The following events occurred inMay 1911:

• TheUnited States Supreme Court ruled that the federal government, rather than the individual states, had the right to set apart lands for public use. The ruling, inLight v. United States (220 U.S. 523) initially applied to forest preserves, but would be extended to other federal use of land.^[1][2]

• TheBritish House of Commons approved amendments to the Parliament Bill, a provision for veto ofHouse of Lords power, with the first reading passing 299 to 193.^[3]
• Professor Horatio W. Parker ofYale University, and former Yale professor Brian Hooker won the $10,000 prize from New York'sMetropolitan Opera for an opera written and composed entirely by Americans, withMona receiving the grand prize.^[4]

• The German Antarctic Expedition, organized byWilhelm Filchner, departed fromBremerhaven on the shipDeutschland. Sailing into theWeddell Sea and getting trapped by the ice there for eight months, the expedition would discover theFilchner Ice Shelf.^[5]

• The BritishNational Insurance Bill, providing for both health insurance and unemployment insurance, was introduced byChancellor of the ExchequerDavid Lloyd George.^[6] With workers paying 4d, employers 3d and the government 2d per worker per week, the system became operational on January 15, 1913, and provided sickness payments of up to 10 shillings per week during illness.^[7]

• SirGeorge Kemp's suffrage bill passed its second reading, 255–88. The right to vote was proposed for every woman "possessed of the household qualification," excluding women servants and lodgers, and prohibited women from voting in the same constituency as their husbands.^[8]
• A report on theHaram al-Sharif incident was published, in which it revealed British excavations within the sacred compound.^[9][10]
• Born:Andor Lilienthal, Hungarian and Soviet chess grandmaster; inMoscow (d. 2010).^{[citation needed]}

• The firstInternational Hygiene Exhibition opened inDresden, and attracted five million visitors to the German city.^[11]
• TheColorado Senate adjourned after seven ballots with no replacement for the late SenatorCharles J. Hughes Jr., who had died on January 11.^[12]Colorado had only oneU.S. Senator for more than two years, untilCharles S. Thomas took office on January 20, 1913.^[13]
• Died:George Maledon, 80, nicknamed "The Prince of Hangmen", for carrying out most of the 79 executions atFort Smith, Arkansas, as ordered by "The Hanging Judge",Isaac C. Parker.^{[citation needed]}

• Porfirio Díaz issued a "manifesto" declaring that he would eventually resign asPresident of Mexico, but not until hostilities byFrancisco I. Madero's rebel armies ceased, declaring that he would step down "when, according to the dictates of my conscience, I am sure my resignation will not be followed by anarchy."^[14]
• Born:Ishirō Honda, Japanese film director, inYamagata Prefecture (d. 1993).^{[citation needed]}

• In what has been described as the birth of naval aviation, CaptainWashington Irving Chambers of theUnited States Navy awarded a contract toCurtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company for the Curtiss A-1 Triad.^[15][16]
• The Chinese Grand Council was abolished, replaced by ten member constitutional cabinet, withYikuang (Prince Qing) becoming the firstPremier in China's history.^[17]
• China and theUnited Kingdom signed an agreement whereby the Chinese would phase out production ofopium over a 7-year period, and the British would phase out exports of opium fromIndia to China at the same rate.^[18]
• TheHouse of Lords approvedLord Lansdowne's proposal for reconstitution of the House of Lords on its first reading.^[19]
• Germany issued a warning toFrance that an attempted occupation of the Moroccan city ofFes would be considered a violation of a treaty between the two nations.^[20]
• Born:
  • Robert Johnson, American blues musician, and one of the original inductees of theRock and Roll Hall of Fame; ranked byRolling Stone magazine in 2008 as fifth greatest guitarist of all time; inHazlehurst, Mississippi (poisoned 1938).^{[citation needed]}
  • Rudolf Flesch, American educator whose 1955 bookWhy Johnny Can't Read successfully advocated a change from sight-word reading back tophonics; inVienna, Austria (d. 1986).^{[citation needed]}

