1894

1894

Royal Greenwich Observatory almost destroyed by French anarchist with a bomb.

Big year for France: Dahomey colonized. Unrelatedly, Sadi Carnot, president of France, is assassinated by an Italian anarchist. South France battered by meteor shower.

Alfred Dreyfus arrested for spying. The Dreyfus Affair begins.

Grace Kimmins establishes the hilariously named Guild of the Poor Brave Things, for disabled boys.

born: Dashiell Hammett, Nikita Khrushchev, Jack Benny, Normal Rockwell, Bessie Smith, Céline, Joseph Roth, e e cummings.

died: Robert Louis Stevenson, Adolphe Sax (inventor of the saxophone).

Claude Debussy - Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune