September 1929 Explained

The following events occurred in September 1929:

Sunday, September 1, 1929

• A bomb exploded at 4 a.m. at the Reichstag building in Berlin. Windows were shattered but there were no injuries.^[1]
• Chinese foreign minister Wang Zhengting said that China would not consent to the Soviet condition to replace the chairman of the Chinese Eastern Railway amid reports of resumed fighting along the border.^[2]

Monday, September 2, 1929

• Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini warned that Palestine and Arabia could not regain peace unless Britain abandoned its policy of making Palestine a national home for Jews. He explained that the reasons for recent violence had little to do with the Wailing Wall but actually went back to the Balfour Declaration of 1917.^[3]
• Belgium's Department of National Defense issued orders for the Belgian force of occupation in the Rhineland to leave by November 30.^[4]
• Died: Paul Leni, 44, German filmmaker, died of sepsis following an untreated tooth infection.

Tuesday, September 3, 1929

• Britain appointed a four-person committee to investigate the conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine.^[5]
• September 1929 Philippines typhoon - A typhoon struck the Philippines, causing between 50 and 100 deaths and doing about 20 million pesos worth of damage over the next several days.^{[6] [7]}
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its peak for the decade of the 1920s at 386 points.^[8]
• The westbound Transcontinental Air Transport passenger plane City of San Francisco crashed on Mount Taylor in New Mexico, killing all 8 aboard. The plane had diverted its course to avoid a storm.^[9]
• British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald gave a speech to the League of Nations Assembly in Geneva outlining his government's policies. MacDonald said that Britain would "do everything possible to hasten the preparations for a disarmament conference." MacDonald suggested that if a twenty-point document on naval disarmament were to be outlined between Britain and the United States, "only about three of the twenty" points would be considered outstanding.^[10]
• The stage musical Sweet Adeline with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II opened at Hammerstein's Theatre on Broadway.^[11]
• Rachele Mussolini gave birth to her fifth child with Benito Mussolini, a daughter named Anna Maria.^[12]
• Born:
  • James "Whitey" Bulger, American organized crime boss, of the Winter Hill Gang); in Boston (d. 2018)
  • Armand Vaillancourt, Canadian Quebecois artist, in Black Lake, Quebec, known for creating the Vaillancourt Fountain in San Francisco
• Died:
  • William Emmett Dever, 67, Mayor of Chicago from 1923 to 1927
  • Owen Thomas Edgar, 98, the last surviving U.S. veteran of the Mexican–American War, who served in the U.S. Navy as a 2nd-class apprentice

Wednesday, September 4, 1929

• The explosion of a powder mill in a bomb factory, near Brescia in Italy, killed 17 people.^[13]
• Born: Thomas Eagleton, U.S. Senator for Missouri and 1972 Democratic Party nominee for Vice President who was forced off the ticket after disclosing prior treatment for clinical depression; in St. Louis (d. 2007)

Thursday, September 5, 1929

• French Prime Minister Aristide Briand called for a United States of Europe, telling the League of Nations Assembly in Geneva that a "federal tie must exist between peoples grouped geographically like the peoples of Europe." His plan included the formation of an international police force to uphold the Kellogg-Briand Pact as well as loan guarantees to aid any nation forced into war or threatened by war.^{[14] [15]}
• American business theorist Roger Babson gave a business conference speech in Wellesley, Massachusetts, saying, "More people are borrowing and speculating today than ever in our history. Sooner or later, a crash is coming, and it may be terrific."^[16]
• Born: Bob Newhart (George Robert Newhart), American comedian, and TV and film actor known for his comic monologues; star of The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart; in Oak Park, Illinois(d. 2024)

Friday, September 6, 1929

• British Foreign Affairs Secretary Arthur Henderson proposed before the League of Nations Assembly that the League Covenant be revised to bring it in line with the Kellogg-Briand Pact, pointing out that Article 12 maintained a nation's right to wage war.^[17]
• Born: Charles Calvin Rogers, United States Army officer and Medal of Honor recipient; in Claremont, West Virginia (d. 1990)
• Died: Seymour Sharkey, 82, British physician

