December 1900

December 1, 1900 (Saturday)

• A census of the German Empire was taken. Data released on February 26, 1901, showed a population of 56,345,014 "of which number 27,731,067 were males". The growth rate of 7.70% in five years was the highest increase in 30 years.
• The President of Switzerland resolved a boundary dispute between French Guiana and Brazil, awarding most of the territory to Brazil.
• In Washington, the United States and Nicaragua signed a treaty, subject to approval, giving the U.S. exclusive rights to construct and operate the Nicaraguan Canal, and to use the San Juan River and Lake Managua, in return for five million dollars.

  December 2, 1900 (Sunday)

• An oath of allegiance to the United States was taken by 2,200 Filipino rebels at Vigan, the largest group to do so to that time.
• John Hossack, a farmer near Indianola, Iowa, was killed with an ax while he slept in bed. His wife Margaret was charged with the murder and convicted on April 11, 1901, but the verdict was overturned and a second trial ended with a hung jury. Susan Glaspell, who covered the case for the Des Moines Daily News, later fictionalized it in her 1916 one-act play Trifles and a 1917 short story, "A Jury of Her Peers".

  December 3, 1900 (Monday)

• The U.S. Supreme Court released its decision in Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company v. Kentucky. By an 8–1 margin, the Court upheld a state law requiring racial segregation even on interstate transportation. Since Kentucky's law provided that non-white passengers had to move to cars separate from white passengers after a train entered the state, the ruling effectively made separate cars a requirement on all trains.
• The census was taken in Norway, at that time a part of a union with Sweden. Its population in 1900 was 2,221,477
• Born: Ulrich Inderbinen, Swiss mountain guide ; and Richard Kuhn, Austrian chemist, in Vienna; Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1938;
• Died: Oscar L. Booz, 21, first-year cadet at the U.S. Military Academy, from internal injuries sustained four days earlier during hazing. Booz refused to name his tormentors, and the public outcry over his death would lead to a U.S. Congressional investigation that would lead to the cadets pledging to discontinue the long-time practice of hazing of newly admitted cadets.

  December 4, 1900 (Tuesday)

• General Auguste Mercier, formerly Minister of War for France, warned the French Senate about "the possibility of war with Great Britain" and his strategy for an invasion, adding that "a landing in England is not beyond realization". Mercier suggested that his invasion plan "could be held over the head of England, like the sword of Damocles".
• Born: John Axon, British railwayman, celebrated in song for his heroism in a fatal 1957 accident

  December 5, 1900 (Wednesday)

• Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy signed a treaty providing that their navies would work together in the event of an attack on either nation by France or Russia.
• The Ashanti War of 1900 was declared over, with most of the British troops and Governor Willcocks departing Kumasi.

  December 6, 1900 (Thursday)

• Leopold Godowsky made his professional debut as pianist, in Berlin.
• Caisse Populaire, the first cooperative bank in North America, opened in Levis, Quebec.
• Born: Agnes Moorehead, American actress, in Clinton, Massachusetts

  December 7, 1900 (Friday)

• In the American war in the Philippines, rebel leader General Emilio Verdeflor was killed in battle after being surprised by troops led by Major H.B. McCoy.
• The U.S. Navy Department invited bids for construction of new ships to double the size of the American Navy, calling for five battleships and six armored cruisers.
• Nikola Tesla claimed to have received intelligent communication from Mars.

  December 8, 1900 (Saturday)

• Pope Leo XIII issued Conditae a Christo, redefining the rights of Catholic nuns.
• The U.S. called off scheduled plans to send a warship to Morocco to force the sultanate to pay its debts. "The great annual religious festival of the Moors is about to begin", reported the New York Times, referring to Ramadan, adding "it is the height of impropriety for any truly orthodox person to conduct business. The Sultan could not, without risking his soul, pay any debts, or even receive an infidel who came on diplomatic business." The State Department called off the operation until the middle of February.
• Died: James Roosevelt, Sr., 72. His son, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was an 18-year-old student at Harvard University at the time.

  December 9, 1900 (Sunday)

December 10, 1900 (Monday)

• Carl Jung passed up a career in internal medicine to take up psychiatry, starting a position at the Burgholzli Mental Hospital, as an assistant to Eugen Bleuler.
• Germany's Admiral Otto von Diederichs presented the Imperial Navy Department with an update on the state of naval planning against the United States, noting that the German Imperial Navy had a numerical advantage over the U.S. Navy in the number of ships, tonnage and pieces of heavy artillery, both worldwide and in the Atlantic Ocean.

