The Imperial Japanese Navy set up a commission to investigate allegations of the Vice Admiral and other receiving illicit commissions on foreign contracts.[1]
Canadian Arctic Expedition–Alistair Mackay, the expedition's medical doctor, along with three other members of the expedition crew, wrote and signed a letter dated February 1 for Karluk captain Robert Bartlett stating their desire to leave "Shipwreck Camp" – the temporary site the crew made shortly before the polar exploration ship sank in January: "We, the undersigned, in consideration of the present critical situation, desire to make an attempt to reach the land." The letter requested appropriate supplies, and concluded by emphasizing that the journey was on their own initiative and absolving Bartlett from all responsibilities.[4]
World Baseball Tour – The tour reached Cairo where the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox played to a tie of 3-3 after 10 innings when the game was called on account of darkness.[5]
World Baseball Tour – Players with the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox toured the ancient Egyptian wonders of Alexandria in their baseball uniforms before the Giants trounced the White Sox 6-3 during an exhibition game of 5,000, more than double the crowd in Cairo.[8]
Members of an association football club in Belém, Brazil protested against a decision of the national football federation by terminating the team and refounding it as the Paysandu Sport Club, which won three national titles in the late 1990s and 2000s.[9]
German aviator Bruno Langer sets a new flight endurance record, flying nonstop for 14 hours 7 minutes.[17]
The association football club Santa Cruz was founded as a society by a group of teens who group up playing football (soccer) on the street in front of the Santa Cruz Church in Recife, Brazil. The football society was eventually accepted into the Pernambucan Sport League in 1917. The club plays regularly at the Arruda Stadium in Recife.[18]
Born:Etti Plesch, Austro-Hungarian noble, famous socialist and racehorse owner, in Vienna (d. 2003); Felix Kelly, New Zealand artist, known for his cartoon and illustration work under the alias Fix, in Auckland (d. 1994); Michel Thomas, Polish-French linguist and Resistance fighter, patented the Michel Thomas Method for teaching languages, in Łódź, Russian Empire, now Poland (d. 2005)
Canadian Arctic Expedition– Bjarne Mamen, who scouted for a four-man team led by the (sunken) Karluk's first officer Alexander Anderson to the north shore of Wrangel Island in the Beaufort Sea, returned to "Shipwreck Camp" and reported to Karluk captain Robert Bartlett that he had left the group a few miles short of land that was evidently not Wrangel Island, and was probably Herald Island, 38 miles (61km) from their intended destination. Mamen was the last to see the Anderson party alive; their ultimate fate was not established until ten years later, when their remains were found on Herald Island.[19]
The same day of Mamen's return to Shipwreck Camp, the expedition's medical officer Alistair Mackay presented a letter to Barlett that he and three other members signed, expressing desire to leave camp and seek land. In a decision later censured by an admiralty commission as questionable leadership, Bartlett allowed Mackay and his group to leave and allocated them a sledge, a tent, and food supplies for up to 50 days.[20]
Caricature of English actor Charles Wyndham from the January 7, 1914, issue of Vanity Fair, one of the last before the British magazine folded.
