September 1st in History

Welcome to September - which used to be the seventh month, back when the calendar year started in March, but that changed when the beginning of the year was moved back to January, and the month of July for Julius Cesar, and August, for Augustus, were inserted into the Calendar.  For a more complete explanation, I refer our readers to the September "Hot Word Blog" blog link on our blog roll from dictionary.com.

  891 - Count Arnulf the Great of Flanders, grandson of Alfred the Great of England, and part of the Carolingian dynasty which descended from Charles Martel aka Charles the Hammer, as one of the Carolingian dynasty - which also included Charlemagne (which translates roughly as Charles the Magnificent), so he came by his immodest name familialy. He was named - his first name - for another ancestor, St. Arnulf of Metz.  Names had a lot to do with legitimacy. In 891, Arnulf defeated the Vikings from Scandinavia at the battle of Louvain in Belgium. Arnulf spent more of his reign in Flanders fighting the Normans as he expanded his borders than he did fighting Vikings from Scandinavia.  And when he wasn't fighting the Normans, he was playing politics with Charles the Simple, King of France, son of Louis the Stammerer, and successor of Charles the Fat, from another branch of the prolific and colorful Carolingians, who were dominant in the early middle ages in Europe.

1532   Lady Anne Boleyn is made Marchioness of Pembroke by her fiancé, King Henry VIII of England.

Louis XIV

1715   Death of King Louis XIV of France, le Roi Soleil, the Sun King, dies after a reign of 72 years—the longest of any major European monarch.  The French monarchy did not survive the 18th century.

1772   Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa founded in San Luis Obispo, California.  Named for the Spanish version of the name of the French saint, Saint Louis of Anjou, Bishop of Toulouse.  It is one of the oldest buildings in the modern state of California, a remnant of an extensive chain of missions which were part religious buildings, part military forts in the Christianizing militant colonialism of the Spanish in the 'New World'.  It was the fifth mission built by legendary Father Junipero Serra.

1804  Juno, one of the largest main belt asteroids, was discovered by German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding.

a younger, pre-exile Aaron Burr

1807  Former Vice President Aaron Burr was found innocent of treason in what is known as the Burr conspiracy.  Prominent political figures involved in the event included Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, and President Thomas Jefferson.  At issue for Chief Justice John Marshall were claims of executive privilege in providing documents in response to subpoenas, in the context of separation of powers and the checks and balances of the executive and judiciary branches.  The absence of documents requested by Chief Justice Marshall were part of Burr being found innocent, and the precedent that the President of the United States IS subject to subpoenas from the SCOTUS were key elements of subsequent juris prudence. (perhaps colleague ToE will find the time to elaborate).  This gets more interesting when one considers that Thomas Jefferson had been the second Vice President of the United States under John Adams, and that Aaron Burr had been the third Vice President under Thomas Jefferson, and that Aaron Burr as Vice President had presided over the Senate impeachment of one of the Supreme Court Associate Justices as part of an attempt to remove lifetime SCOTUS justices in order to replace them with his own nominations.  This did not mean that Aaron Burr had been Jefferson's running mate; it meant he became VP by losing out in a vote in the House of Representatives at the time settling a tie vote.  That there may have been a bit of political pay-back going on is suggested by the allegations that Burr intended to overthrow President Jefferson in his subsequent re-election with Vice President George Clinton replacing Burr.  (It is also interesting in unrelated history that the office of VP was vacant after Clinton from April 1812 to March 1813.)  After all of this, Burr exiled himself to Europe for most of the remainder of his life.

Englebert Humperdinck, 1910

1810   John J. Wood patented the first plow with interchangeable parts.

1854   Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (d. 1921) No. The other one.

1858   The East India Company's government of India ended with the British crown taking over its territories and duties.

1859 rail car

1859  The Pullman sleeping car, built by George Pullman's company with help from Ben Field, was put into service.

1870  Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Sedan was fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory, and the capture of Emperor Napoleon III (for those who thought there had been only one Emperor Napoleon).

'Molly Maguires' meeting

1875   A murder conviction effectively forces the violent Irish anti-owner coal miners, the "Molly Maguires", to disband. The Molly Maguires evidence relied on the allegations of a prominent industrialist, Franklin B. Gowan who was president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, and the largest mine owner, and the testimony of a single Pinkerton detective he had hired.  There is some indication that the claims may have been the result of both bribery and coercion.  Vigilantes went after not only miners trying to get better treatment for miners, but their families, and those vigilantes may have been working either directly or indirectly on behalf of mine owners and industrialists.  Anti-Roman Catholic sentiments by successful Protestants was another factor in opposition to the labor protests by coal miners.

Elmo Lincoln,
as Tarzan

         Birth of Edgar Rice Burroughs, prolific American writer, and World War II war correspondent (d. 1950).  He was the creator of the Tarzan of the Apes series of books and stories, which were later made into movies, as well as the John Carter of Mars series, and many others, writing a total of 70 novels, and numerous short stories.  The city of Tarzana grew up in the vicinity and is named after Burrough's Tarzana Ranch; the city of Tarzan, Texas was named for the silent film of Tarzan starring Elmo Lincoln; and the Burroughs Crater on Mars is named after him.

