January 30, 1900: Kentucky Governor-Elect Goebel is fatally wounded by assassin, just one day before taking office. Governor Goebel dies on February 3, 1900January 7, 1900: Tesla closes down his Colorado Springs laboratory
The following events occurred in January 1900:
January 1, 1900 (Monday)
The Fists of Righteous Harmony, popularly known as the "Boxers", stepped up their opposition to the foreign presence in China, killing the first foreign missionary. Reverend S.M. Brooke from the United Kingdom was kidnapped the day before while returning to his home in Tainanfu and beheaded on New Year's Day.[1]
An insurance carrier concluded that the British transport Victoria, last seen on November 14, had been lost in a typhoon.[5]
January 4, 1900 (Thursday)
In Manila, Philippines, GeneralElwell Otis, the highest ranking American officer, issued orders providing for the first regulations of the sale of liquor in the city. "Until January 4, 1900", wrote the Assistant Adjutant-General, "there was, strictly speaking, no liquor license law in Manila."[6]
An earthquake was registered in Tiflis (now Tbilisi, Georgia), killing more than 1,100 people. Ten villages, along with the town of Akhalkalaki were destroyed.[7][8]
In film, January 5, 1900, provided the opening of the 1960 George Pal production of The Time Machine, with the traveler having returned from 802,701 AD.
Battles occurred in multiple venues in Southern Africa in the Second Boer War. The German steamship Herzog was seized by the British warship HMS Thetis outside of Delagoa Bay in East Africa, on suspicions that it was carrying supplies to Boer troops. The Portuguese colonial governor of Zambesia was among the passengers.[12] After no troop supplies were found, the ship and its crew were released on January 22.[13]
For the first time in centuries, the sword of the Gorseddbards was solemnly unsheathed at Merionethshire in Wales. According to contemporary records, "The chief bard invoked the blessing of God on British arms in South Africa, and announced that the sword would not be sheathed again till the triumph of the forces of righteousness over the hordes of evil."[16]
Marshal O. Waggoner, an attorney in Toledo, Ohio who had recently converted to Christianity, destroyed his library of books "consisting of the writings of infidels". "Many of the volumes were exceedingly rare. There were a large number of manuscripts and first prints not to be found in any other library in America."[23]
The first 27 immigrants from Okinawa arrived in Hawaii on the ship City of China, following transportation arranged by Kyuzo Toyama, and were set to begin work on a sugar plantation.[24]
January 9, 1900 (Tuesday)
Italian football club Lazio was founded as Società Podistica Lazio, being the first football club founded in the Italian capital of Rome.[25]
The home of New York World publisher (and future prize founder) Joseph Pulitzer was destroyed in a fire that killed a governess and a friend of the family. The fire broke out at the home, located on 10 East 55th Street in New York City, at 7:30 in the morning.[27]
Collector F.M. Davis of Chicago was arrested after bills representing $100,000 of Confederate money were found at his mail order business on Monroe Street.[37]
January 11, 1900 (Thursday)
Following a drought during the 1899 rainy season, famine affected more than three million people in the Central Provinces of British India.[38] The colonial government extended the area for famine relief in response to reports.[8]
The New York Times reported that new cleaning machines had been placed in use at the Navy Department offices in Washington, D.C., with rubber tires and spreading brushes. The machines were operated by the women who formerly scrubbed the floor by hand.[39]
January 12, 1900 (Friday)
Wilhelm Eppstein, an 18-year old German sailor, became the first person in Australia to die of bubonic plague. Eppstein had traveled from Gawler, South Australia to the Adelaide Hospital, arriving on January 1 "in a semi-delirious condition", and said that he had deserted from the ship Formosa after it had arrived on November 12. Following his death in quarantine, an autopsy confirmed the presence of the plague bacteria.[40][41]
Henry Ford introduced his first commercial motor vehicle, a two-seat electric-powered delivery wagon, under the name of the five-month old Detroit Automobile Company (D.A.C.), which would produce eleven other models of cars before going bankrupt in November, at the rate of two per day. "Every one of the 12 or so vehicles produced through late 1900 had its own unique set of problems," a biographer would write later, "causing rip ups, tear downs, and redos that resulted in extensive, and expensive, delays. Motor vehicles retailed to the public for $1,000 were in fact costing about $1,250 to build."[42] Rather than departing the business after the failure of the D.A.C., Ford would spend a year at designing a new, gasoline-powered automobile, and launch the Ford Motor Company on November 30, 1901.[43]
