U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black gave a radio address admitting that he had once been a member of the Ku Klux Klan, but had resigned and never rejoined. Black repudiated the Klan and pointed out that his voting record in the Senate demonstrated that he was "of that group of liberal senators who have consistently fought for the civil, economic and religious rights of all Americans, without regard to race or creed."[1]
Thousands of members of the British Union of Fascists marched through the London district of Bermondsey to mark the fifth anniversary of the organization's founding. Anti-fascists jeered and threw eggs, bricks and other objects as 3,000 police fought to maintain order. Over 100 arrests were made.[4][5]
Died:Richard Hertwig, 87, German zoologist; E. J. Rapson, 76, British numismatist, philologist and professor of Sanskrit
A submarine of unknown nationality fired a torpedo at the British destroyer HMS Basilisk as it patrolled the Mediterranean, the first such attack since the Nyon agreement went into effect. The torpedo missed its target and the Basilisk countered by dropping depth charges, to unknown effect.[6]
A Nationalist court-martial declared death for the captured mercenary American pilot Harold Edward Dahl, but the sentence was immediately annulled by a reprieve.[9]
The American magazine Woman's Day was first published.
Died:Renate Müller, 31, German singer and actress (fall from a window, possibly suicide); Henry Roland, 43, German-born American stunt performer (fall during performance)[10][11][12]
Germany sent a note to Belgium guaranteeing that Belgian neutrality would be respected as long as it refrained from military action against Germany.[22]
A total of seven people were killed on a day of violence in Palestine. Three were killed when a mine blew up a train northeast of the Palestinian city of Jaffa. A policeman shot two Arabs who refused to halt near the scene of the explosion. Elsewhere, two attacks on buses killed two Arabs and wounded three Jews.[24]
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini escaped to Syria before the British could include him among the more than 100 Arab leaders in Palestine they arrested.[26]
Generalissimo Francisco Franco increased his powers with a decree concentrating all the authority into a new National Council, whose members Franco could appoint and dismiss as he wished. Franco assumed the right to name his own successor as well.[32]
Ferencvárosi TC won the 1937 Mitropa Cup, beating in RomeSS Lazio 5-4 (the Hungarian team had already won 4-2 the forward match in Budapest). Sixteen teams from nine nations (Romany first time included) had participated to the tournament.[40]
The Japanese announced the capture of Pingding in Shanxi Province after a three-day battle.[42]
Japan rejected a proposed conference in Brussels to settle the war in China.[16]
This is the cover date of an issue of the weekly magazine Night and Day that included a notorious review by its editor Graham Greene of the movie Wee Willie Winkie. Greene wrote of nine-year old Shirley Temple's "dubious coquetry" and "well-shaped and desirable little body". 20th Century Fox launched a lawsuit on Temple's behalf and would win £3,500.[43][44][45]
On Italy, the historical colossal Scipione l'africano (Scipio Africanus), by Carmine Gallone, was released. The movie, realized with wide means and strongly supported by the fascist regime, did not get the hoped public success.[47]
The 15th anniversary of the March on Rome was celebrated in Italy. High-ranking Nazis including Rudolf Hess and Viktor Lutze attended the ceremonies to demonstrate Germany's new friendship with Italy.[49]
Mussolini recalled the Italian Ambassador to France due to strained relations between the two countries over Italy's participation in the Spanish Civil War.[53]
The British cargo ship Jean Weems was bombed and sunk by warplanes off the coast of Catalonia. A Daily Herald correspondent identified one of the pilots who sank the ship as Benito Mussolini's son Bruno.[55]
Chinese forces abandoned the Defense of Sihang Warehouse. The top floors of the warehouse burst into flames from Japanese shelling as the Chinese withdrew.[56]
^"Franco Saves Illinoisan from Firing Squad". Chicago Daily Tribune. October 7, 1937. p. 1.
^"Fall Kills Aerialist". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 8 October 1937. p. 2. GREENEVILLE (Tenn.) D. D. Roland, veteran trapeze performer, was injured fatally late today when he plunged more than sixty feet from a pole on which he was performing at the Ottway Community Fair.
^"The Final Curtain". The Billboard. 16 October 1937. p. 33. ROLAND -- D.D., 42, aerialist and human fly, a native of Pennsylvania, killed in a 62-foot fall while performing at Greeneville (Tenn.) Community Fair October 7.
^Cooke, William (October 30, 1937). "Tribute to Late D. D. Roland, Noted 'Human Fly' and Aerialist". The Billboard. p. 50. It had long been his ambition to develop a new act that would give more thrills than his former acts, and last winter he realized it by bringing out a high trapeze and awaying pole routing, performed without a safety net, 110 feet above the ground. At the Ottway Fair, Greenville, Tenn., October 7, while completing the finale of his trapeze, a forward somersault to ankle catch, a gust of wind blew his trapeze bar from under him and he fell to his death.
^"Japanese Scale Walls and Take North China City". Chicago Daily Tribune. October 9, 1937. p. 5.
^Taylor, Edmond (October 10, 1937). "France Angry; To Defy Italy". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
^Hessen, Robert (1984). Berlin Alert: The Memoirs and Reports of Truman Smith. Leland Stanford Junior University. p. 109. ISBN978-0-8179-7893-8.
^Larrabee, Eric (2004). Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and Their War. Naval Institute Press. p. 225. ISBN978-1-59114-455-7.
^"Train Blown Up; 7 Die in Day of Palestine Strife". Chicago Daily Tribune. October 15, 1937. p. 6.
^ abBoyle, John Hunter (1972). China and Japan at War, 1937–1945: The Politics of Collaboration. Stanford University Press. p. 127. ISBN978-0-8047-0800-5.
^Reich, Bernard (1990). Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 197. ISBN978-0-313-26213-5.
^Tucker, Spencer C. (2010). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 1874. ISBN978-1-85109-672-5.
^"100,000 Fascist Troops Repeat March on Rome". Chicago Daily Tribune. October 28, 1937. p. 6.
