Mexico called a halt to an eight month campaign against the Yaqui.
Last edition:
Thursday, August 31, 2000
Tuesday, August 29, 2000
Wednesday, August 29, 1900. The Wild Bunch robs the Union Pacific No. 3.
The Wild Bunch robbed the Union Pacific No. 3 at Tipton, Wyoming, taking $45,000.
Charles E. Woodcock, express messenger for the Union Pacific, had the misfortune of being on a train robbed by the gang for the second time.
This would be their last train robbery.
This is famously depicted in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Last edition:
Tuesday, April 28, 1900. Societal convention tyranny.
Monday, August 28, 2000
Tuesday, April 28, 1900. Societal convention tyranny.
The wife of Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson, Military Governor of the Matanzas-Santa Clara Department of Cuba, was killed when she stepped from a carriage and stepped on a match that had been burning in the street, catching her dress on fire.
I note this due to the absolute tyranny of women's clothing, much reduced in our present era, and due to the bizarre fact that women were so identified with their husbands in an earlier era, I could not learn her name.
Last edition:
Monday, August 27, 1900. A hurricane forms.
Sunday, August 27, 2000
Monday, August 27, 1900. A hurricane forms.
Lord Robert's British troops defeated Gen. Botha's South Africans in the Battle of Dalmanutha. South African Republic President Paul Kruger was forced to flee the country.
The 1900 Galveston Hurricane began to form.
Last edition:
Sunday, August 26, 1900. Unidentified Olympian.
Saturday, August 26, 2000
Sunday, August 26, 1900. Unidentified Olympian.
An "unidentified French coxswain" became the youngest Olympic medalist in history, helping the team of François Brandt and Roelof Klein win the first gold medal ever for the Netherlands in rowing.
The original coxswain was too heavy. The replacement was as young as ten years old.
Last addition.
Friday, August 24, 1900. The execution of Hans Cordua.
Thursday, August 24, 2000
Friday, August 24, 1900. The execution of Hans Cordua.
Lt. Hans Cordua of the Transvaal Army was executed after having been found guilty of a conspiracy to kidnap the British commander, Lord Roberts.
Last edition:
Monday, August 20, 1900. Cixi says its her fault.
Sunday, August 20, 2000
Monday, August 20, 1900. Cixi says its her fault.
Empress Dowager Cixi issued a decree blaming herself for the Boxer Rebellion.
Last edition:
Tuesday, August 17, 1915. The hurricane hits Galveston.
Thursday, August 17, 2000
Tuesday, August 17, 1915. The hurricane hits Galveston.
Waves hitting the seawall.
The 1915 Galveston Hurricane made landfall. Atmospheric pressure was recorded at 27.76 inHg (940 mb) with wind speeds of 135 mph (217 km/h) leading to $921 million in damage, but the construction of the seawall in the city following the 1900 Hurricane prevented large scale loss of life.
The German battleships SMS Nassau and Posen dueled with the Russian battleship Slava at Riga.
Jewish American Leo Frank was abducted from his prison cell in Milledgeville, Georgia and lynched for the alleged murder of former employee of the plant he supervised, the impoverished 13-year-old Mary Phagan in Atlanta. The mob included a former Governor.
While Frank was convicted of the crime of rape and murder, there are significant doubts about his guilt, which is why the original sentence of death was commented to life in prison.
Charles Kettering patented the electric starter for automobiles.
Last edition:
Monday, August 16, 1915. Entering Texas.
Friday, August 17, 1900. The Forbidden City.
The Eight National Alliance's troops entered the Forbidden City.
Last edition:
Wednesday, August 15, 1900. The murder of the Pearl Consort.
Tuesday, August 15, 2000
Wednesday, August 15, 1900. The murder of the Pearl Consort.
Empress Dowager Cixi fled Beijing.
Prior to her departure, she ordered that Zhen Fei, known to foreigners as the Pearl Consort the favorite wife of her predecessor the Guangxu Emperor, be thrown down into a well.
Last edition:
Tuesday, August 14, 1900. Lifting the siege of the legations.
Tuesday, August 14, 1900. Lifting the siege of the legations.
Monday, August 14, 2000
Tuesday, August 14, 1900. Lifting the siege of the legations.
20,000 troops of the Eight Nation Alliance arrived at Beijing and the Battle of Peking commenced, and ended.
The Russian force attacked the Tung Pien Gate. The 9th and 14th American Infantry Regiment reached the 30-foot high Tartar Wall where volunteer Corporal Calvin Pearl Titus, a bugler and chaplain's assistant, scaled it and found it undefended. He'd receive the Medal of Honor, his citation reading:
Gallant and daring conduct in the presence of his colonel and other officers and enlisted men of his regiment; was first to scale the wall of the city.