  December 11, 1900 (Tuesday)

• William D. Coleman, the President of Liberia since 1896, resigned under pressure after failing to extend government control further away from the capital. Coleman, a native of Fayette County, Kentucky, was replaced by Secretary of State Garretson W. Gibson.

  December 12, 1900 (Wednesday)

• At a dinner in his honor at the University Club in Manhattan, Charles M. Schwab outlined a vision for a steel company that would handle everything from mining coal and iron, to the sale of steel products; J. P. Morgan was intrigued enough that he and joined with Andrew Carnegie, John Warne Gates and other industrialists in creating United States Steel.
• The city of Washington, D.C., marked its centennial as the nation's capital with elaborate ceremonies, including a proposed dollar addition to the White House.
• Born: Maria Telkes, Hungarian inventor of thermoelectric and solar powered machinery, in Budapest ; and Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer, in Wilmington, NC

  December 13, 1900 (Thursday)

• Albert Einstein submitted what would become his first published article in an academic journal, "Folgerungen aus der Kapillaritatserscheinungen", to the Annalen der Physik. The paper would be accepted and published on March 1, 1901.
• Terry McGovern became undisputed light weight boxing champion of the world in a bout in Chicago against Joe Gans, knocking him out in the second round, in a fight that many observers thought was fixed.
• Britain, France and Italy signed an agreement to preserve, in Ethiopia, the integrity of the ancient empire of Abyssinia.

  December 14, 1900 (Friday)

• On a date now considered to be the birthday of quantum mechanics, Max Planck presented his paper Zur Theorie des Gesetzes der Energieverteilung im Normalspektrum at a meeting of the German Physical Society in Berlin.
• The Hague Convention of 1883 was revised in Brussels.

  December 15, 1900 (Saturday)

• Soon after Lord Roberts declared that the Boer War was over, British troops in South Africa suffered a surprise defeat and the capture of hundreds of their men by the Boer attackers led by General P.H. Kritzinger. A total of 573 men in four companies of the Northumberland Fusiliers were taken prisoner at the battle of Magaliesberg. At Zastron on December 13, 120 British soldiers had been were captured by the Boers
• In one of the earliest "bad trades" in baseball, the Reds sent rookie pitcher Christy Mathewson to the Giants in return for legendary pitcher Amos Rusie. Both were future Hall of Fame stars, one rising and the other falling (Rusie pitched only 22 innings for Cincinnati.

  December 16, 1900 (Sunday)

• The German training frigate Gneisenau, with 450 naval cadets on board, sank in a storm during exercises off of the Spanish coast at Málaga, drowning 136.
• In Rome, the "Mediterranean Agreement" was signed by France and Italy, providing that if France extended influence in Morocco, it would not oppose Italian occupation of Cyrenaica and Tripoli
• George Bernard Shaw's play, Captain Brassbound's Conversion, premiered at the Strand, in London.
• Born: Rudolf Diels, German founder of the Gestapo, in Berghaus. Diels escaped prosecution after World War II, but died November 18, 1957, in a hunting accident

  December 17, 1900 (Monday)

• The Guzman Prize, first and only prize ever offered for communication with extraterrestrials, was announced in Paris. A prize of 100,000 francs was provided, except for communication with Mars, which was considered too easy.
• Ellis Island's processing center reopened, after an 1897 fire. The Kaiser Wilhelm III brought 654 Italian immigrants, who were first of the 2,251 who come through on that day.

  December 18, 1900 (Tuesday)

• Fifteen-year-old Edward Cudahy, Jr., whose father was an official at the Cudahy Meatpacking Company was kidnapped by two men in front of his home at Omaha. Eddie was released on December 20 after his father paid $25,000 in gold.
• U.S. Ambassador to Britain Joseph Choate met for several hours in London with Foreign Secretary Lansdowne, over the two nations' sudden disagreement on China policy. It turned out that a misunderstanding had been created by an error in the transmission of a cabled telegram over the use of the word "irrevocable".

  December 19, 1900 (Wednesday)

• Governor-General of Australia the Earl of Hopetoun, passed up favorite Edmund Barton as his choice for the Commonwealth's first Prime Minister, selecting instead Sir William Lyne, in a decision memorialized as the Hopetoun Blunder. When key leaders said that they would not serve under Lyne, who had opposed the federation, Lyne withdrew on December 24, and Barton became the first Prime Minister of Australia on January 1, 1901.
• The Russian Navy established a special committee to evaluate construction of a submarine fleet.