1878   Emma Nutt becomes the world's first female telephone operator when she was recruited by Alexander Graham Bell to the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company.

1887  A patent was filed for by Emile Berliner for his invention, the lateral-cut, flat-disk gramophone; better known as the record player. Emile got the patent, but the glory went to Thomas Edison for making his American invention work.

Main Street of Hinckley after the fire

another view of the fire devastation

1894   More than 400 people, possibly as many as 800, die in the Great Hinckley Fire, including Civil War hero Boston Corbett, the Union soldier who killed John Wilkes Booth. The forest fire in and around Hinckley, Minnesota completely destroyed Mission Creek, Hinckley, and Brook Park and three other towns, and partially destroyed the town of Sandstone, Minnesota in a matter of three or four hours, incinerating approximately 420 square miles.  Smoke was so heavy it disrupted navigation on the Great Lakes. Several factors contributed to the creation of a firestorm, reaching temperatures of 1000 F, including a method of lumber harvesting, a temperature inversion, and a two month drought with temperatures in the 90s.  In a firestorm like this, energy is released equivalent to multiple Hiroshima atomic bombs. Thanks to the collection of Macalaster College for the photos.

1902 poster, "A Trip to the Moon"

First Subway, open-style car

1897   The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America.

1902   A Trip to the Moon, considered one of the first science fiction films, is released in France.

1906   The International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys is established.

1906  Birth of Eleanor Burford Hibertt, prolific historical fiction, gothic fiction, and even romances as an author under the names Jean Plaidy, Victoria Holt, Philippa Carr, Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Anne Percival and Ellalice Tate(d. 1993).  In her lifetime she sold over 100 million books.

1914   St. Petersburg, Russia, changes its name to Petrograd, (which later changes to the current name of Leningrad).

Martha the last passenger pigeon

           The last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo. The passenger pigeon was one of the most proflific birds in North America, systematically killed as a meat source in massive numbers.  It became extinct largely due to ruthless and cruel overhunting, but also in part due to loss of habitat through extensive deforestation.  It is significant that attempts to keep the species from becoming extinct were unsuccessful, in part due to lack of concern at species extinction; at the time people didn't really believe it could happen.  It is an example of extinction due entirely to human actions in a relatively short space of time. 'Martha' is in the Smithsonian collection, preserved by taxidermy for posterity.

1923  The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people.

Zog 1 of Albania

1928  Ahmet Zogu declares Albania to be a monarchy and proclaims himself king as Zog I.

1939    World War II: Nazi Germany invades Poland, beginning the war in Europe.
            George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
            The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted. The final version of the Iron Cross is also instituted on this date.
            Switzerland mobilizes its forces and the Swiss Parliament elects Henri Guisan to head the Swiss Army (an event that can happen only during war or mobilization).

Japanese American Internment Camp

1942  A federal judge in Sacramento, Calif., upheld the wartime detention of Japanese-Americans as well as Japanese nationals. One of the most shameful events of American History, it is an action currently being praised by conservative extremist Michelle Malkin in her new book, and an action for which in 1988 President Ronald Reagan and the U.S. Congress extended an apology, and $1.6 billion in reparations.  Congresswoman Michele Bachmann used unfounded fears of subsequent Census data for internment of citizens as a fear tactic in 2009, in advance of the 2010 census.

1945  The United States received official word of Japan's formal surrender that ended World War II. In Japan, it was actually September 2nd.

1951   The United States, Australia and New Zealand sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty.
1961    The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of the Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate.

1968   Birth of Mohamed Atta, Egyptian terrorist (d. 2001), ring leader of the 9/11 terrorists.

1970   Attempted assassination of King Hussein of Jordan by Palestinian guerrillas, who attacked his motorcade. Death of  François Mauriac, French writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1885)

SR-71 Blackbird

1974   The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London in the time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds.

1979   The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km.

1981  Albert Speer, a close associate of Adolf Hitler who ran the Nazi war machine, died at a London hospital at age 76.

1982   Canada adopts the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as part of its Constitution.

1982   The United States Air Force Space Command is founded.

Titanic

1983   Cold War: Korean Air Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board die, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald.

1985   A joint American–French expedition locates the wreckage of the RMS Titanic.

1991   Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Uzbekistan from the Soviet Union in 1991.

1992   The Constitution of Slovakia is ratified

Some of the dead children

2004   Beslan school hostage crisis commences when armed terrorists take children and adults hostage in Beslan in North Ossetia, Russia. More than 1,100 people were taken hostage by heavily armed Chechen militants at a school in Beslan in southern Russia; nearly 400 people, most of them children, were killed during the three-day ordeal.

2006   Luxembourg becomes the first country to complete the move to all digital television broadcasting.
 
2007 Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, announced that he would resign in the wake of fallout over his guilty plea in a Minnesota airport gay sex sting. (Craig later reversed his decision, saying he would serve out the rest of his term.)