August 23, 1926: U.S. film idol Rudolph Valentino dies after appendectomyPrimo de Rivera
An assassination attempt against Spanish dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera failed in Barcelona when a thrown dagger narrowly missed his head as he rode in a car. A 34-year-old Catalan anarchist was arrested.[1]
Some 400 armed Catholics barricaded themselves in the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and exchanged gunfire with federal troops until they ran out of ammunition and surrendered. According to U.S. consular sources, 18 were killed and 40 wounded.[3]
Italy banned any parades, ceremonies and public demonstrations that were not authorized as "effectively useful".[4]
Umberto Nobile was feted in Rome for his part in the recent North Pole expedition, as 20,000 filled the square in front of the Palazzo Chigi. Sharing the balcony with Nobile and his team Mussolini declared, "In vain did others try to steal the glory of Major General Nobile and to change the proportion of credit for events without parallel in human history. But I want to say in a voice of thunder that, Italy, it was you who were responsible for the glory, and it was you who pushed and helped him to his objective."[7]
A policeman in Bahrain shot and killed a superintendent policeman who mistreated him, and managed through the shooting in tearing off a piece of the Political Agent Colonel Daly's ear. Colonel Daly apprehended the shooter and hit him with a bayonet. The incident imposed strict martial law in Bahrain through August and September 1926. A day earlier, the Chief of Bahrain Police, Haji Sulman bin Jassim was shot.
English pilot Alan Cobham arrived in Port Darwin, Australia to complete the first half of his round-trip flight between England and Australia.[8]
The film Don Juan, starring John Barrymore, premieres. It was the first feature-length film to have synchronized sound effects and a musical soundtrack.
Ederle
Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel, also setting a new record time of 14 hours, 39 minutes.[9]
Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles ruled out foreign mediation in the battle between the government and the Catholic church.[5]
Spain and Italy signed a Treaty of Friendship.[10]
Former French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau weighed in on the Mellon–Berenger Agreement by publishing an open letter addressed to U.S. President Calvin Coolidge. Excerpts from the letter read, "You are claiming from us payment not of a debt of commerce but of war. You know, as we do, that our treasury is empty... We are debtors, you are creditors. It seems this is regarded as purely a matter for the cashier's department, but are there no other considerations to be taken into account?... Come to our villages and read the endless list of their dead and make comparisons, if you will. Was this not a 'bank account?' The loss of this vital force of youth?... How is it we failed to foresee what is now happening? Why did we not halt under the shells and convoke a board meeting of profiteers to decide the question whether it would allow us to continue in defense of the finest conquest in the finest of histories?"[11]
In Mexico, 20 people were executed by federal firing squad over the church riots.[13]
Yugoslavia, Romania and Greece sent a collective note to Bulgaria demanding that cross-border raids by Macedonian irregulars cease.[14]
In Berlin, 50 were injured in nighttime rioting between communists and republicans on Republic Day (a special day observed during the Weimar Republic commemorating its founding in 1919).[15]
Film actor Rudolph Valentino fell critically ill, collapsing at the Hotel Ambassador in New York City. He was rushed to hospital and operated on immediately for a ruptured appendix.[5]
Father Luis Bátiz Sainz and three members of the Mexican Association for Catholic Youth were executed by firing squad.[18] The killing caused a band of ranchers led by former colonel Pedro Quintanar to seize the municipal treasury and declare themselves in open rebellion.[3]
A coffin brought from Norway to London thought to contain the remains of Lord Kitchener was opened by the coroner in the presence of police, but it contained no body. The scenario was the work of a hoaxer going by the name of Frank Power.[19]
Mussolini announced the Quota 90, a controversial revaluation of the Italian lira.
British coal miners reopened negotiations with the government to resolve the ongoing lockout.[21]
Rudolph Valentino's condition greatly improved. He answered a list of questions from the media and issued a statement thanking his fans and well-wishers for their messages of encouragement.[21]
General Kondylis proclaimed himself the new Premier of Greece
Born:Clifford Geertz, anthropologist, in San Francisco, California (d. 2006)
Died:Rudolph Valentino, 31, Italian film actor. His last word before falling into a coma was 'Madre'.[24]
100 were injured as a riot nearly ensued in New York when 60,000 mourners, mostly women, pushed through Campbell's Funeral Parlor to get a glimpse of Rudolph Valentino's body lying in state.[25]
After a second chaotic day of public viewing of Rudolph Valentino's body, it was announced that Campbell's Funeral Parlor was moving the body to a vault until Monday's funeral and that public viewing was closed. Valentino's manager George Ullman explained, "The lack of reverence shown by the crowd, the disorder and attendant rioting since the body was first shown has forced me to this decision."[27]
Spain demanded that the international district of Tangier be annexed to the Spanish zone of Morocco, which it asserted was necessary to suppress the contraband flow of arms that enabled the recent Rif revolt.[28]
Negotiations between the British government and locked-out coal miners broke down again.[29]
In Wanhsien (now known as the Wanzhou District) in China, troops loyal to the local warlord Wu Peifu under the command of General Yang Sen boarded a British merchant ship of The China Navigation Company, SS Wanhsien, and demanded transportation up the Yangtze River. Tensions had been high over a "wharfage" tax that the local authorities had been imposing on ships using the port. The ship's captain refused to leave port and a deadlock occurred until a boarding party from HMSCockchafer investigated and the ship was released after an argument. This was the first in a chain of events culminating in the "Wanhsien Incident" of September 5.[31][32]
Another incident occurred on the Yangtze River near Wanhsien in which the China Navigation Co. ship Wanliu capsized a sampan in its wake that, according to General Yang Sen, was carrying soldiers under his command. When the ship pulled into Wanhsien, Yang Sen's troops were sent to occupy the ship as he demanded compensation, and once again HMSCockchafer had them removed and Wanliu went on its way.[31][35]
The first air "sleeper" flew from Berlin to London. The Hansa-designed biplane had a toilet, wireless phone and berths with beds for four passengers.[37]
The last voting rights of Italians were removed as the Fascist government abolished the popular election of municipal officers, who were now to be appointed by the state.[38]
The Soviet and Afghan governments signed a Pact of Neutrality and Non-Aggression to supplement an earlier agreement.[10]
About 300 ship passengers died in Leningrad when the Soviet steamer Burevestnik rammed a pier and sank.[39]
In Wanhsien, troops of General Yang Sen seized SS Wanhsien for a second time in a week as well as another merchant ship, Wantung. The commander of HMSCockchafer did not have enough men to retake both ships this time, so he radioed for help.[40]
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