March 1904

March 1, 1904 (Tuesday)

• A rehearsal of Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's new opera Armida ran into problems and terminated early.
• Born:
• * Paul Dubreil, French mathematician; in Le Mans, Maine, France
• * Paul Hartman, American actor and dancer; in San Francisco, California
• * Bogdan Kobulov, member of Soviet security and police apparatus; in Tbilisi, Russian Empire
• * Glenn Miller, American bandleader; in Clarinda, Iowa
• * Pablo O'Higgins, American Mexican artist; in Salt Lake City, Utah
• * Antoun Saadeh, Lebanese politician, philosopher and writer; in Dhour El Choueir, Beirut Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
• Died:
• * Benjamin Taylor A Bell, 42, Scottish-born Canadian journalist, died of injuries from a fall down an elevator shaft.
• * James G. Blair, 79, member of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri
• * Francis Boott, 90, American composer
• * G. W. Hunt, 66, English writer of music hall songs, died of softening of the brain.
• * Noah Raby, 81 or 131, American longevity claimant
• * Sir John Scott, 62, English cricketer and judge, died of heart and liver trouble.

  March 2, 1904 (Wednesday)

• In Manhattan, New York City, the Hotel Darlington, an apartment building under construction, collapsed, killing 20 people. Most of the dead were construction workers; also killed was Mrs. Ella Lacey Storrs, who was eating lunch in the dining room of the Hotel Patterson, a neighboring building. One construction worker, Edwin Lask, would be rescued shortly after 2:00 a.m. on March 4 after being trapped under debris for over 30 hours, but would die shortly afterwards on the way to the hospital.
• Born:
• * Henry Dreyfuss, American industrial designer; in Brooklyn, New York City
• * Jan Mertens, Belgian professional cyclist; in Hoboken, Antwerp, Belgium
• * Dr. Seuss, American children's author and Caldecott Honor winner; in Springfield, Massachusetts
• * Elsie Mary Wisdom, English automobile racer; in Tooting Graveney, London, England
• Died: Mary C. Billings, 79, American evangelist and missionary

  March 3, 1904 (Thursday)

• Wilhelm II, German Emperor, became the first person to make a recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison's phonograph cylinder.
• Spain passed a Sunday rest law.
• A major flood caused by the breaking of ice gorges began on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. It would continue through March 15, causing damage estimated at between $2,000,000 and $8,000,000. Several bridges were destroyed or seriously damaged. The village of Collins, Pennsylvania, was destroyed. On the afternoon of March 8, after a Pennsylvania Railroad bridge was washed away, most of the village of Safe Harbor, Pennsylvania, was destroyed. The flood caused no fatalities.
• Born:
• * Mayo Methot, American actress; in Chicago, Illinois
• * Harry Werner Storz, German Olympic sprinter; in Halle, Germany
• Died:
• * Walter Anderson, 25, English footballer, died of pneumonia.
• * E. T. Jones, 53, English Olympic long-distance swimmer
• * William Henry Harrison Murray, a.k.a. "Adirondack Murray", 64, American clergyman and author

  March 4, 1904 (Friday)

• Russian troops in Korea retreated toward Manchuria, followed by 100,000 Japanese troops.
• Born:
• * Luis Carrero Blanco, Prime Minister of Spain; in Santoña, Spain
• * George Gamow, Ukrainian-born American physicist and polymath; in Odessa, Russian Empire
• * Norman Robertson, Canadian diplomat; in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• * Joseph Schmidt, Austrian-Hungarian tenor and actor; in Davydivka, Storozhynets, Bukovina, Austria-Hungary
• * Elias Venezis, Greek novelist; in Ayvalık, Ottoman Empire
• Died:
• * Mauritz Aarflot, 82, Norwegian editor, member of the Storting
• * Charles Poisot, 81, French musician
• * Sir Joseph Trutch,, 78, English-born Canadian engineer, surveyor and politician, first Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia

  March 5, 1904 (Saturday)

• Near Irondale, Ohio, two Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad trains were attempting to cross a bridge over Yellow Creek close together when the bridge collapsed. Of the ten railroad employees on the two trains, six drowned and the other four were injured. Rain on March 3 had weakened the bridge.
• Born:
• * Haig Acterian, Romanian film and theater director, author and fascist activist; in Constanța, Kingdom of Romania
• * Mao Bangchu, Republic of China air force general; in Shanghai, China
• * Emile Decroix, Belgian racing cyclist; in Geluveld, West Flanders, Belgium
• * Pei Wenzhong, Chinese paleontologist, archaeologist and anthropologist; in Fengnan District, Hebei, Qing Dynasty
• * Karl Rahner, German Roman Catholic priest and theologian; in Freiburg im Breisgau, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Empire
• Died:
• * Thompson Cooper, 67, English journalist and man of letters
• * John Lowther du Plat Taylor CB VD, 74–75, British founder of the Army Post Office Corps
• * Alfred von Waldersee, 71, Imperial German Army marshal