  December 20, 1900 (Thursday)

• By a 55–18 vote, the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty with Britain regarding the Nicaragua Canal, but with three amendments, including an American defense of the canal. Britain refused to ratify the altered treaty by the March 5, 1901, expiration. Secretary of State Hay and British Ambassador Pauncefote signed a new treaty in 1901 that was ratified by both nations in 1902.
• General Arthur MacArthur declared martial law over the Philippines under General Order 100. Philippine civilians who supported the rebels or stayed neutral would be subject to arrest, along with exile and even the death penalty.
• Astronomer Michel Giacobini spotted the Giacobini-Zinner comet, which came back around on October 23, 1913, and was spotted by Ernst Zinner.
• Born: Marinus van der Goes van Naters, Dutch legislator 1937–1940 and 1945–67, and German prisoner of war, 1940–45

  December 21, 1900 (Friday)

• In Havana, John J. Moran volunteered to infect himself with yellow fever in order to confirm that the disease was spread by blood and not by air. At noon, Moran went into a room filled with infected mosquitoes and stayed for 30 minutes, getting bitten 7 times. Two other volunteers in the same room were protected by a mosquito-proof screen, breathed the same air, and stayed well. Moran became seriously ill, but survived and lived until 1950.
• The Philippine Commission, operated by the United States to govern the Philippine Islands, directed that all of the islands' laws be printed in English.
• Died: Count Leonhard von Blumenthal, 90, Prussian Field Marshal who spared the city of Paris during the successful invasion in the Franco-Prussian War; Frederick Richard Pickersgill, 80, British painter and illustrator

  December 22, 1900 (Saturday)

• In Peking, at 11:00, the ministers of the Western nations and Japan signed the diplomatic note setting out conditions for China to accept.
• Born: Alan Bush, British composer, pianist and conductor, in London

  December 23, 1900 (Sunday)

• Reginald Fessenden made the first use of amplitude modulation for wireless transmission of the human voice. Two towers, set a mile apart on Cobb Island in the Potomac River, were used for the experiment. Fessenden said "One, two, three, four. Is it snowing where you are, Mr. Thiessen? If it is, would telegraph back to me?" Alfred Thiessen telegraphed back that it was snowing.
• Footbinding was officially outlawed by decree of the Empress Dowager of China, after centuries of the practice of stunting the growth of girls' feet, and years of lobbying against it.
• With the encouragement of the American government, prominent Philippine citizens founded the Partido Federal, which advocated American statehood for the Philippine Islands.

  December 24, 1900 (Monday)

• Pope Leo XIII conducted ceremonies to close the Holy Year, with the closing of the holy door in St. Peter's Basilica a year after it had been opened. The event was witnessed by 80,000 and not done again until 1925.
• Iskra, a newspaper published by Vladimir Lenin in support of Bolshevik rebellion in Russia, was published for the first time, printed in Leipzig, Germany.
• Secretary of War Elihu Root forever barred the hereditary right of slaughtering which had been granted a monopoly to the descendants of the Countess of Buena Vista.
• The foreign powers presented their 12 conditions for reform to the Chinese Imperial government. In return for allowing the Emperor to come back to Beijing, China, was to reduce its military, punish Boxer rebels, and pay $500,000,000 to the eight nations over a period of 60 years.
• After 45 years, the last horse-drawn street car was retired from service in Boston, to be replaced by electric trolleys and elevated trains.
• Born: Hawayo Takata, last of the Reiki Masters, in Kauai, Hawaii

  December 25, 1900 (Tuesday)

• The National Basket Ball League was the first professional basketball circuit in America, founded in 1898. In an NBBL game on Christmas night in Trenton, New Jersey, referee L.P. Pratt was attacked by an angry mob of Trenton Nationals fans, upset when he declared a forfeit in a game against the visiting Penn Bikers of Philadelphia. The Bikers were leading 23–11 at the half. Trenton's Harry Stout called Pratt a "stiff" and a "lobster" and was ejected from the game, then came out during the second half. Pratt declared a 4–0 forfeit in favor of Penn and, according to the Trenton paper, the mob was chanting "Kill him!". Three city policemen escorting Pratt were also injured. The Nationals, defending NBBL champs, went on to finish second to the New York Wanderers in the 1900–01 season.
• Born: Antoni Zygmund, Polish mathematician, author of Trigonometric Series in Warsaw
• Died: Jane Spencer, Baroness Churchill, 74, personal attendant who had served as Lady of the Bedchamber for Queen Victoria for 46 consecutive years since 1854; the Queen would pass away four weeks later.

