January 28 » Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding. He was fined one shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8mph (13km/h), thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2mph (3.2km/h).
June 28 » An explosion in the Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston, Pennsylvania results in a massive cave-in that kills 58 miners.
August 16 » Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
November 27 » Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss is first performed.
December 10 » Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi premieres in Paris. A riot breaks out at the end of the performance.
December 14 » The Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company.
Day of death April 17, 1940
The temperature on April 17, 1940 was between 0.9 °C and 11.7 °C and averaged 6.9 °C. There was 0.6 mm of rain during 0.8 hours. There was 8.3 hours of sunshine (59%). The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the south-southwest. Source: KNMI
In The Netherlands , there was from August 10, 1939 to September 3, 1940 the cabinet De Geer II, with Jonkheer mr. D.J. de Geer (CHU) as prime minister.
In The Netherlands , there was from September 3, 1940 to July 27, 1941 the cabinet Gerbrandy I, with Prof. dr. P.S. Gerbrandy (ARP) as prime minister.
February 7 » The second full-length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.
April 9 » Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.
May 20 » The Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
May 26 » World War II: Operation Dynamo: In northern France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.
June 10 » World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions in his "Stab in the Back" speech at the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia.
August 20 » In Mexico City, exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He dies the next day.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Charles Olson, "Olson's Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/olsons-tree/P977.php : accessed December 6, 2025), "Georgianna Alden (1896-1940)".
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