At a quartz mine in Nevada, David Crisman, a miner in his late sixties, was killed by a premature blast. 8 years earlier Crisman had survived being trapped in a mine by a cave-in for 46 days.[3]
The University of Ottawa building was completely destroyed by a fire that started at 7 a.m., with property loss estimated at $500,000. The fire was believed to have been started by a burning cigarette.[7]
At about 7 a.m. in Hanley, Staffordshire, England, tallow chandler Thomas Holland was walking to work along St John Street when the pavement opened beneath him and he fell to his death into an old mine shaft filled with poisonous gas. There was no safe way to recover Holland's body from the shaft, which was 121 feet (37m) deep. After the town council closed the pit, Holland's funeral was held in the middle of the street on December 5. According to a witness, Holland was singing the Christian hymn "When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder" by James Milton Black prior to his death, and reached the line "when the roll is called up yonder I'll be there" just before he fell.[12][13]
In Fishkill Landing, New York, 12-year-old Hugh Schofield died after becoming paralyzed during a football game.[14]
In Salina, Kansas, the 5-story building of the H. D. Lee Wholesale Grocery company was destroyed by a fire that damaged several other buildings and briefly threatened the city's entire business district. The total loss was estimated to be over $500,000.[25]
A midnight storm wrecked the Danish schoonerSigfried Peterson on Feryland Head, near Cape Race in Newfoundland, killing all 5 crewmembers. Their bodies would wash ashore on December 7.[31]
Horace Edgar Buckridge, a 27-year-old veteran of the Second Boer War and former member of the Discovery Expedition, died at sea aboard his yachtKia Ora. Buckridge had intended to sail the yacht around the world from New Zealand to London, but sustained an injury aboard the yacht near the Chatham Islands. His sailing companion, Sowden, who had no prior sailing experience and had failed to help the injured Buckridge, would return to New Zealand alone.[62]
In Dessau, Germany, Frau Fischer, a lion tamer, was fatally attacked by four lions with which she was performing. Her death was witnessed by a large crowd, including her own children, and many spectators were injured in the ensuing panic.[65]
During the six-day bicycle race at Madison Square Garden in New York City, a spectator nearly caused a human crush by lighting paper underneath another spectator's chair and shouting "Fire". Several hundred people fled from their seats, but calm returned after a few minutes.[67] The team of American cyclistRobert Walthour and Australian cyclist Ben Munroe would eventually win the race.[68]
The Wyanoke Hotel, a 5-story building at Ninth Avenue and 53rd Street in Manhattan, New York City, was destroyed by fire. No deaths were reported.[69]
U.S. PresidentTheodore Roosevelt submitted his third Annual Message to the United States Congress. Concerning immigration to the United States, Roosevelt commented, "We can not have too much immigration of the right kind, and we should have none at all of the wrong kind." Discussing the problem of public corruption, Roosevelt wrote, "There can be no crime more serious than bribery. Other offenses violate one law while corruption strikes at the foundation of all law." Roosevelt described the October resolution of the Alaska boundary dispute as "satisfactory in every way." Roosevelt also stated, "I recommend that an appropriation be made for building light-houses in Hawaii, and taking possession of those already built. The Territory should be reimbursed for whatever amounts it has already expended for light-houses." In the final part of the message, Roosevelt discussed at length the November separation of Panama from Colombia and the importance of building a Panama Canal, stating, "At last the right to begin this great undertaking is made available. Panama has done her part. All that remains is for the American Congress to do its part, and forthwith this Republic will enter upon the execution of a project colossal in its size and of well-nigh incalculable possibilities for the good of this country and the nations of mankind."[70][71]
Born:
Danilo Blanuša, Croatian Yugoslav mathematician, physicist and engineer; in Osijek, Austria-Hungary (d. 1987)[72]
The New York Times reported that there was no truth to the story that Archduchess Elisabeth Marie of Austria had murdered an actress.[80] However, later rumors suggested that the story was in fact true.[81] Archduchess Elisabeth Marie would give birth to a son on March 22, 1904.[82]
The Aerodrome A, a piloted aircraft designed by Secretary of the Smithsonian InstitutionSamuel Langley, which had failed to fly on October 7, made its second unsuccessful test flight from a houseboat on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. The aircraft, piloted by Langley's assistant, Charles M. Manly, collapsed on itself and plunged into the river after takeoff, briefly trapping Manly under the wreckage. Manly was unharmed, but this second failure ended Langley's research into heavier-than-air flight.[83][84]