John Barrett, formerly the U.S. Ambassador to Siam (now Thailand), said in a speech at Lake Forest College that the insurrection by Emilio Aguinaldo in the Philippines had been brought about by an anti-expansion speech made on January 9, 1899, by U.S. Senator George F. Hoar. The speech to the United States Senate had been cabled to Hong Kong at cost of $4,000. "I was in the islands, and I know that many of the Filipinos were more friendly to the Americans than to Aguinaldo and his leaders until they were incited to war by such circulars as these", Barrett said. Senator Hoar denied the accusations.[46]
The hospital at Johns Hopkins University began use of a small square of adhesive plaster as a tag on a baby's back, between the shoulder blades. "It holds on tightly until the time comes for the baby and its mother to leave the hospital, when the tag may be readily pulled off without causing the baby any pain", a spokesman said.[47]
The two bids for the construction of the first New York City Subway were opened at the offices of the Rapid Transit Board at City Hall, and contractor John B. McDonald's bid of $35,000,000 was the winner, coming in at less than the $39,300,000 bid by Andrew Onderdonk.[51]
Brigham H. Roberts was refused a seat in the United States House of Representatives after an investigation showed that he had committed polygamy. He had married his first wife in 1878, a second wife in 1878, and a third in 1897. The vote of a committee was seven to two against seating him, with Congress members DeArmond and Littlefield arguing that he should be seated and then expelled.[55] On January 25, the full House would vote, 268–50, to remove Roberts from United States Congress.[56]
The Yaqui Indians of the state of Sonora issued a proclamation of their independence from Mexico, and asked Americans to come to their aid. The declaration, made at Bavispe, was signed by Manuel Suuveda, who declared himself President of the Yaqui state. The Mexican consul in El Paso, Texas, Francisco Mallen, described the claims of the Yaquis as "simply ridiculous".[59] Days later, the Mexican Army suppressed the rebellion, killing 200 people and injuring 500 in Nogales.[60]
The superintendent of immigration in Toronto reported that nearly 14,000 Americans, with a total worth of two million dollars, emigrated to Canada during 1899, and added that "Kansas and Arkansas supplied the greater part of those who came."[61]
January 18, 1900 (Thursday)
The Battle of Mazocoba was fought during the Yaqui Wars between Mexican government troops and the indigenous Yaqui Indians, 400 of the Yaqui were killed. Another 1,800 of the defeated people were captured, of whom half died during a forced march. The Mexican Army suffered 56 deaths and 104 wounded.[62]
The Delaware Supreme Court refused to admit a prominent Philadelphia attorney, Carrie B. Kilgore, into the practice of law in that state. Although there was no direct ban against female attorneys in Delaware, Kilgore was indirectly barred by the state's provision that an attorney had to be "eligible to vote" in an election.[63]
Author L. Frank Baum and illustrator W. W. Denslow jointly copyrighted their new book, The Land of Oz, after receiving an advance of $500 apiece from the George M. Hill Company. The Hill company had rejected their original title, The Emerald City and (on November 17) had given the upcoming publication the working title of From Kansas to Fairyland, before allowing the creators to use the Oz name in the title. The book would be released on May 17 under the title The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.[64]
January 19, 1900 (Friday)
Bergen
In North Brookfield, Massachusetts, catcher Marty Bergen of the Boston Beaneaters (later, the Atlanta Braves) murdered his wife, his six-year-old daughter and his three-year-old son, with an axe, then killed himself by slitting his throat.[65] Bergen had been one of the best catchers in the National League and had been a major factor in Boston's pennant wins in 1897 and 1898, but had suffered from emotional problems and had become increasingly erratic after the death of his son in April 1899; he apparently became violent after learning that he was going to be traded to the New York Giants during the offseason.[66]
Eight days after bubonic plague had been diagnosed on the western side of the Australian continent, a new case was discovered on its eastern coast at the Prince Albert Hospital in Sydney. While working at the wharves in Sydney Harbour, Arthur Paine, a 33-year-old delivery truck driver, had been bitten by a flea carrying the Yersinia pestis bacteria.[41][67]
At the request of Grand AdmiralAlfred von Tirpitz, the director of the German Imperial Naval Office, AdmiralOtto von Diederichs presented contingency plans for a naval blockade and an armed invasion of the United States. The recommendation of Diederichs was "Die Erwerbung werthvoller Küstenstadte der Neuenglandstaaten wäre das wirksamste mittel, den frieden zu erzwingen" ("The acquisition of valuable coastal towns of New England states would be the most effective medium to enforce peace.")[69] He also advised that the German naval fleet would need to be doubled, to 38 line ships, 12 large cruisers and 32 small cruisers.
