October 1925

1925

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October 11, 1925: Locarno conference in Switzerland ends with partial settlement of German grievances against France.

October 2, 1925:John Logie Baird transmits the first television image

The following events occurred in October 1925:

October 1, 1925 (Thursday)

• Chile's President Arturo Alessandri resigned, and Vice President Luis Barros Borgoño took over as the acting president.
• Thousands of people in the Mexican state of Guanajuato were left homeless after the Lerma River flooded.
• In Lubbock, Texas, Texas Technological College, later to be renamed Texas Tech University, opened for its first classes with 914 students.
• The Kraków University of Economics opened in Poland as Wyższe Studium Handlowe ("The College of Commerce") in the city of Kraków.
• Born:
  • Christine Pullein-Thompson (d. 2005) and Diana Pullein-Thompson; twin sisters and British writers of pony books
  • Yang Hyong-sop, Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea from 1983 to 1998; in Hamhung, Kankyōnan Province, Japanese Korea (d. 2022)

October 2, 1925 (Friday)

• The first television transmission was made by Scottish inventor John Logie Baird at his laboratory in at 22 Frith Street in London. Baird's camera captured the 32-line vertically greyscale scanned image of the head of a ventriloquist's dummy, which he had nicknamed "Stooky Bill". An office worker in the same building, 20-year-old William Edward Taynton, appeared before Baird's camera the same day and became the first person to have his image on television.
• Spanish troops entered the Rif Republic capital of Ajdir.
• The first branch of the Islamic Ahmadiyya sect in what is now Indonesia was established in the Dutch East Indies by Rahmat Ali, an Ahmadiyya missionary, along with 13 adherents in the town of Tapaktuan.
• The Pact of the Vidoni Palace was signed at the Palazzo Vidoni-Caffarelli in Rome between the Fascist-dominated General Confederation of Italian Industry) (Confederazione Generale dell'Industria Italiana or CGI) and the Fascist-controlled National Confederation of Trade Union Corporations labor union.
• La Revue Nègre, an all-Black cabaret production starring African-American dancer and actress Josephine Baker, premiered in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and made Baker popular worldwide. After two months in Paris, Baker and the troupe of dancers went on tour to Brussils and Berlin.
• In Richmond, Virginia, three workers of a 40-member crew were killed when they were buried alive by the collapse of the Church Hill Tunnel. The tragedy gave rise to an urban legend more than 80 years later, the "Richmond Vampire".
• Born:
  • Paul Goldsmith American race car driver who won the U.S. Auto Club Stock Car championship in 1961 and 1962; in Parkersburg, West Virginia (d.2024)
  • Sadao Kondoh, Japanese baseball pitcher and manager and inductee to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame; in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture (d.2006)
  • Anne Ranasinghe, German-born Sri Lankan poet; in Essen (d.2016)

October 3, 1925 (Saturday)

• The first conference of Western Hemisphere nations to discuss the building of a Pan-American Highway opened at Buenos Aires in Argentina.
• The American aircraft carrier USS Lexington was launched.
• Only two days after the inauguration of the first classes of Texas Technological College, the college's first sports event was played as the Texas Tech Matadors and the McMurry College Indians played to a 0 to 0 tie before about 8,000 spectators at the South Plains Fairgrounds in Lubbock, Texas.
• Born:
  • Gore Vidal (pen name for Eugene Louis Vidal), American novelist known for the Narratives of Empire series (starting with Burr in 1973) and for Myra Breckinridge in 1968; in West Point, New York (d. 2012)
  • George Wein, American jazz pianist and promoter who founded (in 1954) the Newport Jazz Festival; in Lynn, Massachusetts (d.2021)
• Died: C. Web Gilbert, 58, Australian sculptor, died while working on a full-size model for a war memorial.

