*Timeline 1898-1899* Return to home ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1898 Jan 1, The consolidation of Greater New York City occurred with the "merger" of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Before the merger Brooklyn had absorbed Williamsburg, Bushwick, Flatbush, Flatlands, and New Lots among other towns. The merger created a city of 3.4 million people. Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island were consolidated into New York City. (WSJ, 12/31/97, p.A10)(AP, 1/1/99) 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 10, In France a court-martial against Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy began behind closed doors. The next day the defendant was found not guilty. Writer Emile Zola followed this action 2 days later with a 4-thousand word letter in support of Captain Dreyfus and accusing the French military of a conspiracy in the case. (ON, 2/09, p.6) 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. In 2008 Robin Wilson authored ?Lewis Carroll in Numberland: His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life.? (AP, 1/14/98)(Econ, 7/5/08, p.93) 1898 Jan 23, Sergei Eisenstein, Russian film director (Battleship Potemkin), was born. [see Jan 10] (MC, 1/23/02) 1898 Jan, Henry James (1843-1916), England-born US novelist, writer and critic, published his novella "The Turn of the Screw." (SFC, 1/17/98, p.C1)(WSJ, 10/25/08, p.W8) 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 (d.1988), Italian sports car manufacturer, was born. (www.britannica.com/eb/article-9034085/Enzo-Ferrari) 1898 Feb 20, Jimmy Yancey, American blues pianist, was born. (HN, 2/20/01) 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 14, Henry Bessemer (b.1813), English inventor and mechanical engineer, died. Bessemer developed the first process for mass-producing steel inexpensively. (ON, 9/06, p.6)(www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jan/bessemer.html) 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 in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a US citizen. (AP, 3/28/08) 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 to authorize military intervention in Cuba. The war was fomented by New York newspapers in their own battle for circulation. (AP, 4/11/07)(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 in Proskurov, Russia. (www.willdurant.com/ariel.htm) 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, US Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act which allowed private publishers and printers to produce postcards. (www.si.edu/archives/postcard/chronology.htm) 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 by a convention signed in Peking, respecting an extension of Hong Kong territory, the New Territories, comprising the area north of Kowloon up to the Shum Chun (Shenzhen) River and 235 islands. (www.info.gov.hk/yearbook/2003/english/chapter21/21_03.html) 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 opposing annexation signed the "Monster Petition" that was delivered to Washington by Queen Lili?uokalani. 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 17, Sir Edward Burne-Jones (b.1833), British painter and member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, died. In 2011 Fiona MacCarthy authored ?The Last Pre-Raphaelite: Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination.? (Econ, 8/20/11, p.77)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Burne-Jones) 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, US forces, 6000 soldiers under Lawton, Bates, Rafferty and Wheeler and under the general command of General Shafter, landed at Daiquiri, Cuba. Col. Leonard Wood and Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt led the Rough Riders, a volunteer cavalry regiment, onto the beach at Daiquiri in the Spanish American War. (www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/chroncuba.html)(http://tinyurl.com/ckvj3) 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 Jun 27, Joshua Slocum (1844-1909) became the first person to sail single-handedly around the world. His voyage began on April 24, 1895 in Boston and ended on this day at Newport, Rhode Island. (Econ, 3/1/08, p.86)(www.millicentlibrary.org/slocum.htm) 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 US congressman for eight terms. After his Spanish-American War service, Wheeler retired from the army as a brigadier general of US Regulars. When he died in January 1906, he was interred in Arlington National Cemetery. (HNQ, 2/13/02) 1898 Jul 1, The US Congress passed legislation regarding bankruptcy. The Bankruptcy Act of 1898, also known as the "Nelson Act," was the first Act of Congress involving bankruptcy that gave companies an option of being protected from creditors. Previous attempts at federal bankruptcy laws had lasted at most a few years. