On This Day

May 1894 in History

Events in History

  • May 10 Hong Kong government declares port is infected with the plague. The outbreak will go on to kill 20,489 over 29 years.
  • May 11 American RR Union strikes Pullman Sleeping Car Co
  • May 14 Fire in Boston bleachers spreads to 170 adjoining buildings
  • May 21 22-year-old French Anarchist Émile Henry is executed by guillotine. His last words were reputed to be "Courage, camarades! Vive l'anarchie!"
  • May 23 William Love hosts groundbreaking ceremonies for Love Canal

Event of interestEvent of Interest

May 24 Lowell Observatory, Arizona, first begins observations of Mars with an eighteen-inch telescope, leads its builder Percival Lowell to conclude there are canals on Mars

Astronomer Percival Lowell
Astronomer
Percival Lowell

Birthdays in History

  • May 11 Anton A Mussert, Dutch nazi leader (NSB)
  • May 11 Martha Graham, American choreographer (Appalachian Spring), Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania (d. 1991)
  • May 13 Ásgeir Ásgeirsson, 2nd President of Iceland (d. 1972)
  • May 20 Adela Rogers St John, journalist/author (Foreign Correspondent)
  • May 20 Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, Indian Hindu sage, Jivanmukta (d. 1994)
  • May 25 Dirk Vansina, Flemish playwright (Verschaeve Gives Evidence), born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1967)
  • May 27 Dashiell Hammett, American detective novelist (Sam Spade, Maltese Falcon), born in St. Mary's County, Maryland (d. 1961)
  • May 27 Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French writer (Die Nacht), born in Courbevoie, Seine, France (d. 1961)
  • May 29 Josef von Sternberg, Austrian-American director (Der blaue Engel), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1969)
  • May 30 Hubertus J van Mook, Dutch minister of Colonies (1942-45)

Weddings in History

  • May 28 Belgium Princess Josephine marries Prince Karl von Hohenzollern

Deaths in History

  • May 8 Clara Fey, German Roman Catholic Nun and the founder of the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus, dies at 79
  • May 21 August Kundt, German physicist, (sound vibration, test of Kundt), dies at 54
  • May 21 Emile Henry, French anarchist (b. 1872)