George and Edward Meeks, murderers of Leopold Edlinger, were taken from Bates County Jail in Fort Scott, Kansas, and lynched by a mob of 500.[70]
Mrs. Annie Ellsworth Smith, 73, the original operator on the Baltimore–Washington telegraph line, passed away. As press reports would note the next day, "It was Mrs. Smith who, on May 24, 1844, when she was a girl of seventeen, sent the famous first telegraphic message, 'What hath God wrought?' from the United States Supreme Courtroom in Washington, D.C., to Baltimore."[72]
Willard Erastus Christianson, a/k/a Matt Warner, a former member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang and a legendary gunfighter, was released from jail after being pardoned by Utah's Governor. After his release, he "dedicated the rest of his life to the straight and narrow"[73] and would later be elected as a justice of the peace and would serve as a deputy sheriff in Carbon County.[74]
The Library of Congress officially opened its newspaper reading room, the largest in the world at that time.[75]
Henry Allen Hazen, the chief forecaster for the United States Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service), was fatally injured when his bike collided with an African-American pedestrian at the corner of 16th and M streets in Washington, D.C. He would die the following day from a skull fracture. Hazen was credited with inventing the sling psychrometer, an improved thermometer shelter, and detailed barometric tables.[76][77]
January 23, 1900 (Tuesday)
Thirty thousand Austrian miners went on strike, joining 40,000 who had already walked out. The miners sought guarantees of an eight-hour day and higher wages.[78]
January 24, 1900: Three pictures of British casualties after the Battle of Spion Kop. The last picture shows the grave marker above the trenches where the British casualties are buried.
At a closed session in Beijing, a council of "Grand Councillors, Grand Secretaries and Presidents of the Board" was convened, and agreed that the Guangxu Emperor should abdicate.[79] P'u Ch'un, age 14, was announced as heir apparent to the throne.[80]
At the Battle of Spion Kop in the Second Boer War, the 8,000 Boer troops, under the command of General Louis Botha, defeated a 25,000-man British contingent, led by Sir Charles Warren. GeneralRedvers Buller cabled to London that "Gen. Warren's garrison, I am sorry to say, I find this morning, had in the night abandoned Spion Kop."[81][82] Because the slope below Spion Kop was too steep, artillery could not be taken up the hill by either side, and the battle was waged entirely by riflemen. The British reportedly had 243 dead and 1,250 wounded, along with about 300 men captured by the Boers, but the Boers' victory came at a cost of 335 total casualties,[83] including 68 killed and 267 wounded.[84]
January 25, 1900 (Thursday)
To combat an outbreak of bubonic plague, health authorities arranged the burning of a condemned home in Honolulu. The fire got out of control and destroyed a large portion of the city at its Chinatown section, leaving 6,000 people homeless.[24]
Following the announcement of the abdication of Emperor Kwang Hsu, the Director of the Imperial Chinese Telegraph in Shanghai obtained a petition with 1,230 signatures and sent a telegram to urge that the Emperor reconsider. Empress Dowager Cixi ordered his arrest, but the Director escaped to Macao.[85]
AdmiralHubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz sent a lengthy memorandum to Grand AdmiralAlfred von Tirpitz on the proposed German invasion of the United States, noting that "An occupation of the nominal capital, Washington, would accomplish nothing, since there is no important commerce nor industry there." He recommended instead that the German fleet invade the "Nordosten gelegenen Handels- und Industriecentren" ("the northeastern trade and industry centers") and recommended a "Stützpunkt" (base of operations) at Provincetown, Massachusetts.[69]
Despite U.S. President William McKinley's executive order that the new American territory be called "Puerto Rico", a Senate Committee voted unanimously to refer to the island legally as "Porto Rico". In addition, the U.S. Treasurer was authorized to retire the Puerto Rican money in favor of U.S. coinage, at the rate of 60 cents per peso.[87]
