APRIL 21 2011
1905
October 2 – HMS Dreadnought is laid down, revolutionizing battleship design and triggering a naval arms race.
October 5 – The Wright Brothers' third aeroplane (Wright Flyer III) stays in the air for 39 minutes with Wilbur piloting. This is the first
aeroplane flight lasting over half an hour.
October 16 – Russian Revolution of 1905: The Russian army opens fire in a meeting on a street market in Estonia, killing 94 and injuring over
200.
October 26 – Sweden agrees to the repeal of the union with Norway.
October 30 – Tsar Nicholas II is forced to grant Russia's first constitution, conceding a national assembly (Duma) with limited powers.
[edit] NovemberNovember 9 – The Province of Alberta, Canada holds its first general election.
November 18 – Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.
November 28 – Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith founds Sinn Féin in Dublin, as a political party whose goal is independence for all of Ireland
APRIL 22 2011
1905 - 1906
December 30 – A bomb kills Frank Steunenberg, ex-governor of Idaho; the case leads to a trial against leaders of the Western Federation of Miners
January 22 – The SS Valencia strikes a reef off Vancouver Island, Canada, killing over 100 (officially 136) in the ensuing disaster.
January 31 – An earthquake (8.8 on the Moment magnitude scale) and associated tsunami strikes Ecuador and Colombia.
APRIL 23 2011
1906
February 10 – HMS Dreadnought is launched and sparks the naval race between Britain and Germany.
February 11 – Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer Nos.
[edit] MarchMarch 10 – An explosion in a coal mine in Courrières, France kills 1,060.
March 18 – Traian Vuia makes a short flight in a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft.
April 7 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
April 18 – The 1906 San Francisco earthquake (estimated magnitude 7.8) on the San Andreas Fault destroys much of San Francisco, California, USA,
killing at least 3,000, with 225,000–300,000 left homeless, and $350 million in damages.
April 23 – In Tsarist Russia, the Fundamental Laws are announced at the first state Duma.
The ruins of San Francisco following the April 18 earthquake and later fires[edit] MayMay – Jack London's novel White Fang is serialized in The
Outing Magazine.
APRIL 24 2011
1906
June 7 – The RMS Lusitania is launched in Glasgow. It is the world's largest ship.
[edit] JulyJuly 6 – The Second Geneva Convention meets.
July 12 – Alfred Dreyfus is exonerated. He is reinstalled in the French Army on July 21, thus ending the Dreyfus Affair.
[edit] AugustAugust 16 – A magnitude 8.2 earthquake in Valparaíso, Chile leaves approximately 20,000 dead.
August 22 – The first Victor Victrola, a phonographic record player, is manufactured.
August 23 – Unable to control a rebellion Cuban President Tomás Estrada Palma requests United States intervention. The subsequent provisional
occupation administration lasts until 1909.[citation needed]
APRIL 25 2011
1906
September 11 – Mahatma Gandhi coins the term Satyagraha to characterize the Non-Violence movement in South Africa.
September 18 – A typhoon and tsunami kill an estimated 10,000 in Hong Kong.[citation needed]
September 30 – The first Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning is held, starting in Paris. The winning team, piloting the balloon United States, lands in
Fylingdales, Yorkshire.
[edit] OctoberOctober 1 – The Grand Duchy of Finland becomes the first nation to include the right of women to stand as candidates when it adopts
universal suffrage.
October 6 – The Majlis of Iran convenes for the first time.
October 11 – A United States diplomatic crisis with Japan arises when the San Francisco public school board orders Japanese students to be taught in
racially segregated schools.
October 16 – Imposter Wilhelm Voigt impersonates a Prussian officer and takes over city hall in Köpenick for a short time.
October 23 – An aeroplane of Alberto Santos-Dumont takes off at Bagatelle in France and flies 60 meters (200 feet). This is the first officially
recorded powered flight in Europe..
October 28 – The Union Minière du Haut Katanga, a Belgian mining trust, is created in the Congo.
APRIL 26 2011
1906
November 3 – SOS becomes an international distress signal.
November 22 – Russian Prime Minister Peter Stolypin introduces agrarian reforms aimed at creating a large class of land-owning peasants.
[edit] DecemberDecember 2 – HMS Dreadnought, the first all-big-gun warship, is commissioned.
December 14 – The first German submarine, U-1, enters the German Imperial Navy.
December 24 – Reginald Fessenden makes the first radio broadcast: a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.
December 26 – The world's first feature film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, is released.
APRIL 27 2011
1907
January 6 – The first Montessori school and daycare center for working class children opens in Rome.