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_Act_of_1898) 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 13, Guglielmo Marconi patented his radio. (MC, 7/13/02) 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, Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of the Retired Colourman." (SC, 7/28/02) 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 30, Otto von Bismarck (b.1815), German statesman and former "Iron" chancellor (1871-1890), died. He held the German social security system as his greatest accomplishment. In 1986 Lothar Gall authored ?Bismarck.? (WUD, 1994, p.151)(WUD, 1994, p.A27)(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.P10) 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 8, Adolph Sutro (b.1830), former mayor of SF, died. He had acquired a 100,000 volume private library, most of which was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. He served as the 24th mayor of SF (1895-1897). (G, Winter 98/99, p.2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Sutro) 1898 Aug 12, Hawaii was formally annexed to the United States. (AP, 8/12/97) 1898 Aug 12, Fighting in the Spanish-American War came to an end. The peace protocol ending the Spanish-American War was signed Dec 10 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. (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. It was later reported that Dewey had agreed to sacrifice the lives of American soldiers in order to give Spanish officers, who had retained dead soldiers on payroll, a chance to report heavy fatalities back to Spain. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manila_(1898))(SSFC, 6/29/08, DB p.58) 1898 Aug 13, Sigmund Freud (42) signed into the Schweizerhaus, a Swiss Alps inn, with Minna Bernays (33), his wife?s sister, and registered her as his wife. (SFC, 12/25/06, p.A23) 1898 Aug 16, Edwin Prescott patented a roller coaster. (MC, 8/16/02) 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), American painter (1964 Arts & Letters), was born In Kaunas, Lithuania. (WSJ, 12/1/98, p.A20)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Shahn) 1898 Sep 13, Hannibal Goodwin (1822-1900) patented celluloid photographic film. (http://www.plastiquarian.com/goodwin.htm) 1898 Sep 13, 20,000 Paris construction workers went on strike. (MC, 9/13/01) 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 20, Theodore Fontane (b.1819), German novelist and poet, died. He is regarded by many to be the most important 19th-century German-language realist writer. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Fontane) 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 to the US. (AP, 10/18/97) 1898 Oct 25, The 300-foot steamship L.R. Doty was carrying a cargo of corn from South Chicago to Ontario, Canada, when it sailed into a terrible storm and sank in Lake Michigan. All 17 of its crew members died. The wreck of the wooden ship was found in 2010. (AP, 6/25/10)(www.ship-wreck.com/shipwreck/doty/) 1898 Nov 2, Theodor Herzl, founder (1897) of modern political National Zionism, arrived in Jerusalem to promote his World Zionist Organization. Zionism maintains that the Jewish people constitute a nation and are entitled to a national homeland. (www.wzo.org.il/home/movement/herzl.htm) 1898 Nov 9, Some white people in Wilmington, NC, issued a White Declaration of Independence, proclaiming "that we will no longer be ruled ... by men of African origin. (AP, 11/28/09) 1898 Nov 10, A race riot in Wilmington, NC, left many blacks killed. A vigilante group of armed supremacists forcibly removed the Republican city leaders (both black and white) from office, and took control, burning buildings and shooting blacks. Reports vary from a coroner?s total of 14 to unconfirmed eyewitness reports claiming scores of deaths. (http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/bio/afro/riot.htm)(WSJ, 1/22/02, p.A11)(AP, 11/28/09) 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, The SS Portland, a 280-foot side-wheeler, left Boston for Cape Cod. A major storm arose that killed over 400 people in the next 36 hours [see Nov 27]. (AH, 6/02, p.53)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Gale) 1898 Nov 27, The SS Portland, under Capt. Hollis H. Blanchard, sank overnight in the Portland Gale off New England and all 192 people aboard were killed. In 2002 John Rousmaniere authored ?After the Storm: True Stories of Disaster and Recovery at Sea.? (AH, 6/02, p.55)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Gale) 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 US Senate ratified the treaty February 6, 1899. The US military governed Puerto Rico from October 1898 until May 1900, when the US Congress instituted a civil government. The civil government underwent many changes until a Constitutional Assembly formed in 1950 and established a Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which was proclaimed on July 25, 1952. [see Aug 12] (AP, 12/10/97)(HN, 12/10/98)(HNQ, 7/28/01) 1899 Dec 10, Sobhuza (1899-1982) succeeded Ngwane V as Paramount Chief of Swaziland, when he was only a few months old. His grandmother, Labotsibeni Mdluli, acted as regent until December 22, 1921. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobhuza_II) 1898 Dec 16, Pavel Tretyakov (b.1832), founder of Moscow?s Tretyakov Gallery, died. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Tretyakov) 1898 Dec 21, French scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered 2 new elements that they later named radium and polonium. (AP, 12/21/97)(http://fi.edu/case_files/curie/pandr.html) 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 Lafcadio Hearn, renowned writer on Japan, authored ?Exotics and Retrospective.? One chapter on insect musicians listed prices for the 12 most popular singing insects. (NH, 3/1/04, p.70) 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 The William Morris Agency began representing vaudeville performers. (Econ, 5/2/09, p.65) 1898 H.G. Wells (1866-1946) published the classic "War of the Worlds." It was about an invasion of Earth by Martians. (SFC, 11/29/96, p.A16) 1898 Rimsky-Korsakov fashioned a short play by Alexander Pushkin, "Mozart and Salieri," into a one-act opera. (WSJ, 1/14/04, p.D10) 1898 Buddy Bolden, cornetist and New Orleans brass band leader, was an early practitioner of what would be recognized today as jazz. His 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 Victor Herbert composed his ?Gypsy Love Song.? (SFC, 4/6/05, p.E4) 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 Diamond Head Lighthouse in Hawaii began operating. (SFEC, 4/6/97, p.T12) 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 William Entenmann opened his first bakery in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. In 1976 Entenmann?s went public. (http://entenmanns.gwbakeries.com/history.cfm) 1898 A US telephone excise tax was created to help finance the Spanish-American War. It was repealed in 1902 and reintroduced during WW I. In 1990 it was given permanent status. The tax was at 3% 2005 and faced a growing withholding by war protesters. (SFC, 3/27/00, p.A1)(SSFC, 12/4/05, p.J6) 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 Henry Barnet and Katherine Adams were murdered with mercuric cyanide. Roland Burnham Molineux (1866-1917), a Manhattan socialite, was convicted in 1899 and sent to the Sing Sing death house, but was acquitted at a 2nd trial in 1902, due to restrictions on evidence. In 2007 Harold Schechter authored ?The Devil?s Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century.? (WSJ, 11/1/07, p.D6) 1898 The Chicago Mercantile Exchange began operations. (Econ, 9/20/03, p.68) 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 Adolph Gund, a German immigrant, founded a toy company in Norwalk, Conn. In 1925 he sold it to Jacob Swedlin, who kept the company name, Gund Mfg. (SFC, 4/12/06, p.G4) 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 In San Francisco Central Tower at 703 market St. was built by Claus Sprechels for the Call newspaper. It was designed by the Reid Brothers and Albert Roller and survived the 1906 earthquake. Its 6 stories of cupolas were removed as part of a 1938 renovation that left it with 21 stories. (SSFC, 9/12/10, p.C2) 1898 In SF the Ferry Building at the foot of Market St. was dedicated. It was designed by local San Francisco architect A. Page Brown, replacing its wooden predecessor. The clock on the building was silent until Dec, 1918. The original design was based on the Giralda in Seville. The design was altered to differentiate it from the Madison Square Garden Tower built in 1984. (SFC, 4/28/98, p.E8)(SFEM, 8/9/98, p.27)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferry_Building) 1898 In San Francisco the Holy Cross stone church at Eddy near Divisidero was built. (SFEC, 3/2/97, z1 p.7) 1898 A chain of lakes was constructed in San Francisco?s Golden Gate Park. (SFC, 7/29/97, p.A6) 1898 The "de Laveaga Dell" was created in San Francisco?s Golden Gate