• TheAmerican Psychoanalytic Association was founded, at an organizational meeting inBaltimore.^[21]
• A fire broke out at theEmpire Palace Theatre inEdinburgh, Scotland, during a performance of the variety and magic show ofSigmund Neuberger, who billed himself as "The Great Lafayette." The audience of 1,500 was evacuated in four minutes, but eleven members of the troupe, including Lafayette himself, died in the blaze.^[22]
• ProfessorBoris Rosing of theSaint Petersburg State Institute of Technology, assisted by his studentVladimir Zworykin, demonstrated the transmission of a scanned image-- "four luminous bands" on to acathode ray tube. Zworykin would build upon Rosing's discoveries in the development of television.^[23]
• Johann Orth, formerly known as Archduke John Salvator of Austria, was declared legally dead 20 years after he had disappeared.^[24]
• The body ofElsie Paroubek, the subject of an exhaustive three-state manhunt by Chicago police over the four weeks since her disappearance in April, was found in a Lockport, Illinois drainage canal.^[25] Her photograph was published on the front page of theChicago Daily News^[26] and would become an inspiration to amateur artist-authorHenry Darger, who would make her a central figure in his immense fantasy novelThe Story of the Vivian Girls.^[27]
• Died:Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 87, American minister and abolitionist who had commanded the1st South Carolina Colored Infantry Regiment, a Union army regiment composed of African-American soldiers, during the Civil War.^{[citation needed]}

• At 2:30 pm, General Juan Navarro surrendered the city ofCiudad Juárez to the rebel forces ofPascual Orozco andPancho Villa, who had attacked the city in defiance ofFrancisco Madero. The fall of Juarez was the first loss of territory to the rebels. Madero proclaimed himself President the next day.^[28]
• Born:
  • Bel Kaufman, German-born American author (Up the Down Staircase), in Berlin (d. 2014).^{[citation needed]}
  • Alexander D. Goode, U.S. Army Chaplain who was one of theFour Chaplains to give up their lives as the USATDorchester sank on February 3, 1943; inColumbus, Ohio.^{[citation needed]}

• The United States Senate failed, after seven ballots, to elect a replacement for the office ofpresident pro tempore, two weeks after the death of SenatorWilliam P. Frye ofMaine.^[29] SenatorJacob H. Gallinger ofNew Hampshire failed to win majority support. The deadlock was broken by an agreement to rotate the position among five different U.S. Senators until the62nd U.S. Congress session ended in 1913.^[30]
• Born:
  • Phil Silvers, American TV actor and comedian, as Philip Silver inBrooklyn (d. 1985).^{[citation needed]}
  • Doodles Weaver (Winstead Dixon Weaver), American TV actor and comedian, inLos Angeles (d. 1983).^{[citation needed]}
  • Jeanne Behrend, American composer, inPhiladelphia (d. 1988).^{[citation needed]}

• The American steamshipSSMerida sank after it was struck by another vessel, theAdmiral Farragut off of the coast ofCape Charles in the U.S. state ofVirginia.^[31] Although the 131-member crew and the 188 passengers were all rescued, SSMerida sank with a cargo that included 372 silver bars and a cargo worth two million dollars at the time, equivalent to $65 million more than 110 years later. Subsequent attempts to salvage the cargo would recover very little.^[32]

• At the request of the parliament ofPersia,William Morgan Shuster, a 34-year-old American lawyer, arrived in what is nowIran to manage the nation's economy as its Treasurer General. Shuster was forced to leave eight months later after theRussian Empire sent troops to prevent him from seizing the assets of the former royal family.^[33]

• AnImperial Decree was issued in China, annexing the railroad lines fromHankou toGuangzhou andChongqing, in advance of the receipt of the first installment of a loan from foreign banks to construct a new railroad.^[34]
• Born:
  • Wayne Hays, U.S. Representative fromOhio (1949–76) and onetime chairman of theHouse Administration Committee until scandal forced his resignation; inBannock, Ohio (d. 1989).^{[citation needed]}
  • Maxine Sullivan, American blues singer, inHomestead, Pennsylvania (d. 1987).^{[citation needed]}

