What Happened in May 1900

Historical Events

May 2 George Bernard Shaw's play "You Never Can Tell" premieres in London

May 11 James J. Jeffries KOs James J Corbett in 23 for heavyweight boxing title

May 12 Boer attack under Sarel Eloff, about 70 killed
May 12 Lord Roberts' British forces occupy Crown city during Boer War
May 17 "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is first published by L. Frank Baum with illustrations by William Wallace Denslow in Chicago
May 17 British troops relieve Mafeking (Cape Colony)
May 17 In China, three villages within 100 miles of Peking are burned by Boxers and 60 Chinese Christians killed
May 18 Britain proclaims protectorate over Kingdom of Tonga
May 20 Second modern Summer Olympics (Games of the II Olympiad) opens in Paris and continues for 5 months
May 22 American inventor Edwin S Votey receives patent for pneumatic piano player
May 22 Associated Press organizes in NYC as nonprofit news cooperative
May 23 Associated Press News Service forms in NY
May 23 William Harvey Carney becomes the first African-American soldier awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Civil War at the Battle of Fort Wagner
May 24 34th Belmont: Nash Turner aboard Ildrim wins in 2:21¼
May 25 Retired London fire master Eyre Massey Shaw aged 70 reputedly becomes oldest gold medalist in Olympics for sailing (disputed)
May 26 British troops under Ian Hamilton attack the Vaal in South Africa
May 27 Lord Roberts' army fights the Vaal in South Africa
May 28 Fire in Cincinnati nearly destroys Reds' grandstand
May 28 In China, rioters provoked by Boxers burn the Fengtai Railway Station, where many Belgians work

May 28 Paul Kruger, President of the Boer Republic of South Africa, flees its capital, Pretoria, goes to Watervalboven to evade the advancing British

May 28 Total solar eclipse occurs
May 29 25th Preakness: H Spencer aboard Hindus wins in 1:48.4
May 29 Trademark "Escalator" registered by Otis Elevator Co.
May 31 British troops under Lord Roberts occupy Johannesburg
May 31 Piet de Law captures Lt Col BE Spragges, 13th Battalion Irish Imperial Yeomanry
May 31 Tom Hayward scores 1,000th cricket run of season (sets record 1074)
May 31 US troops arrive in Beijing, help put down Boxer Rebellion

May 1 Ignazio Silone, Italian novelist (Fontamara, Pane e vino), born in Pescina, Italy (d. 1978)

May 4 New Zealand plastic surgeon pioneer who rehabilitated badly burned Royal Air Force crew during WWII, born in Dunedin, New Zealand [1]

May 5 Charles Jewtraw, American 500m speed skater (Olympic gold 1924), born in Clinton County, New York (d. 1996)
May 5 Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, German composer and conductor (Hassan gewinnt), born in Berlin (d. 1973)
May 5 Mervyn A. Ellison, British astronomer (spectrohelioscope), born in Fethard-on-Sea, County Wexford, Ireland (d. 1963)
May 7 Ralph Truman, British actor (Henry V, Treasure Island, Web of Evidence), born in London, England (d. 1977)
May 10 Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, British-American astronomer and astrophysicist who proposed that stars are composed largely of hydrogen and are not glowing balls of molten rock, born in Wendover, England (d. 1979) [1]
May 10 Karl Krafft, Swiss astrologer who was manipulated by the Nazi regime, born in Basel, Switzerland (d. 1945)
May 12 Helene Weigel, Austrian-German actress (Metropolis, Mutter Courage), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1971)
May 13 Jos Panhuysen, Dutch author (Pornographer) (d. 1986)
May 14 Edgar Wind, German art historian (d. 1971)
May 14 Hal Borland, American author (d. 1978)
May 14 Leo Smit, Dutch composer who died in a Nazi extermination camp, born in Amsterdam (d. 1943)
May 17 Nicolai Berezowsky, Russian-American composer, born in St. Petersburg, Russia (d. 1953)
May 18 Sarah Miriam Peale, American portrait painter (General Lafayette, 1825), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1885)
May 22 Yvonne de Gaulle (née Vendroux), wife of Charles de Gaulle, born in Calais, France (d. 1979)

May 23 German Nazi war criminal (occupied Poland) who was executed at Nuremberg, born in Karlsruhe, Baden, German Empire

May 23 Ralph Dunn, American actor (Mr Rudge-Norby), born in Titusville, Pennsylvania (d. 1968)
May 24 Eduardo De Filippo, Italian playwright, director, actor and poet (7 Deadly Sins, Shoot Loud), born in Naples, Italy (d. 1984)
May 24 Lionel Conacher, Canadian Hockey HOF defenceman (Stanley Cup 1934 Chicago Black Hawks, 1935 Montreal Maroons) and politician (MP Trinity), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 1954)
May 25 Alain Grandbois, French Canadian poet (Né à Québec: Louis Jolliet), born in Saint-Casimir, Quebec (d. 1975)
May 27 Chester Zardis, American jazz 'slap-style' double-bassist, born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1990)
May 27 Uładzimir Žyłka, Belarusian poet, born in Makaszy, Nesvizh, Russian Empire (d. 1933)
May 28 Owen Aisher, English businessman and president (Royal Yachting Association 1970-75), born in Bulford, Wiltshire (d. 1993)
May 28 Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (Lovie Austin; King Oliver; New Orleans Feetwarmers; Noble Sissle; Sidney Bechet), born in Mandeville, Louisiana (d. 1939)
May 30 James A. Parsons, American metallurgist and inventor (stainless steel), born in Dayton, Ohio (d. 1989) [1]
May 31 Helma Wolf-Catz, Dutch author (Undercurrent, Coral Reef) (d. 1979)

May 4 Augustus Pitt Rivers, English archaeologist, dies at 73
May 5 Ivan Aivazovsky, Russian painter (b. 1817)
May 10 Richard Storrs Willis, American composer, mostly of hymns ("Carol"; "Fairest Lord Jesus"), dies at 81
May 18 Jean Gaspard Felix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher, dies at 86
May 20 Gustav Heinrich Graben-Hoffman, composer, dies at 80
May 28 George Grove, English biblical scholar and misicographer, dies at 79
May 31 James Loudon, Dutch politician, Governor-General of Dutch East Indies (1872-75), dies at 75
May 31 John Power, Irish baronet and whiskey manufacturer (Powers Whiskey), dies in battle