April 5, 1905: Body of John Paul Jones located in Paris almost 113 years after his deathApril 12, 1905: The Hippodrome, world's largest theater, opens in New York City with 5,000 seats
The government ofChile, having recently enlarged its territory by the settlement of its boundary dispute withBolivia, announced that it wanted to acquire sovereignty over two provinces in Peru, Tacna and Arica.[2]
U.S. PresidentTheodore Roosevelt appointed Charles E. Magoon as the new Governor of the Canal Zone as he replaced all seven members of the Panama Canal Commission.[2]
Alphonse Favier, 67, French Roman Catholic priest and missionary to the Chinese Empire who protected thousands of Chinese Christians during theBoxer Rebellion
Constantin Meunier, 73, Belgian sculptor and modern artist known for his artwork featuring the workingman, includingMonument to Labor
The body ofJohn Paul Jones, the Revolutionary War hero who was known as "The Father of the American Navy", was located inParis almost 113 years after his death after a six-year search by U.S. Ambassador to FranceHorace Porter.[5] On April 20, the casket was located on April 5, and taken to the American Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris "where his coffin rested beneath a draped American flag to await its return to a grateful nation." and the remains were returned to the United States, where they now rest at the U.S. Naval Academy inAnnapolis, Maryland.
Electric streetcar transportation was introduced to thePhilippines as theTranvia system replaced horse-drawn trolleys inManila.
A violent strike by the Teamsters' Union began inChicago as the 10,000 members of the localUnited Brotherhood of Teamsters walked off the job to join 5,000 members of the 26 locals of the National Tailors' Association. After the Teamsters entered, rioting began on April 7 and would continue through August 1. Before the strike was settled, 21 people had been killed and 416 injured in what was the most deadly labor dispute in 20th century up to that time; it remains second only to theEast St. Louis Riot of 1917.[6]
TheSwedish Civil Administration's Employees' Union (Civilförvaltningens Personalförbund), the first labor union for government employees and civil servants inSweden, was founded under the name "State Caretakers' Association" (Statens vaktmästares förening), with 242 members. By 1969, it would have over 9,000; in 1970, theSwedish National Union of State Employees (Statsanställdas förbund) would be created and absorb the private union.[7]
The last legal executions in China by the practice ofLingchi, a method of slow torture called "death by a thousand cuts" because of the gradual severing of parts of the body, were carried out inBeijing on a condemned Mongol prisoner. "Fou-tchou-li", later referred to as Fuzhuli had been convicted of the murder of his master. Photographs were taken by French soldiers at the scene, leading to pressure on the Chinese government to abolish the penalty entirely.[8]
TheNew York Hippodrome, at the time the world's largest theater with 5,300 seats, had its grand opening with an extravagant show calledA Yankee Circus on Mars, followed by the dramaAndersonville.[9] The theater would be closed on August 16, 1939, to be demolished in order for the real estate to be sold for more than the building was worth.
TheDiatto-Clément automobile company was founded inItaly as part of a partnership between the railway car manufacturerDiatto and the French carmakerClément-Bayard.
Albert Libertad first published the journalL'Anarchie to promote the cause of individualanarchism inFrance.[10] The journal lasted until the outbreak of World War One in August 1914, with the final isue published on July 22, 1914.
Died:H. T. Craven, 87, English actor and playwright
TheFA Cup was won byAston Villa overNewcastle United, 2 to 0, before a crowd of 101,117 people at the Crystal Palace stadium in South London.
TheNorddeutscher Fußball-Verband (NFV), one of the earliest national soccer football leagues in Germany, was formed by the agreement of six regional associations (based in Hamburg, Bremen, Kiel, Hannover, Braunschweig and Mecklenburg) from eight different German kingdoms, principalities and duchies.
TheBattle of Čelopek was fought in theOttoman Empire (in what is now theRepublic of North Macedonia) as a force of 130 Serbian Chetnik fighters killed an entire column of 200 Ottoman Army soldiers and officers, while losing only four of its own men.
