1898 Jan 1, The consolidation of NYC ended a rivalry with Chicago
which had annexed some 20,000 people in the surrounding towns of Hyde Park,
Kenwood, Pullman and Woodlawn.
(WSJ, 12/31/97, p.A10)
1898 Jan 3, Zasu Pitts actress: Busby Berkeley's 1933 musical:
Dames, was born.
(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)
1898 Jan 7, Art Baker, TV host (You Asked For It), was born in
NYC.
(MC, 1/7/02)
1898 Jan 10, Sergei M. Eisenstein (d.1948), Russian director (Alexandr
Nevski) [OS], was born in Riga, Latvia. He became a renowned film director
in Russia. In 1999 Ronald Bergan published the biography: "Sergei Eisenstein:
A Life In Conflict." [see Jan 23]
(SFEC, 5/2/99, BR p.1,10)(MC, 1/10/02)
1898 Jan 13, Emile Zola's famous defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus,
"J'accuse," was published in Paris. The open letter to French President
Felix Faure accused the French judiciary of giving into pressure from the
military to perpetuate a cover-up in the Dreyfus treason case.
(AP, 1/13/98)(MC, 1/13/02)
1898 Jan 14, Author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson—better known as "Alice
in Wonderland" creator Lewis Carroll—died in Guildford, England.
(AP, 1/14/98)
1898 Jan 23, Sergei Eisenstein, Russian film director (Battleship
Potemkin), was born. [see Jan 10]
(MC, 1/23/02)
1898 Jan, Henry James published "The Turn of the Screw."
(SFC, 1/17/98, p.C1)
1898 Feb 1, The Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, CT (the
company with the red umbrella over their logo) issued the very first automobile
insurance policy on this day. Dr. Truman Martin of Buffalo, NY, paid $11.25
for the policy, which gave him $5,000 in liability coverage.
(AP, 2/1/97)(440 Int'l, 2/1/1999)
1898 Feb 3, Alvar Aalto (d.1979), Finnish architect, was born.
(HN, 2/3/01)
1898 Feb 5, Ralph McGill, editor and publisher of the Atlanta
Constitution, was born.
(HN, 2/5/01)
1898 Feb 8, John Ames Sherman patented the 1st envelope folding
& gumming machine in Mass.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1898 Feb 10, Bertolt Brecht (d.1956), German poet and dramatist,
was born. He is best remembered for his plays "Three Penny Opera" and "Mother
Courage." "Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the
way they are."
(HN, 2/10/99)(AP, 3/11/00)
1898 Feb 11, Leo Szilard, physicist, instrumental in the Manhattan
Project, was born.
(HN, 2/11/01)
1898 Feb 12, [Le]Roy Harris, composer (When Johnny Comes Marching
Home), was born in Oklahoma.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1898 Feb 14, Fritz Zwicky, Swiss astronomer (super nova), was
born.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1898 Feb 15, The battleship USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana
harbor. The explosion killed 266 of her crew. It had been sent there to
menace Imperial Spain and its sinking helped to precipitate the Spanish-American
War. The explosion—never satisfactorily explained—brought the United States
closer to war with Spain over the issue of Cuban independence.
(Civilization, July-Aug, 1995, p.14)(NH, 4/97, p.38)(HT, 5/97,
p.64) (HN, 2/15/98)(AP, 2/15/98)
1898 Feb 18, Enzo Ferrari, racing car manufacturer, was born.
[see Feb 20]
(MC, 2/18/02)
1898 Feb 20, Jimmy Yancey, American blues pianist, was born.
(HN, 2/20/01)
1898 Feb 20, Enzo Ferrari, Italian sports car manufacturer, was
born. [see Feb 18]
(HN, 2/20/98)
1898 Feb 22, A black postmaster was lynched and his wife and 3
daughters were shot in Lake City, SC.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1898 Feb 23, Writer Emile Zola was imprisoned in France
for his letter J'accuse in which he accused the French government of anti-Semitism
and the wrongful imprisonment of army captain Alfred Dreyfus.
(HN, 2/23/01)
1898 Mar 8, Richard Straus' "Don Quixote," premiered in Keulen.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1898 Mar 13, The ship New York, built in Philadelphia in 1888
as the T.F. Oaks, was caught in the surf of Half Moon Bay and broke
up after a few days. It was 259 days out of Hong Kong and all 22 aboard
under Capt. Thomas Peabody made it to shore. Most of the cargo was lost.
(Ind, 4/6/02, 5A)
1898 Mar 23, Georgios Grivas, Greek General, opposition leader
on Cyprus, was born.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1898 Mar 24, Chicago Gas, absorbed by Peoples Gas Light &
Coke Co., was removed from the Dow Jones and replaced by Peoples Gas.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R-45,46)
1898 Mar 24, The 1st automobile was sold.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1898 Mar 26, Lt. David Henry Jarvis of the Revenue Cutter Service
reached Point Franklin, after a 1500-hundred mile trek, with a herd of
reindeer to rescue 273 iced-in whalers stranded here and at Point Barrow.
(ON, 1/01, p.1)
1898 Mar 28, The Supreme Court ruled that a child born in the
United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen, and therefore could
not be deported under the Chinese Exclusion Act.
(AP, 3/28/98)
1898 Apr 3, Henry R. Luce (d.1967), magazine publisher, founder
of Time, Fortune and Life, was born. "Show me a man who claims he is objective
and I'll show you a man with illusions."
(HN, 4/3/01)(AP, 3/9/98)
1898 Apr 8, British General Horatio Kitchener defeated the Khalifa,
leader of the dervishes in Sudan, at the Battle of Atbara. Anglo-Egyptian
forces crushed 6,000 Sudanese.
(HN, 4/8/99)(MC, 4/8/02)
1898 Apr 9, Paul Robeson (d.1976), black athlete, actor and singer,
was born. He is best remembered for his role in Othello. Lloyd L. Brown
later wrote the biography "The Young Paul Robeson: On My Journey Now."
"The course of history can be changed but not halted."
(SFC, 3/26/98, p.A26)(HN, 4/9/99)(AP, 1/18/01)
1898 Apr 11, American President McKinley asked Congress for a
declaration of war against Spain. The war was fomented by New York newspapers
in their own battle for circulation.
(AP, 4/11/97)(HN, 4/11/98)(WSJ, 5/19/98, p.A20)
1898 Apr 14, Harold Black, electrical engineer, was born.
(HN, 4/14/01)
1898 Apr 15, Bessie Smith, American blues singer, was born.
(HN, 4/15/01)
1898 Apr 19, Congress passed a resolution recognizing Cuban independence
and demanding that Spain relinquish authority over Cuba. President McKinley
was also authorized to use military force to put the resolution into effect.
(AP, 4/19/97)
1898 Apr 20, President McKinley signed a congressional resolution
recognizing Cuban independence from Spain. He signed the Joint Resolution
for War with Spain that authorized U.S. military intervention to Cuban
independence.
(AP, 4/20/97)(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A19)
1898 Apr 21, The Spanish-American War began. The U.S. North Atlantic
Fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, was ordered
to begin the blockade of Cuba. The fleet with the armored cruiser New York
steamed out of Key West, Fla., at 6:30 a.m. the next morning. The fleet
had hardly left port when it pursued and captured a Spanish merchant vessel,
Buenaventura. The Spanish-American War had begun. In 1998 David Traxel
published "1898: The Birth of the American Century," a history of the Spanish-American
War. http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/subjects.html
(HN, 4/21/98)(SFEC, 7/5/98, BR p.6)(HNPD, 4/25/99)
1898 Apr 22, US Congress passed the Volunteer Army Act calling
for a Volunteer Cavalry.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1898 Apr 22, With the United States and Spain on the verge
of formally declaring war, the U.S. Navy began blockading Cuban ports under
orders from President McKinley. In the first Spanish-American War action
the USS Nashville captured a Spanish merchant ship, the Buenaventura, off
Key West, Fla. Also, Congress authorized creation of the First U.S. Volunteer
Cavalry, popularly known as the "Rough Riders." In 1998 the book "Empire
by Default" by Ivan Musicant retold the story of the was in detail.
(AP, 4/22/97)(WSJ, 2/23/98, p.A20)(AP, 4/22/98)(HN, 4/22/98)(MC,
4/22/02)
1898 Apr 24, Spain declared war on the United States after rejecting
America's ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.
(AP, 4/24/97)(HN, 4/24/98)
1898 Apr 24, US fleet under commodore Dewey steamed from Hong
Kong to Philippines.
(MC, 4/24/02)
1898 Apr 25, The United States formally declared war on Spain.
The US House passed the declaration 311 to 6.
