Historical Events
- Oct 1 JB van Heutsz becomes governor general of Dutch East Indies
- Oct 1 Netherlands and Portugal lay down boundaries splitting the island of Timor in two
- Oct 2 German General Lothar von Trotha issues order to exterminate native Herero and Namaqua peoples of German South West Africa (present day Namibia); 1st genocide of the 20th Century, kills 65,000 Herero and 10,000 of the Namaqua tribe
- Oct 2 White Sox left-hander Doc White's streak of 45 consecutive MLB scoreless innings is snapped by the New York Highlanders in Chicago; White Sox win, 7-1 at South Side Park III
- Oct 3 France & Spain sign treaty for Morocco Independence
- Oct 3 Mary McLeod Bethune opens Daytona Normal & Industrial School
- Oct 3 New York Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson strikes out 16 Cardinals in a 3-1 Giants victory over St. Louis; new MLB record; finishes the game in 1 hour, 15 minutes
Chesbro's Season Record
Oct 7 NY Highlanders beat Boston Americans, 3-2 at Hilltop Park, NYC for pitcher Jack Chesbro's MLB record 41st win of the season (41-12)
- Oct 8 Vanderbilt Cup, first major trophy in American auto racing is conducted on public roads in Nassau County area of Long Island, NY; inaugural winner, American driver George Heath in a Panhard
- Oct 10 Boston pitchers achieve 148 complete games-an AL record, also record for total complete games AL 1,098, NL 1,089
- Oct 10 Liberty Theater opens at 234 W 42nd St NYC
- Oct 15 The Russians are driven back by the Japanese in the Battle of Shaho; both sides suffer high casualties: Japanese (16,000) and Russians (60,000)
- Oct 16 Russian Baltic fleet departs to Port Arthur
Bank of America Founded
Oct 17 Bank of Italy (Bank of America), founded by Amadeo Giannini, opens its doors in Jackson Square, San Francisco
Symphony No. 5
Oct 18 Gustav Mahler's 5th symphony premieres in Cologne, Germany
- Oct 19 Polytechnic University of the Philippines founded as Manila Business School through superintendence of American C.A. O'Reilley
- Oct 20 Bolivia and Chile sign a treaty ending the War of the Pacific; recognizing Chile's possession of the coast, providing for construction of a railway linking La Paz, Bolivia, to Arica on the coast
- Oct 22 Russian fleet shoots at British fishing ship
- Oct 27 First section of New York subway - Lower Manhattan to Broadway Harlem, opened by Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT), fare one nickel
- Oct 28 St Louis police try a new investigation method - fingerprints
- Oct 29 First intercity trucking service (Colorado City & Snyder, Texas)
Famous Birthdays
- Oct 1 A.K. Gopalan, Indian Communist leader and politician (Member of Indian parliament, 1952-71), born in Kannur, Madras Presidency, British India (d. 1977)
- Oct 1 Otto Robert Frisch, Austrian-British physicist who coined the term nuclear fission (Manhattan Project), and educator (Cambridge), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1979)
- Oct 2 Dermot Boyle, Marshal of the Royal Air Force, born in Rathdowney, County Laois, Ireland (d. 1993)
- Oct 2 Godfrey Baseley, British radio executive, born in Alverchurch, Worchestershire, England (d. 1997)
Graham Greene (1904-1991)
Oct 2 English novelist (Brighton Rock, Our man in Havana, The Power and the Glory) and journalist, born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire
- Oct 2 Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indian politician and Prime Minister of India (1964-66), born in Mughalsarai, British India (d. 1966)
- Oct 3 Charles J. Pedersen, American organic biochemist (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1987), born in Busan, Korean Empire (d. 1989)
- Oct 4 Jimmy Ritz [Samuel Joachim], American vaudevillian, actor and comedian (Ritz Brothers - The Gorilla;, Hi'ya, Chum; Straight, Place and Show), born in Newark, New Jersey (d. 1985)
- Oct 4 Rene Cloke, British illustrator, born in Plymouth, England (d. 1995)