Saturday, September 7, 1929

• The sinking of the Finnish steamship SS Kuru in Lake Näsijärvi killed 136 passengers and crew.^[18]
• Jews were allowed to pray again at the Wailing Wall under the protection of seven Arab policemen as Palestine returned to a state of calm.^[19]
• British pilot Richard Waghorn won the 1929 Schneider Trophy race, setting a new world flying speed record of 328.6 miles per hour.^[20]
• The wreckage of the City of San Francisco passenger plane was spotted on the south slope of Mount Taylor by a transport plane.^[21]

Sunday, September 8, 1929

• Actress Patsy Ruth Miller and director Tay Garnett were married in California.^[22]

Monday, September 9, 1929

• Representatives of 28 nations attended a luncheon to hear Aristide Briand's proposal for a United States of Europe. Briand was named to draft a memorandum on the scheme for further study. "We have laid the cornerstone of a European confederation", Briand told the media after the meeting. "It was a good cornerstone."^[23]

Tuesday, September 10, 1929

• British pilot A. H. Oriebar set a new world flying speed record of 355.8 miles per hour, using the same Supermarine S.6 flown by Richard Waghorn in the Schneider Trophy race that set the previous record a mere three days earlier.^[24]
• Born: Arnold Palmer, golfer, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania (d. 2016)

Wednesday, September 11, 1929

• Fourteen members of the crew of the Belgian cargo ship Estella died after the freighter collided with a German lumber ship in the Scheldt River and sank.^{[25] [26]}
• The Soviet Army crossed the border with China from Pogranichny and advanced 40 miles into the Heilongjiang Province.^[27]

Thursday, September 12, 1929

• Benito Mussolini relinquished seven of his eight cabinet posts, retaining only the Ministry of Interior. New appointees to fill the vacancies included Dino Grandi as Foreign Affairs Minister and Italo Balbo as Minister of Aviation.^[28]
• The musical drama film The Great Gabbo, starring Erich von Stroheim, opened at the Selwyn Theatre in New York City.^[29]
• Died: Rainis (pen name for Jānis Pliekšāns), 64, Latvian poet and playwright

Friday, September 13, 1929

• Twelve people were killed and 15 injured in Italy in a gasoline explosion at Parma.^[30]
• U.S. singer Bessie Smith released her version of the blues standard "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out".^[31]

Saturday, September 14, 1929

• The British Army began its withdrawal from Germany of its remaining troops from the occupied Rhineland.^[32]
• The Philadelphia Athletics clinched the American League pennant with a 5–0 victory over the Chicago White Sox.^[33]

• Died:
  • Minnie Marx, 63, mother and manager of the Marx Brothers
  • Ella Mae Wiggins, 28, American union organizer and balladeer, was shot and killed during the Loray Mill Strike

Sunday, September 15, 1929

• Seven men were charged in the fatal shooting of Ella Mae Wiggins.^[34] Five would be put on trial, but acquitted of all charges the following March.
• Born: Murray Gell-Mann, U.S. physicist and 1969 Nobel laureate, in Manhattan, New York (d. 2019)

Monday, September 16, 1929

• The United States and Britain formally invited Japan, France and Italy to a naval disarmament conference scheduled to start in the second week of January 1930.^[35]
• 23 were killed and 21 injured in an explosion at the Petite Rosselle coal mine near Strasbourg in France.^{[36] [37]}
• Born: Maxine Kline, American baseball player for the AAGPBL, 1954 leader (for the Fort Wayne Daisies) in games won; in North Adams, Michigan (d. 2022)

Tuesday, September 17, 1929

• Wildfires in Ventura County, California, did an estimated $3 million in damages to oil company buildings, derricks and other infrastructure.^[38]
• Another typhoon hit the Philippines, striking the islands of Catanduanes and Rapu-rapu over the next day killing at least 26 people .^[39]
• Fiorello H. LaGuardia won primary elections for the Republican nomination for Mayor of New York City.^[40]