January 14 – An earthquake, in Kingston, Jamaica kills more than 1,000.
APRIL 28 2011
1907
March – The 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt results in possibly as many as 11,000 deaths.
March 5 – At the opening of the new State Duma in St. Petersburg, Russia 40,000 demonstrators are dispersed by Russian troops.
March 15–March 16 – Elections to the new Parliament of Finland are the first in the world with woman candidates, as well as the first elections in
Europe where universal suffrage is applied. Nineteen women are elected.
March 22 – The first taxicabs with taxi meters begin operating in London.
APRIL 29 2011
1907
June 15 – The Second Hague Peace Conference is held.
APRIL 30 2011
1907
July 21 – The SS Columbia sinks after colliding with the lumber schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove, California, U.S.A., resulting in 88 deaths.
July 25 – Korea becomes a protectorate of Japan.
August 1–August 9 – Robert Baden-Powell leads the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island, England.
August 29 – The partially completed superstructure of the Quebec bridge collapses entirely, claiming the lives of 76 workers.
August 31 – Count Alexander Izvolsky and Sir Arthur Nicolson sign the St. Petersburg Convention, which results in the establishment of the Triple
Entente.
MAY 1 2011
1907
September 7 – The passenger liner RMS Lusitania makes its maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City.
September 26 – New Zealand and Newfoundland become dominions.
October – A committee of the Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language, made up of academics including Otto Jespersen,
Wilhelm Ostwald and Roland Eotvos meet in Paris to select a language for international use. The committee ultimately decides to reform Esperanto.
October 17 – Guglielmo Marconi initiates commercial transatlantic radio communications between his high power longwave wireless telegraphy stations
in Clifden Ireland and Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.
October 18 – Hague Convention revised by (second) Hague Peace Conference (effective 26 January 1910).
October 27 – Černová tragedy: Fifteen people are shot during the consecration of a Catholic church in Hungary.
JANUARY 15 1944
An earthquake hits San Juan, Argentina, killing an estimated 10,000 people in the worst natural disaster in Argentina's history.
MAY 2 2011
1907
November – The new & largest passenger liner RMS Mauretania makes its maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City.
December 6 – Monongah Mining Disaster: A coal mine explosion kills 362 workers in Monongah, West Virginia, United States.
December 8 – Upon the death of Oscar II, he is succeeded by his son Gustaf V as king of Sweden.
December 19 – An explosion in a coal mine in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania kills 239.
December 21 – Santa María School massacre. In Chile soldiers fire at striking mineworkers gathered in the Santa María School in Iquique, over 2000
are killed.
MAY 3 2011
1908
January 12 – A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
January 13 – A fire at the Rhoads Opera House in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. kills 170.
January 24 – Robert Baden-Powell begins the Boy Scout movement.
[edit] FebruaryFebruary 1 – King Carlos I of Portugal and Infante Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon.
February 12 – The first around-the-world car race, the 1908 New York to Paris Race, begins.
February 18 – Japanese immigration to the U.S.A. is forbidden.
MAY 4 2011
1908
March 4 – The Collinwood School Fire, near Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., kills 174.
March 21 – Frenchman Henri Farman pilots the first passenger flight.
March 27 – The first overseas Scout Troop is formed in Gibraltar.
[edit] AprilApril 20 – Sunshine train disaster: Two trains collide in Melbourne, Australia, killing 44 people and injuring more than 400.[1]
April 21 – Frederick Cook claims to have reached the North Pole on this date.
April 27 – The 1908 Summer Olympics begin in London.
MAY 5 2011
1908
May 26 – At Masjid-al-Salaman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil discovery in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource
are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.
[edit] June
Evidence of the Tunguska event (June 30). Photo taken 19 years later.June 30 – The Tunguska event, also known as the Russian explosion, occurs near
the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, Russian Empire.
MAY 6 2011
1908
July 3 – Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire: Major Ahmed Niyazi, with 200 followers (Ottoman troops and civilians), begins an open
revolution by defecting from the 3rd Army Corps in Macedonia, decamping into the hill country.
July 6 – Robert Peary sets sail for the North Pole.
July 11–July 12 – The steamship Amalthea, housing 80 British strikebreakers while in Malmö harbour, Sweden, is bombed by Anton Nilson; 1 is
killed, 20 injured.
July 23 – Young Turk Revolution: The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) issues a formal ultimatum to Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the
constitution of 1876, within the Ottoman Empire. It is restored the following day.
July 24 – Dorando Pietri wins the Olympic marathon in London in one of the most dramatic arrivals of the Olympic history, only to be disqualified
soon afterwards.
