Dimitrios Railes was forced to step down as Prime Minister, and Kyriakoules Mavromichales implemented reforms to avert a dictatorship. Henry Farman became the first person to fly an airplane , winning the Grand Prix de la Champagne endurance test and reaching in 3:04:56.4 at Rheims. Born: Lester Young, American saxophone player; in Woodville, Mississippi (d. 1959) Died: Emil Christian Hansen, 67, Danish fermentation physiologist August 28, 1909 (Saturday) A flash flood in Monterrey in Mexico, drowned 1,200 people and left 15,000 homeless. The crest of the rain-swollen Santa Catarina river reached the city shortly after midnight. The California cities of San Pedro and Wilmington were consolidated with Los Angeles. August 29, 1909 (Sunday) Glenn Curtiss won the world's first airplane race, conducted at Rheims, France, and a $5,000 prize. While other pilots slowed down to make turns on a two-lap course, Curtiss showed that sharp turns could be banked. August 30, 1909 (Monday) A gusher at the Maikop oil field in Russia rose to a height of , but most of the well's contents were lost because the operators were not prepared to store it. The International League Against Epilepsy was founded, in Budapest, Hungary, during the 16th International Medical Conference. The German battleship Helgoland was launched at Kiel, the first of a new class of ships with larger guns and improved propulsion. In Fez, Morocco, the consuls of France, Great Britain and Spain presented a letter of protest to the Sultan, demanding the abolition of the practice of mutilation and slow death as punishment. The initiative took place twenty days after more than 30 convicted criminals had hands or feet amputated. The city of Tokyo announced a gift of cherry trees to be planted at the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. The gift was paid for, anonymously, by Jokichi Takamini, the millionaire chemist who invented synthetic epinephrine. August 31, 1909 (Tuesday) Paul Ehrlich found the first successful treatment for syphilis, arsphenamine, on his 606th experiment. The compound, based on arsenic, was the "magic bullet" that assisted the human immune system in combatting an illness, and led to the first use of chemotherapy. The number 606 would become the slang name for the treatment with Salvarsan, the trade name for arsphenamine. Abbot Augustus Low was granted U.S. patent No. 929,960 for the paper shredder, which was described as an improved "waste-paper receptacle". Low wrote in his application that his invention