On this day, July 20, in 1924, the U.S. Vice Consul to Persia (present-day Iran) was murdered by a Muslim mob.  The mob was enraged by rumors that the Vice Consul, Robert Imbrie, had killed several people by poisoning a water fountain.  They may also have been motivated by Imbrie's efforts in the preceding weeks to protect Dr. Susan Moody, an American living in Tehran who had converted to Bahaism.  Just as Shi'a are considered heretics by Sunnis, Bahais are considered heretics by Shi'a.  It was the diplomatic pressure that Imbrie had applied to the local police that had spared the life of Dr. Moody at the hands of a mob of enraged Muslims surrounding her home.

In the aftermath of Imbrie's murder, his widow was spat upon and was the target of stonethrowing.  The U.S. goverment responded by requesting that the Persians pay the cost of transporting the body of the Vice Consul back to the U.S.