September 1900

September 1, 1900 (Saturday)

• Following its conquest by the armies of Lord Roberts, the South African Republic, also called the Transvaal, was annexed by the United Kingdom.
• The German-American Telegraph Company opened the first direct line between Germany and the United States. At 7,917 kilometers or 4,919 miles, the line was the longest transatlantic cable to that time, running from Emden to New York City, via the Azores.

  September 2, 1900 (Sunday)

• Santiago, Chile inaugurated its first electric streetcar service.
• Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 seriously injured at Hatfield, Pennsylvania, when a freight train plowed through two cars of a passenger train.

  September 3, 1900 (Monday)

• The 1899 Hague Convention came into effect, with many of the world's major powers agreeing to attempt peaceful resolution of international conflicts.
• On Labor Day in Charleston, South Carolina, the "Capital City Guards", an African-American regiment of the South Carolina state guard, were giving an exhibition drill at Capital Square, when a group of white men on horseback drove into the black crowd, knocking down a woman and a child. Eight members of the guard chased after the attackers, then attached bayonets to their rifles and charged into the crowd. Although nobody was seriously injured, Governor Miles Benjamin McSweeney ordered the disbanding of the 14-year-old unit the next day, after finding that the guards had accumulated a large stock of ammunition in their armory.
• A 3200-volt power line crossed onto the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department call box circuit. 16 police officers were electrocuted while attempting to use call boxes. Police Officer John P. Looney and Police Officer Nicholas F. Beckman died the same day; Police Officer Michael Burke would die of his injuries on December 13, 1901.
• Born: Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland from 1956 to 1982; in Pielavesi

  September 4, 1900 (Tuesday)

• Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, reported that response to the Indian Famine was fully underway, and that "4,891,000 persons" had received relief.

  September 5, 1900 (Wednesday)

• A decree signed by the French President, Émile Loubet, officially created the Territoire militaire des pays et protectorats du Tchad as part of the growing French colonial empire. The new territory was placed under the command of a Commissioner who answered to the High Commissioner of the French Congo, of which Chad was a circumscription.
• Died: Arthur Sewall, 64, American industrialist and politician, Democrat nominee for Vice President of the United States as the running mate of William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 presidential election

  September 6, 1900 (Thursday)

• Filipino leader Emilio Aguinaldo set up his headquarters at Palanan, on the eastern side of the island of Luzon in the Philippines. There, he would guide the fight against the American armies until his capture in 1901.
• Born: W. A. C. Bennett, Canadian politician, Premier of British Columbia from 1952 to 1972; in Hastings, New Brunswick

  September 7, 1900 (Friday)

• As an alternative to suspending constitutional rights, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary ordered the dissolution of the Abgeordnetenhaus, the elected body of the Reichsrat, Austria's parliament. The legislators were divided along ethnic lines between German and Slavic parties. Following elections in December, the Reichsrath was reconstituted under premier Ernest von Koerber. The Diet of Hungary was not affected by the order.
• Born: Taylor Caldwell, British-born American writer, author of Dynasty of Death and Captains and the Kings; in Manchester

  September 8, 1900 (Saturday)

• A powerful hurricane hit Galveston, Texas, killing at least 6,000 of the island's 38,000 residents. The storm reached Galveston Island, off the Gulf Coast of Texas, at 2:00 a.m. By noon, the waters were over the bridges to the mainland and flood waters rolled in after. The anemometer measured the windspeed at before blowing away at At 7:32, the water level suddenly rose as waves rolled in, and within 30 minutes, the water was deep.

  September 9, 1900 (Sunday)

• The Galveston hurricane ended after the entire island had been under of water. "Without apparent reason", reporter Richard Spillane would write later, "the waters suddenly began to subside at Within twenty minutes they had gone down two feet, and before daylight the streets were practically freed of the flood waters." When the survivors ventured out, the full extent of the storm was realized, with thousands of corpses across the island. By month's end, at least 2,311 bodies had been recovered.
• Born: James Hilton, English writer, author of Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips; in Leigh, Lancashire

  September 10, 1900 (Monday)

• A local militia company, the "Galveston Sharpshooters", began patrolling Galveston, Texas the day after the hurricane had passed on, and began dealing with looters. "On Monday, some men caught looting deserted houses and robbing dead bodies were promptly shot on the spot", it was noted fifty years later, "how many were never learned exactly." One estimate was that there were as many as 250 looters killed, some found "with pockets full of fingers ... sliced off in their haste to procure the rings on them."

