October 12, 1929: James Scullin wins election to become new Prime Minister of AustraliaOctober 24, 1929: Panic selling begins on Wall Street when the New York Stock Exchange opens as investors scramble to pay "margin calls", a day commemorated as "Black Thursday" and as the start of the Great DepressionOctober 3, 1929: The Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes officially shortens name to "Yugoslavia"
The following events occurred in October 1929:
Tuesday, October 1, 1929
Britain restored diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.[1]
In Marion, North Carolina six people were killed and 25 wounded when special deputies, allegedly drunk, opened fire on striking mill workers.[2]
Britain set up a national committee to consider establishing national parks.[3]
The talking historical film Disraeli, starring George Arliss as the nineteenth century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, premiered at the Warner's Theatre in New York.[4]
The biggest prison riot in the history of Colorado State Penitentiary began when a failed escape attempt by two inmates turned into a hostage situation. The National Guard, civilian volunteers and police from nearby districts were called in and prepared to lay siege.[6]
Film star Jeanne Eagels
Chinese and Soviet troops battled for Manzhouli.[7]
Mahatma Gandhi visited Azamgarh, where he addressed a meeting of about 75,000 persons at Srikrishna Pathsala High School.
Died:
Jeanne Eagels, 39, American film actress, died of an overdose of the sedative chloral hydrate, in conjunction with heroin and alcohol
Gustav Stresemann, 51, Foreign Minister of Germany since 1923, died of a stroke
Friday, October 4, 1929
The Colorado State Penitentiary riot ended in the early morning with its leaders all dead. With the prospects of escape clearly hopeless, one of the leaders shot his accomplices and then himself. In all, eight prison guards and five inmates were killed.[6]
Ramsay MacDonald arrived in New York City and proceeded to Washington, D.C., by train, where he had an introductory 20-minute meeting with President Herbert Hoover. MacDonald became the first sitting British Prime Minister to ever visit the United States.[10][11][12]
Fifty-three-year-old Nick Altrock, a coach for the Washington Senators, was inserted into a meaningless game at the end of the season against the Boston Red Sox as something of a lark. Altrock hit a single in his only at-bat of the game and became one of the few men in major league history to get a hit past the age of 50: Jim O'Rourke, Charley O'Leary and Minnie Miñoso are the only others to accomplish the feat.[18][19]
Monday, October 7, 1929
The sinking of the Norwegian passenger ship Haakon VII killed 44 passengers and crew after the vessel struck a rock near Florø and sank. Another 69 people were rescued.[20]
Stephen Koenig Armstrong and Viola Louise Engel were married in the living room of the Ohio farmhouse of William Ernst Kornspeter, Viola's stepfather. Their first child, future astronautNeil Armstrong, would be born on August 5, 1930.[24]
By two votes, the U.S. Senate eased American censorship laws by passing an amendment to a tariff bill to exempt books and pamphlets from a ban on the importation of obscene content (restrictions against other media, such as paintings and photographs, remained in place). However, the amendment included a new prohibition against books or drawings urging forcible resistance to the laws of the United States or threats against any American's life.[27] The amendment would be revoked in March 1930.[28]
Saturday, October 12, 1929
Afghanistan's new King, Mohammed Nadir ShahAustralia's Prime Minister Bruce, voted out
In Game Four of the World Series, the Philadelphia Athletics mounted the biggest comeback in World Series history, overcoming an eight-run deficit to beat the Chicago Cubs 10 to 8.[29]Hack Wilson became the goat of the series by losing two fly balls in the sun during the Athletics' seventh inning rally.[30]
The German government issued a warning against the anti-Young Planreferendum campaign, calling it a "monstrous attempt to incite the German people against the government and to annihilate the ten-year goodwill policy of the republic with Germany's former enemies."[31][32]
The ocean liner RMS Empress of Canada ran aground off Vancouver Island during a fog. All 96 passengers were safely transferred ashore by another ship.[33]
The British airship R101 embarked on its maiden voyage. Traffic in London came to a standstill as thousands stopped to watch the dirigible pass over the city.[34]
Tuesday, October 15, 1929
Optimist Irving Fisher
American economist Irving Fisher told a dinner meeting audience in New York City that stock prices had reached "what looks like a permanently high plateau" and that he expected "to see the stock market a good deal higher than it is today within a few months."[35]