[edit] AugustAugust 8 – Wilbur Wright flies in France for the first time demonstrating true controlled powered flight.
August 17 – Emile Cohl makes the first fully animated film, Fantasmagorie.
August 24 – After an intense power struggle, Sultan Abd al-Aziz IV of Morocco is deposed, and is succeeded by his brother Abd al-Hafiz.
MAY 7 2011
1908
September 17 – At Ft. Myer, Virginia, U.S.A. Thomas Selfridge becomes the first person to die in an airplane crash. The pilot, Orville Wright, is
severely injured in the crash but recovers.
September 27 – Henry Ford produces his first Model T automobile.
[edit] OctoberOctober 5 – Bulgaria declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire; Ferdinand I of Bulgaria becomes Tsar.
October 6 – The Bosnian Crisis begins after the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina.
MAY 8 2011
1908
November 6 – Western bandits Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid are supposedly killed in Bolivia, after being surrounded by a large group of
soldiers. There are many rumors to the contrary however, and their grave sites are unmarked.
[edit] DecemberDecember 2 – Child Emperor Pu Yi ascends the Chinese throne at age 2.
December 16 – Construction begins on the RMS Olympic at the Harland and Wolff Shipyards in Belfast.
December 28 – An earthquake and tsunami destroys Messina, Sicily and Calabria, killing over 70,000 people.
MAY 9 2011
1909
January 5 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.
January 16 – Ernest Shackleton's expedition claims to have found the magnetic South Pole, but the location recorded may be incorrect.[1]
January 28 – The last United States troops leave Cuba after being there since the Spanish-American War.
MAY 10 2011
1909
March 10 – The Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 is signed in Bangkok.
March 18 – Einar Dessau uses a short-wave radio transmitter, becoming the first radio broadcaster.
March 31 – Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
April 6 – Robert Peary, Matthew Henson, and four Eskimo explorers come within a few miles of the North Pole.
April 11 – The city of Tel Aviv (then known as Ahuzat Bayit) is founded.
April 18 – Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.
April 19 – The Anglo-Persian Oil Company, now BP, is incorporated.
April 27 – Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown and succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V. He is sent to the Ottoman port city of
Thessaloniki (Selanik) the next day.
MAY 11 2011
1909
May 1, 1909 (Saturday)Tens of thousands of California residents turned out at San Francisco to greet the visiting Japanese ships Aso and Soya, which
had been captured from Russia during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905.[1]
Walter Reed Medical Center opened for treatment of Washington D.C. residents and veterans.[2]
[edit] May 2, 1909 (Sunday)Mark Twain began work on the "Ashcroft-Lyon" manuscript, never published, three weeks after firing his secretary, Isabel
Lyon, who had married Ralph Ashcroft.[3]
Manuel Amador Guerrero, the first President of Panama and founder of the nation, died a few months after the expiration of his term of office. Fort
Amador, which defends the Pacific side of the canal along with Fort Grant, was named in his honor.[4]
[edit] May 3, 1909 (Monday)Jesús Malverde, "El Rey de Sinaloa", was killed in Mexico and made his way into local folklore.
Ensign Chester Nimitz began a career in submarine warfare, taking command of the USS Plunger
The Preakness Stakes, second jewel of the Triple Crown of American horseracing, returned to Maryland and the Pimlico racetrack, after having been run
since 1890 in New York.[5]
[edit] May 4, 1909 (Tuesday)Tony Malfeti body found; had been kidnapped on March 14
In Las Cruces, New Mexico, Wayne Brazel was acquitted of the February 29, 1908, murder of Pat Garrett. The trial had begun on April 19, and the jury
took 15 minutes to reach the verdict that Brazel, who fired his shot while Garrett was urinating, had acted in self-defense.[6]
[edit] May 5, 1909 (Wednesday)A change in the electoral law of the German free state of Saxony took effect, providing for four different classes of
voters. All taxpaying men, 25 or older, had one vote, and men with higher incomes had two, three or four votes. Men received an additional vote upon
turning 50.[7]
Jackson County, Colorado, was created from the western section of Larimer County.[8]
[edit] May 6, 1909 (Thursday)The U.S. Senate ratified a treaty that had been signed in December 1904, between the United States and Russia, providing
legal recognition by each nation of the corporations of the other. Prior to the signing of the agreement, American business corporations had had no
legal standing in the Russian Empire.[9]
[edit] May 7, 1909 (Friday)The Pontifical Biblical Institute was founded in Rome by Pope Pius X.[10]
Albert Einstein was invited by the University of Zurich to for the newly created chair in Theoretical Physics.[11]
[edit] May 8, 1909 (Saturday)Herbert Lang and Jampes P. Chapin set off on the SS Zeeland on the first project to catalog the plant and animal species
of Central Africa. The Congo Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History yielded thousands of specimens.[12]
The town of Concrete, Washington, was incorporated as a merger of the communities of Baker (which had the Superior Portland Cement Company) and Cement
City (which Washington Portland Cement Company).[13] The town was featured in the 1993 Robert DeNiro and Leonardo DiCaprio film This Boy's Life.