  September 11, 1900 (Tuesday)

• French President Émile Loubet, selected as an arbitrator of the boundary between Colombia and Costa Rica, rendered his decision, declaring that a mountain range at roughly 9 degrees north would be the border; that islands east of Burica Point would belong to Colombia, and that the Burica Islands and all to the west would be Costa Rican. After Panama seceded from Colombia, the 1900 boundary became the frontier between Panama and Costa Rica, as outlined in Title I, Article 3 of the Panamanian Constitution of 1904.
• Nixey Callahan, pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, set a record by giving up 48 hits in back-to-back games, allowing 23 hits in a 14–3 loss to the New York Giants. In his previous start, he had given up 25.

  September 12, 1900 (Wednesday)

• With the authority to act as a legislature for the Philippines, the five-member Taft Commission enacted its first laws. The first four acts, passed on the same day, appropriated money for road construction, surveys, and the salaries for two new government employees. The work of the five commissioners — William Howard Taft, Henry Idle, Luke Wright, Dean Worcester, and Bernard Moses – is now the responsibility of the 24 Senators and 250 Representatives of the Congress of the Philippines.
• Admiral Fredrik von Otter became Prime Minister of Sweden, succeeding Erik Gustaf Boström, who resigned "for reasons of health". Boström retook the state leadership from von Otter in 1902.

  September 13, 1900 (Thursday)

• Filipino resistance fighters under the command of Colonel Maxio Abad defeated a large American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa, and captured Captain James Shields.
• Dr. Jesse Lazear allowed himself to be bitten by a mosquito at the Las Animas Hospital in Cuba, as he searched for a cure for yellow fever. Five days later, he began to feel ill, and he died on September 25. Dr. Lazear's tragic experiment proved that the disease was spread by mosquitoes, and that the prevention of yellow fever required the eradication of the insects.
• Wilbur Wright visited Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, for the first time, on the shantyboat Curlicue.
• Born: Honoria Aughney, Irish activist, promoter of Irish republicanism and Irish nationalism; in Tullow, County Carlow

  September 14, 1900 (Friday)

• A proclamation by the recently annexed Transvaal proclaimed Schalk Willem Burger to be acting president of the South African Republic. President Paul Kruger, who had fled the country, was given a six-month "leave of absence to visit Europe".
• Leading a force of 22 men, Sergeant Henry F. Schroeder of the 16th U.S. Infantry defeated a force of 400 Filipino insurgents at Carig, now part of Santiago City. Sgt. Schroeder killed 36 and wounded 90, and was awarded the Medal of Honor for distinguished gallantry.

  September 15, 1900 (Saturday)

• Rikken Seiyūkai, or "Friends of Constitutional Government", was founded as Japan's newest political party, with former Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi as its leader. The Seiyukai party won a majority in the elections in October, bringing Ito back into power.

  September 16, 1900 (Sunday)

• Prince Albert of Saxony, son of the King George, was killed in an accident after a collision with a carriage driven by Prince Miguel of Braganza.
• A battle at Similoan, Philippines involved 90 American troops confronting 1,000 Filipinos. Resulting casualties included 24 Americans killed, 5 missing, 9 wounded.

  September 17, 1900 (Monday)

• Queen Victoria issued the Proclamation of the Commonwealth of Australia, stating "We do hereby declare that on and after the first day of January One thousand nine hundred and one the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia shall be united in a Federal Commonwealth under the name of The Commonwealth of Australia."
• Queen Victoria declared the Parliament of the United Kingdom dissolved, with new elections to take place during October.
• The largest walkout in American history, up to that time, began as 112,000 anthracite coal miners left their workplaces in the mines of Pennsylvania. The strike ended on October 17.
• Filipinos under the command of General Juan Cailles defeated Americans from the 15th and 37th Infantries, under the command of Captain David Mitchell, at the Battle of Mabitac.
• The Chicago Public Schools began teaching blind children for the first time, using special teachers trained for the task.
• During Cincinnati's baseball game at Philadelphia, Reds' third base coach Tommy Corcoran uncovered a telegraph wire that the Phillies had been using in order to steal signals from visiting teams.