April 1904

April 1, 1904 (Friday)

• The research vessel RRS Discovery arrived in Lyttelton, New Zealand, from the Discovery Expedition to Antarctica, accompanied by the relief ships SY Morning and Terra Nova.
• A fire in the central business district of Montreal caused $100,000 in damage.
• Born:
• * Nikolai Berzarin, Soviet general; in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
• * Holger Löwenadler, Swedish film actor; in Jönköping, Sweden
• * Émile Turlant, French centenarian; in Moulins-sur-Allier, France
• Died:
• * Otto von Böhtlingk, 88, Russian-German Indologist and Sanskrit scholar
• * Guy Wetmore Carryl, 31, American humorist and poet, died from the aftereffects of exposure that occurred while fighting a fire at his house.
• * Abby Morton Diaz, 82, American teacher

  April 2, 1904 (Saturday)

• New York City reported 31 deaths from acute cerebrospinal meningitis for the week ending April 2.
• Born:
• * Karl Ragnar Gierow, Swedish theater director, author and translator; in Helsingborg, Sweden
• * František Hochmann, Czechoslovak Olympic and professional footballer; in Prague, Austria-Hungary
• Died: Charles Jones, 50, English cricketer

  April 3, 1904 (Sunday)

• On Easter Sunday, Pope Pius X sent his apostolic blessing to the Diocese of Venice by telephone, the first time a Pope had sent such a blessing by phone in the history of the Catholic Church.
• Gabriel Voisin successfully flew an Archdeacon glider at Berck sur Mer, Picardy, France. 9-year-old Jacques Henri Lartigue, who would later become a well-known photographer, witnessed Voisin's flight.
• In Albia, Iowa, an explosion at the Citizens' National Bank killed three people.
• Born:
• * Iron Eyes Cody, American actor of Italian descent who falsely claimed Native American ancestry; in Kaplan, Louisiana
• * Sally Rand, American dancer and actress; in Elkton, Missouri
• * Sante Tani, Italian soldier and partisan; in Rigutino, Arezzo, Italy
• * Maria Wiłkomirska, Polish pianist; in Moscow, Russia
• * Russel Wright, American industrial designer; in Lebanon, Ohio
• Died:
• * Ernest Monnington Bowden, 44, Irish inventor
• * Princess Edward of Saxe-Weimar, 77, died of acute pneumonia.
• * William Justice Ford, 50, English schoolmaster, cricketer and sportswriter, died of pneumonia.

  April 4, 1904 (Monday)

• Two earthquakes struck near Kresna, Bulgaria, killing at least 200 people.
• Hundreds of children, including the young children of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, took part in an Easter Monday egg roll on the grounds of the White House in Washington, D.C.
• Born:
• * Alexander Afinogenov, Soviet playwright; in Skopin, Russian Empire
• * Walter J. Kohler Jr., American politician, Governor of Wisconsin; in Kohler, Wisconsin
• * Käthe von Nagy, Hungarian actress and singer; in Subotica, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary
• * Soeman Hs, Indonesian author and educator; in Bengkalis, Riau

  April 5, 1904 (Tuesday)

• Born:
• * Richard Eberhart, American poet; in Austin, Minnesota
• * Wool Winder, British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse; in Exning, England
• Died:
• * Emmy Braun, 77, German cookbook author
• * Frances Power Cobbe, 81, Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher and activist
• * Ernst, Prince of Leiningen, 73, Royal Navy officer

  April 6, 1904 (Wednesday)

• In York, Pennsylvania, Vigilant Fire Company firefighters John Henry Saltzgiver, Horace Frank Strine and Lewis M. Strubringer were killed by collapsing walls while fighting a fire at the York Carriage Works.
• Joseph F. Smith announced the Second Manifesto in General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ending in fact the practice of plural marriage, which had continued to be practiced by many of its leaders, in violation of the 1890 Manifesto officially banning the practice.
• In Quebec, Canada, boxer Louis Drolet was knocked out in the 16th round of a bout with George Wagner. Drolet would die of his injuries the following day.
• Born:
• * William Challee, American actor; in Chicago, Illinois
• * Georges Gautschi, Swiss Olympic figure skater
• * Kurt Georg Kiesinger, Chancellor of West Germany; in Ebingen, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire
• * Erwin Komenda, Austrian automobile designer; in Jauern am Semmering, Austria
• * Vasili Merkuryev, Soviet actor and stage director; in Ostrov, Ostrovsky District, Pskov Oblast, Russian Empire
• * Henri Vilbert, French actor; in Marseille, France

  April 7, 1904 (Thursday)

• Born:
• * Charles Bardot, French Olympic footballer; in Clauzel, Algeria
• * Curt Querner, German painter; in Börnchen, Saxony, German Empire
• * Roland Wilson, Australian economist and statistician; in Ulverstone, Tasmania, Australia
• Died: Timothy J. Campbell, 64, Irish-born American lawyer and politician, member of the United States House of Representatives from New York

  April 8, 1904 (Friday)

