Domestic Events - September 1923
September 19.—One seaman is killed and thirty others of the crew of the destroyer McFarland are injured when that vessel is rammed by the battle-ship Arkansas off the bay entrance of the Cape Cod Canal.
The new two-year wage contract agreed to by anthracite miners and operators is formally signed in the presence of Governor Pinchot.
September 20.—The Government has no power under the Merchant Marine Act to dispose of government-owned ships through corporations organized under State law, and to receive shares of stock in return for the ships, Attorney-General Daugherty advises President Coolidge.
An explosion of gas at the Bureau of Standards in Washington results in the death of four men and the injury of seven. An internal combustion engine was being tested when the explosion occurred.
Governor J. C. Walton says he will arm every man in Oklahoma opposed to the "Invisible Empire," if necessary.
More than 5,000 stills, 2,000,000 gallons of mash, and 50,000, gallons of whisky were seized by Prohibition agents during the last fiscal year, according to a report of Prohibition Commissioner Haynes.
September 21.—The Bureau of Internal Revenue estimates that the Federal Government will receive $500,000 in taxes from the Dempsey-Firpo fight on September 14.
The Publishers' Association of New York sign a contract with the International Pressmen's Union, establishing arbitration for settling disputes when conciliation fails, and carrying an increase of $3.00 a week in wages and a reduction in working hours. The local union's charter has been revoked because of its unauthorized or "outlaw" strike, and it is not recognized in the new contract.
September 22.—Grand Dragon N. C. Jewett, the highest officer of the Ku Klux Klan in Oklahoma, is arrested on evidence adduced by a military court investigating floggings in Oklahoma. He is released on $1,000 bond.
September 23.—Supervision of the coal industry through a specially created division of the Interstate Commerce Commission is recommended to President Coolidge in the final report of the Federal Coal Commission.
September 24.—Adjutant B. H. Markham is ordered by Governor J. C. Walton to use all force of arms necessary to prevent the lower house of the Oklahoma Legislature from meeting on September 26. Impeachment of the Governor is planned by members of the Legislature because of his putting the State under martial law.
Declining to extend further its option on the Muscle Shoals power plant at Gorgas, the Alabama Power Company purchases the government property on its land at a cash price of $3,472,487.25
September 25.—Orders are served on members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives forbidding them to meet in legislative assembly.