Park with a bequest from Jose Vincente de Laveaga. (SFC, 10/4/02, p.A26) 1898 In San Francisco W.A. Merralls (d.1914), an eccentric British-born machine inventor, built a structure at 236 Monterey Blvd. that became known as the Sunnyside Conservatory. He filled the building with plants and artwork and used it as a private retreat. The building was saved from demolition and purchased by the city in 1980. In 1999 community members formed the Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory and planned its restoration. In 2009 a $4.2 million restoration of the property was completed and opened to the public on Dec 5. (SSFC, 2/15/09, p.B3)(SFC, 12/5/09, p.C3) 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) 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 Angelo Giurlani founded Star Fine Foods in San Francisco. His family ran Star Olive Oil in the Lucca district of Tuscany. (SFC, 12/17/02, p.A23) 1898 The SF Columbarium, a cemetery for cremated remains, was built as part of 27-acre cemetery in the Richmond [behind the Coronet Theater]. (SFC, 4/9/98, p.A21) 1898 In Berkeley, Ca., the First Unitarian Church at 2401 Bancroft Way was built. It was designed by Arts and Crafts architect A.C. Schweinfurth. (SFC, 1/29/03, p.F7) 1898 The Archdiocese of SF opened St. Patrick?s Seminary on 86 acres in Menlo Park. Archbishop Riordan acquired the property along Middlefield Rd. in the 1890s. (Ind, 3/9/02, 5A) 1898 Elections for SF city supervisors began. (SFC, 11/26/98, p.A19) 1898 Voters approved a City Charter calling for SF to buy up and own its public utilities and transportation system. (SFC, 10/6/99, p.A4) 1898 In South San Francisco the Giffra and Sons grocery store opened on Grand Ave. (SFC, 1/12/98, p.A15) 1898 The Levy brothers moved their operations from the coast and opened a store in San Mateo, Ca., at 2nd and Main. (Ind, 11/7/98, p.5A) 1898 Willis Jepson received the 1st Ph.D. in botany granted by UC Berkeley. (SFEM, 8/15/99, p.4) 1898 Frank Brewer purchased a marshy bay island east of San Mateo, California. He then erected levees and dried out 2,200 acres to grow hay for dairy cows. In the 1940s parts of Brewer Island and adjacent salt marshes were sold to Leslie Salt co. and the Schilling estate. In the 1960s Brewer Island was developed to become Foster City. (SFC, 6/14/09, p.H2) 1898 In Ohio James M. Cox (d.1957), 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 Charles Fey built the 3-reeled Card Bell, the first machine to dispense coins as prizes. (Econ, 7/10/10, SR p.10) 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)(SFC, 8/2/06, p.G7) 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 Otis Steam Elevator Works merged with 14 other elevator makers to form the Otis Elevator Company. It later became a subsidiary of United Technologies. (ON, 5/05, p.12) 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 Jim White, cowboy, was one of the 1st white settlers to venture into New Mexico?s Carlsbad Caverns. His efforts helped turn the caves into a national park in 1930. (SSFC, 6/20/04, p.D5) 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 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 In Austria the Secession building was completed and later housed Klimt's Beethoven Frieze in its gilt-domed gallery. (Hem., Dec. '95, p.69) 1898 Austrian Prince Camillo Heinrich Starhemberg (1835-1900) donated Hartheim Castle as a gift to the Upper Austria Charity Organization. With the help of additional donations, they used the castle from the beginning of the 20th century as a psychiatric institution. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Hartheim) 1898 In Bolivia Sucre began to lose its pre-eminence to La Paz following a decline at the nearby silver mine at Potosi. (Econ, 7/28/07, p.39) 1898 British army officers began using the new portable Roorkhee chair. It was named in honor of the headquarters of the Indian Army corps of Engineers at Roorkhee. (SSFM, 4/1/01, p.46) 1898 Charles Booth, shipping magnate, led a project to color-code every street in London according to its social make-up. (Econ, 5/6/06, p.57) 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 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 Harbin, China, was built by Russian workers who extended the trans-Siberian railway across Heilongjiang province. (SFC, 5/8/01, p.C2) 1898 Ye Yanlan (b.1823), Chinese painter, connoisseur and Qing Dynasty official, died. (SFC, 7/1/06, p.E8) 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 Italy government troops killed hundreds after riots broke out in Milan during a declining economy. (WSJ, 1/28/07, p.P10) 