May 1903

The following events occurred in May 1903:

[May 1], 1903 (Friday)

A US-registered barge, Fedelia, began to leak, and sank near Hen and Chickens Light off Florida, United States.
Two towed canal boats collided off Sixth Street, Jersey City, New Jersey, United States; one sank.

The power system for the Mersey Railway, operating between Birkenhead and Liverpool by tunnel under the River Mersey, UK, was converted from steam to electricity.

Died: Gotse Delchev, 31, Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary leader, killed in a skirmish with the Turkish army.

Born: James Beard, American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality, in Portland, Oregon

Born: Fernandel, French actor, in Marseilles, as Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin
Died: Paul Gauguin, 54, French Post-Impressionist artist

The first article identifying what would later be known as Crohn's disease, by Polish surgeon Antoni Leśniowski, was published in the weekly medical newspaper Medycyna.

In the United States, the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad began a passenger service to Casper, Wyoming.
An earthquake of magnitude 7.0 struck the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu, then known as the New Hebrides.
Died: Apolinario Mabini, 38, Filipino politician and the country's first prime minister

A Cuban–American Treaty of Relations was signed.
Died: Misao Fujimura, 16, Japanese philosophy student, remembered chiefly for his farewell poem

The Paris–Madrid race for automobiles started from the gardens of Versailles. The race became notable for the number of accidents, including at least eight rumored fatalities. It was cancelled when the competitors reached Bordeaux.

Opening of the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad in the United States; it was the first railroad in the country to use an electrified third rail.

The Australian passenger-cargo ship SS Oakland foundered in stormy weather in the Tasman Sea near Cabbage Tree Island off New South Wales; 11 people lost their lives and the remaining seven were picked up by the steamer SS Bellinger.
On departure from Antwerp, carrying emigrants to Canada, the British passenger-cargo ship Huddersfield collided with the Norwegian steamer SS Uto in the River Scheldt. All 22 passengers were drowned, but the 17 crew survived.
Românul de la Pind, the longest-running newspaper by and about Aromanians until World War II, was founded.
Died: Marcel Renault, 31, French racing driver and industrialist, of injuries incurred by crashing into a tree while competing in the Paris-Madrid race.

Born: Bob Hope, US comedian and actor, in Eltham, Kent, UK, under the name Leslie Townes Hope