Wednesday, September 18, 1929

• U.S. President Herbert Hoover made a radio address from the White House on international peace and arms reduction. Hoover stated that "preparedness must not exceed the barest necessity for defense or it becomes a threat of aggression against others and thus a cause of fear and animosity of the world." Hoover said that proposals to limit naval armaments "would preserve our national defenses and yet would relieve the backs of those who toil from gigantic expenditures and the world from the hate and fear which flows from the rivalry in building warships."^{[41] [42]}
• The Chicago Cubs clinched the National League pennant when the Pittsburgh Pirates were eliminated by losing 5–4 to the Boston Braves.^[43]
• The Preston Sturges romantic comedy play Strictly Dishonorable opened at the Avon Theatre on Broadway.^[44]

Thursday, September 19, 1929

• The National City Bank disclosed plans to merge with the Corn Exchange Bank, which would make it the largest financial institution in the Western hemisphere.^[45] This merger fell through after the Wall Street Crash.^[46]

• Augustinas Voldemaras resigned as the Prime Minister of Lithuania, forced from power by President Antanas Smetona.^{[47] [48]}
• Born: Mel Stewart, actor, director and musician, in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 2002)

Friday, September 20, 1929

• In Detroit, a fire at the Study Club dance hall killed 20 people and injured more than 50.^{[49] [50]}
• Died: Harvey Marion LaFollette, 71, American industrialist, former Superintendent of the Indiana Department of Education, later the co-founder of the LaFollette Coal, Iron, and Railway Company and the city of LaFollette, Tennessee

Saturday, September 21, 1929

• Britain withdrew a controversial disarmament resolution from the League of Nations proposing limitations on trained army reserves.^{[51] [52]}
• Born: Sándor Kocsis, Hungarian soccer football striker and national team member; in Budapest (died of fall from building, 1979)

Sunday, September 22, 1929

• Benito Mussolini announced the creation of a new government department for physical education in Fascist Italy.^[53]
• Joseph Goebbels was among those arrested by Berlin authorities after shots were fired from a car riding in a procession of Nazis when onlookers hissed and jeered the demonstration. Empty cartridges were found in the car Goebbels was riding in.^[54]
• Born: Hédi Váradi, Hungarian actress; in Újpest (d. 1987)
• Died: Elton "Ice Box" Chamberlain, 61, American major league baseball player

Monday, September 23, 1929

• The $1.5 million, 21,000-seat St. Louis Arena opened with a dedicatory banquet.^[55]
• John Coolidge, the first son of ex-U.S. president Calvin Coolidge, married Florence Trumbull in Plainville, Connecticut.^[56]
• Died: Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, 64, Austro-Hungarian-born German chemist and 1925 Nobel Prize laureate

Tuesday, September 24, 1929

• German nationalists opened a campaign seeking a referendum to renounce the Young Plan. National People's Party leader Alfred Hugenberg spoke in Berlin before 20,000 supporters, calling the Young Plan "a piece of flagrant dishonesty, unworthy of honorable people." Two sons of the former kaiser, August Wilhelm and Oskar, were present.^[57]
• Shops and residences in Florida were boarded up in anticipation of a hurricane.^[58]
• Died: Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, 37, Thai physician and public health reformer, half-brother of King Vajiravudh, father of King Ananda Mahidol and of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, died of kidney disease

Wednesday, September 25, 1929

• Austrian Chancellor Ernst Streeruwitz and his government resigned.^[59]
• Czechoslovakia's Prime Minister Jan Černý and his coalition government announced their resignations. New elections for the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate were then called for October 27.
• The island of Andros in The Bahamas was hit by the 1929 Bahamas hurricane, causing 25 deaths and extensive damage.^[60]
• Born:
  • Barbara Walters, pioneering broadcast journalist and anchor, known for the Today show, 20/20, the ABC Evening News and The View; in Boston (d. 2022)
  • Ronnie Barker, English TV actor and comedian, co-host of the long-running show The Two Ronnies from 1971 to 1987; in Bedford (d. 2005)

• Died: Miller Huggins, 50, American baseball manager who guided the New York Yankees to six American League pennants and three World Series championships in between 1921 and 1928, died from pyaemia from a staph infection, one week after taking a leave of absence from his team to enter the hospital; his Yankees won, 11 to 10 over the Red Sox that day under assistant manager Art Fletcher. He would be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame 35 years later.

