Historical Events in February 1916

Feb 5 Enrico Caruso records "O Solo Mio" for the Victor Talking Machine Co

Feb 8 French cruiser "Admiral Charner" torpedoed off Syrian coast, kills 374
Feb 8 NL votes down Charlie Ebbets proposal to limit 25 cent seats
Feb 9 Britain's military service act enforced (conscription)
Feb 9 NL votes down a proposal by Giants, Braves, & Cubs to increase club player limit from 21 to 22 (The Reds want to decrease to 20)
Feb 10 Military conscription begins in Britain

Feb 10 Biggest oil well gusher ever - Edward L. Doheny's Cerro Azul No. 4 first gushes 600 feet in the air near Tampico, Mexico

Feb 11 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents its 1st concert
Feb 11 Emma Goldman arrested for lecturing on birth control
Feb 11 Germany and Austria-Hungary notify the US that they will sink any armed merchant ships starting on 1 March
Feb 15 NY Yankees buy Frank "Home Run" Baker from the Athletics for $37,500
Feb 16 Russian troops conquer the Ottoman Empire city of Erzurum during WWI
Feb 16 The US rejects the right of Germany and Austria-Hungary to sink armed merchant ships
Feb 16 The German ambassador in Washington announces that Germany will pay an indemnity for American lives lost on the Lusitania
Feb 17 Sigmund Romberg, James Hanley, Harold R. Atteridge and Edgar Smith's musical Robinson Crusoe Jr. premieres in NYC
Feb 18 The last German garrison in the German colony of Cameroons surrenders
Feb 21 World War I: Battle of Verdun begins with a German offensive, leads to an estimated 1 million casualties and becomes the longest battle of the entire war (9 months)
Feb 22 The House-Grey Memorandum, drafted by US and Britain, states: 'Should the Allies accept [the American idea of a conference to end the war] and should Germany refuse it, the United States would "probably" enter the war against Germany'
Feb 23 US Congress authorizes McKinley Memorial $1 gold coin
Feb 25 Battle of Verdun: German troops conquer Fort Douaumont without firing a shot, the largest and highest fort defending the city of Verdun during World War I
Feb 26 Germans sink French transport ship Provence II, killing 930

Feb 26 Mutual signs Charlie Chaplin to a film contract