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January 1 - The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony in northeast Africa.

January 2 - Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer in the White House.

January 9 - Phi Beta Sigma fraternity is founded.

January 25 - The United Mine Workers of America is founded.

January 25 - Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.

March 1 - Léon Bourgeois succeeds Ernest Constans as French Mister of the Interior.

March 4 - The longest bridge in Britain, the Forth Bridge (1,710 ft) in Scotland, is opened.

March 20 - Wilhelm II of Germany fires Otto von Bismarck.

March 27 - A tornado strikes Louisville, Kentucky, killing 76 people and injuring 200.

March 28 - Washington State University founded in Pullman, Washington.

May 12 - The first ever official County Championship cricket match begins in Bristol. Yorkshire beats Gloucestershire by eight wickets.

June 1 - The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns.

July 1 - Britain receives Zanzibar from Germany in exchange for Heligoland.

July 2 - The Sherman Anti-Trust Act and Sherman Silver Purchase Act become United States law.

July 3 - Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.

July 10 - Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state.

July 27 - Vincent van Gogh shoots himself in the chest and dies two days later.

August 6 - At Auburn Prison in New York, William Kemmler becomes the first prisoner to be executed in the electric chair.

October 8 - First flight of Clement's Ader airplane "Eole" In Satory, France. In Greek mythology, Eole is the god of the winds.

October 11 - In Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.

October 13 - The Delta Chi Fraternity is founded by 11 law students at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

November 23 - King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir, and his daughter Princess Wilhelmina becomes Queen, causing Luxembourg (who required a male heir) to declare independence.

November 29 - The Meiji Constitution goes into effect in Japan and the first Diet convenes.

November 29 - In West Point, New York, the United States Navy defeats the United States Army 24 to 0 in the first Army-Navy football game.

December 29 - The United States Seventh Cavalry massacres over 400 men, women and children at Wounded Knee, South Dakota (see Wounded Knee Massacre).

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Scotland Yard moves to the Embankment.

The corrugated cardboard box is invented by Robert Gair.

U.S. Census - Herman Hollerith devises a method using punch cards (like Jacquard's loom) to tabulate census data by machine. (see also History of computing hardware). Hollerith's company eventually becomes IBM.

Prosecution of Edward King, Anglican bishop of Lincoln for using ritualistic practices ends.

The bustle goes out of fashion.

The United States city of Boise, Idaho drills the first geothermal well.

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January 1 - Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer (slaughtered by treasure hunters 1966)

January 4 - Victor Lustig, Bohemian-born con artist (conned out of life1947)

January 9 - Kurt Tucholsky, German-born journalist and satirist (wrote about their own death.(suicide note) 1935)

January 9 - Karel Čapek, Czech writer (he was czech 1938)

January 19 - Élise Rivet, French Roman Catholic nun and war heroine (died during a war1945)

January 22 - Fred M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States (died 1953)

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February 10 - Boris Pasternak, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (declined) (died 1960)

February 14 - Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (died 1956)

February 17 - Ronald Fisher, English biologist (died 1962)

February 18 - Adolphe Menjou, American actor (died 1963)

February 24 - Marjorie Main, American actress (died 1975)

February 25 - Dame Myra Hess, English pianist (died 1965)

February 27 - Freddie Keppard, American jazz musician (died 1933)

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March

March 3 - Norman Bethune, Canadian doctor and humanitarian (died 1939)
March 9 - (new style) Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician (died 1986)
March 11 - Vannevar Bush, American engineer, inventor, and politician (died 1974)
March 20 - Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (died 1957)
March 20 - Lauritz Melchior, Danish-American tenor (died 1973)
March 28 - Paul Whiteman, American bandleader (died 1967)
March 31 - William Lawrence Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1971)

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April

April 6 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (died 1939)
April 11 - Donna Rachele Mussolini, Italian, wife of Benito Mussolini (died 1979)
April 7 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and writer (died 1998)

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May

May 4 - Franklin Carmichael, Canadian artist (died 1945)
May 10 - Alfred Jodl, German general (died 1946)
May 11 - Woodall Rodgers, mayor of Dallas, Texas (died 1961)
May 15 - Katherine Anne Porter, American author (died 1980)
May 19 - Ho Chi Minh, Prime minister/president of North Vietnam (died 1969)
May 23 - Herbert Marshall, English actor (died 1966)

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June

June 6 - Ted Lewis, American jazz musician and entertainer (died 1971)
June 16 - Stan Laurel, British actor (died 1965)
June 26 - Jeanne Eagels, American actress (died 1929)

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July

July 18 - Frank Forde, Australian Prime Minister (died 1983)
July 22 - Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, American philanthropist and matriarch of the Kennedy family (died 1995)

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August

August 5 - Erich Kleiber, Austrian conductor (died 1956)
August 15 - Jacques Ibert, French composer (died 1962)
August 18 - Walther Funk, German Nazi politician (died 1960)
August 20 - Howard Phillips Lovecraft, American writer (died 1937)
August 24 - Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer (died 1968)

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September

September 10 - Elsa Schiaparelli, French couturiere (died 1973)
September 15 - Agatha Christie, English writer (died 1976)
September 15 - Frank Martin, Swiss composer (died 1974)
September 20 - Jelly Roll Morton, American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader (died 1941)

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October

October 2 - Groucho Marx, American comedian (died 1977)
October 8 - Eddie Rickenbacker, American WWI fighter pilot (died 1973)
October 13 - Conrad Richter, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1968)
October 14 - Dwight David Eisenhower, U.S. general and President of the United States (died 1969)
October 16 - Michael Collins, Irish patriot (died 1922)
October 16 - Paul Strand, American photographer (died 1976)
October 17 - Roy Kilner, English cricketer (died 1928)

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November

November 22 - Charles de Gaulle, President of France (died 1970)
November 23 - El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (died 1941)

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December

December 5 - David Bomberg, English painter (died 1957)
December 8 - Bohuslav Martinů, Czech composer (died 1959)
December 11 - Carlos Gardel, Argentine tango singer (died 1955)
December 20 - Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1967)
December 21 - Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (died 1967)
December 26 - Uncle Charlie Osborne, Appalachian fiddler (died 1992)
December 30 - Lanoe Hawker, British fighter pilot (died 1916)

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Unknown date

Bechara El Khoury, President of Lebanon (died 1964)

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Deaths

January 18 - King Amadeus I of Spain (born 1845)
February 22 - John Jacob Astor III, American businessman (born 1822)
February 22 - Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (born 1834)
April 11 - Joseph Carey Merrick, English oddity (born 1862)
June 30 - Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, American composer (born 1819)
July 15 - Gottfried Keller, Swiss writer (born 1819)
July 29 - Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (born 1853)
August 11 - John Henry Newman, English Roman Catholic Cardinal (born 1801)
October 4 - Catherine Booth, the Mother of The Salvation Army (born 1829)
October 26 - Carlo Collodi, Italian writer (born 1826)
November 3 - Ulrich Ochsenbein, member of the Swiss Federal Council (born 1811)
November 8 - César Franck, Belgian composer and organist (born 1822)
November 23 - King William III of the Netherlands (born 1817)
November 24 - August Belmont, Sr., Prussian-born financier (born 1816)
December 26 - Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (born 1822)
(unknown) - Clinton B. Fisk, American philanthropist and temperance activist