Thursday, September 26, 1929

• Jack Sharkey knocked out Tommy Loughran in the third round at Yankee Stadium to win boxing's American Heavyweight Title.^[61]
• Johann Schober became Chancellor of Austria for the third time.
• CEPSA (Compañía Española de Petróleos, S.A.) a multinational oil and natural gas drilling and refinery company, was founded in Spain by Francisco Recasens.

Friday, September 27, 1929

• The Ernest Hemingway novel A Farewell to Arms was published.^[62]
• British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald boarded the Berengeria at Southampton and departed for the United States to meet with President Hoover on disarmament.^[63]

Saturday, September 28, 1929

• The Bahamas hurricane passed over Long Key, Florida. The southern part of the Florida peninsula was hit by strong winds but damage was moderate.^[64]
• Alfred Hugenberg and Franz Seldte formally submitted a bill to German Interior Minister Carl Severing, calling for a referendum "against the enslavement of the German people". The referendum, if passed, would renounce Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles and all financial burdens or obligations derived from the clause, including the Young Plan. The bill was accompanied by a petition with 5,000 signatures.^[65]
• In India, Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed, which says that no man below 18 or women below 16 could marry. Also known as Sharda Act, but later the age limit raised up to 21 for boys and 18 for girls.
• Born: Lata Mangeshkar, Indian singer and film actress; in Indore, British India (d. 2022)

Sunday, September 29, 1929

• Two days after taking off from Paris–Le Bourget Airport, French pilot Dieudonné Costes and navigator Maurice Bellonte set a new aviation distance record by flying non-stop to Tsitsihar, China in the Breguet 19 "?", a distance of about 4,846 miles.^[66]
• The Bridge Murder occurred in Kansas City, Missouri, when housewife Mertyle Adkins Bennett murdered her husband John over a game of contract bridge.^[67]
• The Brazilian football club Esporte Clube Itaúna was founded.
• Died: Tanaka Giichi, 65, general and 26th Prime Minister of Japan

Monday, September 30, 1929

• Rival armies of Nadir Khan and Habibullāh Kalakāni battled in the Logar Valley for control of Kabul in the Afghan civil war.^[68]
• At Frankfurt, Fritz von Opel made the world's first flight in a rocket-propelled plane, the RAK.1, for about a mile and a quarter at an average altitude of . Opel crashed upon landing but was unhurt.^{[69] [70]}
• Born: Abdellatief Abouheif, marathon swimming champion, in Alexandria, Egypt (d. 2003)