(AP, 4/25/97)(HN, 4/25/98)(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.A1)
1898 Apr 28, William Soutar, Scottish poet, was born.
(HN, 4/28/01)
1898 May 1, US Commodore George Dewey gave the command, "You may
fire when you are ready, Gridley," as an American naval force destroyed
a Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. Admiral George Dewey led the US Navy in
victory over the Spanish navy at the Battle of Manila Bay in the
Philippines. Dewey's ships lobbed shells into Filipino-dug trenches and
the battle became a massacre.
(AP, 5/1/97)(Hem, Dec. 94, p.70)(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1 p.4)(HN, 5/1/99)
1898 May 1, U.S. Navy Captain Charles Gridley earned a place
in history during the Battle of Manila Bay.
(HN 8/13/98)
1898 May 3, Golda Mier (d.1978), 4th Prime Minister of Israel
(1969-1974) and the first woman PM, was born. "Whether women are better
than men, I cannot say -- but I can say they are certainly no worse."
(AP, 5/11/97)(HN, 5/3/02)
1898 May 6, Daniel Gerber, baby food pioneer, was born in Freemont,
Mich.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1898 May 10, Ariel Durant, writer (Story of Civilization), was
born.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1898 May 12, A US fleet under Admiral William T. Sampson attacked
El Morro and San Cristobal. After 2 hours of shelling the fleet headed
for Cuba.
(HT, 4/97, p.30)
1898 May 12, Louisiana adopted a new constitution with a "grandfather
clause" designed to eliminate black voters.
(SC, Internet, 5/12/97)
1898 May 18, Juan J. Domenchina, Spanish poet, interpreter (sombra
desterrada), was born.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1898 May 19, Postcards were first authorized by the Post Office.
(DTnet, 5/19/97)
1898 May 21, Armand Hammer, millionaire industrialist, was born.
(HN, 5/21/98)
1898 May 25, Bennett Cerf, publisher, founder of Random House,
was born.
(HN, 5/25/01)
1898 May 25, Gustav Regler, writer, was born.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1898 May 25, Mischa Levitzki, composer, was born.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1898 May 25, Gene Tunney, heavyweight boxing champion (1926-1930),
was born.
(HN, 5/25/98)(SC, 5/25/02)
1898 May 25, 1st US troop transport to Manila left San Francisco.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1898 May 28, Edward Bellamy, US author (Looking Backward), died.
(MC, 5/28/02)
1898 May 31, Norman Vincent Peale (d1993), American religious
leader, was born in Ohio. He later authored "The Power of Positive Thinking."
(HN, 5/31/01)(MC, 5/31/02)
1898 May, In Alaska construction began on the White Pass &
Yukon railroad. It was led by Big Mike Heney, a Canadian Railway contractor,
and Sir Thomas Tancred, who represented the British financiers.
(SFEC, 2/8/98, p.T3)
1898 Jun 1, Molly Picon, comic actress and singer, was born.
(HN, 6/1/01)
1898 Jun 2, So wrote Dr. Paul-Louis Simond: "I was overwhelmed.
I had just unveiled a secret which had tormented man for so long." Simond
had just made the connection between rats, fleas and humans in the transmittance
of plague in a Bombay, India, laboratory, to which he was sent by the Institute
Pasteur.
(NG, 5/88, p.678)
1898 Jun 5, Federico Garcia Lorca (d.1936), Spanish poet and dramatist,
was born.
(WUD, 1994, p.584)(MT, Spg. '99, p.2)(HN, 6/5/01)
1898 Jun 7, Social Democracy of America party held its 1st national
convention in Chicago.
(SC, 6/7/02)
1898 Jun 9, China leased Hong Kong's New Territories to Britain
for 99 years. [see Jul 1]
(MC, 6/9/02)
1898 Jun 10, Hattie McDaniel, 1st Black to win Oscar (Gone With
The Wind), was born in Wichita.
(MC, 6/10/02)
1898 Jun 10, During the Spanish-American War, U.S. Marines landed
in Cuba and camped at Guantanamo Bay where 2 Marines became the 1st war
casualties.
(HN, 6/10/98)(SSFC, 1/20/02, p.A7)
1898 Jun 11, Emperor Kuang-Hsu of China began 100 days of Reform
in effort to modernize China, but conservative forces soon squelch the
attempt.
(AP, 6/11/03)
1898 Jun 12, The Philippines gained independence from Spain. Emilio
Aguinaldo, rebel leader, proclaimed Philippine independence. Aguinaldo
served as the first president.
(SFC, 6/8/96, p.A17)(SFC, 3/31/97, p.A14)(AP, 6/12/97)(SFEC,
1/31/99, Z1 p.4)
1898 Jun 13, The Yukon Territory of Canada was organized.
(AP, 6/13/97)
1898 Jun 15, The U.S. House of representatives approved the annexation
of Hawaii. Some 38,000 Hawaiians signed the "Monster Petition" that was
delivered to Washington by Queen Liliu'okalani. the petition was ignored.
(HN, 6/15/98)(SFEC, 8/9/98, p.D2)
1898 Jun 15, US marines attacked the Spanish off Guantanamo,
Cuba.
(MC, 6/15/02)
1898 Jun 17, Maurits C. Escher, Dutch graphic artist, was born.
(MC, 6/17/02)
1898 Jun 18, The 1st amusement pier opened in Atlantic City, NJ.
(MC, 6/18/02)
1898 Jun 20, During the Spanish-American War on the way to the
Philippines to fight the Spanish, the U.S. Navy cruiser Charleston seized
the island of Guam.
(AP, 6/20/98)(HN, 6/20/98)
1898 Jun 21, Guam became a US territory. [see Jun 20, Jul 21]
(MC, 6/21/02)
1898 Jun 22, Erich Maria Remarque, German born novelist and author
of "All Quiet on the Western Front" (Im Westen nichts Neues), was born.
The book, based on Remarque's experiences in World War I, emphasized the
numbing daily routine of grunts in the trenches in stark contrast to prevailing
political rhetoric. The novel received international acclaim and was made
into a Hollywood film in 1930. Remarque left Germany for Switzerland in
1932 because of the growing Nazi movement. He became a naturalized American
citizen in the '40s, but moved back to Switzerland later in life. Remarque
kept writing, but never attained the same level of critical success as
his first novel.
(WUD, 1994, p.1213)(SFC, 12/31/96, p.A20)(HN, 6/22/98)(HNQ, 12//00)
1898 Jun 22, Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt and Col. Leonard Wood
led the Rough Riders, a volunteer cavalry regiment, onto the beach at Daiquiri
in the Spanish American War.
(MC, 6/22/02)
1898 Jun 24, American troops drove Spanish forces from La Guasimas,
Cuba.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1898 Jun 26, Wilhelm Emil Messerschmitt, German engineer, was
born. He built fighters and jet aircraft for Nazi Germany.
(HN, 6/26/99)
1898 Jul 1, American troops took San Juan Hill and El Caney, Cuba,
from the Spaniards. During the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt
and his "Rough Riders" waged a victorious assault on San Juan Hill in SE
Cuba. Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt was unsatisfied with the lack
of clear orders and decided to lead a charge up San Juan Hill himself.
At first, Regular troops were resistant to following a volunteer officer,
but Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt and his eager Rough Riders
managed to rally enough troops and convince enough officers to charge.
By nightfall, the Spaniards had retreated and the heights overlooking Santiago
were in American hands. The black Buffalo Soldiers captured San Juan Hill.
As the Rough Riders shipped off to war the band played: "There'll Be A
Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight."
(WUD, 1994, p.1267)(AP, 7/1/97)(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.C14)(HNPD, 7/1/99)
1898 Jul 1, Major Gen. Joseph Wheeler (63) led a cavalry division
in the Battle of San Juan Hill. As a Confederate brigadier and then major
general, "Fightin' Joe" Wheeler commanded the cavalry of the Confederate
Army of Mississippi and, later, the Army of Tennessee. Captured in May
1865, he went on to have a prosperous postwar life, serving as a U.S. congressman
for eight terms. After his Spanish-American War service, Wheeler retired
from the army as a brigadier general of U.S. Regulars. When he died in
January 1906, he was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.
(HNQ, 2/13/02)
1898 Jul 1, China leased the New Territories and 235 adjacent
islands to Britain on a 99-year lease.
(SFEC, 11/10/96, Par p.14)(SFC, 3/11/97, p.A12)(SFEC, 6/22/97,
p.A14)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A8)
1898 July 3, The Spanish cruisers Cristóbal Colón,
Almirante Oquendo, Vizcaya and Infanta Maria Teresa, and two torpedo-boat
destroyers, lay bottled up in Santiago Harbor, with seven American ships
maintaining a blockade just outside. Without warning, the Spanish squadron
attempted to break out, and the Americans attacked, sinking one torpedo
boat and immediately running the other aground. The Americans gave to Oquendo,
Vizcaya and Colón. Henry Reuterdahl's painting shows the American
battleships Texas and Oregon, and the Spanish cruisers Maria Teresa, Colón
and Oquendo. After a four-hour battle, all the Spanish warships were overtaken
and practically all were destroyed, with only two American causalities,
both from the U.S. armored cruiser Brooklyn.