The famous Indian "Bhawal Sanyasi "died(?) on this day – at about 7 pm at Darjeeling at "Step aside" building. His body was taken to Cremation
ground – when ? – here the controversy starts and three marathon legal battles start. Ultimately the Privy Council – London upheld the theory
that Kumar Ramendranath roy – alias Bhawal Sanyasi – did not die actually – but his comatose body was brought to Cremation ground – ultimately
the effort was abandoned due to a whirlwind in which the corpse was stolen by some sadhus and later revived).[14]
[edit] May 9, 1909 (Sunday)Japanese sugar plantation workers in Hawaii walked out on strike, after five months of trying to get wages comparable to
those paid to Portuguese and Puerto Rican laborers for the same work. By June, 7000 had walked off the job. After five months, the plantation owners
relented and brought the Asian workers' pay up to par.[15]
[edit] May 10, 1909 (Monday)The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) was founded by fifteen physicians who gathered at the New Willard
Hotel in Washington, D.C., to identify and honor outstanding physicians engaged in biomedical research.[16]
[edit] May 11, 1909 (Tuesday)U.S. Design Patent No. 39,984 was awarded to Harrison D. McFaddin for the "banker desk lamp" [1][17]
[edit] May 12, 1909 (Wednesday)Leopold Stokowski made his debut as a conductor, for the Colonne Orchestra in Paris.
In South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, at least twenty employees of the Callanan Road Improvement Company were killed by the premature explosion of 1,000
pounds of dynamite as they were preparing to shoot inside a quarry, including the vice-president.[18]
[edit] May 13, 1909 (Thursday)The first Giro d'Italia, Italy's premiere bicycle race, began at 2:53 in the morning in Milan with 127 starters. On
May 30, Luigi Ganna was the first of the 49 remaining riders to return to Milan for the win.[19]
The British platinum producer Lonmin was incorporated as the London and Rhodesian Mining and Land Co., Ltd.[20]
[edit] May 14, 1909 (Friday)The "Milwaukee Road" railroad (C M & S) became the sixth transcontinental railroad in the United States, with the
completion of $60,000,000 five year Pacific Extension project to take the line to Seattle. With the driving of the final spike near Garrison, Montana,
the official name of the Milwaukee Road became the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad.[21]
[edit] May 15, 1909 (Saturday)Saint Paulinus of Nola (354–431 AD) returned to his home in Nola, in Southern Italy, after nearly a millennium. His
body had been at the Tiber Island in Rome since the 11th century. Paulinus was reinterred at the cathedral that had been dedicated there a week
earlier.[22]
[edit] May 16, 1909 (Sunday)A hail storm in Uvalde County, Texas, caused major damage, but not as seriously as reported in some papers. The
hailstones, some weighing as six pounds, were heavy enough to kill several cows. A San Antonio paper reported that "Damage in the amount of at least
$10,000 was done in Uvalde and five or six head of stock were killed," and added "The report that several Mexicans had been killed by hail stones is
not correct.".[23] Dispatches from Galveston greatly exaggerated the damage in the rest of the nation. The New York Times reported that the
hailstones "are said to have measured nearly a foot and a half in circumference and ranged in weight from seven to ten pounds", and that "eight
lives are reported lost, while the number of live stock killed is reported anywhere from 500 to 2,000 dead ... loss to crops and farm property will
aggregate between $200,000 and $300,000. The hailstones piled up in some places four feet high.".[24] The New York Herald said that the hailstones
killed rancher James Carpenter "and seven Mexican hired men".[25]
[edit] May 17, 1909 (Monday)First Lady Nellie Taft, wife of U.S. President William Taft, suffered a stroke while at the White House, impairing her
speech abilities. She recovered after one year.[26]
The United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of Welch v. Swasey, 214 U.S. 191 (1909), that it upheld the right of governments to set limits on
the height of buildings.[27]
[edit] May 18, 1909 (Tuesday)In Germany, patent No. 226,239 was awarded to Heinrich Hoerlein of the Bayer company for a sulfanilamide, the first
synthesized sulfanomide. It was not until 1935 that the antibiotic properties of sulfanomides were realized, and the first sulfa drugs created.[28]
Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, resolved the question of who would succeed him, selecting his 14 year old grandson Lij Iyasu as the heir apparent.
