Historical Events
- Oct 1 1st postcards are issued in Vienna, Austria
- Oct 5 A strong hurricane known as the Saxby Gale devastates the Bay of Fundy region in Maritime Canada. Incredibly British naval officer Stephen Martin Saxby predicted the storm 10 months earlier in December 1868 via astronomy.
- Oct 5 Man-made tunnel under St. Anthony Falls, Minnesota collapses, threatening the Minneapolis riverfront
- Oct 16 Hotel in Boston becomes 1st to have indoor plumbing
The League of Youth
Oct 18 Henrik Ibsen's play "De Unges Forbund" (The League of Youth) premieres in Christiania (Oslo), Norway
Famous Birthdays
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Oct 2 Indian independence activist and spiritual leader, born in Porbandar, Kathiawar Agency, British India
- Oct 3 Alfred Flatow, German gymnast (Olympic gold 1896), born in Danzig, Prussia (d. 1942)
- Oct 3 Clara Noyes, American nurse (head of the American Red Cross WW1), born in Port Deposit, Maryland (d. 1936)
- Oct 8 J. Frank Duryea, American inventor (Duryea Motor Wagon Company, first auto built in the US), born in Washburn, Illinois (d. 1967)
- Oct 8 Komitas [Soghomon Soghomonian], Armenian priest, composer (Patarag), and musicologist, born in Kütahya, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) (d. 1935) [O.S. birth 09-26]
- Oct 9 Harry Lawrence Freeman, African-American composer, born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1954)
- Oct 11 Frederic Norton, English composer (Chu Chin Chow), born in Broughton-in-Salford (d. 1946)
- Oct 14 Joseph Duveen, British art connoisseur (Elgin marbles), born in Hull, Yorkshire, England (d. 1939)
- Oct 23 Jacobus H "Koos" Speenhoff, Dutch cabaret singer, born in Kralingen, Holland (d. 1945)
John Heisman (1869-1936)
Oct 23 American football coach (legalised forward pass, originated the center-snap; Heisman Trophy named after him), born in Cleveland, Ohio
- Oct 26 August Halm, German composer, born in Vellberg, Germany (d. 1929)
- Oct 26 Washington Luís, President of Brazil (1926-30), born in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro (d. 1957)
Famous Weddings
Victor Emmanuel II
Oct 18 Sardinia king Victor Emmanuel II (49) weds his mistress Rosa Vercellana (36) in Italy
Charles Brooke
Oct 28 Sarawak's head of state Charles Brooke (40) weds Margaret Alice Lili de Windt (20) at Highworth, Wiltshire
Famous Deaths
Franklin Pierce (1804-1869)
Oct 8 14th President of the United States (Democrat: 1853-57), dies from severe cirrhosis of the liver, at 64
Edward Smith-Stanley (1799-1869)
Oct 23 14th Earl of Derby, British Prime Minister (Conservative: 1852, 1858-59, 1866-68), dies at 70