(AP, 7/3/98)(HNPD, 7/3/98)
1898 Jul 4, Gertrude Lawrence, English actress, was born.
(HN, 7/4/01)
1898 Jul 4, A US flag was hoisted over Wake Island during the
Spanish-American War.
(Maggio, 98)
1898 Jul 4, The French liner "La Bourgogne" collided with bark
Cromartyshire, and 560 people died.
(Maggio, 98)
1898 Jul 7, The United States annexed Hawaii and acquired Wake
Island to complete a set of coaling stations for ships crossing the Pacific.
(HFA, '96, p.34)(AP, 7/7/97)(WSJ, 2/23/98, p.A20)
1898 Jul 8, Alec Waugh (d.1981), novelist (Island in the Sun);
brother of Evelyn, was born in London. "If we knew where opinion ended
and fact began, we should have discovered, I suppose, the absolute."
(AP, 2/9/00)(MC, 7/8/02)
1898 Jul 8, US battle fleet under Adm. Dewey occupied Isla Grande
at Manila.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1898 Jul 17, Bernice Abbott, photographer, was born.
(HN, 7/17/01)
1898 Jul 17, U.S. troops under General William R. Shafter took
Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War.
(HN, 7/17/98)
1898 Jul 17, During the Spanish-American War, Spain surrendered
to the United States at Santiago, Cuba.
(AP, 7/17/97)
1898 Jul 21, Spain ceded Guam to US.
(OGA, 11/24/98)
1898 Jul 22, Stephen Vincent Benet, poet and short-story writer,
author of John Brown's Body, was born.
(HN, 7/22/98)
1898 Jul 22, Alexander Calder (d.1976), American artist. He is
considered the inventor of the mobile as a sculpture. In 1998 Marla Prather,
Alexander Rower and Arnauld Pierre published the Calder retrospective:
"Alexander Calder."
(SFEM,11/30/97, p.10)(HN, 7/22/02)
1898 Jul 25, US Gen'l. Nelson A. Miles landed troops at Guanica
on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. Spain and the US came to terms at
the Treaty of Paris and the US acquired Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico became
a US territory.
(HT, 4/97, p.65)(SFC, 3/26/97, p.C3)
1898 Jul 28, Spain, through the offices of the French embassy
in Washington, D.C., requested peace terms in its war with the United States.
(HN, 7/28/98)
1898 Jul 30, Henry Moore (d.1986), English sculptor, was born.
In 1998 John Hedgecoe published "A Monumental Vision: The Sculpture of
Henry Moore."
(SFEC, 7/19/98, BR p.9)(HN, 7/30/01)
1898 Jul, Fred Holland Day, photographer, led an entourage on
a photo trip where he took some 250 photographs with himself cast as the
crucified Christ. He showed his work titled "Seven Last Words of Christ"
at the Philadelphia Salon and again the following year in London. At this
time he also took photographs of 13 year-old Kahlil Gibran, who would later
become known for "The Prophet" and "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam." [see
1864-1933]
(Civilization, July-Aug. 1995, p.40)
1898 Jul, Marie and Pierre Currie published their discovery of
polonium from radiation in pitchblende.
(ON, 3/00, p.1)
1898 Aug 12, Hawaii was formally annexed to the United States.
(AP, 8/12/97)
1898 Aug 12, The peace protocol ending the Spanish-American War
was signed after three months and 22 days of hostilities. 460 US soldiers
died in battle. The US paid Spain $20 million to vacate Cuba, Guam, Puerto
Rico and the Philippines. Over the next 3 years US casualties in the Philippines
war totaled over 4,000. [see Dec 10]
(AP, 8/12/97)(WSJ, 2/23/98, p.A20)(HN, 8/12/00)(SSFC, 3/30/03,
p.D1)(WSJ, 7/2/03, p.B1)
1898 Aug 13, Manila, the capital of the Philippines, fell to the
U.S. Army under Adm. George Dewey.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1 p.4)(HN 8/13/98)(MC, 8/13/02)
1898 Aug 23, Albert Claude, biologist, was born. He never graduated
from high school and won the 1974 Nobel for his work on the sub-structure
of the cell.
(HN, 8/23/00)
1898 Aug 24, Malcolm Cowley, poet and translator, literary critic
and social historian was born. He wrote "The Dream of the Golden Mountains."
(HN, 8/24/98)
1898 Aug 24, Ernest Narjot (b.1826), French-born painter, died
in SF. He came to California with the Gold Rush in 1849 and became one
of the state's foremost artists. Much of his work was destroyed in the
1906 earthquake.
(SFCM, 10/28/01, p.20)
1898 Aug 26, Peggy Guggenheim, art patron and collector, was born.
(HN, 8/26/00)
1898 Aug 29, Preston Sturges, American screenwriter, film director
and playwright, was born.
(HN, 8/29/00)
1898 Aug, US troops began arriving in the Philippines.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1 p.4)
1898 Sep 1, Lord Kitchener's army bombed Omdurman, Sudan. Lt.
Winston Churchill approached Omdurman, the rebel capital, as a scout in
the cavalry along with the rest of Gen. Kitchener's army of 25,000 men.
[see Sep 2]
(ON, 10/99, p.2)(MC, 9/1/02)
1898 Sep 2, Anglo-Egyptian lines under Gen'l. Kitchener were charged
by 50,000 fanatical Dervishes and were mowed down by howitzers, machine
guns and rifles. Lt. Winston Churchill led one of the last (and most useless)
cavalry charges in history. Sir Herbert Kitchener led the British to victory
over the Mahdists at Omdurman and took Khartoum. The Dervishes left 11,000
dead and 16,000 wounded. The Anglo-Egyptian army suffered fewer than a
dozen casualties. In 1899 Winston Churchill published "The River War, An
Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan." This was the 1st use of the machine
gun in battle.
(WSJ, 8/25/98, p.A14)(HN, 9/2/98)(ON, 10/99, p.3)(MC, 9/2/01)
1898 Sep 6, Lord Kitchener destroyed Mahdi's tomb in Omdurman
(Sudan).
(MC, 9/6/01)
1898 Sep 10, Empress Elisabeth of Bavaria (60), Queen of Hungary
and wife of Emp. Franz Josef II, was assassinated in Geneva by the Italian
anarchist Luigi Luccheni. A 1997 German rock musical, "Elisabeth," by Michael
Kunze and Sylvester Levay was based on her life.
(EWH, 1968, p.744)(WSJ, 12/8/97, p.A1,13)
1898 Sep 12, Ben Shahn (d.1969), painter (1964 Arts & Letters),
was born.
(WSJ, 12/1/98, p.A20)(MC, 9/12/01)
1898 Sep 13, Hannibal Goodwin patented celluloid photographic
film.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1898 Sep 13, 20,000 Paris construction workers went on strike.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1898 Sep 14, Hal B. Wallis, film producer, was born. His work
included "The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca."
(HN, 9/14/00)
1898 Sep 14, General Electric was removed as a component of the
Dow Jones. US Rubber was re-instated as a component of the Dow Jones.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R-45,46)
1898 Sep 24, Howard W Florey, pathologist, was born in Australia.
He purified penicillin and won a Nobel Prize 1945.
(MC, 9/24/01)
1898 Sep 26, George Gershwin, American composer, was born as Jacob
Gershvin in Brooklyn, N.Y. He wrote many popular songs for musicals, along
with his brother Ira, and is best known for "I Got Rhythm" and "Rhapsody
in Blue." His work included "An American in Paris." As Gershwin was putting
together his famous "Rhapsody in Blue" in 1924, jazz was gaining widespread
popularity. But Gershwin sought to do something new: "Jazz, they said,
had to be in strict time. It had to cling to dance rhythms. I resolved
to kill that misconception with one sturdy blow." Audiences loved it. He
and his brother Ira collaborated in 1934 to create "Porgy and Bess," an
opera that explored African-American culture. Many of its songs have become
ingrained in American popular culture. Just a few years later, when he
was only 38, Gershwin died of a brain tumor.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, DB p.37)(AP, 9/26/98)(HNPD, 9/26/99)
1898 Sep 27, Vincent (Miller) Youmans, songwriter, was born. He
is best known for "Tea for Two" and musical scores such as "No, No Nanette"
and "Flying Down to Rio."
(HN, 9/27/00)(MC, 9/27/01)
1898 Sep 30, Felix Kersten, Baltic-German-Finnish masseuse and
confidant of Heinrich Himmler, was born.