In Norfolk, Virginia, white Democrats stormed the Berkeley Improvement Board office in a racially motivated attack against African American officials. The bell of the Berkeley Avenue Baptist Church sounded the signal for the attack.[86]
Police discovered the body of 19-year-old domestic servant Mary Ann Worsman in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal near Bingley, England, the day after a man found her clothing, partially covered by cocoanut matting, near Swine Bridge. The case was believed to be a murder but would never be solved.[147]
In North Carolina, the Wright brothers made their first attempt at a powered flight with the Wright Flyer. Wilbur Wright won a coin toss to determine who would make the first flight, but the aircraft stalled and landed after climbing a few feet, sustaining slight damage.[124]
In North Carolina, the Wright brothers completed repairs of the Wright Flyer, readying it for another test.[124]
In Ellis County, Texas, four men pulled landowner Josh Reagor from his buggy and beat him to death. Reagor had recently made a $10,000 real estate deal, and the attack may have been a robbery attempt. Fred Morris and Will Birt would be convicted of complicity in the murder the following year, but the other two killers would never be identified.[160]
Orville Wright flew an aircraft with a gasoline engine, the Wright Flyer, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in the first documented and successful powered and controlled heavier-than-air flight, which lasted 12 seconds and covered a distance of 120 feet (37m). The Wright brothers made three more flights, with Wilbur and Orville taking turns; the fourth flight, piloted by Wilbur, lasted 59 seconds and covered a distance of 852 feet (260m). Before they could make a fifth flight, the aircraft was overturned by a gust of wind, destroying it.[124]
In Sacramento, California, boxer Tom Pendergast sustained a concussion which caused a fatal brain hemorrhage in a fight with Frank "Kid Williams" Solomon. Solomon was arrested for manslaughter, but he and everyone else connected with the fight were released on December 21.[172][173][174]
Film clip of Williamsburg Bridge opening procession
New York City held a lavish dedication ceremony for the new Williamsburg Bridge across the East River.[178] The bridge would open to pedestrians at 8 a.m. the following morning and to vehicular traffic at 5 a.m. on December 21.[179]
On the night of December 19–20, 21-year-old farm wife Kate Rodd Slifer died of chloroform poisoning in the bed she shared with her husband, William E. Slifer, also 21, at the farmhouse of Will's parents in Melrose Township, Grundy County, Iowa. Although Kate's death was initially thought to be a suicide, Will would subsequently be charged with her murder, but would be acquitted in September 1904.[180]
The cargo shipClarence S. Bement, on her way from Philadelphia to San Francisco under the command of Captain G. G. Grant with a cargo of Baltimore coal, caught fire in a storm about 80 miles (130km) north of Cape St. John in the Falkland Islands. The 25 crewmembers safely reached Fox Island in their lifeboats and were subsequently taken to Port Stanley by mail schooner.[206]
Nevio Skull, Fiuman Italian businessman and politician; in Fiume, Hungary (d. 1945, murdered)[223]
Fredi Washington (born Fredericka Carolyn Washington), American stage and film actress and civil rights activist; in Savannah, Georgia (d. 1994, pneumonia following stroke)[224][225]
In response to a telegram informing him that novelist George Gissing was dying, fellow novelist H. G. Wells set out for Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France, where he would help nurse Gissing in his final illness.[232]
Scene design for Act I, Scene 1 in Parsifal (1903 Metropolitan Opera production)Scene design for Act I Transformation Scene in Parsifal (1903 Metropolitan Opera production)
Parsifal, the final opera by composer Richard Wagner, which since its premiere in 1882 had been performed on stage only at the Bayreuth Festival, received its first staged performance in another venue at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. The production was intensely controversial but went ahead despite legal action by the Wagner family to prevent it.[233][234]
American comic actor Jerome Sykes, in Chicago starring in the play The Billionaires, hosted a Christmas Eve dinner for members of the Billionaires company. Sykes took part in an amateur theatrical performance during the dinner but was not dressed warmly enough for the occasion. He would die of pneumonia on December 29.[235]
