October 1905

October 1, 1905 (Sunday)

• Lieutenant Commander Pyotr Schmidt of the Imperial Russian Navy incited a crowd of people in Sevastopol to march toward the city's prison and to demand the freedom of political prisoners there. Police fired in the crowd and killed and wounded an undetermined number of people.
• The luxurious Gotham Hotel, with 400 guestrooms, was opened on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 55th Street in Manhattan in New York City. The original owners would be forced to sell less than three years later, after repeated rejections for a liquor license. More than a century later, it operates as "The Peninsula".
• Died: Donald W. Stewart, 45, British Army officer and Commissioner of the British East Africa protectorate since 1904, died of pneumonia in Nairobi.

  October 2, 1905 (Monday)

• U.S. Secretary of State William H. Taft returned to his job as Secretary of War, and Elihu Root took permanent charge of the State Department.
• The Garfinckel's department store chain was started by the opening of a luxury store at Washington D.C. by Julius Garfinkle. After growing to a conglomerate of 190 stores in seven chains, Garfinckel's would file bankruptcy in 1990.
• Canada allowed the extradition of two fugitives, Gaynor and Greene, to the U.S. to face criminal charges.
• Born:
• *A. Felix du Pont Jr., U.S. aviator, co-founder of US Airways, and philanthropist; in Wilmington, Delaware
• *Mary Marvin Breckinridge, American photojournalist, documentary maker and philanthropist; in New York City
• Died: Louis William Desanges, 83, British painter

  October 3, 1905 (Tuesday)

• Several members of the Hungarian cabinet met in Vienna to discuss universal suffrage with Franz Josef I, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, as well as demanding why the Austrian premier was interfering with Hungarian electoral reforms.
• The G-Lader, a scroll-type supercharger to increase engine power, was patented by Leon Creux of France, who received U.S. Patent No. 801,182 for the invention, although production of the device would not become feasible until more than 75 years later.

  October 4, 1905 (Wednesday)

• Japan and Russia agreed to the exchange of prisoners of war from the Russo-Japanese War.
• The Alamo was conveyed to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas in return for their agreement to provide maintenance and upkeep for the historic San Antonio mission and fortress. The DRT ownership of The Alamo would last almost 110 years, until the landmark's return to the Texas General Land Office in 2015.
• Grace Coolidge and Calvin Coolidge in the Married.
• Died: Henry Wilberforce Clarke, 65, British translator of Persian literature

  October 5, 1905 (Thursday)

• Wilbur Wright made a breakthrough in aviation by keeping an airplane aloft for more than half an hour, piloting the Wright Flyer III for 39 minutes and 23 seconds over Huffman Prairie near Fairborn, Ohio, traveling in a circular course. The longest time aloft in an airplane before the creation of the Wright Flyer III had been five minutes. Orville and Wilbur Wright disassembled the revolutionary airplane on November 5 to prevent the technology from being duplicated by competitors.
• More than three years after the deadly eruption of the Mount Pelée volcano on the Caribbean island of Martinique, all volcanic activity ceased. On April 23, 1902, the explosive blast had killed more than 29,000 people.

  October 6, 1905 (Friday)

• Japanese and Russian commanders in northern Korea were unable to agree on terms of an armistice.
• The first issue of the popular children's magazine Fame and Fortune Weekly was published by the Frank Tousey Company. It would continue as a weekly until 1928, and cease publication after the Wall Street Crash in 1929.
• Born:
• *Helen Wills, American tennis player; 8-time winner of Wimbledon, 7-time winner of the U.S. Open and 4-time winner of the French Open women's singles between 1923 and 1938; in Centerville, California
• *Jarvis Catoe, American serial killer known as the "D.C. Strangler" for his murders of at least eight women in Washington D.C.; in South Carolina
• Died: Ferdinand von Richthofen, 72, German geographer and scientist, and uncle of World War One Manfred von Richthofen, "the Red Baron"

  October 7, 1905 (Saturday)

• Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom, the first dramatic film using Sherlock Holmes as a character, war released by Vitagraph Studios
• The Philadelphia Athletics completed the American League season with a record of 92 wins and 56 losses, finishing two games ahead of the Chicago White Sox and qualified for the World Series against the New York Giants, who had easily won the National League pennant with a 105-48 record.
• Born: Andy Devine, American TV and film character actor in Westerns; in Flagstaff, Arizona
• Died: Pedro Américo, 62, Brazilian painter known for his detail in his history painting works, including the 1888 ''Independência ou Morte''

  October 8, 1905 (Sunday)

• Argentina's National Congress voted to declare 90 days of martial law throughout the South American nation after the Argentine Workmen's Federation called a general strike.
• Born:
• *Raul Roulien, Brazilian-born film star in U.S. movies; in Rio de Janeiro
• *René Cardona, Cuban-born Mexican film maker; in Havana
• Died:
• *Josephine Shaw Lowell, 61, American social reform leader and co-creator of the National Consumers League, died of cancer.
• *Lord Inverclyde, 44, British shipping magnate and Chairman of the Cunard Steamship Company, died of pneumonia.