By 2:45 the 55 day siege of the legations was over.
Titus had been in the Army since the Spanish American War, although that was only two years prior. His MoH allowed for him to enter West Point where he graduated in 1905. He tried to become a chaplain, but his denomination was not recognized, and so his request was not granted. He therefore became an Infantry officer and served in the Border War and US Army of Occupation post World War One. He retired a Lt. Col. in 1930 and died in 1966 at age 86.
The world's first six-masted ship, the George W. Wells, was launched from Camden, Maine.
It's odd to think that sailing ships were still a big deal in the early 20th Century, but they were. My mother had a painting of such ships that hung in my parents bedroom, and when I was a child, I often pondered it.
Last edition:
Monday, August 13, 1900. Krupp.
Sunday, August 13, 2000
Monday, August 13, 1900. Krupp.
Qing Dynasty troops set up a Krupp 57mm gun to fire on the Western (and Japanese) legations.
The gun.
An allied counter barrage killed the gun crew and halted a Chinese assault.
Krupp was the largest, and arguably the most diverse, arms manufacture in Europe, with a heritage dating back to the Great Plague. It survives today as the company ThyssenKrupp AG.
It was a huge arms exporter in the late 19th Century and the first half of the 20th Century, and a major supplier of German arms in World War One and World War Two. It's arms, like those of some post WWII arms manufacturers, sometimes supplied both sides in a conflict. It's foresight was such that after World War Two, when the Deutsche Marine first sought a design for a diesel submarine, it had a design ready to go.
Last edition:
Saturday, August 12, 2000
Sunday, August 12, 1900. Tung-chau.
The Eight Nation Alliance captured Tung-chau, a location 13 miles from Beijing.
Last edition:
Saturday, August 11, 1900. Laysan.
Friday, August 11, 2000
Saturday, August 11, 1900. Laysan.
Japanese miners confronted their American overseers at the Pacific Guano & Fertilizer min eon Laysan, Territory of Hawaii resulting in a manager Joseph Spencer, resorting to firing from two pistols after the miners rushed the overseers. Two miners were killed and three wounded. Spencer was tried on charges but was acquitted.
Laysan.
Laysan is one of the very tiny Hawaiian Islands that stretch out west towards Midway. It had a guano mine up until around this time, but which ceased thereafter. The island, in part due to this incident, came to the attention of the outside world. The island had unique flora and fauna, but Japanese poachers were destroying the bird population and imported rabbits the vegetation. In 1909 Theodore Roosevelt declared it a bird sanctuary. The rabbits ultimately nearly ate themselves into near extinction on the island and the last of them were killed in 1932.
The island is uninhabited and has largely recovered.
Last edition:
Friday, August 10, 1900. Hershey.
Thursday, August 10, 2000
Friday, August 10, 1900. Hershey.
Milton S. Hershey sold the Lancaster Caramel Company to investor Daniel F. Lafean for one million dollars in cash, an amazing sum in 1900.
He took the money and built a factory in Derry Church, Pennsylvania, which became the largest chocolate confectionary company in the United States, The Hershey Company
A plot to kidnap Lord Roberts in South Africa was uncovered and wrecked.
Last edition:
Wednesday, August 8, 1900. Imperialism: Flag of an Empire
Tuesday, August 8, 2000
Wednesday, August 8, 1900. Imperialism: Flag of an Empire
The Eight Nation Alliance beat the Chinese at Tsi-nin.
William Jennings Bryan gave a speech on imperialism:
It is said that we have assumed before the world obligations which make it necessary for us to permanently maintain a government in the Philippine islands. I reply first, that the highest obligation of this nation is to be true to itself. No obligation to any particular nations, or to all the nations combined, can require the abandonment of our theory of government, and the substitution of doctrines against which our whole national life has been a protest. And, second, that our obligation to the Filipinos, who inhabit the islands, is greater than any obligation which we can owe to foreigners who have a temporary residence in the Philippines or desire to trade there.
{2}It is argued by some that the Filipinos are incapable of self-government and that therefore, we owe it to the world to take control of them. Admiral Dewey, in an official report to the navy department, declared the Filipinos more capable of self-government than the Cubans and said that he based his opinion upon a knowledge of both races. But I will not rest the case upon the relative advancement of the Filipinos. Henry Clay, in defending the right of the people of South America to self-government, said:
{3}"It is the doctrine of thrones that man is too ignorant to govern himself. Their partisans assert his incapacity in reference to all nations; if they cannot command universal assent to the proposition, it is then demanded to particular nations; and our pride and our presumption too often make converts of us. I contend that it is to arraign the disposition of Providence himself to suppose that He has created beings incapable of governing themselves, and to be trampled on by kings. Self-government is the natural government of man."