(MC, 9/30/01)
1898 Sep 30, The city of NY was established with five boroughs.
(MC, 9/30/01)
1898 Sep, Jimmy Rogers, country singer, was born in Meridian,
Miss. He died at 35 of tuberculosis. In 1997 Bob Dylan produced the album
"The Songs of Jimmy Rogers: A Tribute" by a variety of artists. His biography
was written by Nolan Porterfield: "Jimmy Rogers: The Life and Times of
America's Blue Yodeler."
(SFEC, 8/17/97, DB p.56)(WSJ, 9/26/97, p.A20)
1898 Oct 1, Jews were expelled from Kiev, Russia.
(MC, 10/1/01)
1898 Oct 6, Gustav Mahler made his debut conducting Vienna Philharmonic.
(MC, 10/6/01)
1898 Oct 16, William O. Douglas, 81st U.S. Supreme Court Justice
(1939-75), was born.
(HN, 10/16/00)(MC, 10/16/01)
1898 Oct 17, Shinichi Suzuki (d.1998), music teacher, was born.
(MC, 10/17/01)
1898 Oct 18, Lotte Lenya, actress and singer (Appointment, Semi-Tough),
was born in Vienna, Austria.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1898 Oct 18, The American flag was raised in Puerto Rico shortly
before Spain formally relinquished control of the island.
(AP, 10/18/97)
1898 Nov 2, Theodor Herzl arrived in Jerusalem.
(MC, 11/2/01)
1898 Nov 10, A race riot in Wilmington, NC, left 8 blacks killed.
The Wilmington race riot claimed the lives of over 20 African-Americans.
(MC, 11/10/01)(WSJ, 1/22/02, p.A11)
1898 Nov 11, Rene Clair, French film director, was born.
(HN, 11/11/00)
1898 Nov 21, Rene Magritte (d.1967), Belgian surrealist
painter, was born. His work includes "Golconda." In 1998 a collection of
his work was edited by Giselle Ollinger-Zinque and Frederik Leen. It included
his Surrealist paintings as well as his wallpaper designs, illustrated
music scores, advertising posters, and photographs from his amateur films.
(WUD, 1994, p.863)(WSJ, 12/3/98, p.W4)(HN, 11/21/00)
1898 Nov 22, Wiley Post, aviator and parachutist (crashed in Alaska),
was born in Grand Plain, Tx.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1898 Nov 22, Pietro Mascagni's opera "Iris" premiered (Rome).
(MC, 11/22/01)
1898 Nov 26, SS Portland, a 280-foot sidewheeler, left Boston
for Cape Cod. A major storm arose that killed over 400 people in the next
36 hours. [see Nov 27]
(MC, 11/26/01)(AH, 6/02, p.53)
1898 Nov 27, The SS Portland, under Capt. Hollis H. Blanchard,
sank in the Portland Gale and all 157 [192] people aboard were killed.
(MC, 11/26/01)(AH, 6/02, p.55)
1898 Nov 29, C.S. Lewis (d.1963), British author, was born.
His work included "The Chronicles of Narnia." He chose a theistic view
of reality over a materialistic one and affirmed the mutual existence of
soul, god and nature. His autobiography was titled "Surprised by Joy."
His work included "The Abolition of Man," "Miracles" and "The Problem of
Pain." "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. ... It has
no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to
survival."
(AP, 12/20/97)(WSJ, 10/8/98, p.W13)(SFEC, 11/15/98, p.T3)
1898 Dec 6, Alfred Eisenstaedt, photojournalist, was born.
(HN, 12/6/02)
1898 Dec 6, Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist and sociologist,
was born.
(HN, 12/6/00)
1898 Dec 9, Emmett Kelly, circus clown (Weary Willie), was born
in Sedan, Kansas.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1898 Dec 10, The United States and Spain signed the Treaty of
Paris, ending the Spanish-American War. This ceded Puerto Rico, the Philippines
and Guam to the United States. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty February
6, 1899. [see Aug 12]
(AP, 12/10/97)(HN, 12/10/98)(HNQ, 7/28/01)(MC, 12/10/01)
1898 Dec 21, [French] Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered
radium.
(AP, 12/21/97)
1898 Dec, In Germany Emil and Joseph Berliner founded Deutsche
Grammophon, dedicated to manufacturing the gramophone record and player
invented by Emil.
(SFEC,12/797, DB p.45)
1898 Armand Hammer (d.1990), American industrialist, was born.
(SFC, 1/17/97, p.D8)
1898 Edward Mitchell Bannister painted "Peasants in a Forest Clearing."
He was the 1st African-American painter to win a national award.
(WSJ, 8/8/00, p.A20)
1898 Cecilia Beaux painted "Man with the Cat" (Henry Sturgis Drinker).
(SFC, 4/11/01, p.E8)
1898 Pissaro painted "Avenue de L'Opéra, Place du Téâtre
Français: Misty Weather."
(WSJ, 1/7/02, p.A22)
1898 Henry James (1843-1916), brother of William and son of Henry,
wrote "The Turn of the Screw."
(WSJ, 10/10/96, p.A18)
1898 Ernest Thompson Seton published his classic "Wild Animals
I Have Known."
(Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.77)
1898 Mark Twain authored the play "Is He Dead: A Comedy in Three
Parts." It did not get published until 2003.
(SSFC, 5/18/03, p.M2)
1898 H.G. Wells published the classic "War of the Worlds." It
was about an invasion of Earth by Martians.
(SFC, 11/29/96, p.A16)
1898 Buddy Bolden, cornetist and New Orleans brass band leader,
was an early practitioner of what would be recognized today as jazz. Bolden's
1898 brass band, Kid Ory's Creole Band, played their early version of jazz
while marching in parades, at funerals, weddings and dances. Blues, ragtime
and brass band music were blending at the end of the 19th century into
what would be known as jazz. New Orleans was one of the key cities for
the development of this music.
(HNQ, 5/12/98)
1898 Sunset Magazine began as a publication by the Southern Pacific
Co. to promote rail travel and to sell real estate.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, Z1 p.1)
1898 The northern California Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods railroad
was featured in the first documentary film made in the Bay Area.
(SFC, 8/17/96, p.A17)
1898 The Diamond Head Lighthouse in Hawaii began operating.
(SFEC, 4/6/97, p.T12)
1888 The Agnews State Hospital was opened in San Jose on farmland
purchased from Abraham Agnews. It was once called the Agnews Insane Asylum
and was closed in 1995. Sun Microsystems acquired an 82.5 acre portion
of the property and planned to build an R&D campus in 1997.
(SFC, 9/29/97, p.A21)
1898 Giraud Foster after having invented closure snaps for clothing,
built a $2.5 million estate on 400 acres in Lee, Mass.
(SFC, 4/5/97, p.E5)
1898 America's first forestry school was founded. It is commemorated
by the Cradle of Forestry historic site and visitor center in the Pisgah
Nat'l. Forest in North Carolina, the first purchased Nat'l. forest in the
US.
(Hem, 8/96, p.33)
1898 The Berghoff German restaurant in Chicago opened.
(Hem., 7/96, p.26)
1898 A telephone excise tax was created to help finance the Spanish-American
War. The 3% tax was still being charged in 2000.
(SFC, 3/27/00, p.A1)
1898 The US Post Office featured a stamp with the image of Eads
Bridge in Missouri.
(SFC, 9/3/98, p.A19)
1898 Simon Lake took the first successful submarine, the Argonaut
First, out through Hampton Roads for trial runs in the Chesapeake Bay.
(NG, Sept. 1939, J. Maloney p.356)
1898 Storyville, the New Orleans brothel district, was legalized.
(WSJ, 2/3/95, p.A-11)
1898 Guam became a US naval base after the Spanish-American War.
(WSJ, 2/20/97, p.A20)
1898 Brooklyn merged with New York City.
(SFC, 5/26/96, T-8)
1898 Chinese Americans formed groups like the Chinese American
Citizen's Alliance to protect their civil rights in America.
(SFEC, 2/6/00, Rp.10)
1898 The Alaska Klondike gold rush was in full swing.
(SFEC,11/16/97, p.T5)
1898 The SF-based Bechtel Group construction firm was founded.
The firm's projects later included the Hoover Dam, the Trans-Arabian Pipeline,
the Nevada Test Site, and the SF BART.
(SFC, 1/16/98, p.E2)
1898 In Ohio James M. Cox, a 28-year-old school teacher, borrowed
$26,000 and bought the Dayton Daily News. It grew to become the 1998 Cox
Enterprises with 18 daily newspapers, 21 cable TV systems and 20 radio
and TV stations.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A19)
1898 William Entenmann Sr. founded the Brooklyn bakery that later
grew to become the nation's largest baked goods company.
(SFEC, 9/30/96, p.A23)
1898 Frank Seiberling named his fledgling rubber company after
Charles Goodyear (d.1860), inventor of vulcanized rubber.
