Historical Events
Panic of 1893
May 5 Panic of 1893 causes a large crash on the NY Stock Exchange
- May 10 19th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Kunze aboard Lookout wins in 2:39.25
- May 10 Imperial Institute in London opens
1st Bicycle World Record
May 11 Henri Desgrange establishes world's 1st bicycle world record, travelling 35.325 km (21.95 miles) an hour
Jefferson Davis Reburied
May 31 Remains of Jefferson Davis moved from New Orleans and re-interred at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, per his widow's request
- May 31 Whitcomb Judson of Chicago, patents a hookless fastening (zipper)
Famous Birthdays
- May 3 Hope Landin, American actress (I Remember Mama; Sugarfoot), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (d. 1973)
- May 3 Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor, born in Abasha, Kutais Governorate, Russian Empire (d. 1975)
- May 4 Edgar Dearing, American actor (Pollyanna, Abraham Lincoln, Free & Easy), born in Ceres, California (d. 1974)
- May 4 Royal Butler [Edwin Richey], American actor (Zenobia), born in Atlanta, Georgia (d. 1973)
- May 7 Frank J. Selke, Canadian Hockey HOF executive (9 x Stanley Cup Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens), born in Berlin, Ontario (d. 1985)
- May 8 Edd Roush, American Baseball HOF outfielder (World Series 1919; NL batting champion 1917, 19; Cincinnati Reds), born in Oakland City, Indiana (d. 1988)
- May 8 Francis Ouimet, American golfer (US Open 1913, US Amateur 1914, 31), born in Brookline, Massachusetts (d. 1967)
- May 8 Teddy Wakelam, English sports broadcaster (BBC) and rugby union player (captain Harlequin RFC), born in Herefordshire, England (d. 1963)
- May 9 William Moulton Marston, American psychologist (inventor of an early prototype of the lie detector) and writer (co-creator, Wonder Woman), born in Saugus, Massachusetts (d. 1947)
- May 14 Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Russian microtonal composer, born in Saint Petersburg, Russia (d. 1979)
- May 14 Louis Verneuil, French playwright (d. 1952)
- May 15 Michel Gusikoff, American violinist, concert master, and composer, born in New York City (d. 1978)
- May 15 Stanley Lupino, English comic (Cheer Up; Over She Goes), born in London (d. 1942)
- May 16 José Calvo Sotelo, Spanish politician (Minister of Finance 1925-30, his murder helped lead to civil war), born in Tui, Spain (d. 1936)
- May 16 Paul Amadeus Pisk, Austrian-American composer, musicologist, and educator, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1990)
- May 17 Frederick McKinley Jones, American inventor (developments in refrigeration), born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 1961)
- May 21 Arthur Carr, English cricket batsman and captain (11 Tests, 1 x 50; Nottinghamshire CCC), born in Mickleham, England (d. 1963)
- May 23 Ulysses S. Grant IV, American geologist and paleontologist (d. 1977)
- May 24 Walter Baade, German-American astronomer (Andromeda), born in Schröttinghausen, German Empire (d. 1960)
- May 25 (Ernest) "Pop" Stoneman, American country music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and autoharp player ("Sinking of the Titanic"; The Stoneman Family), born in Monarat, Virginia (d. 1968)
- May 26 Eugene Goossens, British conductor and composer (Perseus), born in London, England (d. 1962)
- May 27 Hermann Dörnemann, German supercentarian, born in Essen, Germany (d. 2005)
- May 31 Janet Sobel [Jennie Olechovsky], Ukrainian-American abstract expressionist and drip-paint pioneering artist (Milky Way), born in Katerynoslav, Russian Empire (now Dnipro, Ukraine) (d. 1968)
Famous Deaths
- May 3 Josef Rudolf Zavrtal, Czech composer, dies at 73
- May 4 George Washington Hewitt, American composer, dies at 82
- May 14 Earnest E Kummer, German mathematician (surface of Kummer), dies at 83
- May 23 Anton von Schmerling, Austrian statesman, dies at 87
- May 28 Felipe Villanueva y Gutierrez, Mexican composer and musician of the Porfiriato period, dies at 31
