Historical Events
Electric Pen
Aug 8 Thomas Edison is granted the patent for Autographic Printing (US Patent 180,857)
Music History
Aug 13 The Bayreuth Festspielhaus opens with the first complete performance of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle
- Aug 14 Prairie View State University forms
- Aug 15 US law removes Indians from Black Hills after gold find
- Aug 16 Richard Wagner's opera "Siegfried" premieres at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring cycle
- Aug 17 Richard Wagner's opera "Götterdämmerung" premieres in Bayreuth
- Aug 24 Riot abolishes fairs in Amsterdam, 2 killed
- Aug 31 Ottoman sultan Murat V is deposed and succeeded by his brother Abd-ul-Hamid II
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 5 Mary Ritter Beard, American historian (Woman as a Force in History), born in Indianapolis, Indiana (d. 1958)
Mata Hari (1876-1917)
Aug 7 Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan and convicted German WWI spy, born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands
- Aug 12 Mary Roberts Rinehart, American mystery writer (The Circular Staircase), born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania (d. 1958)
- Aug 14 Alexander I [Obrenović], King of Serbia (1889-1903), born in Belgrade, Serbia (d. 1903)
- Aug 14 Sibilla Aleramo [Rina Faccio], Italian feminist and poet (Una Donna), born in Alessandria, Italy (d. 1960)
- Aug 15 Aleksandar Belic, Serbian linguist, born in Belgrade, Serbia (d. 1960)
- Aug 16 Ivan Bilibin, Russian illustrator, born in Seppälä, Russia (d. 1942)
- Aug 17 Eric Drummond, British politician and diplomat, 1st Secretary-General of League of Nations (1919-33), born in Fulford, England (d. 1951)
- Aug 17 Henri Winkelman, Dutch general, Commander-in-Chief of Dutch Armed Forces during WWII, born in Maastricht, Netherlands (d. 1952)
- Aug 22 Cornelis "Kees" Maks, Dutch figurative painter, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1967)
- Aug 29 Charles F. Kettering, American inventor (auto self-starter), born in Loudenville, Ohio (d. 1958)
- Aug 29 Kim Gu, President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (1939-48), born in Haeju, Hwanghae, Korea (d. 1949)
Famous Weddings
Annie Oakley
Aug 23 Sharp Shooter Annie Oakley weds traveling show marksman Frank E. Butler
Famous Deaths
Wild Bill Hickok (1837-1876)
Aug 2 American cowboy and scout, shot dead from behind at 39 by Jack McCall while playing poker (he held a pair of Aces and a pair of 8's)