October 4, 1925 (Sunday)

• All 53 crew of the Finland Navy's torpedo boat S2 were killed when the vessel sank during a fierce storm near the coast of Pori in the Gulf of Bothnia.
• After 11 years of limited prohibition of alcohol, the Soviet Union removed all restrictions on the alcohol content of beverages.
• The Hama uprising broke out in Syria as rebel assault led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji against French mandate security installations in the city of Hama. Heavy French bombardment of Hama led to negotiations between a delegation of Hama's leading families and the French authorities, and the rebels withdrew the next day.
• Baseball legend Ty Cobb, known for his abilities as a hitter and a center fielder, appeared as a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers against St. Louis Browns first baseman George Sisler in a rare game where both teams allowed pitching to be handled by non-pitchers. Cobb pitched one inning and Sisler two as the Tigers beat the Browns, 11 to 6. The appearance of non-pitchers on the mound for both teams would not occur again until almost 87 years later, with a game on May 7, 2017 in the Baltimore Orioles' 9 to 6 win over the Boston Red Sox.
• Born:
  • Richard Moore, American cinematographer and co-founder (with Robert Gottschalk) of Panavision; in Jacksonville, Illinois (d.2009)
  • Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler, German-born leader in Reform Judaism as president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations; in Munich (d.2000)
• Died: Gevorg Bashinjaghian, 68, Armenian landscape painter

October 5, 1925 (Monday)

• The Locarno Conference began in Locarno in Switzerland between several of the adversaries from World War ONe, European powers to negotiate Germany's entry into the League of Nations.
• Born:
  • Paul Wild, Swiss astronomer known for his discovery of the 81P/Wild periodic comet later explored by NASA's Stardust mission and six other comets, 94 asteroids, and 41 supernovas (starting with SN 1954A in NGC 4214; in Wädenswil, Canton of Zurich (d.2014)
  • Antoine Gizenga, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1960 to 1961 and 2006 to 2008; in |Mbanze, Belgian Congo(d.2019)
  • Herbert Kretzmer, South African-born English lyricist known for his 1985 adaptation of the songs of the West End presentation of the musical Les Misérables, including the rendering of "J'avais rêvé d'une autre vie" to "I Dreamed a Dream"; in Kroonstad (d.2020)
  • Gail Davis, American TV actress best known for playing the title role in the TV series Annie Oakley from 1954 to 1957; as Betty Jeanne Grayson in Little Rock, Arkansas (d. 2005)
  • Raisa Struchkova, Soviet ballet dancer; in Moscow (d.2005)
  • Besedka Johnson (stage name for Beatrice Devic]], American model and actress who became a film star at the age of 85 as co-star of her first and only film, Starlet in 2012; in Detroit (d.2013)
  • Emiliano Aguirre, Spanish paleontologist; in Ferrol (d.2021)

October 6, 1925 (Tuesday)

• A breakthrough in the reproduction of recorded music, the Victor Orthophonic Victrola, was demonstrated to the public for the first time, allowing others to hear the first phonograph specifically designed to play electrically-recorded phonograph records.
• The Locarno Conference debated the matter of France wanting assurance of the right to cross through Germany to help Poland and Czechoslovakia in the event of war.
• Born:
  • Manuel Ochoa, Cuban musician and orchestra conductor known for being the co-founder of the Miami Symphony Orchestra; in Holguín (alive in 2025)
  • Shana Alexander, American journalist who was the first woman staffwriter and columnist for Life magazine, and was well-known for the liberal arguments in the " "Point-Counterpoint" segment of the 60 Minutes TV show; in New York City (d.2005)
• Died: Israel Abrahams, 66, British Jewish scholar

October 7, 1925 (Wednesday)

• Germany and France reached a deadlock in Locarno over the Poland and Czechoslovakia matter.
• Born:
  • Mildred Earp, American AAGPBL baseball pitcher for the Grand Rapids Chicks, ERA leader in 1947 with a mark of 0.68; in West Fork, Arkansas (d. 2017)
  • Alex Duthart, Scottish drummer; in Cambusnethan, North Lanarkshire (died of a heart attack, 1986)
• Died: Christy Mathewson, 45, American baseball pitcher and inaugural inductee to the Baseball Hall of Fame, known for a record 373 wins over 17 seasons and being the National League's ERA leader for five seasons (1905, 1908-09, 1911 and 1913) and 5-time NL strikeout leader, died of tuberculosis that developed six years afer his exposure to chemical weapons during World War One.

October 8, 1925 (Thursday)

• The city of Belgrade in Serbia was awarded the Czechoslovak War Cross 1918.
• Born: Andrei Sinyavsky, Soviet Russian literary critic for Novy Mir magazine and later dissident and co-defendant with Yuri Daniel in the Sinyavsky–Daniel trial of 1966; in Moscow (d.1997)
• Died: Vincenzo Peruggia, 44, Italian art thief known for having stolen the Mona Lisa from the Louvre museum on August 21, 1911, and having kept it for more than two years until his 1913 arrest, died of a heart attack on his birthday.

