What Happened in December 1884

Historical Events

Dec 1 American Old West: Near Frisco, New Mexico, deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting Charles McCarthy.

Dec 1 Society of Independent Artists hold 1st exhibition in Polychrome Pavilion, Paris, includes Georges Seurat's "Bathers at Asnières"

Dec 6 Aluminum capstone set atop Washington Monument, Washington, D.C., making it the tallest human-built structure in the world (overtaking Cologne Cathedral)
Dec 9 Levant Richardson patents ball-bearing skate

Dec 10 "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain is first published in the UK and Canada (US Feb 1885, due to printing error)

Dec 30 Anton Bruckner's 7th Symphony in E, premieres in Leipzig

Dec 30 William Morris, Eleanor Marx, and others establish the Socialist League, a revolutionary organization in the UK

Dec 1 Torben Myer, Danish actor (Girl Who Came Back, Judgment at Nuremberg, Sullivan's Travels), born in Århus, Denmark (d. 1975)
Dec 1 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, German painter (d. 1976)
Dec 2 Ruth Draper, American actress and dramatist (The Italian Lesson), born in NYC, New York (d. 1956)
Dec 3 Rajendra Prasad, Indian leader and 1st President of India (1950-62), born in Zeradai, British India (d. 1963)
Dec 3 Walther Stampfli, Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council, born in Büren, Solothurn, Switzerland (d. 1965)
Dec 5 Evert Cornelis, Dutch conductor and pianist, born in Amsterdam (d. 1931)
Dec 6 Rose Schneiderman, American socialist, feminist, trade union leader and secretary of labor for New York State (1937-44), born in Sawin, Poland (d. 1972)
Dec 7 Petru Groza, Austro-Hungarian born Romanian communist and President of Romania (1945-58), born in Băcia, Austria-Hungary (d. 1958)
Dec 10 Zinaida Serebriakova, Russian painter, born in Kharkov, Russian Empire (d. 1967)
Dec 14 Regina Ullmann, Swiss poet and writer, born in St. Gallen, Switzerland (d. 1961)
Dec 14 Jane Cowl, American actress and playwright (Smilin' Through), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1950)

Dec 19 Antonin Zapotocky, Czechoslovak president (Ceskoslovensky Spisouatel)
Dec 19 Ferdinando Liuzzi, Italian composer and musicologist, born in Senigallia, Italy (d. 1940)
Dec 20 Max Blokzijl, Dutch singer, journalist, and Nazi collaborator, born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands (d. 1946)
Dec 25 [Florence] Evelyn Nesbit, American actress, born in Tarentum, Pennsylvania (d. 1967)
Dec 26 Félix Éboué, French colonial administrator, born in Cayenne, French Guiana (d. 1944)
Dec 27 Bernard van Dieren, Dutch composer (Diaphony; Chinese Symphony), critic, and music writer, born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1936)
Dec 28 Joseph Pholien, Belgian premier (1950-52)/communist hunter
Dec 30 Karl Heinrich David, Swiss composer, born in St. Gallen, Switzerland (d. 1951)

Dec 30 Hideki Tojo, Japanese Prime Minister during WW II (1941-44), born in Tokyo (d. 1948)

Dec 1 William Swainson (lawyer), second, and last, Attorney-General (New Zealand) of the Crown Colony of New Zealand (b. 1809)
Dec 4 Alice Mary Smith, British composer, dies at 45
Dec 28 Gerben Colmjon, Frisian linguist and publisher, dies at 56