February 21 » An Englishman raised in Australia, Bob Fitzsimmons, fought an Irishman, Peter Maher, in an American promoted event which technically took place in Mexico, winning the 1896 World Heavyweight Championship in boxing.
March 2 » The Battle of Adwa: The Italian Army defeated by the Ethiopian Army in Adwa, Tigray, Ethiopia.
May 26 » Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
November 17 » The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League, which later became the first ice hockey league to openly trade and hire players, began play at Pittsburgh's Schenley Park Casino.
December 10 » Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi premieres in Paris. A riot breaks out at the end of the performance.
December 30 » Filipino patriot and reform advocate José Rizal is executed by a Spanish firing squad in Manila.
Day of death February 17, 1953
The temperature on February 17, 1953 was between -2.8 °C and 5.1 °C and averaged 1.9 °C. There was 1.3 mm of rain during 6.4 hours. The almost completely overcast was. The average windspeed was 4 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the southwest. Source: KNMI
April 27 » Operation Moolah offers $50,000 to any pilot who defected with a fully mission-capable Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 to South Korea. The first pilot was to receive $100,000.
May 18 » Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.
June 17 » Cold War: East Germany Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion.
September 13 » Nikita Khrushchev is appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
November 17 » The remaining human inhabitants of the Blasket Islands, Kerry, Ireland, are evacuated to the mainland.
November 23 » Pilot Felix Moncla and Lieutenant Robert Wilson disappear while in pursuit of a mysterious craft over Lake Superior.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hendrik Dreyer, "Dreyer Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/dreyer-tree/I5947.php : accessed January 17, 2026), "Andries Rufus Dreyer (1896-1953)".
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