{4}Clay was right. There are degrees of proficiency in the art of self-government, but it is a reflection upon the Creator to say that he denied to any people the capacity for self-government. Once admit that some people are capable of self-government and that others are not and that the capable people have a right to seize upon and govern the incapable, and you make force -- brute force -- the only foundation of government and invite the reign of a despot. I am not willing to believe that an all-wise and an all-loving God created the Filipinos and then left them thousands of years helpless until the islands attracted the attention of European nations. . . .
{5}"Can we not govern colonies?" we are asked. The question is not what we can do, but what we ought to do. This nation can do whatever it desires to do, but it must accept responsibility for what it does. If the constitution stands in the way, the people can amend the constitution. I repeat, the nation can do whatever it desires to do, but it cannot avoid the natural and legitimate results of its own conduct.
{6}The young man upon reaching his majority can do what he pleases. He can disregard the teachings of his parents; he can trample upon all that he has been taught to consider sacred; he can disobey the laws of the state, the laws of society and the laws of God. He can stamp failure upon his life and make his very existence a curse to his fellow men and he can bring his father and mother in sorrow to the grave; but he cannot annul the sentence, "The wages of sin is death."
{7}And so with the nation. It is of age and it can do what it pleases; it can spurn the traditions of the past; it can repudiate the principles upon which the nation rests; it can employ force instead of reason; it can substitute might for right; it can conquer weaker people; it can exploit their lands, appropriate their property and kill their people; but it cannot repeal the moral law or escape the punishment decreed for the violation of human rights. . . .
{8}Some argue that American rule in the Philippine islands will result in the better education of the Filipinos. Be not deceived. If we expect to maintain a colonial policy, we shall not find it to our advantage to educate the people. The educated Filipinos are now in revolt against us, and the most ignorant ones have made the least resistance to our domination. If we are to govern them without their consent and give them no voice in determining the taxes which they must pay, we dare not educate them, lest they learn to read the Declaration of Independence and the constitution of the United States and mock us for our inconsistency.
{9}The principal arguments, however, advanced by those who enter upon a defense of imperialism are:
First -- That we must improve the present opportunity to become a world power and enter into international politics.
Second -- That our commercial interests in the Philippine islands and in the Orient make it necessary for us to hold the islands permanently.
Third -- That the spread of the Christian religion will be facilitated by a colonial policy.
Fourth -- That there is no honorable retreat from the position which the nation has taken.
{10}The first argument is addressed to the nation's pride and the second to the nation's pocket-book. The third is intended for the church member and the fourth for the partisan.
{11}It is sufficient answer to the first argument to say that for more than a century this nation has been a world power. For ten decades it has been the most potent influence in the world. Not only has it been a world power, but it has done more to affect the politics of the human race than all the other nations of the world combined. Because our Declaration of Independence was promulgated others have been promulgated. Because the patriots of 1776 fought for liberty others have fought for it. Because our constitution was adopted other constitutions have been adopted.
{12}The growth of the principle of self-government, planted on American soil, has been the overshadowing political fact of the nineteenth century. It has made this nation conspicuous among the nations and given it a place in history such as no other nation has ever enjoyed. Nothing has been able to check the onward march of this idea. I am not willing that this nation shall cast aside the omnipotent weapons of truth to seize again the weapons of physical warfare. I would not exchange the glory of this republic for the glory of all the empires that have risen and fallen since time began. . . .
{13}The pecuniary argument, though more effective with certain classes, is not likely to be used so often or presented with so much enthusiasm as the religious argument. If what has been termed the "gun-powder gospel" were urged against the Filipinos only it would be a sufficient answer to say that a majority of the Filipinos are now members of one branch of the Christian church; but the principle involved is one of much wider application and challenges serious consideration.
{14}The religious argument varies in positiveness from a passive belief that Providence delivered the Filipinos into our hands for their good and our glory, to the exultation of the minister who said that we ought to "thrash the natives (Filipinos) until they understand who we are," and that "every bullet sent, every cannon shot and every flag waved means righteousness." . . .
{15}Imperialism finds no warrant in the Bible. The command "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" has no Gatling gun attachment. When Jesus visited a village of Samaria and the people refused to receive him, some of the disciples suggested that fire should be called down from Heaven to avenge the insult; but the Master rebuked them and said: "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; for the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Suppose he had said: "We will thrash them until they understand who we are," how different would have been the history of Christianity! Compare, if you will, the swaggering, bullying, brutal doctrine of imperialism with the golden rule and the commandment "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." . . .