Notes and References

1. News: September 1, 1929 . Bomb Explodes in German Reichstag; Breaks Windows . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
2. News: Powell . John . September 2, 1929 . Manchurian War on Again Despite Peace Promises . Chicago Daily Tribune. 5 .
3. News: September 2, 1929 . 60,000,000 Ready to Fight Zionism, Says Arab Chief . . 1 .
4. News: September 2, 1929 . Belgium Orders Troops to Leave Rhine by Nov. 30 . . 2 .
5. News: Root . Waverly . September 4, 1929 . Britain Orders Investigation of Holy Land Riots . Chicago Daily Tribune. 9 .
6. News: September 4, 1929 . Typhoon Sweeps Philippines; Ship Engulfed; 28 Die . Chicago Daily Tribune. 19 .
7. News: September 23, 1929 . Heavy Typhoon Death-Roll . Singapore . . 18 .
8. Book: Giroux, Gary . 2013 . Business Scandals, Corruption, and Reform: An Encyclopedia . Greenwood . 147 . 978-1-4408-0068-9 .
9. Web site: September 3, 1929: Transcontinental Air Transport (T.A.T.) Ford 5-AT-B Tri-Motor (NC9649) Mt. Taylor, New Mexico . Lost Flights . March 18, 2015 .
10. News: Wales . Henry . September 4, 1929 . U.S. and Britain Agree on 17 Out of 20 Points . Chicago Daily Tribune. 4 .
11. Web site: Sweet Adeline . . March 18, 2015 .
12. News: September 3, 1929 . Premier Of Italy Is Proud Father . . Santa Ana, California . 1 .
13. News: September 5, 1929 . 17 Die as Army Bomb Factory Explodes in Italy . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
14. Book: Mercer, Derrik . 1989 . Chronicle of the 20th Century . London . Chronicle Communications Ltd. . 382 . 978-0-582-03919-3 .
15. News: Wales . Henry . September 6, 1929 . Briand Starts United States of Europe Plan . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
16. Web site: A Storm Unforeseen, Always About to Pass . October 11, 2008 . . March 18, 2015 .
17. News: September 6, 1929 . Britain Asks Teeth in League War Ban; Powers Back Move . . 1 .
18. Web site: Kuru-laivan onnettomuus 7.9.1929 . March 18, 2015 .
19. News: Rue . Larry . September 8, 1929 . Jews Pray Again at Wailing Wall Under Arab Guns . Chicago Daily Tribune. 13 .
20. News: Shirer . William . William L. Shirer . September 8, 1929 . Flies 332 Mi. an Hour, World Record . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
21. News: September 8, 1929 . Air Liner Found; in Ashes . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
22. News: September 9, 1929 . Actress Weds Director . . 1 .
23. News: Wales . Henry . September 10, 1929 . United Europe Plan Set Forth to 28 Nations . Chicago Daily Tribune. 2 .
24. News: Shirer . William . William L. Shirer . September 11, 1929 . Faster! Faster! Flies Plane at 355 Mile Pace . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
25. "Casualty reports" The Times (London). Thursday, 12 September 1929. (45306), col F, p. 20.
26. News: September 12, 1929 . 14 Drown as Belgian Ship Sinks After Crash . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
27. News: September 12, 1929 . Russians Push Chinese Army Back 40 Miles . Chicago Daily Tribune. 6 .
28. News: September 12, 1929 . Mussolini Gives up Seven of his 8 Cabinet Jobs . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
29. Book: Holston, Kim R. . 2013 . Movie Roadshows: A History and Filmography of Reserved-Seat Limited Showings, 1911–1973 . Jefferson, North Carolina . McFarland & Company, Inc. . 66–67 . 978-0-7864-6062-5 .
30. News: September 14, 1929 . 12 Killed, 15 Injured by Gasoline Blast in Italy . Chicago Daily Tribune. 5 .
31. Book: McNally, Dennis . 2014 . On Highway 61: Music, Race, and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom . Berkeley, California . Counterpoint Press . 160 . 978-1-61902-449-6 .
32. News: Schultz . Sigrid . Sigrid Schultz . September 15, 1929 . Allies Begin to Quit Rhineland; British Go First . Chicago Daily Tribune. 3 .
33. News: September 15, 1929 . Pennant Is First for A's in 15 Years . Chicago Daily Tribune. Part 2, p. 1 .
34. News: September 16, 1929 . Charge 7 With Slaying Woman Mill Worker . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