• PrinceLij Iyasu was proclaimed as EmperorIyasu V of Ethiopia, referred to at the time asAbyssinia.^[35]

• TheUnited States Supreme Court issued its ruling inStandard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, upholding a judgment that theStandard Oil Company held amonopoly in violation of American antitrust law, and ordered that the Standard Oil be split into competing companies within six months.^[36] Among the 38 companies created were Standard Oil of New Jersey (laterExxon) and Standard Oil of New York (Mobil), which merged in 1999 asExxonMobil; Standard Oil of Indiana (Amoco), Standard Oil of California (Chevron), Atlantic Refining (ARCO) and Continental Oil Company (Conoco).^[37]
• TheParliament Act 1911, nicknamed the "Veto Bill" because it gave the right of the lower house of Parliament to reverse decisions by theHouse of Lords, passed theBritish House of Commons on its third reading, 362–241, and moved on to the House of Lords.^[38]
• Born:Max Frisch, Swiss author, inZürich (d. 1991).^{[citation needed]}
• Died: James Smith, 53, Chairman of Manufacturing Committee of Standard Oil Company.^{[citation needed]}

• A group of 303 Chinese and five Japanese immigrants were killed in theTorreón massacre when the forces of theMexican Revolution, led byFrancisco I. Madero's brotherEmilio Madero, took the city ofTorreón from theFederales.^[39] After a three-day defense, government troops departed and twelve hours of rioting began. Among the victims was Dr. J.W. Lim, a wealthy Chinese-Mexican banker, who was dragged through the streets before being shot.^[40] In all, 316 Chinese residents were murdered during the revolution, and China's ambassador to Mexico, Shung As Sune, demanded compensation from the Mexican government of 33,600,000 pesos, worth $16,800,000 for the loss of lives and property.^[41]
• Henry Lewis Stimson was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the newU.S. Secretary of War, four days after the resignation ofJacob M. Dickinson.^[42]
• Died: Margaret A. Weller, 68, the first person to learn how to use theQWERTY keyboard. Mrs. Weller, the wife of a court reporter, tested the prototype of thetypewriter invented byC. Latham Sholes in 1867.^[43]

• Born:
  • Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish-born American film actress, inBoyle, County Roscommon, Ireland (d. 1998).^{[citation needed]}
  • Clark Kerr, American educator, inStony Creek, Pennsylvania (d. 2003).^{[citation needed]}
  • Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish fashion model, described in theNew York Times in 1997 as "The First Supermodel," inVästra Götaland County (d. 1992).^{[citation needed]}
• Died:
  • William Benjamin Baker, 70, former U.S. Congressman ofSouth Dakota and "father of rural free delivery."^{[citation needed]}
  • Constance Faunt Le Roy Runcie, 75, American musical composer.^{[citation needed]}

• TheIllinois State Senate voted to reopen the investigation into the controversial election ofU.S. Senator William Lorimer, a day after the committee concluded that he would not have been elected without bribery.^[24]
• Born:Big Joe Turner, American blues singer whose song "Shake, Rattle and Roll" made him a rock star in his 40s; inducted posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987; inKansas City, Missouri (d. 1985).^{[citation needed]}
• Died:Gustav Mahler, 50, Austrian composer.^{[citation needed]}

• Parks Canada, the governmental agency which regulates national parks in the Dominion of Canada, was created as theDominion Parks Branch of the Canadian Department of the Interior, and was the first National Park Service in any nation.^[44][45]
• Carlo Crispi ofNew York became the first American to be convicted of a crime as a result offingerprint evidence alone. Crispi, whose prints had been taken during a burglary a few years earlier, was caught after his fingerprints had been found on a pane of glass at the scene of another break in. After hearing expert testimony, Crispi pleaded guilty to burglary in return for a light sentence of 6 months and in the interests of science.^[46]