Prince Abdullah I bin al-Hussein, son of Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, met with Herbert Kitchener, British Governor General of Egypt and the Sudan, in Cairo to discuss British support against potential Turkish military movement against Hejaz region in what is now Saudi Arabia. While Kitchener made no immediate pledges of support, talks between Britain and the Sharif continued, resulting in a firm alliance during the outbreak of World War I and incentive for Arabia to side with the Allies.[24]
Canadian Arctic Expedition–Alistair Mackay and three other members of the expedition left "Shipwreck Camp" with a sled fully stocked with supplies in an attempt to find land. They were last seen a few days later by Karluk ship steward Ernest Chafe and the Inuit members of the party who were on a return mission from Herald Island to check on the four-man scouting team that left for the island about two weeks earlier. Open water prevented Chafe's team from reaching the island, forcing them back and running into Mackay's party who were struggling to make headway. Despite some members showing signs of hypothermia, Mackay's group refused assistance and rejected Chafe's pleas that they return with him to Shipwreck Camp. The group was never seen alive after that although there was evidence they might have been crushed by shifting surface ice or else had fallen through.[25]
Adolf Hitler failed his physical exam in Salzburg and was declared unfit for military service.[26]
A protest march of 32,000 farmers, organized by Conservative opponents of the Liberal government of Prime Minister of SwedenKarl Staaff, gathered in the courtyard of Stockholm Palace to demand higher defense spending that reflected growing political tension in Europe. In what became known as the Courtyard Crisis, Swedish monarch King Gustaf declared to the demonstrators that he shared their concerns, violating Sweden's constitution for the monarchy to be non-partisan.[30]
German pilot Karl Ingold set a new world flight endurance record, flying nonstop for 16 hours 20 minutes in an Aviatikbiplane. The flight, from Mulhouse to Munich, Germany, covered a distance of 1,700km (1,056 miles).[34]
Oreste Zamor became the 24th President of Haiti after he and his brother Charles ousted president Michel Oreste from office in January. His term would be "short and extremely chaotic," ending on October 29.[41]
German ballooner Hans Berliner, along with two companions, flew a record 3,053km (1,896 statute miles) over three days in a free balloon from Bitterfeld, Germany to Perm, Russia.[42]
The 12-minute animated film Gertie the Dinosaur by Winsor McCay was released. Considered the first animated film produced, the film featured a prehistoric animal that performed tricks under the direction of a human named McCay. The film was part of McCay's live vaudeville act, but within a month the act was halted by news publisher William Randolph Hearst since McCay's touring schedule came in conflict with his illustrating contract with one of the newspapers Hearst owned. The animated film would be marketed later in the year by film producer William Fox.[45]
The Abitibi Power and Paper Company, a Quebec forest products business, was incorporated under the Dominion Companies Act, in order to raise adequate capital for its plant and operations and to transfer its head office to Montreal.[49]
The Pantages Playhouse Theatre officially opened in Winnipeg as a vaudevillian theater, and would host famous guests including Harry Houdini, Laurel and Hardy and Buster Keaton. The theater was eventually purchased by the city after its last vaudeville show in 1923 where it would be home to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet until 1967. The theater was restored in recent years and continues to be a live event venue in Winnipeg.[50]
The cabinet under Swedish Prime Minister Karl Staaff resigned in light of King Gustaf refusing stop speaking out against the government's defense policy, even though it was in violation of Sweden's constitution: "I will not deprive myself the right to speak without restraint to the Swedish people.".[51]
Ongoing large-scale demonstrations in Tokyo against the Yamamoto Gonnohyōe administration turned violent, following weeks of news coverage of major corruption in the Japanese navy coinciding with news that naval expansion had eaten up most of the budget, resulting in proposed tax increases.[53]
The first large power plant in the Ottoman Empire – the Silahtarağa Power Station – began generation in Istanbul. The coal-firing generation station remained in operation until 1983, when the plant was shut down. After sitting derelict for 20 years, the site was converted as a campus facility for the Istanbul Bilgi University.[59]
