January 1 Dr. John H Watson is introduced to Sherlock Holmes January 2 Camille Saint-Saens' 3rd Concerto in B, premieres January 4 Johannes Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture" premieres, Breslau January 22 Ancient Egyptian obelisk "Cleopatra's Needle" erected in Central Park January 26 Union of Baptists Communities forms in Foxholl January 28 Battle at Laing's Neck Natal: Boers beat superior powered British February 1 U.S. Assay Office in St. Louis, Missouri authorized February 5 Phoenix Arizona incorporates February 7 Battle at Ingogo, Transvaal: Boers beat superior British forces February 10 Jacques Offenbach's opera "Les Contes d'Hoffman," premieres in Paris February 19 Kansas becomes 1st state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages February 24 De Lesseps' Co begins work on Panama Canal February 26 Natal: British troops under General-major Colley occupy Majuba Hill February 26 SS Ceylon begins 1st round-the-world cruise from Liverpool February 27 Battle at Amajuba, South Africa: Boers vs. British army under General Colley March 4 California becomes 1st state to pass plant quarantine legislation March 4 Holmes and Watson begin "A Study in Scarlet," 1st case together March 4 James A. Garfield inaugurated as 20th president March 4 South African president Kruger accepts ceasefire March 16 Barnum and Bailey Circus debuts March 18 Barnum and Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth opens (MSG) March 23 Boers and Britain sign peace accord; end 1st Boer war March 23 Gas lamp sets fire to Nice France opera house; 70 die March 28 Greatest Show On Earth was formed by PT Barnum and James A Bailey April 1 Anti-Jewish riots in Jerusalem April 1 Kingdom post office in Netherlands opens April 5 Transvaal regains independence under British suzerainty April 11 River ferry "Princess Victoria" sinks in Thames River Ont, 180 die April 11 Spelman College founded April 18 Natural History Museum of South Kensington England opens April 23 Gilbert and Sullivan's opera "Patience" produced in London April 25 250,000 Germans petition to bar foreign Jews from entering Germany April 25 French troops occupy Algeria and Tunisia April 27 Pogroms against Russian Jews start in Elisabethgrad May 5 Anit-Jewish rioting in Kiev Ukraine May 8 Henry Morton Stanley signs contract with Congolian monarch May 10 Lighthouse on Ameland begins operation May 11 Bedrich Smetana's opera "Libusa," premieres in Prague May 12 France sign treaty of protection with Tunisia colony May 12 Treaty of Bardo, Tunis becomes a French protectorate May 16 World's 1st elec tram goes into service in Lichterfelder (near Berlin) May 17 7th Kentucky Derby: Jim McLaughlin aboard Hindoo wins in 2:40 May 17 Frederick Douglass appointed recorder of deeds for Washington D.C. May 17 Revised version of New Testament May 21 American Red Cross founded by Clara Barton May 21 U.S. Nation Lawn Tennis Association forms May 24 Canadian ferry Princess Victoria sinks near London Ontario, 200 die May 27 9th Preakness: T Costello aboard Saunterer wins in 2:40 June 1 Bell Phone opens 1st Dutch telephone exchange June 2 Haarlem-Zandvoort Railway opens June 7 15th Belmont: T Costello aboard Saunterer wins in 2:47 June 14 Player piano patented by John McTammany, Jr. (Cambridge, Mass) June 16 Austria-Hungary and Serbia sign military treaty June 19 Muhammad Ahmad becomes Mahdi of Sudan June 24 200 drown as train runs off bridge near Cuautla Mexico June 29 Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Diuturnum illud June 30 Henry Highland Garnet, named minister to Liberia July 1 1st international telephone conversation, Calais, ME-St. Stephen, NB July 1 U.S. Assay Office in St. Louis, Missouri opens July 2 President Garfield shot by Charles J Guiteau a disappointed office-seeker July 4 Booker T. Washington establishes Tuskegee Institute in Alabama July 20 Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull, surrenders to federal troops July 26 French marines occupy Tunisian harbor city Sfax August 1 U.S. Quarantine Station authorized for Angel Island, San Francisco Bay August 3 Boers signs Convention of Pretoria: Transvaal semi-autonomous August 3 U.S. Nation Lawn Tennis Association removes "Nation" from name August 4 122 degrees F (50 degrees C), Seville, Spain (European record) August 13 Henry Morton Stanley signs contract with Congolese monarch August 27 Hurricane hits Florida and Carolinas; about 700 die August 31 1st U.S. men's single tennis championships (Newport, RI) September 3 1st U.S. Mens Tennis: Richard D Sears beats William E Glyn (60 63 62) September 3 Anton Bruckner completes his 6th Symphony September 9 Egyptian military coup under colonel Arab "El Wahid" September 11 Triple landslides bury Elm, Switzerland September 13 Lewis Latimer invents and patents electric lamp with a carbon filament September 20 Chester A. Arthur sworn in as 21st president September 24 Henry Morton Stanley signs contract with Congo monarch September 27 Chicago Cubs beat Troy 10-8 before record small "crowd" of 12 October 4 Edward Leveaux patents automatic player piano October 11 David Houston patents roll film for cameras October 12 Henry M. Stanley signs contract with Congo monarch October 13 Revival of Hebrew language as Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and friends agree to use Hebrew exclusively in their conversations October 15 1st American fishing magazine, American Angler published October 22 Boston Symphony Orchestra gives its 1st concert October 24 Levi P. Morton, U.S. ambas to France drives 1st rivet in Stat of Liberty October 25 Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and Clanton engage in "Shootout at OK Corral" October 26 Gunfight at OK Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona October 31 Metropolitan club plays its last game of its non-league season They win 80 of 151 games (18-43 versus NL teams) November 2 Dutch New-Malthusiaanse Union forms November 5 French government-Ferry resigns November 14 Charles J. Guiteau went on trial for President Garfield's assassination November 14 Leon Gambetta forms French government November 15 American Federation of Labor (AFL) founded (Pittsburgh) December 3 Henry M Stanley finds Leopoldville/Kinshasa December 5 47th Congress (1881-83) convenes December 8 Vienna's Ring Theater destroyed by fire, kills between 640-850 December 19 Opera "Herodiade" is produced (Brussels)