• The Hukuang Loan Agreement, which would prove to be the downfall of theManchu Dynasty and theChinese Empire, was signed inBeijing, providing for a $30,000,000 loan to the Imperial Government.^[47]
• Born:
  • Gardner Fox, American comic book writer forDC Comics, who helped create the "Justice Society of America" and later the "Justice League of America" series; inBrooklyn (d. 1986).^{[citation needed]}
  • Milt Gabler, American record producer who introduced multiple innovations in the recording industry; inHarlem; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (d. 2001).^{[citation needed]}
• Died:Williamina Fleming, 54, Scottish astronomer who perfected the Pickering-Fleming system for classification ofvariable stars.^{[citation needed]}

• TheTreaty of Ciudad Juárez was signed, formally ending theMexican Revolution. The treaty was to have been signed at the customs office at Juarez, which was on the Mexican–American border and had served as the headquarters for rebel leaderFrancisco I. Madero, but, asThe New York Times reported later, "By some mistake, as yet unexplaned, the Custom House was locked when the Police Commissioners arrived." Judge Francisco S. Carbajal, appearing as representative for Mexico's PresidentPorfirio Díaz, and Madero and two other insurgent leaders, decided to sign the treaty on the steps of the customs building, under the illumination of automobile headlights.^[48]

• French Minister of WarHenri Berteaux was killed, and Prime MinisterErnest Monis was seriously injured, after they were struck by an airplane atIssy-les-Moulineaux. The occasion was the start of the1911 Paris to Madrid air race, with 200,000 spectators turning out to watch. Piloted by a Messieur Train, the monoplane took off without clearance, was caught in a downdraft and plunged into the assembled dignitaries. Berteaux was struck by the propeller which severed his left arm, fractured his skull and cut his throat, and Monis sustained compound fractures of his right leg and a broken nose.^[49]
• Born:Peter Hurkos, Dutch-born housepainter who claimed to have obtained psychic powers after falling from a roof in 1941; inDordrecht (d. 1988).^{[citation needed]}

• A monument was unveiled atArlington, Virginia, toPierre L'Enfant, with U.S.President Taft and French Ambassador Jusserand speaking in honor of the Frenchman who had designed the city of Washington, D.C. Said Taft, "There are not many who have to wait 100 years to receive the reward to which they are entitled, until the world shall make the progress which enables it to pay the just reward."^[50]
• Born:Anatol Rapoport, Russian-born American mathematician and pioneer inmathematical biology; in Lozovaya, Russia (d. 2007).^{[citation needed]}

• TheNew York Public Library was dedicated by President Taft and by the library's greatest benefactor,Andrew Carnegie . It opened the next day at 9:00 to the general public.^[51]
• Pinellas County, Florida was established.^[52]

• At a speech inKansas City, Missouri, U.S.Secretary of the TreasuryFranklin MacVeagh endorsed the plan of theNational Monetary Commission to create theFederal Reserve Board.^[53]
• Born:
  • Ne Win, Prime Minister and then President ofBurma from 1958 to 1981, and chairman of the nation's sole political party until his 1988 ouster, inPaungdale (d. 2002).^{[citation needed]}
  • Carleen Hutchins, American violin maker, inSpringfield, Massachusetts (d. 2009).^{[citation needed]}
  • Barbara West, one of the last two survivors of the 1912sinking of theTitanic, inBournemouth, England (d. 2007).^{[citation needed]}

• Mexico's PresidentPorfirio Díaz and Vice-presidentRamón Corral presented their resignations to theChamber of Deputies inMexico City at 4:25 pm. At 4:54, the Chamber voted 167–0 to accept. Foreign MinisterFrancisco León de la Barra was then sworn in as Provisional President of Mexico.^[54]
• Racial riots between Hindus and Muslims in the city ofKhulna in India'sBengal Province (nowBangladesh) were suppressed.^[55]
• Born:William Roos, American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1987).^{[citation needed]}

• Igor Stravinsky completed his composition of the music for theballetPetrushka, just 18 days before its world premiere.^[56]
• Born:Ben Alexander, American actor, inGoldfield, Nevada (d. 1969).^{[citation needed]}