The second Sikorsky Ilya Muromets prototype took off for its first demonstration flight and set a load-to-altitude record, lifting 16 passengers aboard to 2,000 metres (6,562ft).[60]
German aviator Bruno Langer attempted to break the flight endurance record Karl Ingold days earlier while flying an LFG Roland Pfeilflieger biplane, but fell 20 minutes short and landed at Kreuz, Germany after 16 continuous hours in the air.[61]
World Baseball Tour – Exhibition games between the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox in Italy were cancelled due to heavy rain, allowing members from both teams – with most of them identifying themselves as Catholic – to meet with Pope Pius X.[62]
Former KentuckySenatorJoseph Clay Stiles Blackburn turned the first sod at a dedication ceremony on the future site of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. "The memorial will show that (President Abraham) Lincoln is now regarded as the greatest of all Americans," Blackburn said in his speech at the ceremony, which was only attended by a small group of dignitaries.[64][65]
The silent western The Squaw Man starring Dustin Farnum and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar Apfel was released. The movie would become the second-highest grossing release in 1914 at $244,700. DeMille would remake the film two more times, in 1918 and finally in 1931.[66]
Five men were killed in an explosion while packing explosive powder at a warehouse in Kenvil, New Jersey.[68]
Rancher Clemente Vergara, of Laredo, Texas, was taken into custody by Mexican federal troops on the Rio Grande river. Vergara had filed complaints to the Webb County sheriff over allegations of Mexican federal troops stealing horses he allowed to graze on the banks on either side of the river that bordered the United States with Mexico. Vergara had arranged to meet with the commanding officer of a garrison in Hidalgo, Coahuila, on the Mexican side of the river to discuss the matter. His nephew, who accompanied Vergara to the meeting, witnessed five soldiers ambushing Vergara as he crossed the river on a skiff, knocking him out and carrying him away as the youth escaped.[69][70]
More riots broke out in Tokyo over protests against tax increases, in part caused by the burgeoning naval expansion budget and major corruption allegations that resulted in the Imperial Japanese Navy dismissing several officers.[71]
The tugboat USSPotomac was iced in during a rescue mission for other entrapped fishing vessels off the coast of Newfoundland.[72]
World Baseball Tour – During the exhibition game in front of 5,000 spectators in Nice, France, the New York Giants led the Chicago White Sox 7–3 in the fourth inning, but a ninth inning rally helped the Sox squeak a 10–9 win over the Giants.[78]
Karl Staaff stepped down as Prime Minister of Sweden in protest after Sweden's sitting monarch King Gustaf publicly denounced the Staaff administration's defense policies during a peasant armament support march at the Royal castle's court in Stockholm, in what became known as the Courtyard Crisis. The King's public remarks violated Sweden's constitution where the monarchy was not to interfere with politics. Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, county governor of Uppsala, took over as head of non-parliamentarian government.[79]
Torrential rain in Southern California caused massive flooding in seven counties, killing two people and causing damages estimated between $500,000 and $1 million US.[85]
Canadian Arctic Expedition–Robert Bartlett, captain of the sunken polar exploration ship Karluk, completed plans to disband "Shipwreck Camp" that sat on ice floes in the Beaufort Sea and move the remaining expedition crew to Wrangel Island40 miles (64km) west. Bartlett had sent out scouts to blaze a trail, set up supply depots along the way, and prepare a camp site on the island for his team, many of whom were inexperienced with ice travel.[86]
German socialist activist Rosa Luxemburg stood on trial at the Frankfurt Criminal Court on charges of encouraging public disobedience stemming from anti-war speeches she made across Germany. During the trial, Luxemburg declared, "When, as I say, the majority of people come to the conclusion that wars are nothing but a barbaric, unsocial, reactionary phenomenon, entirely against the interests of the people, then wars will have become impossible." She was sentenced to one year in prison, which she served during the second year of World War I.[89]
