June 1904

[June 1], 1904 (Wednesday)

• Born: Ineko Sata, Japanese writer; in Nagasaki, Japan
• Died:
• * Samuel R. Callaway, 53, Canadian-born American railroad executive, died after an operation for mastoiditis.
• * Hannibal C. Carter, 69, Union Army officer, Secretary of State of Mississippi
• * Ivan Kondratyev, 54, Russian writer

  [June 2], 1904 (Thursday)

• The nave of St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, the first part of the Church of Ireland cathedral to be built, was consecrated.
• Six people were killed in a collision on the Lake Shore Electric Railway east of Norwalk, Ohio.
• Born:
• * Johnny Weissmuller, American Olympic champion swimmer and actor ; in Freidorf, Austria-Hungary
• * Frank Runacres, English painter
• Died: Harrison Fuller, 58, American politician and farmer, member of the New York State Assembly, died after a buggy accident.

  [June 3], 1904 (Friday)

• The International Alliance of Women was founded during the Second Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Berlin, Germany.
• In Washington, D.C., the U.S. Department of War announced the names of cadets who would enter the United States Military Academy at West Point in June 1904. Among them were George S. Patton, the future World War II U.S. Army general, son of businessman and politician George S. Patton of San Gabriel, California; Earl J. Atkisson, a U.S. Army colonel in World War I; Charles Hartwell Bonesteel Jr., a World War II major general; and Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., the World War II lieutenant general who would be killed in action at the Battle of Okinawa.
• Born:
• * Charles R. Drew, American surgeon, pioneer in blood transfusion; in Washington, D.C.
• * Jan Peerce, American tenor; in Manhattan, New York City
• Died:
• * John Hopley, 83, British-American attorney and newspaper editor
• * Robert Porter Keep, 60, American scholar
• * William Keyser, 68, American railroad executive, died of apoplexy.
• * Samuel H. Pine, 76, American ship designer and builder, died of cystitis.
• * Vincent Tancred, 28, South African cricketer, died from a multiple gunshot suicide.

  [June 4], 1904 (Saturday)

• While riding in a hansom cab on his way to New York City's White Star Line pier to join his wife, with whom he was about to sail to Europe, bookmaker and horse owner Frank Thomas "Caesar" Young died of a gunshot wound. Former actress Nan Patterson, who was in the cab with Young, was arrested on suspicion of his murder, although she claimed the pistol shot was self-inflicted.
• Also in New York City, police reserves used force to disperse a crowd of African Americans blocking Central Park West outside the home of Hannah Elias, whose house was surrounded by deputies waiting to serve her with legal papers related to manufacturer John R. Platt's charges of blackmail against her.
• U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt joined the United Spanish War Veterans.
• In Fairmont, West Virginia, a gas explosion at a coal company killed four people and injured four others.
• In Peoria, Illinois, an explosion and fire destroyed the Corning Distilling warehouse and spread to nearby stockyards, killing 14 people and 3200 cattle and causing at least $1,000,000 in damage.
• A tornado in Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory destroyed the towns of Chattanooga, Faxon, and Hulen, killing at least one person.
• In Hercules, California, an explosion and fire at the California Powder Works killed five people. The following day, the Los Angeles Heralds report of the disaster would be headlined, "HERCULES POWDER MILLS DESTROYED Two Lives Lost and $30,000 in Property", but the text of the article would state, "...two white men and three Chinese were killed and several persons injured."
• Born:
• * Henri Grob, Swiss chess player
• * Jack Lauterwasser, English Olympic racing cyclist; in City of London, England
• * Raymond Rouleau, Belgian actor and film director; in Brussels, Belgium
• * Bhagat Puran Singh, Indian environmentalist and philanthropist; in Rajewal, Ludhiana district, Punjab
• Died:'
• * Princess Marie of Hanover, 54, died of appendicitis.
• * George Frederick Phillips, 42, Canadian-born United States Navy sailor and Medal of Honor recipient, died of Bright's disease.
• * Thomas H. Howard, 41, American clubman

  [June 5], 1904 (Sunday)