Iyasu V reigned from 1913 to 1916, but was deposed in favor of Menelik's daughter Zauditu.[29]
[edit] May 19, 1909 (Wednesday)With 55 dancers, including Vaslav Nijinsky, the Ballets Russes opened a new era in ballet dancing, bringing the Russian
ballet to the Western world. Produced by Sergei Diaghilev, the tour opened at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.[30]
A. Lawrence Lowell succeeded Charles William Eliot as President of Harvard University. In his 24 years, Lowell reformed the degree requirements to
introduce the concept of selecting an academic major as a primary field of study, saying "The best type of liberal education in our complex modern
world aims at producing men who know a little of everything and something well."[31]
[edit] May 20, 1909 (Thursday)Saint Clement Hofbauer (1751–1820), a prominent leader of the Redemptionist movement, was canonized. He is now
considered the Patron Saint of Vienna[32]
[edit] May 21, 1909 (Friday)St. Cloud, Florida, created as a community for retired Union veterans of the American Civil War, received its first
resident, Albert Hantsch of Chicago.[33] By 2009, the population of St. Cloud passed 25,000.
[edit] May 22, 1909 (Saturday)Nearly 700,000 acres (2,800 km2) of federally owned land in Washington, Montana and Idaho were opened for settlement by
executive order of U.S. President William Howard Taft.[34]
[edit] May 23, 1909 (Sunday)The Daily Bioscope theatre opened, introducing the British public to newsreels, the first showing of filmed news
stories.[35]
The equestrian statue of Tsar Alexander III astride a horse, sculpted by Paolo Troubetskoy, was unveiled in St. Petersburg at Znamenskaya Square.
After St. Petersburg was renamed Leningrad in 1924, the unpopular memorial was moved in 1937 to the backyard of the city museum. In 1994, with the
city again called St. Petersburg, the statue was again moved, and placed in front of one of the Marble Palace.[36]
[edit] May 24, 1909 (Monday)Sweden became the first European nation to set aside land for national parks. The first nine established under
jurisdiction of the Naturvårdsverket were Abisko, Ängsö, Garphyttan, Gotska Sandön, Hamra, Pieljekaise, Sarek, Stora Sjöfallet, and Sonfjället.
May 24 is now annually commemorated as the European Day of Parks.[37]
[edit] May 25, 1909 (Tuesday)The Indian Councils Act of 1909 (9 Edw. VII, c.4) was given royal assent after passing the British parliament. For the
first time, the legislative councils for the various provinces of British India would include members elected by the Indians themselves. Formerly, all
members had been appointed by the Crown. Additional seats on the provincial executive councils were created, opening the way for more Indian
officeholders. The Reforms of 1909 were the first step toward self-government in India.[38]
Israel Greene, who had led the United States Marines in the capture of abolitionist John Brown at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, on October 18, 1859, died
at the age of 85 at his farm near Mitchell, South Dakota.[39]
[edit] May 26, 1909 (Wednesday)In the Epsom Derby in Britain, Minoru, the horse owned by King Edward VII won after the betting favorite, American-bred
Sir Martin, threw his jockey.[40]
[edit] May 27, 1909 (Thursday)A meteor crashed through the roof of a house in Shepard, Texas.[41]
[edit] May 28, 1909 (Friday)The 1912 Summer Olympics games were awarded to Stockholm, in an election by acclamation at the IOC meeting in
Berlin.[42]
[edit] May 29, 1909 (Saturday)Augusto B. Leguía, the President of Peru, was briefly taken hostage during an attempted coup, but rescued by loyal
troops.[43] The uprising had begun four days earlier when an anti-Chinese rally of the Workers' Party degenerated into a riot in Lima. As a
concession to the rioters, President Leguia halted Chinese immigration to Peru, admitting only those immigrants who had at least 500 pounds sterling
in resources.[44]
The first sale of an airplane to a non-military buyer took place when the G.H. Curtiss Manufacturing Co. delivered its Curtiss No. 1, nicknamed the
Golden Flyer, to the New York Aeronautical Society to complete a $5,000 purchase.[45]
[edit] May 30, 1909 (Sunday)For the first time, an airship remained aloft for more than 24 hours. Zeppelin II, with ten on board, flew 400 miles (640
km) from Friedrichshafen to Bitterfeld.[46]
Sri Aurobindo delivered what is now called by his followers as the "Uttarpara Speech", in the West Bengal city of that name.[47]
[edit] May 31, 1909 (Monday)The National Negro Conference, chaired by Charles Edward Russell and attended by 300 people, convened in New York at the
United Charities building, then moved for an afternoon session to Cooper Union with 1,500 attending.[48] From the meeting emerged the National Negro
Committee, which would be renamed the following year as the NAACP. As one historian would later note, "The events at the conference set the tone for
future race relations within the [NAACP] movement for decades to come."[49]
