Baron Clemens von Ketteler, the German ambassador to China, was killed by Boxer En Hai as he and an aide went to the Chinese Foreign Ministry without their guards.
Chinese troops began a siege of the Peking Legation Quarter at 4:00 p.m., which was the evacuation deadline. Behind the quarter's walls were 900 foreigners, 523 defenders and 3,000 Chinese Christians.
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Ships from the Eight-Nation Alliance consisting of Germany, Japan, Russia, Britain, France, the United States, Italy, and Austria-Hungary.started a bombardment of the Taku Forts in China and began an invasion.
There was no declaration of war by this US, making the action arguably illegal, although the point can be debated.
China was, of course, an incredibly weak nation and the mercy of European powers, something that its never forgotten.
At the Republican Convention a movement started to draft Theodore Roosevelt for Vice President.
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Chinese Empress (Tzu Hsi) Cixi decreed that Boxer rebels could not enter Beijing.
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The "Act to Provide a Government for the Territory of Hawaii" took effect formally ending Hawaiian sovereignty.
I may have had relatives living on Oahu at the time.
German embassy guards fired on Boxer rebels outside the legation quarter, killing twenty and sparking mass crowd reaction.
The first Bennett Cup auto race was run.
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Western diplomatic missions began violent reactions to Chinese Boxers on this day, starting with the German legation.
Violence started spreading against Chinese Christians.
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Japanese diplomat Sugiyama Akira was murdered by Imperial Chinese soldiers who dragged Akira from his carriage and hacked him to bits, then displayed his severed head at the railway station in Beijing.
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A multinational force departed Tianjin for Beijing to protect the citizens of their respective countries but only made it to Langfang before they had to detrain because of rail destruction. The troops would have to march the rest of the way.
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Boxers burned the grandstand of the horse racing track at the country club for western diplomats in Beijing. It unfortunately turned lethal when British horsemen at the track rode out to investigate and one drew a pistol and killed a Boxer, causing the Chinse government to surround the foreigners at the Peking Legation Quarter.
The War Department authorized the production of telescopic sights for rifles. The rifle at the time was the Krag–Jørgensen rifle, which had proven unsatisfactory in comparison to the M93 Mauser used by Spain in the Spanish American War.
The sight consists of a telescope which is attached by means of brackets to the left side of the rifle. The front bracket is secured to the lower band by two screws, and the ring through which the telescope passes has a horizontal motion to provide for drift and windage. A ball-and-socket joint in this ring allows the telescope to be moved in any direction … The rear bracket is screwed to the side plate of the receiver, and the ring which holds the telescope has a vertical movement for changes of elevation.
Telescopes of three different powers are submitted for trial, viz. 8 diameters, 12 diameters, and 20 diameters. The medium power (12 diameters) gave the best results.
The telescope is of practically universal focus; that is, it does not require readjustment for different marksmen or for different ranges. The eye can be placed close to the eyepiece or several inches away without any apparent difference in the focus. Danger of being struck in the eye when the piece recoils can therefore be avoided.
The lenses are large and are held in place by having the metal of the tubes in which they are mounted spun over their outer edges. The telescope is light, but at the same time strong. The brackets for attaching the telescope to the rifle are strong and durable and there appears to be no tendency to jar loose.
The sight was tested by actual firings up to a range of 2,000 yards, each member of the board participating in the firings. As a result of this test, the board is of the opinion that the use of this telescopic sight appears to be of especial value in hazy or foggy weather and at long ranges. In either case the target can be seen with remarkable clearness, and the marksman can be absolutely sure that he is aiming at the proper object. This would be of especial importance to sharpshooters acting independently.
The ordinary sight is useful for accurate firing at a regular target up to about 2,000 yards; but it is impossible to see a man or even a small body of men clearly at that range unless projected against the sky or under other very favorable conditions. It is for this reason that volley firing is so largely resorted to at long ranges.
With a telescopic sight a man could be distinguished easily at 2,000 yards, even with an unfavorable background.
The board is of the opinion that this sight is suitable for use in the U.S. service, and recommends a number of them be purchased for trial by troops in the field. If found to be satisfactory, a sufficient number should be purchased to supply such a number of the sharpshooters of each organization as experience in the field shall indicate to be desirable.
Only seven scoped Krags were produced. Work was already commencing on a replacement for the Krag which would soon produce the M1903 Springfield, a rifle much more suitable for a scope, but which was not equipped with one for sniping purposes until World War One.
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Carrie Nation performed her first act of destruction in a bar, this one an illegally operating one in Kiowa Kansas.
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President William McKinley signed into law the federal charter for the American Red Cross.
Congress enacted a civil and judicial code for Alaska, set the capital at Juneau and created a territorial government. It also approved the 1892 Agreement with the Comanche, Kiowa and Apache and funded the reinterment of 267 Southern soldiers from Northern grounds to a special section of the Arlington National Cemetery.
A lion dragged the Superintendent of Police in British East Africa out of a rail car while he was sleeping, killed him, and ate him.
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A U.S. on the Filipino occupied fort at Makahambus Hill resulted in an American defeat.
A small unit action by most standards, the skirmish is regarded as the first Filipino victory of the Philippine Insurrection.
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Pretoria surrendered to the British.
When I was in grade school we learned that song.
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337 Western troops from the US, Italy, Japan and Russia arrived in Beijing. The entry was not opposed, but not welcome.
The governing body of the Free Church of Scotland voted 592 to 29, to unite with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland creating the United Free Church of Scotland.
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The British Empire annexed the Orange Free State.
A total eclipse of the sun darkened a path that ran through Mexico and the southeastern United States and on to Spain.
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Pope Leo XIII beatified sixty-four Vietnamese Martyrs. The Vietnamese Martyrs, including 53 additional individuals later beatified, were canonized on June 19, 1988.
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The Battle of Palonegro ended in a victory for the Conservative forces in Columbia's Thousand Day's War.
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The Lacy Act was signed into law by President McKinley . It made it a Federal offense to ship "wild animals and birds take in defiance of existing state laws" across state lines."
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The USS Oregon arrived in China at Taku Forts to protect American citizens.
Pope Leo XIII canonized Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (1651–1719) and Rita of Cascia (1381–1457). de la Salle was the founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and is the patron saint of teachers.Saint Rita of Cascia, the mother of two and the wife of an abusive husband is one of the patron saints for domestic problems.
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African American Sgt. William Harvey Carney, 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on July 18, 1863.
While the first Medal of Honor was awarded to a black soldier in 1864, the 1863 action at the assault on Ft. Wagner, South Carolina, is the earliest date for which such an award was conferred on an African American.
The Associated Press was incorporated.
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The first patent for a player piano was issued.
An explosion at the Cumnock Mining Company, near Sanford, North Carolina, killed 22 coal miners.
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