Lists were opened in Germany for the signing of a petition for a national referendum to deny Germany's war guilt and refuse to obey the Young Plan.[37] 10% of all the country's eligible voters would be required to sign up before the referendum could be considered binding.[38]
The British government made a concession to the country's coal miners by informing their unions that there would be a uniform reduction of work hours from 8 down to 7 and a half per day without reduction of wages. The miners had sought repeal of the Eight Hours Act passed by the Stanley Baldwin government and reversion to the old 7-hour day.[39]
Anti-Italian demonstrations were held all over Yugoslavia as Italian authorities executed a Serbian student by firing squad for being part of a group that fired into a line of electors in Pazin on election day, killing a Fascist.[42][43]
A group of 100 protesters in Brussels rioted and threw stones at the Italian embassy in opposition to the news of the engagement of Princess Marie José to Crown Prince Umberto of Italy. The engagement was unpopular in Belgium because Italian leader Benito Mussolini was disliked there. Police dispersed the rioters by firing over their heads.[49]
The New York Stock Exchange posted more big losses amid a wave of selling.[53]
Sunday, October 20, 1929
In Berlin, two people were reported killed in street fighting that erupted when Der Stahlhelm clashed with police as they demonstrated in favor of the anti-Young Plan referendum and pushed towards the presidential mansion despite a police ban on street parades. Police also repelled a Stahlhelm attempt to storm a Jewish synagogue.[54]
The Edison Institute of Technology was dedicated in Dearborn, Michigan, on the fiftieth anniversary of Thomas Edison's invention of the lightbulb. "Every American owes a debt to him", President Hoover said in a speech honoring the 82-year-old inventor. "It is not alone a debt for great benefactions he has brought to mankind, but also a debt for the honor he has brought to our country. Mr. Edison, by his own genius and effort, rose from modest beginnings to membership among the leaders of men. His life gives renewed confidence that our institutions hold open the door of opportunity to all those who would enter."[55]
The giant Dornier Do X German seaplane had a successful 50-minute test flight over Lake Constance with 169 people aboard.[56]
The Dow dropped 3.71%. As panic began to set in, telephone and telegraph lines were swamped with calls and a record 3.1 million shares changed hands in the first two hours after trading opened. Many investors did not know where they stood through the day as the ticker results were delayed more than 60 minutes behind at one point.[40][57][58]
George Stinney, born in Pinewood, South Carolina, was an African-American teenager wrongfully convicted of raping and murdering two white girls Betty June Binnicker, age 11, and Mary Emma Thames, age 7. Exonerated in 2014. (d. 1944.)
French Prime Minister Aristide Briand and his entire cabinet resigned after the government was defeated on a confidence vote over its Rhineland evacuation policy.[59]
"The present decline is a healthy reaction, which probably has overrun itself. There is nothing alarming about it", National City Bank chairman Charles E. Mitchell said about recent losses in the stock market. "In a market like this fundamentals are the things to look for, and if you can show me anything wrong with the situation generally, then I will be concerned."[60]
The New York Stock Exchange gained 1.75% on a day of optimism and relatively light trading. Nine out of ten market letters sent out by commission houses predicted a rally amid a general feeling that the situation had already bottomed out.[40][61]
SS Milwaukee
All 52 of the crew of the train ferry SS Milwaukee drowned when the ship sank in Lake Michigan, off of the Wisconsin coast, during a storm. The ship had no radio equipment and its captain proceeded into the storm despite the heavy seas.[62]
The Brazilian airline Panair do Brasil began operation as NYRBA do Brasil S.A.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost almost 21 points (6.33%) from its value of the previous day, which would cause many stockbrokers to make margin calls— demand for full payment from investors who had bought shares on credit, in effect obligating themselves to a loan from the brokerage— the next morning.[40][63]
Habibullāh Kalakāni and 1,000 loyalists surrendered to the forces of Mohammed Nadir Shah after a week-long siege, on the condition that their lives be spared.[65] Nadir Shah had Habibullah executed anyway, putting him to death on November 1.