June 1, 1909 (Tuesday)The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition opened in Seattle at 8:30 am. From the White House, U.S> President William Howard Taft
pressed "a telegraph key of Alaska gold" to signal the opening of the fair. A crowd of 89, 286 turned out on the first day.[1]
Andrew Fisher resigned as Prime Minister of Australia after six months. He was succeeded by Alfred Deakin, who had joined with Joseph Cook in creating
the Fusion Party. Deakin, who had been premier twice before, formed a government with Cook as Minister of Defence.[2]
[edit] June 2, 1909 (Wednesday)Muhammad Da´ud Murra ibn Yusuf, ruler since 1901 of the Ouaddai Kingdom in the northern part of what is now Chad, was
forced to flee after French troops succeeded in capturing the capital at Abéché. The French forces released Adam Asil from confinement and placed
him on the throne as a puppet ruler, while incorporating the kingdom into French Equatorial Africa.[3]
Harmon County, Oklahoma, was created by gubernatorial proclamation after being approved in an election on May 22. The new county was named in honor of
Judson Harmon, who was Governor of Ohio at the time.[4]
[edit] June 3, 1909 (Thursday)Seven months after the fatal crash that killed Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge, the Wright brothers returned to Fort Myer,
Virginia, with the improved Wright Military Flyer, which passed the U.S. Army's tests and was accepted on August 2.[5]
Left with only four ships after the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Navy commenced rebuilding. The keels were laid down for four dreadnoughts (Gangut,
Poltava, Sevastopol and Petropavlovsk), which were all launched in the summer of 1911.[6]
[edit] June 4, 1909 (Friday)"Japanese Navy Day" was held at the A-Y-P Exposition in Seattle.[7]
[edit] June 5, 1909 (Saturday)The first race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with three competitors setting off at 3:45 p.m. and
ascending into the sky—in balloons. Six more balloons were launched at 5:00 pm for a distance race.[8] John Berry, piloting the University City
landed in Alabama two days later, winning the endurance and distance races.[9]
In Somerville, Massachusetts, a butcher at the North Packing and Provision Company slaughterhouse attacked his co-workers with his 15-inch knife. Five
men were killed and four more wounded before John Murphy was overpowered and arrested.[10]
[edit] June 6, 1909 (Sunday)The Hukuang Loan agreement was signed between the Imperial Chinese government and a consortium of British, German and
French banks, providing that the bankers would finance the construction of two railroad lines in central China, connecting Canton, Hankow and Chengtu
to the Beijing line. After the agreement was signed, the United States pressed for its own banks to be part of the program. The agreement was
renegotiated, delaying construction of the railroad. Public outrage over the handling of the loan was later described as "one of the links in the
chain of events that caused the revolution" of 1911, which overthrew the Empire in favor of a republic.[11]
[edit] June 7, 1909 (Monday)The Unfair Competition Act of 1909 was enacted in Germany, prohibiting five categories of anti-competitive business
practices, and providing for injunctions and civil damages. Under the UWG (unlauteren wettbewerb gesetz), fishing for customers, obstructive
practices, exploitation of reputation, breach of law and disturbance of the market are barred.[12]
[edit] June 8, 1909 (Tuesday)An earthquake and tsunami destroyed the town of Korinchi on the island of Sumatra, now part of Indonesia, killing at
least 230.[13]
[edit] June 9, 1909 (Wednesday)Alice Huyler Ramsey set off from New York to become the first woman to drive across the United States, setting off from
the Maxwell Motors dealership at 1930 Broadway Street in New York, along with three female companions. The 22-year-old housewife and mother from
Hackensack reached Chicago on June 18 and the four arrived in San Francisco on August 6, 59 days and 3,800 miles after departing. John D. Murphy of
the Boston Herald handled publicity for Mrs. Ramsey, traveling ahead by train to prepare for each stop. Since there were no road maps for the Western
U.S., Murphy went ahead in another car and followed telephone lines in order to avoid getting lost.[14]
Ali bin Hamud al-Busaid, the Sultan of Zanzibar, decreed that compensation claims for former slaveholders would no longer be considered after the end
of 1911. Slavery had been abolished in the African nation in 1897, but the practice continued unofficially. Most slaveholders were Arab clover
farmers, who used black African field hands.[15]
[edit] June 10, 1909 (Thursday)The very first Lincoln cent coins were manufactured, as the Philadelphia Mint began production of the new penny, which
was released into circulation on August 2. The first 25 million pennies included the initials "V.D.B.", placed on the dies designed by sculptor
Victor D. Brenner, until the U.S. Mint eliminated the "signature" beginning August 12.[16]