A severe winter storm struck New York City, where winds of up to 60 miles per hour (97km/h) blew down and injured pedestrians. However, only about 0.5 inches (13mm) of snow fell on the city.[243]
In San Francisco, California, cook William H. Atkins murdered prizefighter Charles "Muldoon" McDonald.[244]
Two days after the shooting of C. P. "Pig" Melton, a prominent white citizen of Pine Apple, Alabama, over a game of craps, an African American man, Arthur Stewart, was arrested on Christmas Day as an accessory to the crime. At about 4 a.m. on December 26, a lynch mob broke into the Pine Apple jail, knocked Stewart unconscious, poured kerosene on him and burned him alive. They then apparently set fire to the jail to destroy evidence, but the fire spread and destroyed 11 other buildings, causing $35,000 in damage. At a mass meeting on the evening of December 26, the citizens of Pine Apple requested a special term of court to try the members of the lynch mob.[247][248]
Sherlock Holmes demonstrates his boxing skills in "The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist"
The Sherlock Holmes short story "The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was published for the first time in Collier's in the United States.[249]
On the day after Christmas, Los Angeles City Hall was closed for employees to have an extra holiday. Presumably as a practical joke, someone placed a sign on the front entrance reading, "CLOSED ON ACCOUNT OF DEATH OF THE MAYOR". Meredith P. Snyder, the Mayor of Los Angeles, received many telephone calls during the morning asking if he was dead. After the sign was removed, it was replaced with one reading, "Closed. All gone to the races."[250]
Severe winter weather struck New England, causing three shipwrecks, one of which, that of a dredger which sank less than 6 miles (9.7km) from Boston, killed 3 men. All crewmembers were rescued from the wrecks of SS Kiowa, which sank off Boston Light after being accidentally rammed by the United Fruit Company freighter Admiral Dewey, and the bargeJohn W. Mackay, wrecked off Watch Hill, Rhode Island. About 8 inches (200mm) of snow fell on Boston.[251][252][253]
British mountaineer Alexander Goodall fell to his death after glissading down part of Deep Ghyll, a chasm in the Scawfell Crags on the west side of Scawfell Pinnacle in the Lake District of England. His climbing partner, F. Botterill, descended Deep Ghyll alone, initially without an ice axe until he recovered the one Goodall had been using from the spot where he had fallen.[255]
Italian composer Giacomo Puccini completed the original version of his opera Madama Butterfly, which would receive its world premiere on February 17, 1904, at La Scala, Milan.[269]
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt issued a proclamation directing that the federal Department of Commerce and Labor take over responsibility for the lighthouse service in the Territory of Hawaii beginning on January 1, 1904. The following day, Roosevelt would issue an executive order directing the same department to take over responsibility for the lighthouse and buoys at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.[280]
The First Physical Culture Exhibition, the first large-scale bodybuilding competition in America, began at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It would conclude on January 2, 1904.[281]
In Troy, New York, a fire partially destroyed the Troy club, killing club residents Moses T. Clough and William Shaw and club guest Benjamin W. Kinney of Boston, Massachusetts.[294]
A fire at the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, killed 602 people, the greatest death toll of any theater fire in the history of the United States. Most of the victims were women and children attending a matinee performance of the musical Mr. Blue Beard, starring Eddie Foy Sr.[295][296][297][298][299] According to fire survivor Frank Slosson, "The screams of the children for their mothers and mothers for their children I shall carry in my memory to my dying day."[297]
Due to the death of actor Jerome Sykes the previous day, the production of The Billionaires in which he was starring at the Illinois Theatre was canceled. Two victims of the Iroquois fire were members of the Billionaires cast who attended the Mr. Blue Beard performance: Harry Hudson (stage name of Clarence Burr Scott), 21, and Arthur Caville, 24. Will J. Davis, the manager of both the Iroquois and Illinois Theatres, was at Sykes' funeral when he received a telephone call informing him of the Iroquois fire.[300]
An executive session of leaders of the ongoing liveryman's strike in Chicago determined to permit burial of the dead from the Iroquois fire without obstruction.[301]
The body of famed American journalist Margaret Frances Sullivan, who had died on December 28, was taken to Detroit, Michigan, for burial. The news of the Iroquois fire overshadowed that of Sullivan's death, denying her the published tributes she might otherwise have received.[288]