October 9, 1925 (Friday)

• The Italian state prosecutor absolved 24 officials of any responsibility for the June 1924 murder of Giacomo Matteotti, ruling that they might have ordered the "sequestration" of Matteotti but not his death, and they would not have had any knowledge of the crie.
• Lithuania held the first day of a three-day mourning period for the loss of Vilnius to Poland in 1920. Many demonstrations were staged in which speakers declared that Lithuania would not have any relations with Poland until Vilnius was returned.
• Born:
  • Richard Jenkin, Cornish politician and co-founder of the Cornish Nationalist political party Mebyon Kernow (The Sons of Cornwall); in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England (d.2002)
  • David Macmillan, Scottish historian known for stealing thousands of historical documents over a 30-year period between 1949 and 1981; in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire (d.1987).
  • John Crosthwaite, English race car designer; in Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire (d.2010)
• Died:
  • George Obrenović, 35, Son of King Milan I of Serbia and pretender to the throne of Serbia after the 1903 assassination of his half-brother, King Alexander I, died in poverty in Hungary.
  • Hugo Preuss, 64, German lawyer and politician who had authored the 1919 Weimar Constitution of the first Republic of Germany

October 10, 1925 (Saturday)

• The Palace Museum was opened to the public in Beijing by the Republic of China on "Double Ten Day" at the site of the former Forbidden City, the Qing dynasty Imperial Palace complex that had been formerly off limits to everyone except the royal family and their staff. According to an audit taken at the time, 1,170,000 pieces of artwork were housed at the Museum when it was first opened. After the Japanese occupation of Beijing in 1933, most of the artifacts would be moved to Nanjing, and during the Communist Revolution of 1949, many of the artifacts would be moved by the Nationalist government to Taiwan and housed in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
• The championship of Australian rules football, the Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, was played before 64,288 spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Geelong Cats won their first VFL title, defeating the Collingwood Magpies, 79 to 69 (10.19 to 9.15).
• About 15 people were killed in Catanzaro in Italy when a train plunged over a bridge after high floodwaters weakened the bridge's supports.
• Police in Panama killed two people when they opened fire on an open-air labor union meeting discussing what to do about national rent increases.
• The American Federation of Labor called for a nationwide boycott of non-union products to eliminate child labour and obtain better working conditions.
• Born:
  • Robert F. Landel, American chemist known for developing the Williams–Landel–Ferry equation; in Pendleton, New York (d.2024)
  • Margaret Pargeter, British romance novelit and author of 49 novels during her lifetime; in Longhorsley, Northumberland (d.2023)
• Died: James Buchanan Duke, 68, American businessman who modernized cigarette manufacturing and markenting and founded the American Tobacco Company in 1890, later a philanthropist who funded Duke University , died of pneumonia.

October 11, 1925 (Sunday)

• The China Zhi Gong Party, now one of eight minor political parties permitted by the Chinese Communist Party to exist in the People's Republic of China, was founded in the United States in San Francisco. A pair of exiled former warlords who opposed the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China, Chen Jiongming and Tang Jiyao.
• In the U.S., the first FBI agent to be killed in the line of duty, Edwin C. Shanahan, was fatally shot after following a suspected car thief, Martin James Durkin, to a garage in Chicago. For the next three months, the FBI conducted a nationwide manhunt for Shanahan, who would be captured in St. Louis on January 20.
• The New York Giants, an expansion franchise of the National Football League, played their first NFL game, losing 14 to 0 to the Providence Steam Rollers before 8,000 people at the Cycledrome in Rhode Island.
• The Washington Senators defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6 to 3, in Game 4 of baseball's World Series to take a 3 games to 1 lead and being within one game of the world championship.
• Powers at Locarno agreed on an arrangement in which, with regard to military obligations in the League of Nations, due consideration would be given to Germany's special military status until such time as a general arms reduction plan could be implemented across Europe. This was thought to remove the main obstacle to Germany's entry into the League of Nations.
• Born: Elmore Leonard, American novelist and screenwriter; in New Orleans (d. 2013)

October 12, 1925 (Monday)