• TheDreamland amusement park at New York'sConey Island was destroyed by a fire that began after workmen had been repairing a ride called the Hell Gate. The park had been built only 7 years earlier byWilliam H. Reynolds for $3.5 million (equivalent to $70,000,000 a century later), included a 70-foot-tall tower, and employed 2,500 people. It was never rebuilt.^[57][58]
• Born:
  • Hubert H. Humphrey,U.S. Vice President (1965–69), U.S. Senator forMinnesota, and unsuccessful candidate for U.S. president in 1968, inWallace, South Dakota (d. 1978).^{[citation needed]}
  • Vincent Price, American horror-film actor, inSt. Louis (d. 1993).^{[citation needed]}
  • Teddy Kollek,Mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993; as Kollek Tivadar inNagyvázsony,Austria-Hungary (d. 2007).^{[citation needed]}

• The body of Belle Walker, anAfrican-American cook, was found 25 yards from her home on Garibaldi Street inAtlanta. Her throat had been cut by an unknown slayer, and the crime was reported in theAtlanta Constitution under the headline "Negro Woman Killed; No Clew to Slayer"^[59] On June 15, another black woman, Addie Watts, was found with her throat slashed, followed on June 27 by Lizzie Watkins. The search for theserial killer, called "the Atlanta Ripper" by the press, found six different suspects, but no convictions were ever made, nor was the crime ever solved. By the end of 1911, fifteen women, all black or dark-skinned, all in their early 20s, had been murdered in the same manner. The "Ripper" may have had as many as 21 victims.^[60]
• TheUnited States Post Office Department announced a surplus for the first time in its history. Postmaster GeneralFrank H. Hitchcock returned $3,000,000 to the U.S. Treasury, declaring it necessary because of a surplus "considerably over $1,000,000".^[61]
• Born:
  • Fritz Hochwälder, Austrian playwright, inVienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1986).^{[citation needed]}
  • DameThora Hird, British actress inMorecambe, Lancashire, England (d. 2003).^{[citation needed]}

• The United States Supreme Court followed its breakup of the Standard Oil Company with a decision dissolving theAmerican Tobacco Company.^[62][63]
• Crowley County, Colorado, was established from the northern portion ofOtero County.^[52]
• Died:W. S. Gilbert, 74, British playwright and lyricist (to the music ofArthur Sullivan in the famous partnership ofGilbert and Sullivan), suffered a fatal heart attack and drowned while swimming to the rescue of 17-year-oldRuby Preece on the lake of his estate. Preece got out of the lake on her own afterward.^{[citation needed]}

• Ray Harroun won the very first running of theIndianapolis 500 automobile race, driving car #32, a Marmon Wasp. At an average speed of 74.59 miles per hour, Harroun, who was the only driver not to have a mechanic riding with him, completed the race in 6 hours and 42 minutes.^[64] The race was marred by the death ofSam Dickson, who became the first person killed during the Indianapolis 500. At the time, the cars carried both a driver and a riding mechanic, and Dickson was the mechanic for driverArthur Greiner. On lap 12, one of the front wheels on the Greiner-Dickson car came off, and both men to be thrown from the car. Dickson was thrown into a fence 20 feet (6.1 m) away and killed instantly, while Greiner had a broken arm.^[65]

• The terrorist bombing of the barracks at Fort La Loma inNicaragua killed 130 people.^[66]
• Shortly after the thoroughbred horseSunstar won the 132nd running of Britain's premiere horse race, theEpsom Derby, a powerful thunderstorm struck the area in and around Epsom. Seventeen people were killed by lightning strikes, and more were injured, during the evening. A downpour soaked most of the 100,000 spectators, though none were killed.^[67]

• The White Star linerRMSTitanic, at the time the largest mobile object ever constructed, was launched fromBelfast at 12:13 pm. It was 883 feet long, 58 feet high and weighed 46,000 tons. It would sink less than a year later.^[68]
• Porfirio Díaz left Mexico to begin his exile in France, departing fromVeracruz on the steamerYpiranga. Before departing, he declared, "I shall die in Mexico."^[69] He would die in exile in France in 1915.
• Born:Maurice Allais, French economist, 1988Nobel Prize in Economics laureate, in Paris (d. 2010).^{[citation needed]}

• May 1911
• May by year
• Months in the 1910s

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