100 Years Ago This Month: Historical events

The month of February has been host to many historic events over the years. Here’s a look at some of those who helped shape the world in February 1924.

•Honduran President Rafael López-Gutiérrez refuses to leave office on February 1. López-Gutiérrez cites uncertainty over a successor as his reason for remaining in office after initially beginning a four-year term on February 1, 1920.

• Former United States President Woodrow Wilson falls into a coma at 10:30 p.m. on February 2. The 67-year-old former president dies less than 24 hours later.

• Thanks in part to the recommendation of British doctors, Indian freedom fighter Mohandas Gandhi is released from prison in Ahmedabad on February 4. Gandhi served less than a third of his six-year prison sentence for sedition.

• Forty-one miners drown in a flash flood inside an underground iron mine near Crosby, Minnesota, on February 5. The flood occurs when the crew explodes too close to the bottom of a nearby lake.

• President Wilson is buried in a vault beneath the center aisle of the Washington National Cathedral chapel on February 6. He remains the only president buried in the District of Columbia.

• In response to the German Embassy’s refusal to offer condolences or lower flags in honor of President Wilson, approximately 200 taxi drivers plant an American flag on the embassy lawn on February 6.

• Italy’s fascist government formally recognizes the Communist Soviet Union on February 7.

• On February 8, Chinese national Gee Jon becomes the first person in US history to be executed by lethal gas. Jon was convicted of murder in a gang zone and executed in an airtight chamber at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City. Elsewhere in the United States, five inmates, each of them convicted murderers, were executed in Texas, marking the first use of the electric chair in the state.

• Two hundred and fifty delegates representing 61 unions, civic groups and fraternal organizations attend the opening day of the Black Sanhedrin on February 11. The conference was an attempt to establish a national program protecting the legal rights of African American tenant farmers and wage laborers. .

• On February 13, one day after testifying at the trial of “Shoeless Joe” Jackson, Chicago White Sox outfielder Oscar “Happy” Felsch is arrested for perjury. White Sox attorneys presented documents that contradicted Felsch’s testimony, which resulted in his arrest.

• On February 14, Computing-Tabulated-Recording Company is renamed International Business Machines Corporation, which would ultimately be reduced to IBM.

• U.S. Senator Frank L. Greene of Vermont is shot in the head and seriously wounded by a stray bullet during a shootout on February 15. The shooting involved smugglers and Prohibition enforcement officers, and Senator Green was hit while he was walking with his wife on Pennsylvania Avenue. in Washington, D.C.

• German artist George Grosz is fined 500 gold marks on February 16. The court found that a collection of Grosz’s drawings depicting the decline of Berlin society was obscene.

• Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos resigns on February 19. Venizelos had been in office for less than four weeks.

• US President Calvin Coolidge becomes the first president to make a radio broadcast from the White House on February 22.

• Prime Minister Ahmet Zogu of Albania is shot twice by anarchist Beqir Valteri on February 23. Often known as Zog I of Albania, the prime minister reportedly survived more than 50 assassination attempts during his lifetime. Although Valteri’s efforts were unsuccessful, Zogu’s injuries forced him away from his position for a short period after the shooting.

• On February 24, the BeverlyHillsSpeedway will host his final race. The runway is torn down as property values in Beverly Hills skyrocket.

• Trials related to the brewery coup that took place on November 9, 1923 begin in Munich on February 26. Adolf Hitler and Erich Ludendorff are among those on trial..