British rancher William S. Benton, who owned land in Chihuahua under control of Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, was reported executed by firing squad in Juarez following a court martial where he was convicted of making an attempt on the revolutionary leader's life. However, friends and acquaintances of Benton claimed he had never taken sides in the Mexican Revolution nor had any motivation to harm Villa.[90]
James William Humphrys Scotland[91] made the first substantial cross-country flight in New Zealand. He flew from Invercargill to Gore, a distance of 61 kilometres (38mi), in 40 minutes in a Caudronbiplane. He continued on to Dunedin, Timaru and Christchurch where he arrived on 6 March.[92]
Tsar Nicholas concluded a special conference of military and other advisers to discuss the possibility of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles straits being forced open to allow the Imperial Russian Navy to leave the Black Sea if needed during military conflict, contrary to the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 that banned Russia from sending warships through the Dardanelles, even in times of peace.[citation needed]
Died:Joseph William Sutton, Australian shipbuilder and inventor, founder of the J. W. Sutton and Company shipbuilding and engineering works in Sydney (b. 1844)
Mexican Navy gunboat Tampico
Executive Officer Lieutenant Hilario Rodríguez Malpica and three other officers lead a mutiny on the Mexican Navy gunboat Tampico while it was refitting for a cruise off Guaymas, Mexico. The mutinous crew arrested Captain Manuel Azueta, who was informed the Tampico would set sail to join up with rebel forces in the region. A nearby gunboat tried to intercept the Tampico but Malpica order his ship to steam straight at the opposing vessel, hoping to ram and sink her. Unfortunately, the gunboat's steering gear malfunctioned and Tampico was forced to turn and head to Topolobampo, where Azueta was transferred to a merchant vessel.[103]
Arctic explorer Robert Peary was awarded honorary membership to the Geographical Society of St. Gall in Switzerland for his accomplishments in polar exploration.[104]
Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa told news media that his alleged altercation with British rancher William S. Benton was not fatal. Villa said Benton had quarreled with him in his private quarters in Juarez then reached for what Villa alleged was a pistol in his hip pocket. Villa said he had thrust his own pistol into Benton's belly but did not fire his weapon, instead turning the man over to his guards. The official report maintained Benton was tried by court-martial and executed for making an attempt on Villa's life.[107]
Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa refused to deliver the body of British rancher William S. Benton, who had been killed in JuarezMexico while in Villa's custody, to U.S. and British authorities, but would allow relatives to visit the burial site under escort. Speculation ran that Villa shot Benton during a scuffle and was refusing to exhume the body as it would reveal forensic evidence connecting Benton's death to him.[111]
Ulster Unionist Party leader Edward Carson distributed posters throughout Ulster, Ireland to address public concerns about the Ulster Volunteer Force, a unionist militia formed in January, 1913 by the party based in the Ulster province to help the region resist Home Rule in Dublin: "Our quarrel is with the Government alone, and we desire that the Religious and Political views of our opponents should be everywhere respected."[112]
Canadian Arctic Expedition– Captain Robert Bartlett led the last survivors from "Shipwreck Camp" to Wrangel Island, leaving a note of the party's location in a copper drum in case the campsite drifted into an inhabited area.[113] Unknown that the ship had sunk, famed polar explorer Robert Peary speculated to The New York Times that the Karluk had set up a winter camp near the Alaskan Arctic coastline.[114]
Investigations by Texas state officials confirmed rancher Clemente Vergara was dead, with witnesses reporting he had been hanged by Mexican soldiers in Hidalgo, Coahuila, Mexico as early as February 15. Vergara was missing since his wife and daughter found him injured from a beating in Mexican community's garrison on February 14. It took several more weeks before his body was recovered and transported stateside to family in Laredo, Texas.[119]
Snack food manufacturer Tasty Baking Company was established in Philadelphia, eventually evolving to become Tastykake.[120]
Texas GovernorOscar Branch Colquitt implied in a telegram to United States Secretary of StateWilliam Jennings Bryan Texas Rangers on the U.S.-Mexico border could cross and retrieve the body of Texas rancher Clemente Vergara, who had been reportedly hanged (later confirmed shot) by Mexican federal soldiers on February 15. The U.S. Government responded such an act would constitute an act of war and refused the governor's request.[122]