The Fisk Jubilee Singers arrived in San Francisco, where they were unable to find accommodation at any hotel or boarding house due to racial discrimination. E. T. Cottman of the Afro-Methodist Episcopal Church gave them shelter in his home, but they were unable to get board near Cottman's house and needed to travel from Sacramento Street to Market Street for every meal. At their concert at the Young Men's Christian Association on the night of January 1, Mrs. Maggie Porter Cole, the Singers' musical director, would explain these events to the audience in apology for the group's colds and fatigue.[309]
Carter Harrison Jr., the Mayor of Chicago, issued a proclamation suggesting that New Year's Eve celebrations in the city not take place due to the Iroquois fire. Harrison's advice was widely followed, and Chicago was unprecedentedly silent on the last night of the year.[310]
"PIONEER MINER KILLED BY A PREMATURE BLAST". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.63. 3 December 1903. Page 2, column 2. Retrieved 24 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"Bishop Leonard Very Ill". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.63. 3 December 1903. Page 2, column 3. Retrieved 24 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"ELEVEN COAL MINERS MEET DEATH IN A PIT". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.65. 5 December 1903. Page 3, column 3. Retrieved 19 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"PROCLAMATION DECLARES AUTHORITIES POWERLESS". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.65. 5 December 1903. Page 1, column 7. Retrieved 19 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"Ship Wrecked and Crew Lost". San Francisco Call. Vol.XCV, no.8. 8 December 1903. Page 1, column 2. Retrieved 19 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"Notice de personne "McGuire, Kathryn (1903-1978)""[Person record "McGuire, Kathryn (1903-1978)"]. Catalogue général (in French). Bibliothèque nationale de France. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
"6 jours de New-York (Etats-Unis)"[6 Days of New York (United States)] (in French). memoire-du-cyclisme.net. 2008. Archived from the original on 19 June 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
"DRIVERS (L)". THE GOLDEN ERA OF GP RACING 1934-40. Leif Snellman. 16 February 2009. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)[self-published source]
Point, Michael (2006). "Grey Ghost". In Komara, Edward (ed.). Encyclopedia of the Blues. Vol.1: A—J. New York, London: Routledge. pp.379–380. ISBN0-415-92700-5. Retrieved 6 December 2021– via Google Books.
"Bishop Ingle Is Dead". San Francisco Call. Vol.XCV, no.8. 8 December 1903. Page 1, column 3. Retrieved 19 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Moore, George Greville (1908). Society recollections in Paris and Vienna, 1879–1904. D. Appleton and Co. p.232. His [Franz Joseph I of Austria's] granddaughter has lately married the Prince Windischgratz; she was the only daughter of the late Crown Prince Rudolf. The marriage was a love match, but when they had been married only about one year they quarrelled on account of an actress at Prague, who was fired at by the Princess. The actress has since died of the wound. The Emperor, in consequence of this event, did not attend the baptism of the son of the Archduchess Princess Windischgratz. The whole affair caused a painful sensation at the Court in Vienna, though it has been hushed up as most events of the kind are.
"Death of Miss Charlotte Knollys". The Times. London, England. 26 April 1930. p.10 – via The Times Digital Archive 1785–2008. On one occasion, by her promptitude and presence of mind, she saved her Majesty and, indeed, the whole household from imminent peril. This was early one morning in December, 1903, when a beam in Miss Knollys's bedroom at Sandringham, which was just under the floor of the Queen's room, caught fire, and Miss Knollys gave the alarm. For this service she was presented with a gold medal bearing the grateful inscription, "To our dear Charlotte."
"Lawyer Dies From Exposure". San Francisco Call. Vol.95, no.36. 5 January 1904. Page 16, column 4. Retrieved 19 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"Notice de personne "Lewis, George J. (1903-1995)""[Person record "Lewis, George J. (1903-1995)"]. Catalogue général (in French). Bibliothèque nationale de France. 15 September 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
"Notice de personne "Caffot, Sylvère (1903-1993)""[Person record "Caffot, Sylvère (1903-1993)"]. Catalogue général (in French). Bibliothèque nationale de France. 19 October 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
Smithard, William (1904). Turner, E. Raymond (ed.). "First Ascent of the High Tor Gully". CORRESPONDENCE. The Climbers' Club Journal. VI (23). The Climbers' Club: 151. Retrieved 5 December 2021– via Google Books.