35. News: Steele . John . September 18, 1929 . U.S. and Britain Invited 3 Powers to Naval Parley . Chicago Daily Tribune. 2 .
36. Web site: Catastrophes Minieres en Lorraine . October 29, 2011 . Hommage Aux Mineurs . March 18, 2015 .
37. News: September 17, 1929 . 12 Killed, 30 Injured, 12 Missing in Mine Blast . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
38. News: September 18, 1929 . Fire Eats Way Into Oil Field; Loss 3 Million . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
39. News: September 21, 1929 . 26 Meet Death as Typhoon Hits Philippine Islands . Chicago Daily Tribune. 4 .
40. News: September 18, 1929 . Vare's Machine and La Guardia Win Primaries . Chicago Daily Tribune. 7 .
41. News: September 19, 1929 . Cut Navy, Aid Peace: Hoover . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
42. Web site: Message Regarding International Peace (September 18, 1929) . . . March 18, 2015 .
43. News: Vaughan . Irving . September 19, 1929 . Cubs Win Pennant Race as Pirates Lose . Chicago Daily Tribune. 23 .
44. Web site: Strictly Dishonorable . . March 18, 2015 .
45. News: September 20, 1929 . Banks Join; Put U. S. at Top . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
46. News: Kinsley . Philip . April 21, 1936 . Rend's Account of Stock Buying is Read in Trial . Chicago Daily Tribune. 3 .
47. Web site: Lithuania (1920–1940) . . March 18, 2015 .
48. Book: Payne, Stanley G. . 1995 . A History of Fascism, 1914–1945 . registration . Madison, Wisconsin . University of Wisconsin Press . 323 . 978-0-299-14873-7 .
49. News: September 20, 1929 . Sixteen Killed; Fifty Injured As Detroit Night Club Burns . . Fredericksburg, Virginia . 1 .
50. News: September 22, 1929 . Night Club Fire Death Toll 20; Owner Is Held . Chicago Daily Tribune. 24 .
51. News: September 21, 1929 . Britain Accepts Compromise on Army Reserves . . 1 .
52. News: Wales . Henry . September 22, 1929 . Britain Backs Down on Demand to Slash Armies . Chicago Daily Tribune. 5 .
53. News: Darrah . David . September 23, 1929 . Mussolini Aims to Build Up New Sparta in Italy . Chicago Daily Tribune. 21 .
54. News: September 23, 1929 . Nab Nationalist Party Leader in Berlin Riots . Chicago Daily Tribune. 22 .
55. News: September 24, 1929 . Need Dairy Tariff, Contends Sec. Hyde . . Joplin, Missouri . 2 .
56. News: September 24, 1929 . Coolidges Wed, Start on Honeymoon . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
57. News: September 25, 1929 . Germans Cheer as Nationalist Raps Young Plan . Chicago Daily Tribune. 15 .
58. News: September 25, 1929 . Warn Florida of Hurricane; Nail Up Homes . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
59. News: Jay . Allen . September 26, 1929 . Austria Cabinet Quits, Victim of Party Intrigue . Chicago Daily Tribune. 16 .
60. Web site: Report on the 1929 Hurricane . . . March 18, 2015 .
61. News: September 27, 1929 . Sharkey's Right Stops Loughran in 3d Round . Chicago Daily Tribune. 21 .
62. Book: Shams, Ishteyaque . 2002 . Novels Of Ernest Hemingway: A Critical Study . New Delhi . Atlantic Publishers & Distributors . 15 . 978-81-269-0167-8 .
63. News: Shirer . William . William L. Shirer . September 28, 1929 . MacDonald Off for America on Peace Mission . Chicago Daily Tribune. 1 .
64. Mitchell . Charles L. . October 1929 . The Tropical Cyclone of September 18-October 4, 1929 . Monthly Weather Review . 419 . March 18, 2015 . 10.1175/1520-0493(1929)57<418:ttcoso>2.0.co;2 . 57. 10 . free .
65. News: September 29, 1929 . Seek to Down Young Plan by Vote of Germans . Chicago Daily Tribune. 16 .
66. News: Shirer . William . William L. Shirer . October 7, 1929 . Coste, Lost on Flight, Turns Up With Air Record . Chicago Daily Tribune. 9 .
67. Book: Tom's town: Kansas City and the Pendergast legend. William M. Reddig. University of Missouri Press. 1986. 978-0-8262-0498-1. 192–193.
68. News: October 1, 1929 . Afghan Armies Locked in Fierce Fight for Kabul . . 26.
69. News: October 1, 1929 . Rocket Plane Flies a Mile and Crashes . . 1.
70. Web site: Uri . John . 95 years ago: First Human Rocket-Powered Aircraft Flight . Mars . Kelli . 12 June 2023 . . NASA History . 12 June 2023.