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 began on the day remembered later in history as "Black Thursday". The morning opened with a deluge of panic selling, causing prices to drop sharply. After a midday emergency meeting at J.P. Morgan & Co., prices recovered in the afternoon due in large part to a pool of investment bankers buying to prop up the market, a solution that worked in the short term and limited the market's fall for the day to only 2.09%.[3][40][67][68] A new one-day record 12,880,900 shares were sold.[69]
Born:Clifford Rose, actor, in Hamnish Clifford, England (d. 2021)
President Hoover made a formal statement indirectly addressing the stock market situation. "The fundamental business of the country, that is, the production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis", Hoover said.[70]
Steel industrialist Charles M. Schwab told an audience that there was no reason why industrial prosperity should not continue indefinitely if the balance between production and consumption was maintained.[71]
Chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. said that from his viewpoint, general business was never so good and that prospects were "bright all over the world". Sears, Roebuck & Company President Robert E. Wood shared his optimism, saying, "We think the outlook remains the same as before the break. We are going to do the biggest month's business in our history this month."[72]
Business theorist Roger Babson, who predicted in early September that a stock market crash was coming, said that declines would continue but in a more orderly fashion. "Crazy markets such as we had yesterday must be followed by a resting up", Babson explained, adding, "Speculative buying for profit is over for a while. The buying from now on will be of a legitimate investment nature."[73]
In Krasnodar, Soviet authorities executed 21 men for anti-government activities.[74]
Ramsay MacDonald ended his visit to the United States and Canada, boarding a ship in Quebec headed back for Britain.[75]
Saturday, October 26, 1929
Stocks dipped slightly on a day of moderate trading.[76] At the time, the New York Stock Exchange and other stock markets were open for trading for part of the day on Saturdays, a policy that would be discontinued in 1952.[77]
In Rome, Benito Mussolini addressed 60,000 Blackshirts gathered to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the March on Rome. "Italy today is what I wanted it to be – an army of citizens and soldiers ready for works of peace, laborious, silent and disciplined", Mussolini declared. "And if tomorrow someone wished to disturb the peaceful rhythm of the development of our people, if someone wanted to break this superb unity of spirit, would you answer to my call, Blackshirts?" The legions roared in the affirmative.[82]
Three arrests were made during a demonstration of 500 British Communists outside the American embassy in London protesting the sentences of the textile workers in the Loray Mill Strike.[83]
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped a record 11.73%, four days after having been propped up five days earlier. With all hopes of a quick recovery now gone, sellers outnumbered buyers, 10 to one, as a record 16.4 million shares exchanged hands.[67][68][84]
Assistant Secretary of Commerce Julius Klein gave a national radio address reassuring the American people that there was no reason to change the president's statement of last Friday. "The number of citizens whose buying ability has been affected by the decline in the value of speculative securities is not very large", Klein said. "Their purchases do not make up a very significant fraction of the demand for goods. There is no reason why the twenty-five or more million families, representing over 95 percent of our population whose incomes remain undiminished should cut down their purchases of commodities, and therefore very few industries should see any appreciable reduction in the sales of their output."[85][86]
Industrialist John J. Raskob announced he was reentering the stock market for the first time in months. "Prudent investors are now buying stocks in huge quantities and will profit handsomely when this hysteria is over and our people have opportunity in calmer moments to appreciate the great stability of business by reason of the sound fundamental economic conditions existing in this great country", Raskob said.[87]
John Roach Straton, 54, American Baptist minister and temperance activist
Wednesday, October 30, 1929
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounded with a gain of 12.34%, as traders bought shares at lower cost as part of looking for bargains. The volume of trading eased to 10.7 million shares as many investors decided to hold on to their stocks and wait for the market to recover.[68][91][92]
A general election was held in the Canadian province of Ontario. The Conservative Party led by Howard Ferguson was re-elected with an increased majority. Government-controlled liquor sales were legal in Ontario and the Conservatives were the only significant "wet" party, so the matter of prohibition in the province was considered definitively settled.[93]
John D. Rockefeller released a rare public statement from his home. "Believing that fundamental conditions of the country are sound and that there is nothing in the business situation to warrant the destruction of values that has taken place on the exchanges in the last week, my son and I have for some days been purchasing sound common stocks. We are continuing and will continue our purchases in substantial amounts at levels which we believe represent sound investment values", the statement read.[95]
Thursday, October 31, 1929
The Dow Jones recovered another 5.82% on a half-day of trading.[40]
Lord Irwin, the Viceroy of India, announced that a round table conference would be held to determine the country's future. The declaration included an almost offhand remark that the "natural issue of India's constitutional progress" was "the attainment of Dominion Status", but the statement became very controversial in Britain.[97]
^ abcMercer, Derrik (1989). Chronicle of the 20th Century. London: Chronicle Communications Ltd. p. 383. ISBN978-0-582-03919-3.
^Reid, John Howard (2008). Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD: A Classic Movie Fan's Guide. Lulu.com. ISBN978-1-4357-1073-3.
^Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia: 1941–1945. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 27. ISBN978-0-8047-7924-1.
^ abAnderson, Diana (2002). "1929 Riot". Cañon City Public Library. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
^Powell, John (October 5, 1929). "Chinese, Soviets in Hand to Hand Battle for City". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 10.
^ abHolston, Kim R. (2013). Movie Roadshows: A History and Filmography of Reserved-Seat Limited Showings, 1911–1973. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 67–68. ISBN978-0-7864-6062-5.
^Abramson, Albert (1995). Zworykin, Pioneer of Television. University of Illinois Press. p. 80. ISBN978-0-252-02104-6.
^Henning, Arthur Sears (October 4, 1929). "MacDonald Reaches U.S. to Meet Hoover". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^Henning, Arthur Sears (October 5, 1929). "Capital Greets Premier on his Peace Mission". Chicago Daily Tribune: 1.
^Boone, Bob and Grunska, Jerry. "Hack Wilson in Chicago". Northsiders: Essays on the History and Culture of the Chicago Cubs. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2008. p. 168–169. ISBN978-0-7864-3623-1.