Tracey, Sue (2005). "Anderson, Selina Sarah (Senie) (1878–1964)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
Morrison, A. A. (1972). "Finney, Thomas (1837–1903)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
"Victims Numbered Thirteen". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.84. 22 December 1903. Page 15, column 5. Retrieved 2 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"THREE KILLED BY BOILER EXPLOSION". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.84. 22 December 1903. Page 2, column 1. Retrieved 2 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"Five Were Killed". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.85. 23 December 1903. Page 8, column 1. Retrieved 2 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Notice de personne "Musicescu, Gavriil (1847-1903)"[Person record "Musicescu, Gavriil (1847-1903)"] (in French). Bibliothèque nationale de France. 11 September 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2021. This source gives the Old Style date of Musicescu's death, December 8, 1903.
"Mary Rogers Died on the Scaffold Paid the Last Penalty of the Law After a Legal Fight of Two Years — Was Guilty of a Cruel and Diabolical Murder — Lured a Loving Husband to His Destruction for the Sake of His Insurance and for the Love of Another". Wilkes-Barre Times. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. 8 December 1905., cited in Headsman (8 December 2017). "1905: Mary Rogers, chloroformer". ExecutedToday.com. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
"FORTY-TWO SOLDIERS BURIED AT ARLINGTON". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.85. 23 December 1903. Page 5, column 5. Retrieved 2 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"ARIZONA PIONEER DIES AT PRESCOTT". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.85. 23 December 1903. Page 9, column 1. Retrieved 2 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"SIXTY DEAD IN RAILWAY WRECK Baltimore and Ohio Train in Frightful Crash. OVER THREE SCORE INJURED. Of This Number Eighteen May Die---Every Passenger in the Smoking Car Killed". The New York Times. 24 December 1903., cited in Horton, Linda. "Laurel Run, PA Train Wreck, Dec 1903 - Sixty Dead in Wreck". GenDisasters.com. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
"TRAIN WRECK VICTIMS TOTAL SIXTY-FOUR Nearly All Who Lost Life Were Scalded to Death. THIEVES ROB THE DEAD. Somebody's Carelessness in Loading a Freight Car Caused the Wreck---Heroes Among the Survivors". The New York Times. 25 December 1903., cited in Horton, Linda. "Laurel Run, PA Train Wreck, Dec 1903 - Victims Total 64". GenDisasters.com. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
"SLAYER OF THE COLORED PRIZE FIGHTER ARRAIGNED". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.89. 27 December 1903. Page 6, column 7. Retrieved 1 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"WILD WINTER STORM RAGES OVER ALL NEW ENGLAND". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.89. 27 December 1903. Page 1, column 7. Retrieved 1 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"Three Men Drowned". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.89. 27 December 1903. Page 3, column 1. Retrieved 1 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"TWO FIRES BREAK OUT IN NEW YORK". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.89. 27 December 1903. Page 5, column 2. Retrieved 1 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"DEATHS OF THE DAY". Los Angeles Herald. Vol.XXXI, no.89. 27 December 1903. Page 5, column 3. Retrieved 1 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Grzegrzółka, Mirosław (May 1997). "PAMIĘCI PROF. BOGDANA SUCHODOLSKIEGO"[IN MEMORY OF PROF. BOGDAN SUCHODOLSKI]. Gazeta Uniwersytecka UŚ (in Polish). No.8. pp.43–44. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
"Николай Федорович Федоров (1829-1903)"[Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov (1829-1903)]. МУЗЕЙ – БИБЛИОТЕКА НИКОЛАЯ ФЕДОРОВИЧА ФЕДОРОВА [MUSEUM - LIBRARY OF NIKOLAI FYODOROVICH FYODOROV] (in Russian). Retrieved 1 December 2021.
Cisneros, Andrés; Escudé, Carlos; etal. (2000). "Orcadas del Sur"[South Orkney]. Historia General de las Relaciones Exteriores de la República Argentina (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 May 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
"Baseball Player Is Killed". San Francisco Call. Vol.XCV, no.31. 31 December 1903. Page 5, column 7. Retrieved 14 March 2024– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"Marquis of Sligo Dies". San Francisco Call. Vol.XCV, no.31. 31 December 1903. Page 7, column 6. Retrieved 19 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
"Former Noted Ball Player Dead". San Francisco Call. Vol.95, no.51. 20 January 1904. Page 2, column 6. Retrieved 22 December 2021– via California Digital Newspaper Collection.