October 1902

[October 1], 1902 (Wednesday)

• Dakar replaces Saint-Louis, Senegal, as capital of French West Africa.
• Britain's Royal Navy establishes its Home Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Gerard Noel.

  [October 2], 1902 (Thursday)

• Beatrix Potter's illustrated children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit, is commercially published by Frederick Warne & Co.
• Born: Leopold Figl, future Chancellor of Austria, in Rust im Tullnerfeld

  [October 3], 1902 (Friday)

• US President Theodore Roosevelt convenes a conference of representatives of government, labor, and management, in a bid to end the long-running anthracite workers' strike.

  October 4, 1902 (Saturday)

[October 5], 1902 (Sunday)

• The funeral of French novelist Émile Zola, who died a week earlier in mysterious circumstances, takes place at the Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris. It is attended by thousands, including Alfred Dreyfus, whose innocence Zola had protested.
• Born:
• *Larry Fine, US actor and comedian, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• *Ray Kroc, American fast food entrepreneur, in Oak Park, Illinois

  [October 6], 1902 (Monday)

• An earthquake of magnitude 7.2 strikes the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan.

  October 7, 1902 (Tuesday)

• Born:
• *Manfred Flycht, Austro-Hungarian soldier in The Great War, later officer in the Waffen SS for Nazi Germany.

  October 8, 1902 (Wednesday)

[October 9], 1902 (Thursday)

• In Altona, Manitoba, Canada, Henry Toews, a teacher at the Mennonite School, shoots one or more colleagues and three children before wounding himself; he would survive another three months but died before a trial could be arranged. Only one of his victims, Anna Kehler, dies as a result of the shooting.
• The first season of the Primera Fuerza football competition begins in Mexico.

  [October 10], 1902 (Friday)

• The Japanese steamer Yoshina Maru is abandoned after catching fire in the Van Diemen Strait. The ship drifts ashore at Kagoshima, Japan.

  [October 11], 1902 (Saturday)

• The U.S. Open golf tournament is won by Scotland's Laurie Auchterlonie.

  October 12, 1902 (Sunday)

[October 13], 1902 (Monday)

• New Zealand scientist Ernest Rutherford, while working at McGill University, Canada, demonstrates the first wireless communication system between a railway station and a moving train using a Grand Trunk Railway passenger special operating between Toronto and Montreal.
• Born: Arna Bontemps, US writer, in Alexandria, Louisiana

  October 14, 1902 (Tuesday)

October 15, 1902 (Wednesday)

[October 16], 1902 (Thursday)

• The first Borstal opens in Borstal, Rochester, Kent, U.K.
• In Paris, the murder of a servant is discovered, leading to the arrest of the murderer, Henri-Léon Scheffer, through fingerprint identification,

  October 17, 1902 (Friday)

[October 18], 1902 (Saturday)

• Born:
• *Miriam Hopkins, US actress, in Savannah, Georgia
• *Pascual Jordan, German physicist, in Hanover

  October 19, 1902 (Sunday)

October 20, 1902 (Monday)

October 21, 1902 (Tuesday)

October 22, 1902 (Wednesday)

[October 23], 1902 (Thursday)

• Coal strike of 1902: The anthracite strike ends after 163 days, following an agreement on arbitration.

  [October 24], 1902 (Friday)

• A jury in Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA, returns a guilty verdict on Tom Horn at the end of his trial for murder.

  [October 25], 1902 (Saturday)

• Born: Eddie Lang, US jazz guitarist, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Died: Frank Norris, 32, US novelist, of peritonitis, following surgery on a burst appendix

  [October 26], 1902 (Sunday)

• Russian polar expedition of 1900–02: A group of Russian explorers led by Baron Eduard von Toll leave their camp on Bennett Island and disappear without a trace.
• At the end of the first season of competitive football in Brazil, São Paulo Athletic Club emerge victorious.
• Born: Jack Sharkey, US heavyweight boxing champion, in Binghamton, New York
• Died: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 86, US social activist

  October 27, 1902 (Monday)

October 28, 1902 (Tuesday)

October 29, 1902 (Wednesday)

October 30, 1902 (Thursday)

[October 31], 1902 (Friday)

• A partial solar eclipse occurs.
• Born: Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Brazilian poet, in Itabira