- Oct 5 George Chesterman Phillips, British naval officer and WWII submarine commander, born in the Bridgewater, Englandm (d. 1995)
- Oct 6 Horst Lange, German writer (The Long Lament), born in Liegnitz, Silesia (d. 1971)
Chuck Klein (1904-1958)
Oct 7 American Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder (Triple Crown 1933; MLB All-Star 1933, 34; NL MVP 1932; Philadelphia Phillies), born in Indianapolis, Indiana
- Oct 9 Carl Parrish, American composer, born in Plymouth, Pennsylvania (d. 1965)
- Oct 9 Johannes Karel Marie Ditto, Dutch dominican and broadcast chairman (KRO, 1938-45), born in Velsen, Netherlands (d. 1977)
- Oct 9 Wally Brown, American actor (Zombies on Broadway, Girl Rush), born in Malden, Massachusetts (d. 1961)
- Oct 12 Ding Ling, Chinese writer (The Sun Shines over the Sanggan River), born in Linli, Hunan, China (d. 1986)
- Oct 12 Lester Dent, American writer (Doc Savage), born in La Plata, Missouri (d. 1959)
- Oct 13 Jutta Hecker, German writer, born in Weimar (d. 2002)
- Oct 13 Wilfred Pickles, British actor (Billy Liar, Gay Dog), born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England (d. 1978)
- Oct 15 Julian Hodge, British financier and multi-millionaire (Hodge Group), born in Camberwell, London (d. 2004)
- Oct 16 Reginald Dixon, British theatre organist, born in Sheffield, Britain, (d. 1985)
- Oct 18 A. J. Liebling, American journalist (d. 1963)
- Oct 20 Anna Neagle, English actress (London Melody, Nurse Edith Cavell), born in London, England (d. 1986)
- Oct 20 Marian Nixon [Marja Nissinen], American silent and sound film actress (Hands Up!; Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms; Winner Takes All), born in Superior, Wisconsin (d. 1983)
Tommy Douglas (1904-1986)
Oct 20 Canadian politician (Father of Medicare), born in Falkirk, Scotland
- Oct 21 Edmond Hamilton, American sci-fi author ("City at World's End"; "The Star Kings"), born in Youngstown, Ohio (d. 1977)
- Oct 21 Patrick Kavanagh, Irish poet (d. 1967)
- Oct 22 Constance Bennett, American actress (Easiest Way, Ladies in Love), born in New York City (d. 1965)
- Oct 22 Paul Arma, Hungarian-French composer, born in Budapest (d. 1987)
- Oct 23 Harvey Penick, American golfer, coach, author (World Golf Hall of Fame), born in Austin, Texas (d. 1995)
Moss Hart (1904-1961)
Oct 24 American playwright (You Can't Take it With You, Act 1), born in The Bronx, New York
Denny Shute (1904-1974)
Oct 25 American golfer (British Open 1933, PGA C'ship 1936-37), born in Cleveland, Ohio
- Oct 27 Ernő Schwarz, Hungarian-American soccer forward (2 caps Hungary; Ferencváros, NY Giants, NY Americans) and coach (United States [men] 1953-56), born in Budapest, Hungary (d. 1974)
- Oct 28 Louis de Meester, Belgian pianist and classical and electronic music composer (The Great Temptation of St Anthony), born in Roeselare, Flanders, Belgium (d. 1987)
- Oct 30 Alfred Gradstein, Polish composer, born in Częstochowa, Russian Poland (now Poland) (d. 1954)
- Oct 30 Paul D. Stoop, American vice-admiral (WW II-Coral Sea), born in Zanesville, Ohio (d. 1995)
Famous Deaths
Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904)
Oct 4 French sculptor (designed the Statue of Liberty), dies of tuberculosis at 70
- Oct 4 Karl Bayer, Austrian chemist (b. 1847)
- Oct 8 Gustav Ratzenhofer, Austrian sociologist and general, dies at 62
- Oct 12 Charles Dowd, American principal who was the 1st to propose standardized time zones (for America's railways), struck and killed by a train at 79
- Oct 13 Pavlos Melas, Greek officer who organized and participated in the Greek Struggle for Macedonia (b. 1870)
- Oct 17 Nikolai Amani, Russian composer, dies at 32
- Oct 20 Henry Hiles, English organist and composer, dies at 77
- Oct 21 Isabelle Eberhardt, Swiss explorer and writer of North Africa, dies in a flash flood at 27
- Oct 25 Teresa Milanollo, Italian composer, dies at 77
