathenau.^[10]
• The drama film Blood and Sand starring Rudolph Valentino and Lila Lee premiered in Los Angeles.^[11]
• Born: Sandy Kenyon, voice actor and character actor, in New York City (d. 2010)
• Died: Tommy McCarthy, 59, American baseball player

August 6, 1922 (Sunday)

• Martial law was announced in Genoa, Milan, Parma, Ancona and Livorno to curb Fascist violence.^[12]

August 7, 1922 (Monday)

• The trial of 37 defendants in the Inglewood Ku Klux Klan raid began.^[13]
• An Allied conference on reparations opened in London.^[14][15]
• The IRA blew up a telegraph cable station in Waterville, County Kerry, cutting communication lines between the United States and Europe.^[10]

August 8, 1922 (Tuesday)

• Benito Mussolini ordered his Blackshirts to demobilize.^[16]
• The British cruiser HMS Raleigh ran aground at L'Anse Amour, Labrador.^[17]
• Born: Alberto Granado, writer and scientist, in Hernando, Córdoba, Argentina (d. 2011)

August 9, 1922 (Wednesday)

• 14 people were condemned to death in Soviet Russia for conspiring against the government. The judgements would not be enforced.^[18][19]
• Born: Philip Larkin, poet and novelist, in Coventry, England (d. 1985)

August 10, 1922 (Thursday)

• Irish Free State forces captured Cork.^[4]

August 11, 1922 (Friday)

• During a debate in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, a Communist deputy said that the recent general strike had failed because the proletariat had been insufficiently armed. Fascist deputies rose and began shaking their fists, and Francesco Giunta pulled out a revolver. The session was abruptly suspended and the galleries ordered cleared, although the chaotic scene of shouting and gesticulating continued for another half-hour.^[20]
• Ground was broken on the construction of Soldier Field in Chicago.^[21]
• Died: Umberto Valenti, 30, Sicilian-born American gangster

August 12, 1922 (Saturday)

• Britain proposed a two-thirds cut in Germany's reparations payments at the London conference.^[22]
• Died: Arthur Griffith, 50, Irish politician and writer (heart failure)

August 13, 1922 (Sunday)

• The Harding Administration's attempt to mediate the six-week old railroad strike ended in failure.^[23]

August 14, 1922 (Monday)

• The London reparations conference broke off without an agreement.^[15]
• IRA insurgents captured Dundalk.^[5]
• Died: Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, 57, British newspaper and publishing magnate

August 15, 1922 (Tuesday)

• Germany defaulted on its reparations payment, declaring in a note that due to demand for foreign currency to pay for necessities of life and hyperinflation, it could not afford to pay.^[24]
• The Hotel Glória opened in Rio de Janeiro.
• Born: Lukas Foss, composer, pianist and conductor, in Berlin, Germany (d. 2009)

August 16, 1922 (Wednesday)

• Westside T. Larson flew 1,100 miles from San Antonio, Texas to Rockwell Field in San Diego in ten and a half hours, believed to be a record for that route.^[25]
• Born: Gene Woodling, baseball player, in Akron, Ohio (d. 2001)

August 17, 1922 (Thursday)

• Forest fires ravaged northeastern Minnesota, leaving six known dead and hundreds homeless.^[26]
• U.S. federal agents began a crackdown on hip flasks.^[10]
• Born: Agostinho Neto, 1st President of Angola, Ícolo e Bengo, Bengo Province, Portuguese Angola (d. 1979)

August 18, 1922 (Friday)

• President Harding addressed Congress on the industrial crisis in the country caused by the railway and coal strikes. He urged the implementation of his recommendations to confront them, which included the creation of an independent federal commission to investigate conditions in the coal industry as well a national coal agency aimed at the prevention of profiteering.^[27]
• Jim Bottomley made his major league debut for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Philadelphia Phillies, going 1-for-4 with two sacrifices.^[28]

August 19, 1922 (Saturday)

• The U.S. Senate passed the Fordney–McCumber Tariff Bill, 48–25.^[29]
• Died: Felip Pedrell, 81, Spanish Catalan composer

August 20, 1922 (Sunday)

• The first Women's World Games were held in Paris.^[30]
• Russian and Italian Labor Strikers derailed an Express train in Gary, Indiana killing the Engineer and Fireman and injuring 2 express messengers.