• A contingent of 600 U.S. troops entered Panama at the request of President Rodolfo Chiari to put down a massive renter's strike.
• U.S. athlete Albert Michelsen set a new world's record for long distance running as he completed the first Port Chester Marathon in 2 hours, 29 minutes and one second in Port Chester, New York. Michelsen's mark broke the record of Finland's Hannes Kolehmainen whose time of 2:32:35.8 had been set five years earlier at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.
• Germany and the Soviet Union signed a commercial treaty designed to increase mutual trade.
• Two people were killed and 70 arrested in Paris (including Communist member of parliament Jacques Doriot) during protests against France's involvement in the Rif War in Morocco.
• Born:
  • Martin Gutzwiller, Switzerland-born U.S. physicist; in Basel (d.2014)
  • Essie Mae Washington-Williams, American teacher and author known for being the biracial child of white supremacist and segregationist U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond following his affair with an African-American domestic servant of the Thurmond family; in Edgefield, South Carolina.(d.2014)

October 13, 1925 (Tuesday)

• The British seaman's outlaw strike ended. It continued in Australia, however.
• John W. Weeks resigned as United States Secretary of War due to failing health.
• The jewels stolen from Mrs. Jessie Woolworth Donahue on September 30 were returned by a private detective agency. No public statement was given regarding the circumstances of their recovery.

Prime Minister Thatcher

Comedian Lenny Bruce

• Born:
  • Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990; as Margaret Hilda Roberts in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England (d. 2013)"Margaret Thatcher, ‘Iron Lady’ Who Set Britain on New Course, Dies at 87", The New York Times, April 9, 2013, p.1
  • Lenny Bruce (stage name for Leonard Schneider), American comedian; in Mineola, New York (d. 1966 of a drug overdose)
  • Frank D. Gilroy, American playwright and screenwriter best known for authoring The Subject Was Roses in 1964; in New York City (d. 2015)

October 14, 1925 (Wednesday)

• The Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Consular Relations between Germany and the United States of America was ratified in Washington, D.C.
• Dwight F. Davis became United States Secretary of War.
• French forces withdrew from Damascus amid rioting after the French displayed corpses of Druze rebels.
• Landlords in Panama agreed to roll back rent increases to placate angry demonstrators.
• Died:
  • Eugen Sandow (stage name for Friedrich Wilhelm Müller), 58, German bodybuilder known as the "father of modern bodybuilding", died from a ruptured aortic aneurysm.
  • Harold Maxwell-Lefroy, 48, British entomologist who developed insecticides for various pests, died in a laboratory accident while experimenting with poison gases for a control of houseflies.
  • Samuel M. Ralston, 67, U.S. Senator for Indiana since 1923 and former Governor of Indiana, 1913 to 1917; in

October 15, 1925 (Thursday)

• The Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series, defeating the Washington Senators, 9 to 7, in Game 7.
• Dongdaemun Stadium opened in Seoul, Korea.
• The P.G. Wodehouse novel Sam the Sudden was published.

October 16, 1925 (Friday)

• The Locarno conference ended with several agreements in place. German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann gave a closing speech in which he said the conference spelled a new era in European relationships, while French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand said it marked the beginning of a new epoch of cooperation and friendship.
• Frank G. Dickinson, an economics professor at the University of Illinois, first used his "Dickinson System" and announced that he had retroactively concluded that that the unbeaten and untied Fighting Irish of Notre Dame (10-0-0) had been the best team in college football during the 1924 season, followed by California (8-0-2), Yale (6-0-2), Illinois (6-1-1), Stanford (7-1-1), Iowa (6-1-1), USC (9-2-0), Pennsylvania (9-1-1), Dartmouth (7-0-1) Missouri (7-2-0) and Chicago (4-1-3), based on the records of the teams and their opponents. Notre Dame
• Born: Angela Lansbury, British-born American and Irish stage, film and television actress and singer, five time Tony Award winner known for Mame and Gypsy and on television for Murder, She Wrote; in Regent's Park, London, England (d. 2022)

October 17, 1925 (Saturday)

• Twelve people were killed and 20 hurt in a train collision on the Milan–Genoa railway line in Italy.

October 18, 1925 (Sunday)

• The French began a 48-hour bombardment of Damascus.
• The film Little Annie Rooney starring Mary Pickford was released.
• Wankdorf Stadium opened in Bern, Switzerland.

October 19, 1925 (Monday)

• The Incident at Petrich occurred near the Bulgarian town of Petrich on the border with Greece, when at least one Greek soldier was shot by someone on the Bulgarian side. Conflicting accounts exist as to what led up to the incident, but one holds that a Greek soldier was running across the border after his dog, which is why the incident is sometimes called "The War of the Stray Dog".