  October 9, 1905 (Monday)

• U.S. President Roosevelt convened a meeting at the White House with representatives for the teams of Harvard University, Yale University and Princeton University to demand reforms in the sport of American football in order to prevent serious injury and death. Roosevelt held a luncheon and gathered Walter Camp of Yale University and John B. Fine of Princeton University, both of whom were members of the Rules Committee of the Intercollegiate Football Association, as well as the football coaches of Harvard, Princeton and Yale.
• Sergei Witte attended a meeting with Russia's Tsar Nicholas II at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg to warn the monarch that the Russian Empire was on the verge of a revolution, and advised that major reforms should be made or that a military dictator should rule the nation.
• By a vote of 101 to 16, Norway's Parliament, the Storting, agreed to accept the terms of dissolution of the Swedish-Norwegian Union in order to become a separate nation. On the same day, 10 Storting members from the Liberal Party proposed that Norway become a republic, with a president, rather than a monarchy.
• Born: Jack Parker British motorcycle speedway rider honored as the British Riders' Champion in 1947, and winner of the National Trophy 1946, 1947, and 1949; in Birmingham

  October 10, 1905 (Tuesday)

• The Pacific Gas and Electric Company, one of the largest electricity and natural gas utility companies in the United States, was created in California by the merger of the San Francisco Gas and Electric Company and the California Gas and Electric Corporation.
• In his role as King of Hungary, Franz Joseph dissolved the Hungarian parliament.
• The Privy Council of Japan ratified the Treaty of Portsmouth, ending the state of war between Russia and Japan.
• Galatasaray S.K., the most successful team in Turkish soccer football, was founded in Istanbul by Ali Sami Yen and friends meeting in a classroom at the Galatasaray High School.
• Born: Barrows Dunham, American philosophy professor and author; in Mount Holly, New Jersey

  October 11, 1905 (Wednesday)

• The popular weekly Brazilian children's magazine, O Tico-Tico, published its first issue. It would operate until 1957, until being driven out of circulation by competing magazines.
• Born:
• *Cardinal Jean-Marie Villot, French Roman Catholic priest, Vatican Secretary of State from 1969 to 1979 and administrator of the Vatican's political and diplomatic affairs; in Saint-Amant-Tallende, Puy-de-Dôme département
• *Victor Kravchenko, Soviet Ukrainian defector to the U.S. and author of the bestseller I Chose Freedom; in Ekaterinoslav, Russian Empire
• *Fred Trump, American real estate developer, father of U.S. President Donald J. Trump; in New York City

  October 12, 1905 (Thursday)

• The National Library of Thailand, created from an acquisition by the Vajirañāṇa Library of the Mandira Dharma Library and the Buddhasasana Sangaha Library, was opened in Bangkok by order of King Rama V of Siam, Chulalongkorn.
• After recovering the battleship Potemkin following its abandonment by mutineers, the Imperial Russian Navy renamed the ship the Panteleimon, in honor of the Eastern Orthodox Saint Pantaleon.
• Born: Norman Banks, Australian sports broadcaster and radio commentator; in Sandringham, Victoria

  October 13, 1905 (Friday)

• Sir Henry Irving, prominent in England as both a stage actor and the manager of the manager of the Lyceum Theatre on London's West End, suffered a fatal stroke shortly after returning to the Midland Hotel in Bradford/ Earlier in the evening, he had performed in the title role of Tennyson's play Becket. A fanciful, but invented, story would later be told by Thomas Anstey Guthrie that Irving had been stricken on stage while reciting Becket's dying words, "Into thy hands, O Lord, into thy hands" when he was stricken.
• Died: Lyman Bloomingdale, 64, U.S. businessman, philanthropist, and co-founder of the Bloomingdale's luxury department store in New York City.

  October 14, 1905 (Saturday)

• The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the world's governing body for air sports, was founded in Lausanne in Switzerland, to set standards for aeronautical activities, including certification of speed and altitude records.
• Both Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Emperor Meiji of Japan signed the instruments of ratification of the Treaty of Portsmouth in their respective capitals. The U.S. Department of State was informed later in the day by the Russian Ambassador, Roman Rosen, and the Japanese Minister, Takahira Kogorō.
• Oregon U.S. Congressman John N. Williamson was found guilty of subornation of perjury in connection with testimony concerning charges regarding land fraud, and sentenced to 10 months in prison. Williamson's conviction would be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1908, after he was no longer in office.
• The New York Giants won baseball's World Series, defeating the Philadelphia Athletics, 2 to 0 in Game 5 of the best 4-of-7 series.