August 21, 1922 (Monday)

• French Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré said that France would not consent to a moratorium on German reparations unless the country's mines and national forests were placed in Allied hands as a guarantee.^[31]
• George Bernard Shaw told the Chicago Tribune, "Everyone in Ireland is tired of the present political situation. I don't know what Éamon de Valera and Erskine Childers are after. When popular opinion turned against them they should have accepted the popular verdict and then tried to convert the Irish people to their views."^[32]
• Born: Mel Fisher, treasure hunter, in Indiana (d. 1998)

August 22, 1922 (Tuesday)

• Michael Collins, Commander-in-Chief of Ireland's National Army, was shot dead in an ambush at Béal na Bláth.^[5]
• U.S. authorities raided the Bridgman Convention in Michigan.
• WKAV in Laconia, New Hampshire went on the air, the first commercial radio state in that state and the first north of Boston.^[33][34]
• Died: Thomas Brock, 75, English sculptor; Michael Collins, 31, Irish leader (assassinated)

August 23, 1922 (Wednesday)

• Two military airplanes over Pisa, Italy collided, killing four.^[35]
• Born: George Kell, baseball player, in Swifton, Arkansas (d. 2009)

August 24, 1922 (Thursday)

• The Ku Klux Klan raided a gathering outside the town of Mer Rouge, Louisiana and kidnapped five white men who were vocal opponents of the Klan and murdered two of them, though the bodies would not be found until December. This led to one of the most famous criminal cases involving the KKK.^[36]
• The German mark began to crash again, falling to 8,000 against 1 British pound or 2,000 to the American dollar.^[10][37]
• The body of Michael Collins was brought to Dublin and borne on a gun carriage through the streets as large throngs of mourners watched in silence.^[38]
• Born: René Lévesque, French Canadian reporter and politician, in Campbellton, New Brunswick (d. 1987); Howard Zinn, social activist and historian, in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2010)

August 25, 1922 (Friday)

• W. T. Cosgrave became Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State in the place of Michael Collins.^[5]
• The Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies combined to score an all-time major league baseball record 49 runs in the same game. The Cubs won, 26–23.^[39]

August 26, 1922 (Saturday)

• All 37 defendants in the Inglewood Ku Klux Klan raid were acquitted.^[40]
• The Great Offensive and the Battle of Dumlupınar began in the Greco-Turkish War.
• Henry Ford announced that all Ford Motor Company plants would close down on September 16 because of the industrial crisis, with no timetable to reopen.^[41]
• The Japanese cruiser Niitaka was driven aground in a storm. All 284 aboard died.^[4]

August 27, 1922 (Sunday)

• A non-binding referendum on prohibition of alcohol was held in Sweden; 51% voted against the change.^[42]
• A fire broke out in the Argonaut Mine in Jackson, California, trapping 47 miners who ultimately perished.^[43]
• Three striking workers were killed in clashes with police in the French city of Le Havre.^[42]
• Born: Sōsuke Uno, 75th Prime Minister of Japan, in Moriyama, Shiga (d. 1998)
• Died: Francis S. Peabody, 63, American coal baron (heart attack)

August 28, 1922 (Monday)

• Michael Collins was given a military funeral and buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.^[44]
• The Queensboro Corporation paid $50 for 10 minutes of airtime on the New York radio station WEAF and used it to advocate suburban living and promote apartments in Jackson Heights. In effect, it was the first infomercial.^[45][46]

August 29, 1922 (Tuesday)

• The overloaded Chilean steamship Itata sank in a gale off the Chilean coast. 309 perished and only 12 survived.^[47][48]
• Born: John Edward Williams, author, editor and professor, in Clarksville, Texas (d. 1994)
• Died: Georges Sorel, 74, French philosopher

August 30, 1922 (Wednesday)

• Wisconsin Governor John J. Blaine urged President Harding to ask authority of Congress to take over and operate the coal mines and coal mining railroads to avoid the potential "fatal consequences that are sure to come to the people of this state unless they get coal now."^[49]

August 31, 1922 (Thursday)

• The Allied Reparations Commission unanimously decided to grant Germany a six-month moratorium on reparations payments.^[50]
• Al Capone was arrested in Chicago after he hit a taxicab driving drunk, then pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot one of the witnesses.^[51]

References