(SFC, 7/31/02, p.D10)
1898 A Campbell Soup executive admired the red-and-white colors
of the Cornell football team and adopted them for Campbell Soup.
(SFC, 1/8/00, p.B4)
1898 Federal Steel was organized in a merger of Illinois Steel
Co. and other steel companies. The transaction was bankrolled by J.P. Morgan.
Judge Elbert H. Gary, an Illinois Steel director, became Federal's first
president.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R-45)
1898 The first independent auto dealership opened in Detroit and
the first franchised dealership opened in Reading, Pa.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1898 In Connecticut the Meridan Silver Plate Co. was one of many
independent silver companies that merged to form the Int'l. Silver Co.
(SFC,12/10/97, Z1 p.9)
1898 In Chicago the Pickard China Co. was founded by Wilder Pickard.
He hired artists to paint imported China blanks. About 1911 Pickard started
acid-etching china pieces and coating them with gold. the "Rose and Daisy"
pattern was the most popular.
(SFC, 2/11/98, Z1 p.6)
1898 Sunset Magazine was founded by the Southern Pacific Railroad
to lure travelers west. It was sold to a private publisher in 1914.
(SFC, 7/8/96, p.D1)
1898 E.H. Harriman took over the Union Pacific Railroad. He invested
heavily into the company and raised the stock price from $16 to $219 in
1907.
(WSJ, 3/21/00, p.A24)
1898 Of the 5,462 U.S. Army officers and men who died in the various
theaters of operations and in camps in the U.S. during the Spanish-American
War of 1898, only 379 of deaths resulted from combat. The remaining deaths
were attributed to disease and other causes. Some 240,000 served in the
army during the war. The total wounded was 1,604.
(HNQ, 1/2/99)
1898 Otto von Bismarck (b.1815), statesman and former chancellor
)1871-1890), died. He held the German social security system as his greatest
accomplishment.
(WUD, 1994, p.151)(WUD, 1994, p.A27)
1898 Harbin, China, was built by Russian workers who extended
the trans-Siberian railway across Heilongjiang province.
(SFC, 5/8/01, p.C2)
c1898 In England Edmund Dene Morel, a London employee of the shipping
line Elder Dempster, came to realize that a wealth of rubber and ivory
cargo was arriving from Congo in exchange for military officers, firearms
and ammunition. He deduced that forced labor was being used by King Leopold
II of Belgium to extract native wealth.
(SFEM, 8/16/98, p.4)
1898 In England chemists William Ramsay and Morris Travers discovered
a new gas that they named neon. It had a natural orange-red glow.
(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A20)
1898 Dutchman Martinas Willem Beijerinck was the first to name
viruses, as the poison of contagious living fluids.
(SFEC, 10/25/98, Z1 p.12)
1898 A new star in the constellation of the Serpent Bearer was
named RS Ophiuchi and faded out within a year. It flared up again 35 years
later. It is called a recurrent novae.
(SCTS, p.182)
1898 Frederick Law Olmsted (d.1903), the architect of Central
Park in NYC, was confined to the McLean Asylum in Waverly, Mass., for dementia.
He had earlier designed the grounds for the asylum.
(WSJ, 5/21/99, p.W5)
1898 William Gladstone (b.1809), former English prime minister,
died. His biography, "Gladstone," by Roy Jenkins was published in 1995.
(WSJ, 2/21/97, p.A12)
1898 In France the Michelin Tire company began using its tire-man
logo. The first ad offered a toast with broken nails and glass and told
consumers that the Michelin tire "drinks up obstacles."
(SFC, 3/19/98, p.A3)(SFEC, 3/22/98, p.T3)
1898 In the Marquesas Islands missionaries forbade the natives
to tattoo their bodies.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, p.T6)
1898 In Russia Konstantin Stanislavsky and a partner founded the
Moscow Art Theater.
(WSJ, 2/11/98, p.A20)
1898 In Sierra Leone the imposition of a hut tax sparked an indigeneous
rebellion in which many settlers were killed. Britain declared a protectorate
and assumed formal administration until independence.
(WSJ, 5/31/00, p.A26)
1898-1900 Cezanne painted his sketchy red-ochre study "In the Quarry
of Bibemus" and his lush green and linear "Woodland Scene."
(WSJ, 2/8/96, p.A-12)
1898-1900 Theodore Roosevelt served as governor of New York.
(ON, 12/99, p.12)
1898-1900 A 2-year battle against American troops was waged by the Filipinos
who sought independence, not a new colonial ruler.
(SFC, 6/9/97, p.A15)
1898-1902 Robert E. Peary led an expedition to Ellesmere Island. He
lost some of his toes to frostbite during this expedition.
(NG, 6/1988, p.764)
1898-1905 In the US over 3,000 major mergers took place in manufacturing
and mining.
(WSJ, 12/31/97, p.A10)
1898-1920 In Guatemala Pres. Manuel Estrada Cabrera was one of the first
Latin dictators to create his own secret police. He plundered the treasury,
expanded the standing army and systematically oppressed his opponents.
(WSJ, 3/3/99, p.A18)
1898-1928 12 million people in India died of the plague.
(NG, 5/88, p.682)
1898-1937 Amelia Earhart, American aviator: "In soloing—as in
other activities—it is far easier to start something than it is to finish
it." "Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace."
(AP, 8/27/97)(AP, 10/20/97)
1898-1972 Maurits Corneille Escher, Dutch artist. He created a strange
world of visual puns and distorted perspectives. In 1996 a CD-ROM retrospective
of his work was produced. (Byron Preiss; Windows cd-rom; $49.95).
(SFC, 6/16/96, BR p.7)
1898-1978 Golda Meir, Israeli prime minister: "Whether women are
better than men, I cannot say—but I can say they are certainly no worse."
(AP, 5/11/97)
1898-1982 George Miksch Sutton, ornithologist. He was associated with
Cornell and the Univ. of Oklahoma. In 1998 Paul A. Johnsgard published
"Baby Bird Portraits by George Miksch Sutton: Watercolors in the Field
Museum."
(NH, 10/98, p.14)
1898-1989 Malcolm Cowley, American author and critic: "Talent
is what you possess; genius is what possesses you."
(AP, 5/26/98)
1899 Jan 2, Alexander Tcherepnin, composer, was born in St Petersburg,
Russia.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1899 Jan 10, Filipino leader Emilio Aguinaldo renounced the Treaty
of Paris, which annexed the Philippines to the United States.
(HN, 1/10/00)
1899 Jan 17, Notorious gangster Al Capone was born in Brooklyn,
N.Y.
(AP, 1/17/99)
1899 Jan 17, US took possession of Wake Island in Pacific.
(MC, 1/17/02)
1899 Jan 20, Alexander Tcherepnin, composer, was born.
(MC, 1/20/02)
1899 Jan 20, President William McKinley appointed a Philippine
Commission led by Jacob G. Schurman, president of Cornell University, to
study the situation in the island and to submit a report to serve as a
basis for setting up a civil government. The commission issued findings
in June suggesting the ultimate independence for the islands but, for an
indefinite period continued U.S. rule.
(HNQ, 1/3/00)
1899 Jan 23, Humphrey Bogart, U.S. actor was born. He won an Oscar
for African Queen and also starred in Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon.
[see Dec 25, 1899]
(HN, 1/23/99)
1899 Jan 24, The rubber heel was patented by Humphrey O'Sullivan.
(MC, 1/24/02)
1899 Jan, William Franklin Miller (36) began offering an investment
return of 10% per week to his neighbors in Brooklyn. His scheme was exposed
after a year by E.L. Blake, who recognized the swindle after over $2 million
was bilked from tens of thousands. Miller was jailed for 10 years.
(WSJ, 7/23/99, p.A14)
1899 Feb 4, After an exchange of gunfire, fighting broke out between
American troops and Filipinos near Manila, sparking the Philippine-American
War (also referred to as the Philippine Insurrection of 1899). American
soldiers patrolling in Santa Mesa opened fire on Filipino soldiers near
a bridge over the San Juan River.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1p.1)(HN, 2/4/00)
1899 Feb 5, The devastation from the battle of Santa Ana was captured
in photos by F. Tennyson Neely. The collection was published as "Fighting
in the Philippines."
(SFEC, 1/31/99, Z1 p.1)
1899 Feb 6, A peace treaty between the United States and Spain
was ratified by the U.S. Senate. Spanish-American War ended.
(AP, 2/6/97)(HN, 2/6/99)
1899 Feb 15, M Wolf & A Schwassmann discovered asteroid #442
Eichsfeldia.
(440 Int'l., 2/15/99)
1899 Feb 18, Sir Arthur Bryant, English historian, was born.
(HN, 2/18/98)
1899 Feb 20, Illinois Tel & Tel was granted a franchise for
a Chicago freight tunnel system.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1899 Feb 23, Erich Kastner (d.1974), German poet, novelist and
children's author (Emil and the Detectives), was born. "The only people
who attain power are those who crave it."
