February 12 – The automobile belonging to Henry Lindfield ofBrighton rolls out of control down a hill inPurley, London, England, and hits a tree; thus he becomes the world's first fatality from an automobile accident on apublic highway.[1]
April 5 –Annie Oakley promotes the service of women in combat situations, with the United States military. On this day, she writes a letter to President McKinley "offering the government the services of a company of 50 'lady sharpshooters' who would provide their own arms and ammunition should war break out with Spain."[4]
May 27 – The territory ofKwang-Chou-Wan is leased by China to France, according to the Treaty of 12 April 1892, as theTerritoire de Kouang-Tchéou-Wan, forming part ofFrench Indochina.[8]
May 28 –Secondo Pia takes the first photographs of theShroud of Turin and discovers that the image on the Shroud itself appears to be aphotographic negative.The original flag of the Philippines as conceived by GeneralEmilio Aguinaldo. The blue is of a lighter shade than the currently mandated royal blue, the sun has eight points as currently but many more rays and it has a mythical face.
June 28 – Effective date of theCurtis Act of 1898 which will lead to the dissolution of tribal and communal lands in Indian Territory and ultimately the creation of the State ofOklahoma in 1907.
July 4 – En route from New York toLe Havre, the ocean linerSS La Bourgogne collides with another ship and sinks off the coast ofSable Island with the loss of 549 lives.
August 13 –Spanish–American War:Battle of Manila – By prior agreement, the Spanish commander surrenders the city ofManila to the United States, in order to keep it out of the hands of Filipino rebels, ending hostilities in the Philippines.
September 2 –Battle of Omdurman (Mahdist War): British and Egyptian troops led byHoratio Kitchener defeat Sudanese tribesmen led by Khalifa Abdullah al-Taashi, thus establishing British dominance in theSudan. 11,000 Sudanese are killed and 1,600 wounded in the battle.[13]
The last Spanish soldiers inPuerto Rico, led by General Ortega, depart on ships to return to Spain.[15]
U.S. President William McKinley extends the deadline for all Spanish troops to leave Cuba. Set to expire on December 1, the last day to depart is extended to January 1, 1899.[15]
Chinese soldiers attack a party of British engineers at the Marco Polo Bridge on the Beijing to Hankou railway.[15]
A collision between two Japanese steamers at sea kills 60 Japanese sailors.[15]
The U.S. begins the release and repatriation of Spanish Navy sailors who had been taken as prisoners of war in the Philippines, and sends them back to Spain.[15]
October 27 – The Court of Cassation in Paris hears arguments from lawyers regarding a new trial in the Dreyfus case.[15] The Court grants the request on October 29.
France's Court of Cassation grants a rehearing on the Dreyfus case.[15]
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and his wife arrive atJerusalem in Ottoman-ruled Palestine and visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.[15]
October 30 – The Imperial Russian government announces that the leaders of the world's major nations have accepted the invitation of the Tsar to take part in a proposed conference on disarmament.[15]
TheLutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem, is dedicated after the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire presents the area, said to be the site of the Virgin Mary's home, to Germany's Roman Catholics.[15]
CountŌkuma Shigenobu, Japan's Prime Minister, announces his resignation along with that of his cabinet of ministers.[15]
November 3 – With increasing violence threatened by rebels in China, the Russian fleet atPort Arthur and the British warships at Wei-Hai-Wei are readied for battle.[15]
Elections are held in the U.S. for all 357 seats in the House of Representatives, as well as for the governors and state legislature of 25 of the 45 states. With 179 needed for a majority, the Republican Party maintains control with 187 seats, despite losing 19; the Democratic party gains 37 to reach 124 seats; the Populist party losses all but five of its 22 seats, and the other 4 seats are controlled by smaller parties. Among Governors elected areTheodore Roosevelt as Governor of the state of New York.[15]
TheWilmington insurrection of 1898 begins as a coup d'état by the white Democratic Party of the U.S. state of North Carolina against the Republican Mayor of Wilmington. On the first day, a building housing a negro newspaper is burned and eight African Americans are killed.[15]
November 17 – Fighting begins inPana, Illinois, between striking white coal miners and black miners hired to replace them.[15]
November 18 – The wreck of the shipAtalanta off the coast of the U.S. state of Oregon kills 28 of the 30 crew aboard.[15]
November 19 – In U.S. college football, Harvard University defeats Yale University, 17 to 0, to close the season unbeaten.[15]
November 21 – At the Paris conference to end the Spanish-American War, the U.S. commissioners offer $20,000,000 for purchase of the Philippines from Spain.[16]
November 24 – Italy sends an ultimatum to the Sultan of Morocco concerning treatment of Italian residents.[16]
President Alfaro of Ecuador suspends the government and assumes a dictatorship over the South American nation.[16]
The French government decrees a ban on imports of fruit and plants from the United States.[16]
December 2 – The French Chamber of Deputies declines to endorse the policies of Prime MinisterCharles Dupuy, with the vote failing 228 to 243.[16]
President Alfaro of Ecuador suspends the govnerment and assumes a dictatorship over the South American nation.[16]
December 3 – The Republic of Nicaragua issues a decree announcing its return to sovereignty as a separate nation after its union with El Salvador and Honduras collapses.[16]
President Zelaya of Nicaragua appoints a new cabinet free of ministers from El Salvador or Honduras.[16]
The wreck of the British steamer SSClan Drummond in theBay of Biscay kills 37 people on board.[16]
December 5 – A fire at a factory in the Russian city of Vilana (nowVilnius in Lithuania) kills 15 women and girls, most of whom die after jumping from the windows.[16]
December 6 – The Chancellor of Germany opens the new session of the Reichstag and asks for an increase in the budget for the German Army.[16]
December 9 – The first of the twoTsavo Man-Eaters is shot byJohn Henry Patterson; the second is killed 3 weeks later, after 135 railway construction workers have been killed by the lions.
December 21 – Prince George of Greece arrives inCrete as its High Commissioner, and is escorted by the flagships of four nations.[17]
December 25 – Penny postage goes into effect throughout the British Empire, setting the cost of mailing a letter to most British colonies at one pence. Rates remain the same for mail to Australia, New Zealand and the Cape Colony.[17]
Chief Justice Chambers of the Samoan Supreme Court rules that Malietoa Tanus is entitled to become King of Samoa, and holds that Mataafa is barred by the Treaty of Berlin.[17]
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