Historical Events
- May 3 28th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Winkfield on Alan-a-Dale wins in 2:08.75
- May 6 British SS Camorta sinks off Rangoon; 739 die
- May 6 Zulu assault at Holkrantz, South Africa
- May 7 La Soufrière volcano on St Vincent kills 1,680 people
- May 8 Mount Pelée on the French overseas island of Martinique erupts, wiping out the city of Saint-Pierre, killing 30,000 and leaving only two survivors
- May 10 Dutch soccer club FC Blauw-Wit (Blue-White) is formed in the Kinkerbuurt area of Amsterdam; merge with VV De Beursbengels in 2015
- May 10 Portugal goes bankrupt, but its parliament passes a bill converting its external debt. Contributing to Portugal's troubles is recent revolt in its colony of Angola, put down 6 September
- May 12 140,000 miners of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania go out on a strike called by the United Mine Workers after the owners have refused to recognize the UMW, negotiate or submit to arbitration
Caruso's Covent Garden Debut
May 14 Italian tenor Enrico Caruso makes his Covent Garden debut opposite Nellie Melba in Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto" in London
- May 15 "Bailundo Revolt" begins after Ovimbundu kingdom & allies revolt against Portuguese Empire in Benguela Highlands, central Portuguese Angola
- May 15 Lyman Gilmore is 1st person to fly a powered craft
- May 16 2 deaf-mutes face each other for 1st time as Dummy Hoy leads off for the Reds against Dummy Taylor of the Giants, Reds win 5-3
- May 17 Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer
- May 19 Great Britain and Boers resume peace talks in Pretoria
- May 20 United States withdraws its troops from Cuba as the first Cuban president, Tomas Estrada Palma takes power
- May 22 36th Belmont: John Bullman aboard Mastermam wins in 2:22.6
US, Mexico Agree Arbitration
May 22 US President Theodore Roosevelt signs a treaty with Mexico under which both countries agree to submit a long-standing dispute over interest payments to the Court of Arbitration at The Hague
- May 24 Cleve's Bill Bradley is 1st ALer to hit a HR run in 4 consecutive games, not duplicated until Babe Ruth does it June 25, 1918
- May 24 Empire Day 1st celebrated in Britain
- May 27 27th Preakness: L Jackson aboard Old England wins in 1:45.8
- May 29 Dutch State Mine law forms
- May 30 Spanish King Alfonso XII, who was elected as a constitutional monarch, suspends the Cortes, Spain's parliament
- May 31 Australia Cricket all out 36 v England, Edgbaston, their lowest ever
- May 31 Boer War Ends; Treaty of Unity signed, Britain annexes Transvaal
- May 31 Labor trouble and riots lead Spanish King Alfonso XII to impose martial law
Famous Birthdays
- May 2 Brian Aherne, British actor (I Confess, Titanic, Juarez), born in King's Norton, Worcestershire, England (d. 1986)
- May 2 Erin O'Brien-Moore, American actress (Peyton Place, Our Little Girl), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1979)
- May 3 Alfred Kastler, French physicist (Nobel 1966 - Hertzian resonances within atoms), born in Guebwiller, Alsace, German Empire (d. 1984)
- May 3 Hugo Friedhofer, American composer, born in San Francisco, California (d. 1981)
- May 3 Jack La Rue, American actor and TV narrator (Lights Out, Mouthpiece, My Favorite Brunette), born in New York City (d. 1984)
- May 3 Seton I. Miller, Hollywood screenwriter (Pete's Dragon, Istanbul), born in Chehalis, Washington (d. 1974)
- May 3 Walter Slezak, Austrian-American stage and screen actor (Bedtime for Bonzo; Lifeboat; The Inspector General), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1983)
- May 4 (Nicolaas) "Cola" Debrot, Dutch lawyer, doctor.author and politician (Governor of the Netherlands Antilles, 1962-70), born in Kralendijk, Netherlands (d. 1981)
- May 4 Cvjetko Rihtman, Bosnian composer, born in Rijeka, Croatia (d. 1989)
- May 4 Rodney Meredith Thomas, English architect and painter, born in London (d. 1996)
- May 6 Harry Golden, Jewish-American journalist and writer (Only in America), born in Mikulintsy, Ukraine (d. 1981)