October 20, 1925 (Tuesday)

Colonel Mitchell

• U.S. President Calvin Coolidge directed the U.S. Department of War to begin a general court-martial of U.S. Army Colonel Billy Mitchell for insubordination following Colonel Mitchell's September 5 public statement accusing superior officers of "almost treasonable administration of the national defense."
• The Goodman Theatre opened in Chicago.
• Born:
  • Art Buchwald, American humorist; in New York City (d. 2007)
  • Gene Wood, television personality, in Quincy, Massachusetts (d. 2004)

October 21, 1925 (Wednesday)

• Greece delivered a 48-hour ultimatum to the Bulgarian government demanding they pay an indemnity and apologize for the Incident at Petrich.
• Born: Celia Cruz, Cuban salsa music performer; in Havana (d. 2003)
• Died: Marv Goodwin, 34, baseball pitcher, believed to be the first professional athlete to be killed in a plane crash

October 22, 1925 (Thursday)

• Greek soldiers reportedly occupied the town of Petrich with the intention of enforcing the country's demands for satisfaction.
• Born: Robert Rauschenberg, American artist' in Port Arthur, Texas (d. 2008)

October 23, 1925 (Friday)

• French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand called for an extraordinary session of the League of Nations to resolve the conflict between Greece and Bulgaria.
• Born: Johnny Carson, American television host known for hosting The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992; in Corning, Iowa (d. 2005)

October 24, 1925 (Saturday)

• Greece and Bulgaria agreed to allow the League of Nations to mediate in their dispute.
• Born: American Bob Azzam, Egyptian singer; in Alexandria(d. 2004)
  • Luciano Berio, Italian composer; in Oneglia(d. 2003)American
  • Al Feldstein, American writer, editor and artist; in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2014)

October 25, 1925 (Sunday)

• Former Nicaraguan President Emiliano Chamorro Vargas took over the mountain-top fortress of La Loma overlooking Managua and demanded that President Carlos José Solórzano make him Minister of War.
• The romantic comedy film The King on Main Street starring Bessie Love and Adolphe Menjou was released.
• Switzerland held a federal election in which the Free Democratic Party maintained its plurality.

October 26, 1925 (Monday)

• Nicaraguan President Solórzano acquiesced to Emiliano Chamorro's demand and made him Minister of War, essentially giving him control of the country.
• The League of Nations ordered a cessation of hostilities between Greece and Bulgaria and gave them 24 hours to bring their troops back behind their respective borders.
• The British-German drama film The Blackguard was released.

October 27, 1925 (Tuesday)

• Born: Warren Christopher, United States Secretary of State from 1993 to 2001; in Scranton, North Dakota (d. 2011)

October 28, 1925 (Wednesday)

• The court-martial of Col. Billy Mitchell began in Washington, D.C.
• The Polish crime film Vampires of Warsaw was released.

October 29, 1925 (Thursday)

• Elections were held in Canada for all 245 seats in the House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Arthur Meighen, doubled its number of representatives from 49 to 115, a plurality but still short of the 123 needed for a majority. Prime Minister King himself and seven ministers in the government lost parliamentary seats." Nevertheless, the Governor-General, Viscount Byng of Vimy, invited Prime Minister Mackenzie King, whose Liberal Party went from 118 to 100 seats, to attempt to form a new government. A coalition was created between the Liberals and the Progressive Party with a total of 176 seats to stay in power.
• The Balkan crisis ended as Greece completed its withdrawal from Bulgaria. The League of Nations said it would appoint a commission to assign responsibilities and assess damages.
• Waddy Thompson Ligon, a 73-year-old man, was killed when his converted Model T slid off a narrow road south of Lees Ferry and jammed into a crevasse of the Grand Canyon.
• Born:
  • Dominick Dunne, American writer and journalist, in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 2009)
  • Robert Hardy, English actor; in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (d. 2017)

October 30, 1925 (Friday)

• The murder trial of Ossian Sweet began with an all-white jury and Clarence Darrow representing the defense.

October 31, 1925 (Saturday)

• The Persian Parliament formally deposed the exiled Shah of Persia, Ahmad Shah Qajar, ending the Qajar dynasty and clearing the path for Prime Minister Reza Khan to assume the throne.
• Born: John Pople, chemist and Nobel Prize laureate; in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset (d. 2004)
• Died:
  • Mikhail Frunze, 40, Soviet Union Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, died during a routine operation.
  • Max Linder, 41, French actor and filmmaker, committed suicide along with his wife.