World Baseball Tour – At the 46th and final game between the globetrotting New York Giants and the Chicago White Sox in London, a record 20,000 to 35,000 spectators attended (based on word King George V was attending) and witnessed the White Sox slaying the Giants 5–4 in 11 innings. Since the start of the tour in October back in the United States, the Giants and White Sox played 46 games, with the White Sox winning 24, the Giants winning 20, with only two games ending in ties.[125]
Sixteen passengers and a pilot flew 18 minutes on an "omnibus" developed by aviation engineer Igor Sikorsky in Saint Petersburg. The aeroplane had an enclosed, lighted and heated cabin for passengers' comfort.[126]
Mexican president Victoriano Huerta promised to investigate the death of Texan rancher Clemente Vergara while in custody at a federal garrison near Hidalgo, Mexico, following public pressure by United States Secretary of StateWilliam Jennings Bryan. At the same time, Bryan said the State Department would not entertain the idea of permitting Texas Rangers to cross the border into Mexico to arrest suspected federal soldiers who allegedly shot Vergara on February 15, despite a request by Texas governor Oscar Branch Colquitt (who retracted in a statement to the press the same day).[129][130]
Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition – Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon and their expedition team reached Caceres, Brazil, to begin exploration of the Rio da Dúvida (River of Doubt, later renamed Roosevelt River), a 400-mile (640km) river that winded deep into the Amazon rainforest, then unseen by non-indigenous peoples. The 58-day expedition would prove grueling for all participants, resulting in three deaths before the team reached the mouth of the river in late April.[131]
Bandit soldiers associated with Bai Yung-chang, commonly referred to as Bai Lang or the "White Wolf" in the press, eluded soldiers under command of General Taun Chi-Jui following a defeat at the Honan-Anhui border in China.[137]
An "official" report released by the British government reported there was sufficient forensic evidence to conclude British rancher William S. Benton had been shot and killed in Pancho Villa's office and not in front of a firing squad as originally stated.[138]
Canadian Arctic Expedition– All ice-trekking groups from the shipwrecked Karluk polar ship rendezvoused on the open ice for a 130km (80 miles) march to Wrangel Island, located in the Arctic Ocean. High ridges of ice measuring 25 to 100 feet (7.6 to 30.5m) in height halted their progress. Three members returned to Shipwreck Camp to pick up more supplies while the rest chopped and cut a pathway through the towering ridges. When both groups reunited a week later, the path had only advanced forward by three miles (5km). However, the worst of the ridges were behind them and the group was able to reach land by March.[139][140]
Schroeter, Helmut; Roel Ramaer (1993). Die Eisenbahnen in den einst deutschen Schutzgebieten: Ostafrika, Südwestafrika, Kamerun, Togo und die Schantung-Eisenbahn: damals und heute / German colonial railways: East Africa, Southwest Africa, Cameroon, Togo and the Shantung Railway: then and now (in German and English). Krefeld: Röhr-Verlag. ISBN3884901842.
Reinfeld, F. (1990) [1942]. "Biography". The Immortal Games of Capablanca. Courier Dover Publications. pp.1–13. ISBN0-486-26333-9. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
Friedman, Norman (2009). British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. p.132. ISBN978-1-84832-049-9.
Blanke, David (2002). The 1910s. American popular culture through history (Illustrateded.). Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing. p.226. ISBN978-0-313-31251-9.
Jan Lundius and Mats Lundahl, Peasants and Religion: A Socioeconomic Study of Dios Olivorio and the Palma Sola Movement in the Dominican Republic (Routledge, 2000), p. 105, with an additional source on Zamor's presidency in note 320.
"Bernardino Luís Machado". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Campbell, John (1987). "Germany 1906–1922". In Sturton, Ian (ed.). Conway's All the World's Battleships: 1906 to the Present. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp.28–49. ISBN978-0-85177-448-0.
Gardiner, Robert, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985, ISBN978-0-87021-907-8, p. 56.
Mullgardt, Louis Christian (1915). The Architecture and Landscape Gardening of the Exposition: pictorial survey of the most beautiful of the architectural compositions of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. San Francisco: Paul Elder and Company. p.10.
