Jefferson City, Missouri (died 1984) July 30, 1909 (Friday) With Benjamin Foulois as navigator and observer, Orville Wright passed the final requirement of the U.S. Army Signal Corps for a military airplane. A crowd of 7,000 turned out at Fort Myer, Virginia, to see if the Wright Military Flyer could average per hour over ten miles (16 km). Wright and Foulois flew five miles (8 km) to Alexandria, rounded Shooter's Hill, and returned in less than 15 minutes. For reaching , Wilbur and Orville Wright earned an additional $5,000 along with the $25,000 award. When the House of Lords blocked his proposed budget, David Lloyd George, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, made the "Limehouse Speech" in the East London neighborhood of the same name. Referring to the House of Lords, Lloyd George said, "The question will be asked whether 500 men, ordinary men chosen accidentally from the unemployed, should override ... the deliberate judgment of millions of people who are engaged in the industry which makes the wealth of this country." The power of the House of Lords was reduced two years later by the Parliament Act 1911. An earthquake in Mexico heavily damaged the towns of Acapulco and Chilpancingo, and an aftershock the following day destroyed water mains in Mexico City. Cosmetic brand L'Oreal was founded by Eugène Schueller in France. Born: C. Northcote Parkinson, British historian and author of Parkinson's Law, in Barnard Castle (d. 1993) Juan Bosch, Dominican author and President for seven months in 1963; in La Vega (d. 2001) Paul "Mousie" Garner, American comedian; in Washington, D.C. (died 2004) July 31, 1909 (Saturday) Sheikh Fazlollah Noori, a Shi'ite Muslim leader in Iran, was hanged for treason after resisting the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. Seventy years later, after the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Sheikh was proclaimed a national hero by the Ayatollah Khomeini. The Zion National Park was established by order of U.S. President William Howard Taft, who set aside 15,840 acres (24.75 square miles) as the Mukuntuweap National Monument. A time capsule was placed in the cornerstone of the Summit County Courthouse in Breckenridge, Colorado. The capsule was opened on August 8, 2009. References 1909 1909-07 1909-07