(AP, 12/1/98)(HN, 2/23/01)
1899 Feb 25, Paul Julius Reuter, founder of the British news agency
that bears his name, died in Nice, France.
(AP, 2/25/99)
1899 Feb 27, Charles H. Best, physiologist, co-discoverer of Insulin,
was born in Maine.
(MC, 2/27/02)
1899 Mar 2, Congress established Mount Rainier National Park,
the nation's 5th national park.
(AP, 3/2/98)(SFC, 8/14/99, p.A6)
1899 Mar 3, Congress authorized the Lafayette silver dollar.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1899 Mar 3, George Dewey became the 1st in US with rank of Admiral
of the Navy.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1899 Mar 5, Patrick Hadley, composer, was born.
(MC, 3/5/02)
1899 Mar 5, 1st performance of Edward MacDowell's 2nd Concerto
in D.
(MC, 3/5/02)
1899 Mar 6, Richard Leo Simon, publisher, partner of Max Schuster,
was born.
(HN, 3/6/01)
1899 Mar 6, Aspirin was patented following Felix Hoffman's discoveries
about the properties of acetylsalicylic acid.
(HN, 3/6/01)
1899 Mar 11, Frederick IX, King of Denmark, was born.
(HN, 3/11/98)
1899 Mar 18, Lavrenti Beria (d.1953), chief of Soviet secret police
under Stalin, was born.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1899 Mar 18, Phoebe, a moon of Saturn, was discovered by Pickering.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1899 Mar 27, The first international radio transmission between
England and France was achieved by the Italian inventor G. Marconi.
(HN, 3/27/99)
1899 Apr 1, Gilbert Grosvenor, a soon-to-be son-in-law, was appointed
by Alexander Graham Bell as assistant editor of the National Geographic
Magazine.
(SFEC, 9/14/97, p.T13)
1899 Apr 11, Percy L. Julian, chemist (drugs for treatment of
arthritis), was born.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1899 Apr 11, The Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American
War was declared in effect. Spain ceded Puerto Rico to US. [see Apr 12,
1898]
(AP, 4/11/97)(MC, 4/11/02)
1899 Apr 13, Alfred Moser Butts, inventor of the board game Scrabble,
was born.
(HN, 4/13/98)(MC, 4/13/02)
1899 Apr 21, Randall Thompson, composer, was born.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1899 Apr 21, American Tobacco, Standard Rope & Twine and
Laclede Gas Light Co. were removed as components of the Dow Jones. General
Electric was re-instated and Continental Tobacco, American Steel &
Wire and Federal Steel were added.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p.R-45,46)
1899 Apr 22, Vladimir Nabokov, Russian novelist (Lolita), was
born. [see Apr 23]
(HN, 4/22/01)
1899 Apr 23, Edith Ngaio Marsh, Kiwi mystery writer (Black Beech
& Honeydew), was born in NZ.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1899 Apr 23, Vladimir Nabokov (d.1977), writer, was born in Russia.
His work included "Lolita," "Pnin," and "Pale Fire." He was an avid butterfly
collector. "There is no science without fancy, and no art without facts."
[see Apr 22]
(WUD, 1994, p.948)(PacDisc. Spring/'96, p. 40)(WSJ, 12/27/96,
p.A5)(WSJ, 4/22/99, A20)
1899 Apr 23, Some 2000 people gathered to watch the lynching
Sam Hose, a black man questionably accused of murdering a white planter
and raping his wife. His ears, fingers, and genitals were cut off and his
face was skinned before he was burned in kerosene soaked wood. His and
other stories were later told in the 1998 book: "Trouble in Mind: Black
Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow" by Leon F. Litwack.
(SFEC, 4/19/98, BR p.4)
1899 Apr 29, Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (d.1975), jazz composer
and musician was born in Washington D.C. A major influence in jazz, especially
the big band sound, Ellington orchestrated over 1,000 pieces of music during
his prolific career. Although some tunes most associated with Duke Ellington
and 'His Famous Orchestra' were written by others (Billy Strayhorn wrote
"Take the A Train"), Ellington capitalized on his outstanding ensemble
by writing pieces emphasizing the talents of individual performers such
as Johnny Hodges and Jimmy Blanton. In addition to big band pieces, he
also wrote for film, ballet and opera.
(HN, 4/4/98)(SFEC, 2/21/99, DB p.32)(AP, 4/29/99)(HNQ, 11/10/00)
1899 May 5, Freeman F. Gosden, radio comedy writer and performer
(Amos 'n' Andy), was born in Richmond, Va.
(HN, 5/5/01)(MC, 5/5/02)
1899 May 8, Friedrich August von Hayek (d.1992), Austrian-born
British economist. He found solutions to problems proposed by Keynesian
economics. He was dedicated to illuminating the problems of socialism and
held that inflation, unemployment and recession result from governmental
interference. He won a Nobel prize in 1974.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R20)
1899 May 9, A lawn mower was patented.
(MC, 5/9/02)
1899 May 10, Fred Astaire, movie musical star, was born in Omaha,
Neb. He starred in the film Easter Parade.
(AP, 5/10/99)(HN, 5/10/99)
1899 May 18, The First Hague Peace Conference opened in the Netherlands
as 26 nations met on World Goodwill Day. The destruction or seizure of
enemy property with no military value was banned at the convention.
(AP, 5/18/99)(SFC, 8/11/00, p.A15)(SC, 5/18/02)
1899 May 20, John M. Harlan, the 91st Supreme Court justice (1955-71),
was born in Chicago.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1899 May 24, The 1st US auto repair shop opened in Boston.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1899 May 25, Marie-Rosalie "Rosa" Bonheur (68), French painter,
died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1899 May 26, Pieter Menten, Dutch war criminal, was born.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1899 May 29, Frantz Jehin-Prume (60), composer, died.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1899 May 30, Irving G. Thalberg, legendary MGM production executive,
was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.
(AP, 5/30/99)
1899 May, "The stock market is in the nature of a barometer which
reflects the rise and fall of general conditions," so said Charles Dow
in a WSJ column.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R-26)
1899 Jun 2, Black Americans observed a day of fasting to protest
lynchings.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1899 Jun 3, Johann Strauss (73), Jr., composer ("Waltz King"),
died.
(MC, 6/3/02)
1899 Jun 7, Elizabeth Bowen (d.1973), Irish-British novelist and
short story writer (The Death of the Heart), was born in Dublin. "One can
live in the shadow of an idea without grasping it." "The charm, one might
say the genius of memory, is that it is choosy, chancy and temperamental:
it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly photographs the small boy
outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust."
(AP, 4/19/97)(AP, 8/5/97)(HN, 6/7/01)
1899 Jun 11, Yasonari Kawabata (d.1972), Japanese novelist (Thousand
Cranes)(Nobel 1968), was born in Osaka.
(SC, 6/11/02)
1899 Jun 16, Nelson Doubleday, US publisher (Doubleday), was born.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1899 Jun 16, Helen Traubel, soprano (Met Opera Walkure/Isolde),
nightclubs, was born in St Louis, MO.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1899 Jun 20, Jean Moulin, French Resistance fighter against Nazi
Germany, was born.
(HN, 6/20/98)
1899 Jun 27. The plague came ashore in San Francisco. Political
leaders overrode health officials and denied its presence. The governor
declared it a felony to publish its existence. By 1904 more than 100 people
had died of "syphilitic septicemia," the official pseudonym of plague.
(NG, 5/88, p.686)
1899 Jul 1, Reverend Thomas Dorsey, father of gospel music, was
born.
(HN, 7/1/98)
1899 Jul 1, Charles Laughton, actor (Mutiny on Bounty, Spartacus),
was born in England.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1899 Jul 1, Gideon Society was established to place bibles in
hotels.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1899 Jul 3, The nation's first juvenile court opened on the West
Side after reformers like Jane Addams pushed the Illinois legislature to
recognize that children were developmentally different from adults.
(SFEC, 6/27/99, Z1 p.1)
1899 Jul 7, George Cukor (d.1983), film director, was born in
New York City.
(AP, 7/7/99)(MC, 7/7/02)
1899 Jul 11, E. B. White (Elwyn Brooks White, d.1985), writer,
author of "Charlotte's Web" and "The Elements of Style," was born.
(HN, 7/11/98)(PGA, 12/9/98)(MC, 7/11/02)
1899 Jul 17, James Cagney, American actor famous for his role
in "Yankee Doodle Dandy," was born.
(HN, 7/17/98)
1899 Jul 21, Ernest Hemingway (d.1961), American novelist and
short-story writer, was born in Oak Park, Ill. "Never confuse motion with
action."