• The Convention of Istanbul, signed by a number of powers including Germany in 1888, came into force.
• In Sebastopol, a suburb of Pittston, Pennsylvania, four children burned to death in a 1 a.m. fire.
• The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland signed the Entente Cordiale.
• In Cairo, Egypt, Aleister Crowley began writing Liber Al vel Legis, better known as The Book of the Law, a text central to Thelema. He would complete the work on April 10.
• Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan was renamed Times Square, after The New York Times.
• High winds in St. Louis, Missouri, destroyed the partly built bazaar building in the Japanese exhibit on the Louisiana Purchase Exposition grounds. There were no injuries and no damage to other buildings.
• Grievance committees from the engine houses of the Los Angeles Fire Department met with the city's fire commissioners to inform them that white firefighters were unwilling for two newly appointed African American firefighters, B. F. Anderson and Osborne Johnson, to be quartered at engine houses with white crews. White firefighters specifically objected to the possibility of having to sleep in the African American firefighters' bunks when temporarily assigned to their engine houses. Some grievance committee members suggested that quartering African Americans with white crews might lead to a strike and walkout.
• Born:
• * John Antill, Australian composer; in Ashfield, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
• * John Hicks, English economist, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences; in Warwick, England
• * Hirsch Jacobs, American thoroughbred horse trainer; in Manhattan, New York City
• * Alfei Jürgenson, Estonian Olympic footballer; in Tallinn, Estonia
• * Karl Scherm, German international footballer; in Nuremberg, Germany
• * Piet Vermeylen, Belgian lawyer and politician; in Uccle, Brussels, Belgium
• * Georg Werner, Swedish Olympic freestyle swimmer; in Stockholm, Sweden

  April 9, 1904 (Saturday)

• Born:
• * Alma Bennett, American silent film actress; in Seattle, Washington
• * Albino Binda, Italian racing cyclist; in Cittiglio, Lombardy, Italy
• * Sharkey Bonano, American jazz musician; in Milneburg, Louisiana
• * Tom Cooper, England international footballer; in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, England
• * Ludwig Hohl, German-language Swiss author; in Netstal, Switzerland
• * Sisowath Kossamak, queen consort of Cambodia; in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, French Indochina
• * Vittorio Staccione, Italian association football midfielder and anti-fascist; in Turin, Kingdom of Italy
• * Paul Wessel, Socialist Unity Party of Germany politician; in Plauen, Germany
• Died:
• * Edward White Clark, 76, American financier
• * Queen Isabella II of Spain, 73, aftereffects of respiratory illness

  April 10, 1904 (Sunday)

• In California, county game warden W. B. Morgan returned from an investigatory trip to the Antelope Valley and reported to the fish and game commission that the rumors of a "river of death" in the Mojave Desert were true. A stream of water polluted with cyanide, originating at the cyanide plant of the Exposed Treasure mine, ran through the desert for before sinking into the earth. The reservoir in which the water was formerly impounded had filled up with silt. Morgan saw the corpses of steers as well as doves, larks and other birds, all of which had been poisoned by the water. Morgan recommended that warning notices be placed along the entire length of the river and that the mining company be forced to build a new, adequate reservoir. In the following day's edition, the Los Angeles Herald would comment, "Probably in no other section of the United States does a like condition prevail, nor would it be allowed to exist."
• In Philadelphia, a student walking past Houston Hall at the University of Pennsylvania heard groans and discovered John Thomas, the building's 69-year-old night watchman, lying mortally wounded across one of the bowling alleys in the basement. Lawrence Gibson, a black West Indian who was formerly a utility man at Houston Hall, would be arrested for the murder on April 11. He initially denied killing Thomas, but admitted to the crime later in the day, claiming self-defense. Gibson had recently lost his job at Houston Hall after claiming to be a student at the university and marrying a white woman.
• Born:
• * Scott Forbush, American astronomer, physicist and geophysicist; in Hudson, Ohio
• * Joachim Gottschalk, German stage and film actor; in Calau, Germany
• * Nino Pavese, Italian actor and voice actor; in Asti, Italy

  April 11, 1904 (Monday)

• While professional diver William Hoar was attempting to close an intake pipe in the new Jersey City Reservoir in Boonton, New Jersey, the suction of the water caught Hoar's left leg between the pipe and the nearly ball closing it. Despite extensive rescue efforts, Hoar would die after surviving underwater for 24 hours.
• The tugboat Frank Canfield ran aground and sank at Point Au Sable, Michigan. Captain Henry Smith, Engineer Kopfer and Helper William Justman were killed; the other two crewmembers escaped by life raft.
• The steamship Colon struck a rock at Remedios Reef, El Salvador, and was then beached at Acajutla, where the passengers were taken off. The ship was a total loss; there were no fatalities. The Colon was commanded by Captain William A. Irvine, whose license would be suspended for one year on August 12 for unskillfulness and negligence.
• Born:
• * Joseph Beecken, Belgian Olympic boxer
• * Philip Hall, English mathematician; in Hampstead, London, England
• * Paul McGrath, American actor; in Chicago, Illinois
• * Pierre Reuter, Luxembourgian Olympic footballer
• * K. L. Saigal, Indian singer and actor; in Nawashehr, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, British Raj
• Died: Shorty Fuller, 36, American Major League Baseball shortstop