• The Philadelphia and Reading Coal Company barge Lorberry sank after colliding in fog with the steamer Tallahassee off the Vineyard Sound Lightship in Massachusetts. Captain Burrows of the Lorberry drowned.
• A series of bullfights was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. in the Norris Amusement Company amphitheater north of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition grounds in St. Louis, Missouri. Authorities prevented the event from taking place due to complaints from supporters of animal rights, but the event's organizers refused to give refunds to the 8,000 people who had bought tickets. This led to a riot during which the crowd attacked the amusement company's office, brought the bulls into the amphitheater and conducted a bullfight themselves. The crowd then freed the seven bulls and eight horses present for the bullfight and set fire to the amphitheater, completely destroying it and forcing the bullfighters, who had been eating in rooms under the stands, to flee.
• The brothers Christian and Hans Kaufmann guided John Duncan Patterson on the first ascent of Mount Ball in the Canadian Rockies.
• Born:
• * Edith Clark, French aviator and parachutist; in Cuffy, Cher, France
• * Hans Furler, German politician; in Lahr, German Empire
• * Derrick Kennedy, Irish cricketer; in Dublin, Ireland
• Died:
• * Olivia Langdon Clemens, 58, wife of Mark Twain, died of heart failure.
• * Mervyn Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt, 67, Irish peer and art collector

  [June 6], 1904 (Monday)

• In the early morning hours, a bomb exploded at the Independence train depot in the area of Cripple Creek, Colorado, killing 15 miners, most of them non-union members. Later in the day, gunfire erupted during a mass meeting in Victor, Colorado, killing two people and wounding several others. Shortly afterwards, a gunfight between a militia company and miners inside the Union hall resulted in multiple injuries and arrests.
• Born:
• * Lesley Blanch, British writer and traveler; in Chiswick, London, England
• * Raymond Burke, American jazz clarinetist; in New Orleans, Louisiana
• * Francisco López Merino, Argentine poet; in La Plata, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
• Died: Chippy McGarr, 41, American Major League Baseball third baseman, died of paresis.

  [June 7], 1904 (Tuesday)

• A firedamp explosion in a coal mine near Oviedo, Spain, killed 20 people.
• In New York City, Hannah Elias was arrested on charges of blackmailing John R. Platt. She would be arraigned at The Tombs on June 10.
• Born:
• * Werner Gruner, German weapons designer and mechanical engineer; in Zschadraß, German Empire
• * Don Murray, American jazz clarinet and saxophone player; in Joliet, Illinois
• Died: Moishe Finkel, c. 54, Yiddish theatre performer, shot and seriously wounded his wife, actress Emma Thomashefsky Finkel, and then shot and killed himself.

  [June 8], 1904 (Wednesday)

• In the aftermath of the St. Louis bullfight riot on June 5, Irish-born matador Carleton Bass shot and killed Spanish matador Manuel Cervera Prieto at the Mozart Hotel in St. Louis as a result of a quarrel between them. Bass claimed self-defense; the coroner's inquest would agree, and Bass would never stand trial for the shooting.
• In the aftermath of the Independence explosion on June 6, martial law was proclaimed in Teller County.
• Born:
• * Jean-Jérôme Adam, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Libreville; in Wittenheim, Alsace
• * Angus McBean, Welsh surrealist photographer and set designer; in Newbridge, Wales

  [June 9], 1904 (Thursday)

• The London Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert, conducted by Hans Richter, at the Queen's Hall.
• Born: William Joscelyn Arkell, British geologist and palaeontologist; in Highworth, Wiltshire, England
• Died:
• * Harvey Logan, 36–37, American outlaw, shot himself to death.
• * Kwasi Boachi, 77, Prince of the Ashanti Empire and Dutch mining engineer
• * Levi Leiter, 69, American businessman, co-founder of Marshall Field's, died of heart disease.
• * Hendrik Frans Schaefels, 76, Belgian painter and engraver

  [June 10], 1904 (Friday)

• A court in Frankfurt, Germany, found against violinist Jan Kubelík in a lawsuit he had filed against a music critic for the Frankfurter Zeitung who had called him a "stupid-looking man, of effeminate appearance".
• Irish author James Joyce met his future wife, Nora Barnacle, in Dublin, Ireland.
• Born: Lin Huiyin, Chinese architect and writer; in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Qing dynasty, China
• Died: Laurence Hutton, 60, American author and essayist, died of pneumonia.

  [June 11], 1904 (Saturday)

• Born:
• * Gaston Charlot, French chemist; in Paris, France
• * Pinetop Smith, American boogie-woogie blues pianist; in Troy, Alabama
• Died:
• * Clas Theodor Odhner, 67, Swedish historian
• * Abner McKinley, 56–57, brother of former U.S. President William McKinley, died of a brain hemorrhage due to Bright's disease.

  [June 12], 1904 (Sunday)

• French road bicycle racer Paul Dangla crashed at a speed of nearly while racing in Magdeburg, Province of Saxony, shortly after winning the "Goldenen Rad von Magdeburg". He would die of his injuries less than two weeks later.
• The steamer Canada of the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company sank after colliding with the collier Cape Breton on the St. Lawrence River. Five people aboard the Canada died.
• Born: Bill Cox, American Olympic middle-distance runner; in Rochester, New York