1898 In the Marquesas Islands missionaries forbade the natives to tattoo their bodies. (SFEC, 8/25/96, p.T6) 1898 A painting titled "Golden Carriage," by Nicolaas van der Waay, was given to Queen Wilhelmina from the people of Amsterdam as a gift. The painting was intended to recreate the style of the country's 17th-century "Golden Age," in which Amsterdam became wealthy as the hub of a naval empire. The work depicts half-naked, brown-skinned women and men in servile poses bearing gifts to an enthroned white woman. (AP, 9/16/11) 1898 In Russia Konstantin Stanislavsky and a partner founded the Moscow Art Theater. (WSJ, 2/11/98, p.A20) 1898 Pyotr Smirnov (b.1831), Russian vodka manufacturer, died. In 2009 Linda Himelstein authored ?The King of Vodka: The Story of Pyotr Smirnov and the Upheaval of an Empire.? (SSFC, 5/31/09, Books p.J2) 1898 In Sierra Leone the imposition of a hut tax sparked an indigenous rebellion in which many settlers were killed. Britain declared a protectorate and assumed formal administration until independence. (WSJ, 5/31/00, p.A26) 1898 Joseph Silver (d.1918), a Polish-born Jew, arrived in Johannesburg fresh from a stint in Sing Sing for burglary and a stay in London a decade earlier. Shortly after arriving in Johannesburg, Silver set up a string of cafes, cigar shops and police-protected brothels. Silver was executed as a spy in Poland in 1918. In 2007 Charles van Onselen authored "The Fox and The Flies: The World of Joseph Silver,? in which he suggested that Silver was London?s ?Jack the Ripper.? (AP, 5/2/07) 1898 In South Africa Sir Thomas Cullinan discovered a prospect that contained kimberlite, a rock that can be rich in diamonds. A mine was established there in 1903 and became one of the world?s most valuable diamond resources. (Econ, 12/1/07, p.82) 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) 1898-1913 Heroin was marketed as a cough medicine. (NG, 10/04, Geog.) 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 18, Marius Sophus Lie (b.1842), a Norwegian-born mathematician, died. He largely created the theory of continuous symmetry, and applied it to the study of geometry and differential equations. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophus_Lie) 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 (b.1816), founder of the British news agency that bears his name, died in Nice, France. In 2003 Brian Mooney and Barry Simpson authored "Breaking news: How the Wheels Came off at Reuters." (AP, 2/25/99)(Econ, 11/1/03, p.81) 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 in Washington state, 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. Duisberg?s Bayer team released a drug they named aspirin. In 2004 Diarmuid Jeffreys authored ?Aspirin: The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug.? (HN, 3/6/01)(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.M6) 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 9, Stephen J. Field (b.1816), former US Supreme Court Justice (1863-1897), died. (www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/38/print) 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 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." (WSJ, 12/27/96, p.A5)(WSJ, 4/22/99, A20)(http://lib.ru/NABOKOW/nabokr.txt) 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 (d.1987), movie musical star, was born in Omaha, Neb. His films included ?Easter Parade? (1948). (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. The czar of Russia had called for a disarmament conference that, for reasons of diplomatic niceties and international rivalries, ended up in The Hague. (AP, 5/18/99)(SFC, 8/11/00, p.A15)(AP, 4/17/06) 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 30, Wilbur Wright (1867-1912), Ohio bicycle mechanic, wrote the Smithsonian Institution and affirmed his belief that human flight was possible. (NPub, 2002, p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Brothers) 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, A French court overturned the 1894 guilty verdict against Capt. Dreyfus. (ON, 2/09, p.7) 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 (d.1986), American actor famous for his role in "Yankee Doodle Dandy," was born. