What Happened in May 1886

Historical Events

  • May 1 US general strike for 8-hour working day begins
  • May 3 M. A. Maclean elected 1st mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia
  • May 4 Haymarket riot in Chicago; bomb kills 7 policemen
  • May 5 The Bay View Tragedy occurs, as militia fires upon a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin killing seven.
  • May 8 Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta sells the first Coca-Cola (contained cocaine)
  • May 14 12th Kentucky Derby: Paul Duffy aboard Ben Ali wins in 2:36.50

Beatty Gets a Promotion

May 15 British sailor David Beatty is promoted to midshipman

  • May 19 Camille Saint-Saëns' 3rd Symphony in C premieres at St. James Hall, London, with the composer conducting
  • May 21 14th Preakness: S Fisher aboard Bard wins in 2:45

Pemberton Advertises Coca-Cola

May 29 American pharmacist John Pemberton begins to advertise his patent medicine - Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia


1886 History

Famous Birthdays

  • May 2 Gottfried Benn, German poet and essayist, born in Mansfelf, Germany (d. 1956)
  • May 3 Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer, born in Rouen, France (d. 1971)
  • May 4 Frank H. Wilson, American actor (Beware, Paradise in Harlem), born in Harlem, New York (d. 1956)
  • May 5 Manuel Borguñó, Spanish pianist, composer, choral director, and pedagogue, born in Rubí, Spain (d. 1973)
  • May 8 Jef van Hoof, Flemish composer, born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1959)
  • May 9 Francis Biddle, 58th United States Attorney General (1941-45), born in Paris (d. 1968)
  • May 10 Felix Manalo, Founder and 1st Executive Minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo (d. 1963)
  • May 10 Karl Barth, Swiss Protestant theologian ("The Epistle to the Romans"; "Barmen Declaration"; "Church Dogmatics"), born in Basel Switzerland (d. 1968)
  • May 10 Olaf Stapledon, British philosopher and sci-fi writer (Star Maker), born in Seacombe, England (d. 1950)
  • May 12 Albert Saverys, Flemish painter (d. 1964)
  • May 12 Hermann Grabner, Austrian composer (Die Richterin), born in Graz, Austria (d. 1969)
  • May 12 Piotr F. Scharoff, Russian-Italian actor and director (Chechov), born (d. 1969)
  • May 13 Joseph Achron, Lithuanian-American concert violinist and composer (Golem Suite), born in Lozdzieje, Russian Empire (now Lazdijai, Lithuania) (d. 1943)

Alfonso XIII (1886-1941)

May 17 King of Spain (1886-1931), born in Madrid, Kingdom of Spain

  • May 18 Ole Windingstad, Norwegian composer (The Tide), born in Sandefjord, Norway (d. 1959)
  • May 24 Paul Paray, French organist, conductor (Detroit Symphony, 1951-62), and composer, born in Le Tréport, France (d. 1979)
  • May 25 Philip Murray, 1st president of the United Steelworkers and longest-serving president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, born in Blantyre, Scotland (d. 1952)
  • May 25 Rash Behari Bose, Indian revolutionary leader against the British Raj in India, born in Bengal, India (d. 1945)

Al Jolson (1886-1950)

May 26 American-Lithuanian jazz singer and silent film actor (Mamie, Swanee), born in Seredžius, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire

  • May 28 Nikolai Sokoloff, Russian-American violinist and conductor (Cleveland Orchestra, 1918-32; Seattle Symphony, 1938-41; co-founder and director of La Jolla Music Society, 1941-65), born in Kyiv, Ukraine (d. 1965)
  • May 28 Santo Trafficante, Sr., Sicilian-American mobster, born in Cianciana, Sicily, Italy (d. 1954)
  • May 30 Randolph Bourne, American writer (Education and Living), born in Bloomfield, New Jersey (d. 1918)
Born in 1886

Famous Deaths

  • May 1 Conrad Busken Huet, Dutch writer (Country of Rubens), dies at 59
  • May 1 Heinrich Franz Daniel Stiehl, composer, dies at 56
  • May 3 Mary Ewing Outerbridge, American citizen credited with importing tennis to the US from Bermuda (1874), dies of illness at 34
  • May 5 Joseph Albert, German photographer (albertotype), dies at 61

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

May 15 American poet (Collected Poems), dies of nephritis at 55

John Deere (1804-1886)

May 17 American blacksmith and manufacturer (founded Deere & Company), dies at 82

  • May 21 Stephen Pearl Andrews, American abolitionist, writer, and individualist anarchist, dies at 74

Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886)

May 23 German historian who founded the modern concept of source-based history, dies at 90