TheUnited Kingdom and theRepublic of Nicaragua signed the Harrison-Altamirano Treaty, recognizing absolute Nicaraguan sovereignty over the Mosquito Coast. The new treaty annulled the 1860Zeldon-Wyke Treaty that had preserved British authority on the Mosquito Indians reservation.
The largest ocean liner in the world at the time, the German cruiserSSAmerika was launched fromIreland'sHarland and Wolff shipyard inBelfast for theHamburg America Line.[12] It would go into service on October 11. After World War One, it was taken acquired by the United States Navy, which would rechristen it as USSAmerica.
The deputies of the Assembly of the island ofCrete voted to unite withGreece, and swore their allegiance to the Hellenic constitution. The government of Greece announced that it would not recognize the Cretan proclamation.[13]
Died:Orville H. Platt, 82, U.S. Senator for Connecticut since 1879, known for thePlatt Amendment providing terms for U.S. military withdrawal from, and eventual independence for,Cuba.
Théophile Delcassé withdrew his resignation as Foreign Minister of France, the day after giving it, after a personal request by PresidentÉmile Loubet.[13]
German GeneralLothar von Trotha commander of troops in Germany's colony ofSüdwestafrika (nowNamibia), ordered the extermination of theNama people within the colony's borders, ultimately killing 10,000 of the Africans.[14] Von Trotha's proclamationAan de oorlogvorende Namastamme, proclaimed that "The Nama who chooses not to surrender and lets himself be seen in German territory will be shot, until all are exterminated."[15] The Nama extermination followed an order by von Trotha on October 2, 1904, to kill theOvaherero people in the colony.[16]
China's Empress RegentCixi (Tzu Hsi) abolished further use in executions of the nation's three most cruel torture execution methods,lingchi ("death by a thousand cuts"),gibbeting (similar tocrucifixion, hanging until dying of exposure, thirst or starvation), and desecration of a dying person.[17]
The government of the United States announced that it was abandoning its negotiations with the Chinese Empire for a treaty regarding Chinese immigration to the U.S.[13]
General Alexander Alexandrovich Kozloff was appointed as the newGovernor-General of Moscow, replacing the recently assassinated Grand Duke Sergius.[13]
Herbert W. Bowen, the U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela, was removed from office the Department of State and directed to return to the U.S. to explain charges made against him by the Assistant U.S. Secretary of StateFrancis B. Loomis (who had been Bowen's predecessor as Ambassador). The State Department replaced with William W. Russell, the U.S. Ambassador to neighboring Colombia.[13]
The Imperial Russian Navy's submarine fleet, which had been on patrol since February 14, had its first combat in theRusso-Japanese War. An Imperial Japanese Navytorpedo boat fired upon the Russian submarineSom, but was unable to score a hit.[19]
^Chris Dickon,The Foreign Burial of American War Dead: A History (McFarland, 2011) p. 38
^Robert Fitch,Solidarity for Sale: How Corruption Destroyed the Labor Movement and Undermined America's Promise (Perseus Books, 2006)
^Anders Kjellberg,The Membership Development of Swedish Trade Unions and Union Confederations Since the End of the Nineteenth Century (Lund University Press, 2017) pp. 88–97
^James E. Wise, Jr. and Scott Baron, "Appendix A. Early Ships Named USSAmerica", inAt the Helm of USS America: The Aircraft Carrier and Its 23 Commanders, 1965-1996 p. 229
^abcdefThe American Monthly Review of Reviews (June 1905) pp. 665–668
^"Hendrik Witbooi and Samuel Maharero", by Werner Hillebrecht, inRe-Viewing Resistance in Namibian History, ed. by Jeremy Silvester (University of Namibia Press, 2015) p. 51
^"Traditionalising Chinese Law", by Li Chen, inChinese Legal Reform and the Global Legal Order: Adoption and Adaptation, ed. by Yun Zhao and Michael Ng (Cambridge University Press, 2018) p. 198
^"The Montgomery Aeroplane", . Scientific American (May 1905) p. 404
^Piotr Olender,The Russo-Japanese Naval War 1904–1905, Volume 2: Battle of Tsushima" (Straus Publishing, 2010) p. 175
