100 Years Ago This Month: Historical events from May 1925
The month of May has been home to many historical events over the years. Here’s a look at some that helped to shape the world in May 1925.
• “Pink’s War” comes to an end on May 1. The campaign was a British aerial bombardment against the Mahsud tribe in British India’s Punjab Province. The campaign began on March 9.
• King Alexander of Yugoslavia signs a decree to have his brother, Prince George, interned as mentally incompetent on May 2. Prince George remained confined in an asylum for nearly two decades until his release was ordered by German occupying forces during World War II. Perhaps thanks to his internment, Prince George was the lone member of the royal family to avoid being exiled and named an enemy of the state upon conclusion of the war.
• James Naismith becomes a United States citizen on May 4. The 64-year-old Naismith, who invented the sport of basketball, was born in Canada but had lived inn the U.S. for 35 years before becoming an American citizen.
• Biology teacher John Scopes is arrested in Tennessee on May 5. Scopes is arrested teaching evolution, which was illegal in Tennessee. Scopes’s arrest led to one of the most notable trials in American history.
• Two students and a teacher are killed during the Wilno school massacre in Poland on May 6. Two eighth-grade students, one of whom was carrying a hand grenade and a pistol, instigated the massacre by attacking teachers.
• New York Yankees manager Miller Huggins benches Everett Scott on May 6, thus ending the player’s record of 1,307 consecutive games played, a streak that began in 1916.
• African American river worker Tom Lee saves 32 passengers who had been aboard the steamboat M.E. Norman on May 8. The steamboat capsized and sank on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee, killing 23 passengers and crew.
• The Brooklyn Bridge reopens to vehicle traffic for the first time in almost three years on May 12. The bridge was closed in July 1922 due to problems with two suspension cables.
• American Martha Wise is convicted of murder on May 12. Wise poisoned 17 members of her family, killing three. Wise is sentenced to life in prison, where she ultimately died in 1971.
• Editorials in Japanese news media decry American plans to strengthen the naval base at Pearl Harbor on May 15. Some Japanese suggest the decision to strengthen the base is a harbinger of future American aggression towards Japan.
• Casey Stengel plays in his final Major League Baseball game on May 19, ending a 14-year playing career.
• Malcolm Little is born in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 19. Little would grow up and become a central figure in the American civil rights movement, by which time he was known as Malcolm X.
• Visitors from states along the United States and Canada border flock to Ontario on May 21 after legal 4.4 beer goes on sale in the province.
• The crew of the N25 seaplane, part of the Amundsen Polar Expedition led by explorer Roald Amundsen, is forced to touch down on ice on May 22. An accompanying plane, the N24, witnesses the landing and touches down as well. The explorers were attempting to be the first to fly to the North Pole, but spend weeks after touching down trying to chisel a runway out of the ice.
• Chicago mobster Angelo “Bloody Angelo” Genna is shot numerous times during a high-speed car chase on May 26. The North Side Gang is behind the attack, and Genna ultimately dies from his wounds.
• The Los Angeles police announce on May 30 they had foiled a kidnapping plot that targeted Hollywood stars Mary Pickford, Pola Negri and Buster Keaton.
• Peter DePaolo wins the 1925 Indianapolis 500 on May 30. DePaolo becomes the first driver to complete the course in fewer than five hours.