- May 6 Max Ophüls, German director (The Earrings of Madame de...), born in Saarbrücken, German Empire (d. 1957)
- May 6 Walter Dawson, British Air Chief marshal (d. 1994)
- May 8 Andre Michel Lwoff, French physiologist (1965 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries of genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis), born in Ainay-le-Château, France (d. 1994)
- May 8 Milford "Curly" Page, New Zealand cricket batsman and captain (14 Tests, 1 x 100, 2x 50, 5 wickets) and rugby union halfback (Canterbury RU), born in Lyttelton, New Zealand (d. 1987)
- May 10 Anatole Litvak, Russian-born American film director, writer and producer (Mayerling, Anastasia, The Snake Pit), born in Kiev, Russian Empire (d. 1974)
- May 10 David O Selznick, American Academy Award-winning producer (Gone With The Wind; Rebecca), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1965)
- May 10 Joachim Prinz, German-American Zionist leader, author and Rabbi of Berlin (1926-37), born in Bierdzany, Prussia (d. 1988)
- May 11 Kaarlo Sarkia, Finnish poet (Unen Kaivo), born in Kiikka, Grand Duchy of Finland (d. 1945)
- May 12 Heinrich Kirchner, German sculptor (d. 1984)
- May 15 Anny Ondra, Czech actress (Blackmail, Manxman), born in Tarnów, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (d. 1987)
- May 15 Richard J Daley, American politician (38th Mayor-Chicago-D:1955-76), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1976)
- May 16 Jan Kiepura, Polish vocalist and actor (Her Wonderful Lie; Give Us This Night), born in Sosnowiec, Poland (d. 1966)
- May 17 John Vincent, American composer, born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1977)
- May 17 Maurice Kusell, American film choreographer (Puttin' On the Ritz), born in Champaign, Illinois (d. 1992)
- May 18 Meredith Willson, American composer for stage (The Music Man), and screen (The Great Dictator; Little Foxes), born in Mason City, Iowa (d. 1984)
- May 20 Hans Sahl, German American anti-Nazi Jewish writer, born in Dresden, Germany (d. 1993)
- May 21 Earl Averill, American Baseball HOF outfielder (6 × MLB All-Star 1933–1938; Cleveland Indians), born in Snohomish, Washington (d. 1983)
- May 21 Marcel Breuer, Hungarian-American modernist architect and furniture designer (Wassily Chair), born in Pécs, Hungary (d. 1981) [1]
- May 22 Al Simmons, American Baseball HOF outfielder (career BA .334; 3 × MLB All-Star; World Series 1929, 30; AL batting champion 1930, 31; Philadelphia A's), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (d. 1956)
- May 23 Mark Lothar, German composer (The Story of the Lazy Bear), born in Berlin, Germany (d. 1985)
- May 25 Helvi Leiviskä, Finnish composer, born in Helsinki, Finland (d. 1982)
- May 27 Celius Dougherty, American pianist and composer, born in Glenwood, Minnesota (d. 1986)
- May 30 Seton Lloyd, English Archaeologist (Arzawa civilization, Turkey), born in Birmingham, England (d. 1996)
- May 30 Stepin Fetchit [Lincoln Perry], American actor (Miracle in Harlem) 1st African American film star, born in Key West, Florida (d. 1985)
- May 31 Billy Mayerl, British pianist, music hall songwriter, theatre composer (Marigold), music publisher, and teacher (School of Syncopation), born in London (d. 1959)
- May 31 Henk Schaer [Hendricus Schaareman], Dutch actor (Majoor Barbara; Lijmen), born in Delft, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands (d. 1982)
- May 31 Joe Kelly, American radio and television host (Quiz Kids, 1940-53), born in Crawfordsville, Indiana (d. 1959)
- May 31 Ralph Wood, British composer, born in London, England (d. 1957)
Famous Deaths
- May 1 John Glover, English chemist (sulfuric acid), dies at 85
- May 3 David Capriles, Curacaos director of psychiatry, dies at 64
- May 5 Bret Harte, American author (Outcasts of Poker Flat), dies at 65
- May 26 Almon Brown Strowger, American undertaker and inventor (automatic telephone-dialing system), dies at 62 [1]
- May 27 Jan Ferguut [Jan van Droogenbroeck], Belgian poet, dies at 67
- May 28 Adolf Kussmaul, German physician (stomach pump, Kuszmaul disease), dies at 80