(AP, 7/21/97)(HN, 7/21/98)(AP, 11/21/98)
1899 Jul 21, Hart Crane, American poet, was born. He died in 1932
by jumping off a ship in the Atlantic Ocean. His major epic poem is called
"The Bridge." Brom Weber in 1952 published an edition of his letters: "Oh
My Land, My Friends." This was updated in 1997 by Langdon Hammer.
(WSJ, 8/19/97, p.A17)
1899 Aug 8, The first household refrigerating machine was patented.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, Z1 p.8)(HN, 8/8/00)
1899 Aug 9, Pamela Lyndon Travers (P.L. Travers), author of the
Mary Poppins books, was born.
(HN, 8/9/00)
1899 Aug 13, Alfred Hitchcock (d.1980), movie director, was born
in London. "A woman, I always say, should be like a good suspense movie:
The more left to the imagination, the more excitement there is. This should
be her aim -- to create suspense, to let a man discover things about her
without her having to tell him."
(AP, 8/13/97)(HN, 8/13/98)(AP, 8/13/99)
1899 Aug 24, Jorge Luis Borges (d.1986), Argentine poet and philosophical
essayist, was born in Buenos Aires.
(WUD, 1994, p.171)(WSJ, 9/21/98, p.A26)(AP, 8/24/99)
1899 Aug 27, C.S. Forester (Cecil Scott Forester), novelist, was
born in England. He authored the "Horatio Hornblower" series.
(HN, 8/27/00)(MC, 8/27/02)
1899 Aug 31, Paul E. Garber, US founder and 1st curator of National
Air & Space Museum, was born.
(MC, 8/31/01)
1899 Aug 31, Lynn Riggs, writer, was born. Her book "Green Grow
the Lilacs" was adapted by Rodgers and Hammerstein to become "Oklahoma."
(HN, 8/31/00)
1899 Sep 6, Billy Rose, songwriter famous for "It's Only a Paper
Moon," and "Me and My Shadow," was born.
(HN, 9/6/98)
1899 Sep 6, Carnation processed its 1st can of evaporated milk.
(MC, 9/6/01)
1899 Sep 8, The British government sent an additional 10,000 troops
to Natal South Africa.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1899 Sep 9, Louis Cheslock, composer and author (Mencken on Music),
was born.
(MC, 9/9/01)
1899 Sep 13, Henry H. Bliss became the first person killed by
an automobile, an electric taxi in Manhattan.
(SFC, 10/10/97, p.A21)
1899 Sep 17, The 1st British troops left Bombay for South Africa.
(MC, 9/17/01)
1899 Sep 19, French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus won a pardon after a
retrial was forced by public opinion.
(PCh, 1992, p.628)
1899 Sep, The USS Charleston engaged in shellfire upon Subic Bay
in the Philippines.
(G, Spring/98, p.5)
1899 Oct 3, J.S. Thurman patented a motor-driven vacuum cleaner.
(MC, 10/3/01)
1899 Oct 9, Bruce Catton, U.S. historian and journalist, famous
for his works on the Civil War, was born.
(HN, 10/9/98)
1899 Oct 10, I.R. Johnson patented the bicycle frame.
(MC, 10/10/01)
1899 Oct 11, South African Boers, settlers from the Netherlands,
declared war on Great Britain. In the Boer War Dutch settlers of the South
African Republic (the Traansvaal) under Pres. Paul Kruger and the Orange
Free State refused to accept English rule in southern Africa. The Boers
were the predominately Dutch inhabitants of the two republics, which had
gained their independence from Great Britain in the 1850s. Years of tensions
between British settlers and the Boer governments exploded into war. Eventual
British victory resulted in the Boer republics becoming colonies of the
British Empire and in 1910 part of the Union of South Africa.
(V.D.-H.K.p.289)(HNQ, 7/12/99)(SFC, 10/8/99, p.D3)
1899 Oct 12, The Anglo-Boer War began. [see Oct 11]
(HN, 10/12/98)
1899 Oct 14, Morning Post reporter Winston Churchill departed
for South Africa. Shortly after his arrival he was caught in an ambush
and taken prisoner in Pretoria from whence he escaped. In 1999 his granddaughter
Celia Sandys authored "Churchill: Wanted Dead Or Alive."
(WSJ, 12/29/99, p.A12)(MC, 10/14/01)
1899 Oct 30, In South Africa two battalions of British troops
were cut off, surrounded and forced to surrender to General Petrus Joubert's
Boers at Nicholson's Nek.
(HN, 10/30/98)
1899 Oct 30, British Morning Post reporter Winston Churchill
reached Capetown.
(MC, 10/30/01)
1899 Oct, An int'l. tribunal in Paris ruled on a border dispute
between Venezuela and British Guiana. Britain received most of the claim
for the Essequibo region, close to 111,000 square miles. Venezuela was
represented by 2 US judges and the chairman of the panel was Russian jurist
Frederic de Martens.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.A12)
1899 Nov 4, John Montgomery Ward delivered a manifesto on baseball
that said in part: "There was a time when the League stood for integrity
and fair dealing…"
(SFEC, 10/3/99, BR p.4)
1899 Nov 11, Stuart-Rubens-Boyd-Jones' "Floradora," premiered
in London.
(MC, 11/11/01)
1899 Nov 15, Morning Post reporter Winston Churchill and wife
were captured in Natal.
(MC, 11/15/01)
1899 Nov 16, Vincas Kudirka (d.1858), author of the Lithuanian
national anthem, died.
(LC, 1998, p.30)(LHC, 12/31/02)
1899 Nov 19, Allen Tate, Southern novelist, poet and critic, was
born.
(HN, 11/19/00)
1899 Nov 21, Vice President Garret A. Hobart, serving under President
McKinley, died in Paterson, N.J., at age 55.
(AP, 11/21/99)
1899 Nov 22, Hoagy Carmichael (d.1981), American composer, was
born in Bloomington, Ind. His songs included "Georgia on My Mind," "Stardust"
and over 600 other melodies.
(WSJ, 9/9/99, p.A24)(SFC, 11/25/99, p.C22)(MC, 11/22/01)
1899 Nov 24, Abdullah ibn Mohammed al-Ta'a'ishi, Mahdi of Sudan
(1883-99), died.
(MC, 11/24/01)
1899 Nov 28, The British were victorious over the Boers at Modder
River.
(HN, 11/28/98)
1899 Dec 1, Robert Welch, founder of the John Birch Society, was
born.
(MC, 12/1/01)
1899 Dec 2, John Barbirolli, English conductor (NY Philharmonic
Orchestra), was born.
(MC, 12/2/01)
1899 Dec 9, Jean de Brunhoff (d.1937), illustrator and author,
creator of the Babar series of books, was born.
(HN, 12/9/00)(SFC, 4/15/03, p.A16)
1899 Dec 12, George F. Bryant of Boston patented the wooden golf
tee.
(MC, 12/12/01)
1899 Dec 15, In South Africa the Boars defeated the British at
the Battle of Colenso.
(HN, 12/15/98)
1899 Dec 16, Sir Noel Coward (d.1973), the English actor, playwright
and composer, was born in London. "I love criticism just so long as it's
unqualified praise."
(AP, 12/16/99)
1899 Dec 22, Wiley Post, aviation pioneer, was born in Texas.
(MC, 12/22/01)
1899 Dec 25, Humphrey Bogart, actor ("Here's looking at you, kid"
in Casablanca), was born in NYC. [see Jan 23, 1899]
(MC, 12/25/01)
1899 Dec 30, The New York Times listed the most significant advances
of the Industrial Revolution. 1st item on the list was friction matches
(1827).
(SFEC, 8/13/00, Z1 p.2)
1899 Dec 31, Silvestre Revueltas, composer (Sensemaya), was born
in Santiago, Papasquiaro, Mexico.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1899 Dec 31, Karl Millocker (57), Austrian conductor and composer,
died.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1899 Alfred Mosher Butts (d.1993), the inventor of the Scrabble
game, was born in Poughkeepsie, NY. The game was initially called Lexico
and then Criss-Cross Words. It was named Scrabble in 1947. Sales took off
in 1952.
(WSJ, 6/28/01, p.B1)
1899 The Cardwell triplets (Faith, Hope and Charity) were born
near Waco, Texas. They later set a record by all living past age 95.
(SFC, 1/18/97, p.A19)
1899 Gustav Klimt painted "Nude Veritas."
(WSJ, 7/11/01, p.A15)
1899 Edouard Vuillard painted "The Salon with Three Lamps, Rue
St. Florentin."
(WSJ, 2/8/96, p.A-12)
1899 "The Awakening," a novel of loneliness and anomie by Kate
Chopin was published.
(WSJ, 7/31/96, p.A13)
1899 Harry Graham, English versifier, authored "Ruthless Rhymes
for Heartless Homes."