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cagney) 1899 Jul 18, Horatio Alger Jr. (67), American clergyman, author (Disagreeable Woman), died. His books, reissued in cheaper editions, became huge bestsellers. In 1928 Herbert Mayes authored a biography that was highly fabricated. In 1985 Gary Scharnhorst and Jack Bales authored "The Lost Life of Horatio Alger, Jr." (WSJ, 8/27/03, p.B1)(MC, 7/18/02) 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 Jul 25, Ralph Dumke, actor (Movieland Quiz), was born in Indiana. (SC, 7/25/02) 1899 Jul 30, Gerald Moore, English pianist (Am I Too Loud), was born. (MC, 7/30/02) 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 15, Henry Ford (36) quit his job with the Edison Illuminating Company. He soon found backers and started the Detroit Automobile Company, with himself as chief engineer. (ON, 3/03, p.1) 1899 Aug 23, Albert Claude (d.1983), biologist, was born in Belgium. He never graduated from high school and won the 1974 Nobel for his work on the sub-structure of the cell. (www.belgium.be) 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 14, Hal B. Wallis (d.1986), film producer, was born in Chicago. His work included ?The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca.? (HN, 9/14/00)(www.britannica.com) 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 and he was released from Devil's Island. (PCh, 1992, p.628)(Wikipedia) 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, Byron Bancroft Johnson, president of baseball?s Western League, renamed it as the American League. (ON, 6/09, p.11) 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 (Guyana). 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. Venezuela rejected this decision in the 1960s. (SFC, 10/26/99, p.A12)(Econ, 9/29/07, p.44) 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, Winston Churchill (24), war correspondent for London?s Morning Post, was captured by Boers in Natal, South Africa. He escaped prison in Pretoria on Dec 12 and after some days reached the English colony in Durban, Natal. (ON, 12/08, p1) 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" (1930) "Stardust" and over 600 other melodies. Lyrics for Georgia on my Mind were written by Stuart Gorrell. (WSJ, 9/9/99, p.A24)(SFC, 11/25/99, p.C22)(Econ, 7/3/04, p.16) 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 Dec, Honolulu?s chief microbiologist reported that plague had arrived in Hawaii. The steamship Nippon Maru had docked there in the summer with a corpse that carried plague. (SSFC, 12/19/04, p.E2) 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 Eusebia Palomino Yenes (d.1935) was born in Spain. She became a nun of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians and was beatified in 2004. (AP, 4/25/04) 1899 Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) painted ?Man with Crossed Arms.? (SSFC, 10/23/11, p.M5) 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 John Dewey, American education theorist, authored ?The School and Society,? in which he argued that schooling should reflect the lives of children as well as what they had to learn. (Econ, 9/17/11, p.24) 1899 Harry Graham, English versifier, authored "Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes." (SFEC, 5/14/00, Z1 p.2) 1899 Rudyard Kipling authored his poem ?The White Man?s Burden.? (SSFC, 5/8/05, p.B1) 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 (1857-1929), a Norwegian-American academic, 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)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorstein_Veblen) 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 The US Consumers League was founded to promote a fair marketplace for workers and consumers. (AH, 10/07, p.34)(www.nclnet.org/about/history.htm) 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 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 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 US Library of Congress introduced a classification system organized into 21 subject classes. (ON, 3/04, p.12) 1898 South Dakota became the first US state to allow voter initiatives. (Econ, 12/19/09, p.47) 1899 Acting UMWA Pres. John Mitchell (1870-1919) was elected as head of the United Mine Workers of America. (AH, 2/03, p.43)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mitchell_%28United_Mine_Workers%29) 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 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) 1889 Hendrik Baekeland (26), Belgian professor of natural science, sailed for America. (ON, 9/05, p.10) 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 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 The vibrator was introduced as a home medical appliance. By 1904 it appeared in magazine advertisements. In 1918 a Sears Roebuck catalog described a $5.95 portable model. (SSFC, 7/22/07, p.F6) 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 The US Navy built Quarters One as the Commandant?s residence on Yerba Buena Island in the San Francisco