[edit] June 11, 1909 (Friday)At 9:16 in the evening, an earthquake struck Rognes, Lambesc and neighbouring villages in Southern France, killing 46
people. Rognes was half destroyed, especially the houses on the flanks of the hill Le Foussa. People were relocated under tents on another hill Le
devin and near the primary school. Would the earthquake have happened an hour later, more people would have been in bed, hence more casualties would
have been recorded. The quake was the largest in France during the 20th century.[17]
George S. Patton graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, ranked 46th in his class of 103.[18]
[edit] June 12, 1909 (Saturday)Three people traveled in an airplane for the first time in history, as Louis Bleriot lifted off from Juvisy, France, in
a monoplane, carrying Alberto Santos-Dumont and Fournier.[19]
The "non-magnetic" yacht Carnegie was launched. Owned by the Carnegie Institute of Washington, the small ship was designed from materials that would
not interfere with the workings of a magnetic compass, making accurate measurements of the Earth's changing magnetic field possible for the first
time.[20]
The ship Slavonia, with 400 passengers on board, struck the rocks off of Flores Island and sank, but all of aboard were rescued by the Princess Irene,
which had been 180 miles away when a wireless call for help was received.[21]
[edit] June 13, 1909 (Sunday)Colombian President Rafael Reyes abruptly resigned and went into exile. Reyes' five year dictatorial rule, known as the
"Quinquenio". the South American nation, ended after financial problems and public outrage over his recognition of Panamanian independence forced
him to leave.[22]
[edit] June 14, 1909 (Monday)Four specimens of the nearly extinct West Indian seal (Monachus tropicalis), and the only ones known to be living in
captivity, were brought to the New York Aquarium.[23]
Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton returned to a heroes welcome in London, and was knighted by King Edward VII.[24]
Prince Itō Hirobumi was forced to resign as Japan's Resident-General of Korea, at that time a Japanese protectorate, and was replaced by Baron Sone
Arasuke. Ito's assassination, three months later, would lead to Korea being annexed.[25]
[edit] June 15, 1909 (Tuesday)Nilo Peçanha was sworn into office as the seventh President of Brazil, the day after the sudden death of President
Afonso Pena. Peçanha, the descendant of slaves, was the only African-Brazilian president of South American's largest nation. He completed the
remaining 17 months of Penna's term, serving until November 15, 1910.[26]
Representatives from England, Australia and South Africa meet at Lord's Cricket Ground to form the Imperial Cricket Conference.[27]
The cork center baseball was patented. Benjamin Shibe, later the owner of the Philadelphia Athletics, received U.S. patent No. 924,696.[28]
[edit] June 16, 1909 (Wednesday)U.S. President William Howard Taft recommended to Congress that it vote to propose an amendment to the United States
Constitution to permit the federal government to levy an income tax upon persons and corporations. The Sixteenth Amendment was ratified effective
February 25, 1913.[29]
[edit] June 17, 1909 (Thursday)RMS Megantic maiden voyage from Liverpool to Montreal for White Star Lines.[30]
Meeting of Kaiser and Tsar on yachts Hohenzollern and Standart [31]
[edit] June 18, 1909 (Friday)William Lorimer was sworn in as U.S. Senator from Illinois, after being elected May 26 by the Illinois Senate. After the
U.S. Senate determined that the Illinois vote had been tainted by corruption, Lorimer's seat was declared vacant by a 55–28 vote taken on July 14,
1912. The Lorimer scandal was considered a factor in the ratification of the 17th Amendment, providing for U.S. Senators to be elected by popular
vote.[32]
Wilbur and Orville Wright were each presented the Congressional Gold Medal "for their achievements in demonstrating to the world the potential of
aerial navigation".[33]
In what was later known as the "Chinatown Trunk Mystery" 19-year old Elsie Sigel found dead at Sun Leung's chop suey restaurant. Sun Leung had
reported the disappearance of his cousin, Leon Ling, to the NYPD. Sigel had been missing since June 9.[34]
[edit] June 19, 1909 (Saturday)Chicago train accident kills 11 [35]
Roger Burnham and Eleanor Waring "honeymoon in the air"-- 3½ hours, at Holbrook, Mass.[36]
[edit] June 20, 1909 (Sunday)The New York American first broke the story of Mary Mallon in its Sunday magazine, entitled "'Typhoid Mary' Most
Harmless and yet the Most Dangerous Woman in America". Mallon had been quarantined since 1907 by the New York City health department because she
continued to work as a cook even after being identified as a carrier of typhoid fever.[37]
[edit] June 21, 1909 (Monday)A heat wave across the eastern United States claimed its first victims, as three people collapsed in New York.[38]
Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, was incorporated as a city.