{16}When our opponents are unable to defend their position by argument they fall back upon the assertion that it is destiny, and insist that we must submit to it no matter how much it violates our moral precepts and our principles of government. This is a complacent philosophy. It obliterates the distinction between right and wrong and makes individuals and nations the helpless victims of circumstance. . . .
{17}I can conceive of a national destiny surpassing the glories of the present and the past -- a destiny which meets the responsibility of today and measures up to the possibilities of the future. Behold a republic, resting securely upon the foundation stones quarried by revolutionary patriots from the mountain of eternal truth -- a republic applying in practice and proclaiming to the world the self-evident propositions that all men are created equal; that they are endowed with inalienable rights; that governments are instituted among men to secure these rights, and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. Behold a republic in which civil and religion liberty stimulate all to earnest endeavor and in which the law restrains every hand uplifted for a neighbor's injury -- a republic in which every citizen is a sovereign, but in which no one cares to wear a crown. Behold a republic standing erect while empires all around are bowed beneath the weight of their own armaments -- a republic whose flag is loved while other flags are only feared. Behold a republic increasing in population, in wealth, in strength and in influence, solving the problems of civilization and hastening the coming of an universal brotherhood -- a republic which shakes thrones and dissolves aristocracies by its silent example and gives light and inspiration to those who sit in darkness. Behold a republic gradually but surely becoming the supreme moral factor in the world's progress and the accepted arbiter of the world's disputes -- a republic whose history, like the path of the just, "is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Last edition:
Tuesday, August 7, 1900. Yang-tsun
Monday, August 7, 2000
Saturday, August 5, 2000
Sunday, August 5, 1900. The Battle of Beicang 北倉之戰)
At the Battle of Beicang 北倉之戰) the Eight National Alliance forced Chinese troops out of their positions and into retreat.
Bishop of Portland James Augustine Healy died at age 70. He was the first African American Bishop.
He'd been born into slavery to an Irish immigrant father and enslaved mother who had a species, sort of, of common law marriage. The union occured when he was 33 and she was 16. Her ancestry included a fair degree of European heritage, which would lead to their children appearing to be of European ethnicity. The union was not as surprising as it might seem and inspite of the burden of slavery, such unions occured, but could only have common law status.
The ten children to the union had apparently originally also been enslaved but were freed. The family, in spite of the lack of a licit marriage, must have been religious as Bishop Healy was not its only member to enter religious life. His brother Patrick was a Jesuit, his brother Alexander was a Priest, his sister Amanda a member of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph, and his sister Eliza a member of the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal and the first African American abbess. Those who had secular vocations were also high achieving. They were remarkably well educated, something that had been secured by their parents with some difficulty.
Apparently their parents had intended later in their lives to sell their plantation and move north, but death intervened.
Last edition:
Saturday, August 4, 1900. Eight Nation Advance.
Friday, August 4, 2000
Saturday, August 4, 1900. Eight Nation Advance.
20,000 troops of the Eight Nation Alliance began an advance from Tianjin to Beijing. 2,500 of those troops were American. The largest contingent, 9000, was Japanese.
Imperial Chinese troops were also traveling to Beijing to reinforce the city.
Jacob Dolson Cox, Civil War general and also lawyer, Republican politician from Ohio, Liberal Republican Party founder, educator, author, and microbiologist passed away at age 78.
Last edition:
Thursday August 2, 1900 and Tuesday, August 2, 1910. Odd racist coincidence.
Wednesday, August 2, 2000
Thursday August 2, 1900 and Tuesday, August 2, 1910. Odd racist coincidence.
1900:
Voters in North Carolina approved an amendment to Article VI of the state constitution, worded specifically to disenfranchise African-American voters. Under section 4, all persons registering to vote were required to pass a literacy test, "But no male person who was on January 1, 1867, or at any time prior thereto, entitled to vote and no lineal descendant of any such person, shall be denied the right to register and vote by reason of his failure to possess the educational qualifications herein proscribed"
1910:
The Oklahoma constitution was amended to require literacy tests for all persons except descendants of persons who were free prior to the end of slavery.
Odd.
Last editions:
Wednesday, August 1, 1900. Off to see the Wizard.
Labels: 1900, 1900s, British Empire, Civil Unrest, Currency, Philippine Insurrection, Philippines, Rhodesia, The written word
Labels: 1910, 1910s, boats and ships, Crime, Disease, Monarchy, Philippines, Racism, Spain, Texas, U.S. Navy, Vatican City
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