(SFEC, 5/14/00, Z1 p.2)
1899 Leo Tolstoy published his last big novel: "Resurrection."
In 1999 composer Tod Machover debuted his opera "Resurrection" with the
Houston Grand Opera. It was based on Tolstoy's work.
(WSJ, 5/4/99, p.A20)
1899 Thorstein Veblen published "The Theory of the Leisure Class,"
which attacked the influence of laissez faire economics and big business
on society.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R20)
1899 H.G. Wells authored "When the Sleeper Wakes," the story of
a man who falls asleep for 200 years.
(WSJ, 1/1/00, p.R8)
1899 Edith Wharton published her first collection of short fiction, "The Greater Inclination." (Hem, Dec. 94, p.71)(SSFC, 1/14/01, BR p.8)
1899 In Alaska the White Pass & Yukon railroad, which led
to the goldfields, was completed.
(SFEC, 2/7/99, p.T4)
1899 Edward H. Harriman, chairman of the Union Pacific RR, led
a survey expedition along the Alaska coast with 126 passengers aboard a
luxury steamer. The 2-month, 9,000 mile journey from Seattle to Siberia
included a stop at Cape Fox where the visitors gathered up a items from
what looked like an abandoned Tlingit Indian settlement. Much of the plunder
was returned in 2001.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.W13)
1899 In Cambridge, Mass., the Semitic Museum of Harvard Univ.
was founded.
(AM, 7/97, p.68)
1899 The Univ. of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology
opened.
(WSJ, 5/7/03, p.D10)
1899 In Le Roy, New York, Pearle Wait, a carpenter, and his wife
May, sold their formula for Jell-O for $450 to neighbor Orator Frank Woodward.
(SFEC, 7/27/97, p.A2)
1899 In New Orleans Oysters Rockefeller was invented at Antoine's
restaurant.
(SFEM, 6/14/98, p.8)
1899 Louis Henry Sullivan got the commission to design the Carson
Pirie Scott department store in Chicago, at the corner of State and Madison
in the heart of the Loop.
(Hem., 7/95, p.82)
1899 Lucille Mulhall, reputed as the 1st cowgirl, first performed.
(WSJ, 4/10/01, p.A20)
1899 The Western Federation of mine workers demanded that only
union workers be hired, but mine owners refused. In Wardner, Idaho, the
Bunker Hill Co. mine was dynamited. Pres. McKinley sent in troops who gathered
up thousands of miners and confined them in "bullpens."
(SFC, 10/4/02, p.A17)
1899 A federal law made it illegal to dump any waste in any US
body of water.
(SFEC, 3/28/99, Z1 p.8)
1899 The original Juvenile Court was established in Chicago.
(SFC, 5/12/96, p.A-10)
1899 The 37-ton Tuolumne No.2 steam engine at Roaring Camp, Ca.
was built. It is claimed to be the oldest of its type, a Heisler, and began
service at Roaring Camp in 1963.
(SFC, 5/12/96, p.T-3)
1899 The American Rice Food and Manufacturing Co. of New Jersey
established a copyright for an advertising doll for Cook's Flaked Rice.
(SFC, 3/11/98, Z1 p.5)
1899 John D. Rockefeller re-consolidated the Standard Oil of New
Jersey as a holding company. In 1911, the Supreme Court upheld the dissolution
of the company under the Sherman Antitrust Act, resulting in the break
up of Standard Oil into 34 companies.
(HNQ, 1/23/00)
1899 The first automobile parts and supply company opened in St.
Louis, Mo.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1899 Hiram Percy Maxim, engineer for the Pope Manufacturing Co.,
raced the new Mark VIII against a Stanely Steamer in Branford and won.
(ON, 7/00, p.6)
1899 R.E. Olds moved his Oldsmobile production plant from Lansing,
Mich. to Detroit.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1899 The US Packard automobile company was founded.
(Sky, 9/97, p.97)
1899 The US Postal Service began using cars in large cities to
speed delivery.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1899 Oakland Preserving Co. and 17 other firms combined to form
the California Fruit Canners Association.
(SFC, 3/1/97, p.B1)
1899 Sebastian Spering Kresge founded a store that developed into
the Kmart Corp. The 1st Detroit store sold merchandise for either 5 or
10 cents.
(Ind, 2/2/02, 5A)
1899 Coburn Haskell of Cleveland with the help of a BF Goodrich
scientist came up with a liquid-center gutta-percha golf ball. [2nd source
says 1898]
(SFC, 6/21/97, p.E4) (WSJ, 6/15/00, p.A1)
1899 Johan Vaaler, Norwegian inventor, produced the first paper
clip. It was initially called the Gem since it was first manufactured by
Gem Ltd.
(WSJ, 7/24/95, p.A-1)
1899 John Mast of Lititz, Pa., invented the snapping mousetrap
called the "Victor." It was patented in 1903.
(SFC, 11/30/96, p.B5)
1899 In San Francisco the Letterman Army Hosp. opened to treat
patients from the Spanish-American War and the Philippine Insurrection.
(SFC, 6/26/96, p.A13)
1899 George Reisner, American Egyptologist, began excavations.
He directed excavations at Giza and elsewhere for the next 40 years.
(WSJ, 12/27/95, p. A-8)
1899 Scientists of the Univ. of Calif. Berkeley expedition uncovered
hundreds of crocodile mummies encased and stuffed with papyrus covered
with writings from the ruins of the city of Tebtunis. The site dated from
the 3rd century BC when Ptolemy the Great ruled Egypt. The expedition was
financed by Phoebe Apperson Hearst.
(SFC, 12/4/96, p.A4)
1899 Sir Arthur Evans discovered the center of Minoan civilization
on the island of Crete.
(WSJ, 6/26/98, p.W9)
1899 In Britain the bulk of the Bloomsbury group entered Trinity
College, Cambridge.
(SFEC, 9/22/96, BR p.3)
1899 A treaty between American, Germany and Britain gave Western
Samoa to the Germans and Eastern Samoa to the Americans. In an Anglo-German
treaty the UK renounced its rights to the Samoan Islands
(HN, 1/16/99)(SFCM, 10/14/01, p.45)
1899 In Italy the Fiat automobile company was founded.
(Sky, 9/97, p.97)(SFEC,12/14/97, p.D7)
1899 In Japan a statute was passed that discriminated against
the northern Ainu people.
(SFC, 5/9/97, p.E3)
1899-1900 Claude Monet painted his first "Lily Pond" series.
(WSJ, 7/1/99, p.A21)
1899-1902 With diamonds at Kimberley and gold in the Transvaal, the
British got aggressive against the Dutch Boers in the Orange Free State
and the Transvaal. The Boers lost their independence to the British in
the Anglo-Boer War. 18-28,000 women and children died in British concentration
camps as compared to 7,000 Boers who died in battle.
(NG, Oct. 1988, p. 566)
1899-1902 In the Boer War some 12,000 blacks and 18,000 whites were
killed from epidemics in British concentration camps. Some 25,000 blacks
and 94,000 whites were herded into the world's first concentration camps.
Thomas Packenham later authored "The Boer War."
(SFC, 10/8/99, p.D3)
1899-1902 The Anglo-Boer War. Winston Churchill took part as a war correspondent
for the Morning Post. [see Oct 14, 1899]
(WSJ, 12/29/99, p.A12)
1899-1902 The civil war known as the War of the Thousand Days took place
in Colombia, beginning in1899 and ending in 1902. Some 100,000 of Colombia's
four million people perished in the conflict, mostly from disease. Colombia
had been plunged into bankruptcy and subsequent civil war in 1899 after
three years of steep declines in world coffee prices.
(HNQ, 2/25/99)
1899-1944 Hans Krasa, composer. He was a Czech-born German Jew and composed
the opera Betrothal in a Dream, which premiered in Prague in 1933 under
Georg Szell. He was killed by the Nazis in Auschwitz in 1944.
(WSJ, 1/31/96, p.A-16)
1899-1966 William C. Menninger, American scientist, physician,
engineer: "It is difficult to give children a sense of security unless
you have it yourself. If you have it, they catch it from you."
(AP, 4/9/98)
1899-1974 Duke Ellington, American jazz artist: "Love is indescribable
and unconditional. I could tell you a thousand things that it is not, but
not one that it is."
(AP, 7/15/97)
1899-1981 David E. Lilienthal, American public official: "A river
has no politics."
(AP, 8/17/98)
1899-1983 Chang Da-chien, Chinese painter, collector and forger. Some
suspected that the 10th century work "Riverbank" attributed to Dong Yuan
was actually a forgery by Chang.
(WSJ, 12/13/99, p.A32)
1899-1985 E.B. White, American author and humorist: "People are,
if anything, more touchy about being thought silly than they are about
being thought unjust." "To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes
more difficult with every year."
(AP, 3/15/98)(AP, 12/24/98)