[edit] June 22, 1909 (Tuesday)Construction began on the Cape Cod Canal, which would separate Cape Cod from mainland Massachusetts, United
States.[39]
The team of Bert W. Scott and C. James Smith arrived first in Seattle in a Model T Ford, to win the first transcontinental auto race and a $2,000
prize.[40]
[edit] June 23, 1909 (Wednesday)Henry Ford won a transcontinental auto race from New York to Seattle, then used the victory to promote the sale of
Ford automobiles.[41]
Under pressure from Russia and Britain, Shah of Iran Muhammad Ali Shah signed into law new electoral rules and promised free elections. Muhammad Ali
was deposed anyway on July 16.[42]
[edit] June 24, 1909 (Thursday)The Hope Diamond was sold at a loss for $80,000 to Louis Aucoc. The cursed diamond had been bought for the Habib
collection at $400,000.[43]
The German Reichstag voted 195–187 against an inheritance tax proposed by Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow. The Chancellor, who had pushed the tax in
the face of the deficits caused by the expansion of the German Navy, resigned on July 16.[44]
[edit] June 25, 1909 (Friday)Robert Eastman a/k/a Emmett E. Roberts, died of a gunshot as a sheriff's posse closed in on him at St. Michaels,
Maryland. Eastman, a former stockbroker, had been sought for the June 19 slaying of Edith Woodill,[45]
Mrs. Katherine Gould was granted a separation from her husband, millionaire Howard Gould, son of the financier Jay Gould. She was also awarded an
alimony of $3,000 a month by a New York court.[46]
Police in New York rounded up 21 fortune tellers for disorderly conduct, then released them upon the signing of a $1,000 peace bond, which would be
payable if they used their psychic powers over the next twelve months.[47]
[edit] June 26, 1909 (Saturday)A state visit by Tsar Nicholas II to Sweden was marred by the assassination of Major General Beckman, Chief of
Sweden's Coast Artillery. General Beckman was shot twice outside of Stockholm's Grand Hotel by an assassin who then killed himself. Sweden's King
Gustav V hosted a state banquet for the visiting Tsar at the royal palace that evening.[48]
In Detroit, the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers voted to reject an honorary membership for Noah. Though the biblical ark builder was
championed by two nominators as father of the desigining profession, the majority agreed with the sentiment that Noah was "a gamekeeper, not a
designer primarily".[49]
In London, the Science Museum came into existence as an independent entity, splitting from The Art Museum (later called the Victoria and Albert
Museum).[50]
[edit] June 27, 1909 (Sunday)In Springfield, Massachusetts, a riot broke out between the Turkish and Syrian communities, following an argument over a
married Syrian woman. An estimated 400 people fought for more than an hour along Ferry Street before Springfield police quelled the violence. Said
Burak, a leader in the Turkish community, died after being stabbed three times.[51]
[edit] June 28, 1909 (Monday)Cincinnati became the first American city to adopt daylight savings time, after the City Council, encouraged by native
son President William Howard Taft, voted unanimously to enact the ordinance. Effective May 1, 1910, clocks in Cincinnati would be set ahead one hour,
and would fall back on October 1, 1910.[52]
Guests dined on the roof of the White House for the first time in the history of the American presidency. Because of an ongoing heat wave, President
William Howard Taft arranged to have a dinner for distinguished guests al fresco, with tables moved to the top of the West Wing.[53]
[edit] June 29, 1909 (Tuesday)The women's suffrage movement in Britain took a violent turn after WSPU leader Emmeline Pankhurst marched to Parliament
to present a petition to Prime Minister Asquith. When Asquith declined to receive the delegation, Mrs. Pankhurst struck a police inspector. Outside of
Parliament, hundreds of suffragettes confronted police officers and began smashing windows. Afterwards, 107 women and eight men were arrested.[54] The
right to vote was granted to some women in 1918, and universal suffrage achieved in 1928.
[edit] June 30, 1909 (Wednesday)Forbes Field in Pittsburgh hosted its first event, as 30,338 spectators watched the Pittsburgh Pirates lost to the
Chicago Cubs 3–2. The last game there, played on June 28, 1970, saw the Pirates beat the Cubs, 4–1.[55]