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 1924.
Iodized salt is introduced in the United States on May 1. Iodized salt is now used in table salt across the globe, and its introduction to the U.S. is credited to Canadian-born pediatrician David Murray Cowie, who ultimately persuaded various salt retailers to utilize iodized salt to combat health problems, including goiters, that were linked to existing salts.
Russian aviator and schoolteacher Zinaida Kokorina makes her first solo flight on May 3. Kokorina is the first woman pilot in military history.
Erich Ludendorff is elected to the Reichstag in Germany on May 4. Ludendorff ran under the banner of the National Socialist Freedom Movement, which was standing in for the banned Nazi Party.
Sophie Lyons is murdered in Detroit on May 8 at age 75. Lyons was a notorious criminal in the post-American Civil War era, but abandoned her criminal life and spent her later years supporting causes related to the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents. On the day of her death, Lyons allowed three men into her home, likely hoping to rehabilitate them. However, the men refused her help, ransacked her home and killed her.
George Buchanan introduces a home rule bill for Scotland in the British House of Commons on May 9. The ensuing debate becomes a shouting match, and the session is ultimately adjourned.
On May 10, 29-year-old lawyer J. Edgar Hoover becomes Acting Director of the Bureau of Investigation, which would eventually become the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Hoover would remain in the post until his death from a heart attack in 1972.
Prohibition ends in Alberta, Canada, on May 12 when two government-owned liquor stores open in the province.
Former Ontario treasurer Peter Smith and financier Aemilius Jarvis are arrested on May 13. Each man is charged with theft and conspiracy to defraud the provincial government in what became known as the Ontario Bond Scandal. Smith and Jarvis are ultimately acquitted of theft and fraud, but both are found guilty of conspiracy.
On May 14, a committee of the Methodist church recommends that the church never again participate in any type of warfare. The committee, convened in Massachusetts, votes 76 to 37 in favor of the church never engaging in warfare under any type of circumstances, including self-defense.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wellington Koo survives an assassination attempt on May 15. A package containing a bomb and addressed to Koo is delivered to his home, but a servant opens the package and is killed.
The wooden roller coaster The Giant Dipper opens at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk on May 17. In July 2012, the park celebrated the 60 millionth rider to ride The Giant Dipper, which is now a National Historic Landmark.
On May 19, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company uses telephone lines to transmit images for the first time. Over a two-hour period, the firm transmits 15 photographs from its office in Cleveland to company headquarters in New York City.
Fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks is kidnapped on May 21 in Chicago. Franks’s parents receive a ransom note demanding $10,000 on May 22, but the boy’s body is discovered near Wolf Lake before any money is paid. Nathan Leopold, Jr. and Richard Loeb confess to the murder on May 31.
A nine-day conference that becomes a power struggle between Soviet Communist Party leaders Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky opens in Moscow on May 23. The Thirteenth Congress of the Communist Party is the first conference since the death of First Secretary Vladimir Lenin roughly five months earlier.
Beulah Annan is acquitted of murder in Chicago on May 25. Annan shot and killed her lover Harry Kalstedt, and her ultimately sensationalized trial ended in acquittal when it was determined she acted in self-defense. The story eventually inspired the play “Chicago,” which has since been adapted into films as well.
The Battle of Turubah is fought on May 26 between the Kingdom of Hejaz and the Sultanate of Nejd. The battle would ultimately determine the fate of the region that would become Saudi Arabia.
The United States Border Patrol is created on May 28 to prevent illegal entry into the United States from Mexico and Canada.
A munitions depot explodes in Bucharest on May 29. The explosion shakes the city, causes damage to the royal palace and claims the lives of many.
Italian politician Giacomo Matteotti is shouted down as he protests the outcome of the previous month’s election during a speech at the Chamber of Deputies on May 30. Matteotti claims the Fascist Party employed intimidation tactics to win the election. The 39-year-old socialist leader is kidnapped and murdered by the Fascists’ secret police 11 days after delivering his speech.