At the restaurant "Zum Mariengarten", in Leipzig, representatives from 86 football associations met at the invitation of Theoder Schoffler, to organize the German Football Association. A limestone plaque at the Friedrich Hofmeister Verlag on Buttnerstrasse commemorates the occasion.[88]
In Baltimore, Police Marshal Hamilton enforced Maryland's 177-year-old blue law, Article XXVII, section 247, which provided that "No person shall work or do any bodily labor on the Lord's Day". Every store in the city was ordered closed, including businesses that formerly had arranged open. The New York Times reported that "every cigar store, corner grocery, bakery and the like were closed up tight" and that the police were ordered to take the names of violators for future prosecution.[89][90]
William Goebel, who had run for Governor of Kentucky against William S. Taylor and who had taken a court challenge over the results, was found to be the winner of the recent state election. As he and his bodyguards, Colonel Jack Chinn and Warden E. P. Lillard of the state penitentiary, walked to the Kentucky Senate chamber, he was hit by gunfire that came from the neighboring state office building. Goebel attempted to draw his own revolver but collapsed on the pavement. Chinn said later that Goebel told him, "They have got me this time. I guess they have killed me." It was determined that the shots were from a .38 caliber rifle.
^ abHeath, Gordon L. (2009). War with a Silver Lining: Canadian Protestant Churches and the South African War, 1899–1902. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 80.
^"Indians Seek Independence". The New York Times. January 18, 1900. p. 1.
^"Mexicans Defeat Yaquis". The New York Times. January 21, 1900. p. 1.
^"Settlers Go to Canada". The New York Times. January 17, 1900. p. 10.
^Marley, David, ed. (2008). "Portents in Mexico (1899–1910)". Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the Western Hemisphere, 1492 to the Present. ABC-CLIO. pp. 921–922.
^"Woman Lawyers Barred; Cannot Practice in Delaware, Where All Officers Must Be Voters". The New York Times. January 19, 1900. p. 1.
^Rogers, Katharine M. (2007). L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz: A Biography. Macmillan. p. 88.
^"Kills His Entire Family". The New York Times. January 20, 1900. p. 7.
^Snelling, Dennis (2014). Johnny Evers: A Baseball Life. McFarland. p. 205.
^"The Bubonic Plague— Suspicious Case in Sydney". Sydney Morning Herald. January 25, 1900. p. 5.
^Duka, Cecilio D. (2008). Struggle For Freedom: A Textbook on Philippine History. Rex Bookstore. p. 192.
^ abKennedy, Paul (1979). The War Plans of the Great Powers 1880–1914. Routledge. pp. 48–49.
^"Two Lynched in Kansas". The New York Times. January 21, 1900. p. 1.
^"Anne Ellsworth Smith Dead – She Sent the First Telegraphic Message in 1844". The Atlanta Constitution. January 22, 1900. p. 1.
^Massey, Peter; Wilson, Jeanne (2006). Backcountry Adventures Utah: The Ultimate Guide to the Utah Backcountry for Anyone with a Sport Utility Vehicle. Adler Publishing. p. 69.
^O'Neal, Bill, ed. (1991). ""Christianson, Willard Erastus" ("Matt Warner", "Mormon Kid")". Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 58.
^"Big Newspaper Reading Room". The New York Times. January 23, 1900. p. 1.
^"Prof. Hazen Badly Injured". The New York Times. January 23, 1900. p. 1.
^"Henry Allen Hazen Dead". The New York Times. January 24, 1900. p. 1.
^"Great Austrian Mine Strike", 70,000 men have already quit work-- industries may be paralyzed" The New York Times, January 23, 1900, p. 1
^Yen, Hawkling Lugine (2005). A Survey of Constitutional Development in China. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. p. 116.
^Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States. United States Government Printing Office. 1902. p. 91.
^"Spion Kop Taken By Gen. Warren". The New York Times. January 26, 1900. p. 1.
^"Warren's Retreat Depresses London; news that he has abandoned Spion Kop causes a shock". The New York Times. January 28, 1900. p. 1.
^Farwell, Byron (2001). "Spion Kop". The Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-century Land Warfare: An Illustrated World View. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 779.
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