Historical Events
Carnegie Hall Opens
May 5 Music Hall (now Carnegie Hall) opens in New York City, with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as guest conductor of the New York Music Society Orchestra
Assassination Attempt on Prince Nicholas
May 11 The Otsu Scandal: While visiting Japan, Prince Nicholas (later Tsar Nicholas II) survives an assassination attempt
Grisélidis
May 15 Jules Massenet's opera "Grisélidis" premieres in Paris
- May 15 Operations begin at Philips & Co in Holland
Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope
May 20 1st public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope to members of the National Federation of Women's Club
Famous Birthdays
- May 3 Eppa Rixey Jr., American Baseball HOF pitcher (NL wins leader 1922; 266 career wins; Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds), born in Culpeper, Virginia (d. 1963)
- May 3 Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet, born in Kraków, Poland (d. 1969)
- May 4 Frederick Jacobi, American composer, born in San Francisco (d. 1952)
- May 4 J. W. F. Werumeus Buning, Dutch poet (Daily Bread), born in Amsterdam (d. 1958)
- May 7 Harry McShane, Scottish socialist (d. 1988)
- May 11 Henry Morgenthau Jr., US Secretary of Treasury (1934-45) who helped design the New Deal and Lend Lease programs, born in New York City (d. 1967)
- May 13 Fritz Rasp, German actor (Diary of a Lost Girl), born in Bayreuth, Germany (d. 1976)
- May 14 Egon Kornauth, Austrian composer, born in Olmütz, Moravia (d. 1959)
- May 15 David Vogel, Russian-born Hebrew writer (Huwelijksleven), born in Satanov, Russian Empire (d. 1944)
- May 15 Fritz Feigl, Austrian Brazilian chemist (spot tests), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1971)
- May 15 Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian playwright and novelist (The Master and Margarita, Black Snow), born in Kiev, Russian Empire (d. 1940)
- May 15 Nipo T. Strongheart, Native American activist, lecturer and film consultant (Pony Soldier), born in Yakima, Washington (d. 1966)
- May 16 Richard Tauber [Denemy], Austrian-British operatic tenor and film actor, born in Linz, Austria (d. 1948)
- May 17 Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife, granddaughter of King Edward VII and great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, born in East Sheen Lodge, Richmond, England (d. 1959)
- May 18 Rudolf Carnap, German American philosopher (German Logical Positivist), born in Ronsdorf, Germany (d. 1970)
- May 19 Oswald Boelcke, German World War I pilot (d. 1916)
- May 22 Eddie Edwards, American jazz trombonist, born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1963)
- May 22 Johannes R. Becher, German writer and politician, born in Munich (d. 1958)
- May 22 Lucien Cailliet, French-American clarinetist, composer, conductor (Allentown Band), arranger (Philadelphia Orchestra, 1919-1937), and teacher, born in Châlons-sur-Marne, France (d. 1985)
- May 22 Robert Gordon Sproul, American educator and college president (University of California), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1975)
- May 23 Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish poet, novelist, and playwright (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1951), born in Växjö, Sweden (d. 1974)
- May 24 Benedictus H. Danser, Dutch taxonomist and botanist, born in Schiedam, Netherlands (d. 1943)
- May 24 William F. Albright, American old testament scholar and archaeologist, born in Coquimbo, Chile (d. 1971)
- May 25 Robert Willem Pieter Peereboom, Dutch editor in chief (Haarlem Newspaper), born in Haarlem, North Holland, Netherlands (d. 1956)
- May 27 Claude Champagne, Canadian composer, born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 1965)
- May 30 Iman Jacob van den Bosch, Dutch WWII resistance fighter, born in Groningen, Netherlands (d. 1944)
Famous Deaths
- May 4 Sherlock Holmes, British fictional detective (as created by Sherlock Holmes) "dies" at 37 at Reichenbach Falls
- May 6 Thomas Hare, English barrister and political reformer, dies at 85
- May 8 Helena Blavatsky, Russian occultist, philosopher, and author (co-founded Theosophical Society), dies at 59
- May 10 Karl Wilhelm von Nägeli, Swiss botanist (famous for his work on plant cells), dies at 74
- May 11 Edmond Becquerel, French physicist who studied the solar spectrum, magnetism, electricity and optics (photovoltaic effect), dies at 71
- May 16 Ion Brătianu, Romanian statesman (Premier of Romania 1876-88), dies at 69
- May 23 Ignace Leybach, French pianist and composer, dies at 73
- May 26 Frederick Bowen Jewson, Scottish composer, dies at 67
- May 28 Winfield Scott Featherston "Old Swet", American politician and Army Brigadier General (Confederate), dies at 70
- May 31 Antoine-Aimé Dorion, Canadian politician and jurist (joint premier of Canada 1858, 1863-64), dies at 73