  March 6, 1904 (Sunday)

• A Japanese squadron bombarded Vladivostok, causing minor damage.
• The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, led by William Speirs Bruce, discovered the Antarctic region of Coats Land from the Scotia.
• Beginning at noon at Novilly, France, Pini, an Italian fencing master, and Baron Athos di San Malatos fought a duel with swords which lasted for two hours and fifty minutes. The duel ended due to a blister on the palm of Malatos' right hand. Pini and Malatos were reconciled after the duel.
• In Springfield, Ohio, Richard Dickerson, an African American man, shot and wounded his common-law wife, Anna Corbin, and shot Patrolman Charles B. Collis of the Springfield Police Department four times.
• Born:
• * Leslie Ablett, British police officer and Olympic water polo player; in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England
• * José Antonio Aguirre, Basque footballer, politician and activist; in Bilbao, Spain
• * Andy Aitkenhead, Scottish Canadian National Hockey League goaltender; in Glasgow, Scotland
• * Hugh Williams, English actor and dramatist; in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, England
• Died: Hans Hermann Behr, 85, German American physician and scientist, died of heart failure.

  March 7, 1904 (Monday)

• The fleet of Japanese Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō bombarded Port Arthur and Dalny.
• Three officers selected by the British War Office to serve as military attachés and observers in the Russo-Japanese War arrived by train in Vancouver, British Columbia, and embarked on the Athenian for Yokohama. Lt. Gen. Sir William Nicholson was assigned to study troop transport methods, Lt. Col. Aylmer Haldane to observe general field work, and Capt. Herbert Cyril Thacker of the Canadian Militia to study artillery. Nicholson commented in an interview: "I shall certainly not follow the Russian side of the struggle, for aside from any question of neutrality my personal sympathies are all with the Japanese."
• In Berlin, Germany, former German Army officer and newspaper publisher Karl Bezeke killed himself and his entire family. Bezeke, who had lost his fortune, held a birthday dinner for his 19-year-old daughter, then poisoned his wife, his daughter, his 16- and 12-year-old sons and himself with potassium cyanide.
• The Norwegian cargo ship Siberia sank after a collision with the Norwegian steamship Simon Dumois off Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland.
• In Springfield, Ohio, Patrolman Charles B. Collis, whom Richard Dickerson had shot the previous day, died of his injuries at noon. Late that evening a lynch mob of 1,750 men seized Dickerson from jail, shot him to death and then hung him from a telegraph pole, allowing the crowd to shoot at his body with revolvers for about 30 minutes. According to the Newark Advocate, "Throughout it all perfect good order was maintained and every one seemed in the best of humor, joking with his nearest neighbor while reloading his revolver."
• Three men were killed in a collision between two freight trains on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, east of Jefferson City, Missouri.
• Born:
• * Ivar Ballangrud, Norwegian Olympic champion speed skater; in Lunner, Norway
• * Virginia Downing, American stage actress; in Washington, D.C.
• * Jim Ganly, Irish cricketer and rugby union player; in Balscadden, Howth, County Dublin, Ireland
• * Reinhard Heydrich, German Nazi official; in Halle an der Saale, Province of Saxony, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
• * Kurt Weitzmann, German American art historian; in Kleinalmerode
• * Ladislav Ženíšek, Czech footballer and manager; in Vinohrady, Prague, Austria-Hungary
• Died: Ferdinand André Fouqué, 75, French geologist

  March 8, 1904 (Tuesday)

• In Springfield, Ohio, the day after Richard Dickerson was lynched, large numbers of sightseers visited the site of his death. That evening, a mob of between 1000 and 1500 men attacked the "Levee", a district of saloons operated primarily by African Americans, burning down seven buildings valued at $11,600. There were no fatalities because the police had warned occupants to leave earlier in the day.
• The framework for the Russian building at the forthcoming Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, was torn down in accordance with orders received from Saint Petersburg.
• Born:
• * Aleardo Donati, Italian Olympic wrestler; in Bentivoglio, Province of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
• * Viktor de Kowa, German actor, singer and director; in Hohkirch, Province of Silesia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
• Died:
• * Adolfo Bullrich, 70, Argentine banker and politician
• * Celso Hermínio, 33, Portuguese caricaturist and comics artist, died of pneumonia.
• * Robert Taber, 38–39, American actor, died of pleurisy.