  December 26, 1900 (Wednesday)

• A strange disappearance in the Flannan Isles of Scotland was realized when the lighthouse supply ship Hesperus stopped at the Scottish island of Eilean Mòr. The three men in charge of keeping the lighthouse at this remote location had vanished without explanation. The last entry in the logbook had been for December 15, and there was no sign of a crime, but the three men were not found after a search of the island. An official investigation concluded later that the three were probably washed off of a precipice by a high wave. The mystery was later the subject of a 1980 chamber opera by Peter Maxwell Davies, The Lighthouse.
• Died: William George Beers, Canadian dentist known as the "father of modern lacrosse" for codifying the rules and establishing league play; and Ghulam Muhammad Tarzi, 70, Ruler of Kandahar and Baluchistan in Afghanistan.

  December 27, 1900 (Thursday)

• Carrie Nation destroyed the elaborate bar at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kansas, including a crystal chandelier, the Venetian mirror behind the bar, and a large and provocative painting, Cleopatra at the Bath.
• Amnesty took effect for all persons connected with the Dreyfus affair.
• Died: William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, 90, English engineer and inventor best known for creating the Armstrong Gun used in British warfare throughout the 19th century; he was the first scientist to be elevated to the House of Lords.

  December 28, 1900 (Friday)

• Morning newspapers across America ran the horrifying news that forty-nine school children had drowned the night before while ice skating near What Cheer, Iowa, though many emphasized that it was unconfirmed. By afternoon, the story was confirmed to have been a macabre practical joke.
• Mathematician Luther P. Eisenhart presented the first demonstration of the impossibility of a triply asymptotic system of surfaces, at a meeting of the American Mathematical Society.
• The first steel produced by electrometallurgy was delivered, 9,000 kg of bars from the Heroult Company to Schneider & Co.
• Died: Yu Hsien, former Governor of Shansi Province, was executed for atrocities committed during the Boxer Rebellion.
• Died: Alexandre de Serpa Pinto, 54, Portuguese explorer; the city of Menongue in Angola had been named in his honor until that nation became independent in 1975.

  December 29, 1900 (Saturday)

• In a milestone for medical ethics, a regulation from the Prussian Ministry for Religious, Educational, and Medical Affairs was the first known law requiring that medical experiments be done only with "informed consent" of a patient.
• Negotiations for purchase of the future United States Virgin Islands from Denmark were completed by the U.S. Department of State, which announced that all that remained to be done was an appropriation by the U.S. Congress to complete the agreed-upon price for the Danish West Indies, twelve million kroner, worth $3,216,000 in U.S. dollars at the time. However, Congress would not actually provide the required amount until 1918.
• The bankruptcy of the London and Globe Finance Corporation led to panic on the London Stock Exchange and led to the suspension of stock sales of thirteen smaller companies.

  December 30, 1900 (Sunday)

• In the last Sunday of the century, the New York Herald published Mark Twain's "A Greeting from the 19th Century to the 20th Century", while the New York World published the article "New York as It Will Be in 1999".
• With Edmund Barton cleared to become the first Prime Minister of Australia, the first Barton cabinet was created. In addition to being premier, Barton was the Minister for Exterior Affairs. Selected to advise him were Alfred Deakin ; Sir William Lyne ; George Turner ; Charles Kingston ; Sir James Dickson ; and Sir John Forrest
• An Imperial Edict proclaimed an armistice, and designated Chinese representatives authorized to negotiate with the Great Powers.

  December 31, 1900 (Monday)

• At 3:00 in the afternoon in Beijing, Su-Hai, identified as the man who had killed Baron von Ketteler, Germany's minister to China, on June 20, became the last prominent person to die in the 19th Century. Su-Hai was beheaded at the scene of the crime.
• Christian churches around the world welcomed in the new century with special services beginning an hour before midnight, and the ringing of bells.
• Purists celebrated the arrival of the 20th century. In New York, crowds gathered at City Hall Park in view of the big clock at City Hall. John Philip Sousa's band began playing at, and at 11:59, the city was darkened for a minute, before the 20th Century was welcomed in with fireworks.