Bay. It later became known as the Nimitz House, the final home of Navy Adm. Chester Nimitz, who lived there from 1963-1966. (SFC, 9/18/10, p.C3)(www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwiibayarea/qua.htm) 1899 The Los Angeles Oil Exchange was established to handle the securities of oil companies in southern California. (SSFC, 1/25/04, p.I3) 1899 In California wildcatters discovered oil along the Kern River in Bakersfield. (SSFC, 4/13/08, p.C1) 1899 Oakland Preserving Co. and 17 other firms combined to form the California Fruit Canners Association. They adopted the Del Monte brand name. In 1916-17 the canner?s association called itself Calpak and started advertising the Del Monte brand. (SFC, 3/1/97, p.B1)(SSFC, 10/3/04, p.J1) 1899 The Italian cemetery in Lawndale (Colma), Ca., was established. (Ind, 11/28/98, p.5A)(www.colmahistory.org/History.htm) 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 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 Dr. Charles Wardell Stiles, a zoologist from Hartford, Connecticut, identified "progressive pernicious anemia," seen in the southern United States, as caused by A. duodenale. He also identified the other important hookworm species: Necator americanus. Stiles had studied medical zoology in Europe in the late 19th century and learned about hookworms while helping with animal autopsies and studies. From 1909 to 1914, doctors, public health officials, and northern businessmen worked to destroy what they called the "germ of laziness." They believed such a germ caused many of the South's problems, poverty, a sickly population, and economic underdevelopment. But the germ these people were attacking wasn't a germ at all. It was a worm, the hookworm. (www.isradiology.org/tropical_deseases/tmcr/chapter12/intro.htm)(SSFC, 9/26/10, DB p.50) 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 La Paz became the seat of Bolivia?s legislative and executive branches after winning a brief civil war against Sucre, which retained the country?s high courts. (AP, 8/6/97)(Econ, 7/1/06, p.77)(AP, 7/21/07) 1899 The Landmark Hotel was built in London, England. (AP, 2/17/10) 1889 In the English League First Division match, the 1st professional league soccer championship, Preston North End won against the Aston Villa Football Club. Preston went through its 22-game season without losing a match. (Econ, 7/14/07, p.15)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1889_in_football_(soccer)) 1899 In Britain the bulk of the Bloomsbury group entered Trinity College, Cambridge. (SFEC, 9/22/96, BR p.3) 1899 Musicologist Cecil Sharp stumbled on a performance of Morris dancers at the Oxford Corn Exchange. He wrote down the songs, annotated the dances and begat a revival. Morris dancing had been banned as pagan by Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century. (WSJ, 5/17/04, p.A13) 1899 A telegraph cable connecting Britain to Cape Town came ashore on Ascension Island. (Econ, 12/18/10, p.160) 1899 Sir Arthur Evans discovered the center of Minoan civilization on the island of Crete. He erected a house overlooking the excavations and named it Villa Ariadne after the daughter of King Minos. As he unearthed a mound at Knossos he rebuilt parts of a 3,500 year-old palace in modernist style. In 2009 Cathy Gere authored ?Knossos and the Prophets of Modernism.? (WSJ, 6/26/98, p.W9)(WSJ, 2/8/02, p.AW9)(Econ, 5/16/09, p.91) 1899 Germany bought the Caroline Islands, a group of about 500 small coral islands east of the Philippines, from Spain for 25 million pesetas. (Econ, 11/19/11, p.64)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Islands) 1899 In Italy the Fiat automobile company was founded. (Sky, 9/97, p.97)(SFEC,12/14/97, p.D7) 1899 Japan passed a statute that discriminated against the northern Ainu people. It described them as aborigines in need of assimilation. The law was repealed in 1997. (SFC, 5/9/97, p.E3)(Econ, 7/12/08, p.54) 1899 When British engineers were building a railway from the coastal town of Mombasa to what is now Uganda, they chose the Masai's emergency watering hole as a watering point for their steam engines and it eventually became Nairobi, Kenya's capital. (AP, 2/19/06) 1899 Antonio Guzman Blanco, former president of Venezuela, died. He dominated Venezuela from 1870-1888, when a revolution destroyed his power. (www.bartleby.com/65/gu/GuzmanBl.html) 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) 1899-1909 Cipriano Castro served as president of Venezuela. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_leaders_in_1906) 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) Go to 1900