About the day » Saturday October 17, 1908Calender converter

• Adriana Rouda Rakkâe († 1956)
• (stillborn daughter) POST, Rotterdam (Z.-H.), Neth († 1908)
• Alida Maria Johanna Koster, Ankeveen
• Anna Cornelia Jeanetta Maria Rampart, Halsteren, Noord-Brabant, Nederland († 1971)
• Angenita Wilhelmina van As († 1986)
• Albertus Anthonie Rozenbeek, Velsen
• Adriaan van den Elshout, Alphen (aan den Rijn), Zuid Holland, Nederland
• Alida Hendrika van Driel, Rotterdam
• Adriana Rouda Rakké, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Nederland († 1965)
• Alida Hendrika van Driel, Rotterdam

• Adriaan van der Eijk (14), Rotterdam
• Adriana Meertens (72), Axel, Terneuzen, Zeeland, Netherland
• Andries Bernardus Cornelis Dannenburg (82), Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Nederland
• (stillborn daughter) POST (0), Rotterdam (Z.-H.), Neth
• Aaltjen Leunk (59), Diepenheim, Overijssel, Netherlands
• Aaltjen Leunk (59), Diepenheim
• Aaltje Groenhout (73), Bolsward
• Catharina van Beveren (85), Zierikzee
• Camille Karel Valentin Vrijheer Laminet van Arztheim (67), Wenen
• Carolus Vandenbussche (72), Poelkapelle

• 1906 » Paul Derringer, American baseball player († 1987)
• 1907 » John Marley, American actor († 1984)
• 1908 » Hjördis Petterson, Swedish actress († 1988)
• 1908 » Kenji Miyamoto, Japanese politician († 2007)
• 1908 » Red Rolfe, American baseball player, coach, and manager († 1969)
• 1908 » Wally Prigg, Australian rugby league player († 1980)
• 1909 » Cozy Cole, American drummer († 1981)
• 1909 » Joaquín Satrústegui, Spanish lawyer and politician († 1992)
• 1909 » Leopoldo Panero, Spanish poet († 1962)
• 1910 » Ester Wier, American author († 2000)

• 1868 » Laura Secord, Canadian war heroine (b. 1775)
• 1887 » Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist and chemist (b. 1824)
• 1889 » Nikolay Chernyshevsky, Russian philosopher and critic (b. 1828)
• 1893 » Patrice de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta, French general and politician, 3rd President of France (b. 1808)
• 1910 » Julia Ward Howe, American poet and songwriter (b. 1819)
• 1918 » Malak Hifni Nasif, Egyptian poet and author (b. 1886)
• 1928 » Frank Dicksee, English painter and illustrator (b. 1853)
• 1931 » Alfons Maria Jakob, German neurologist and academic (b. 1884)
• 1937 » J. Bruce Ismay, English businessman (b. 1862)
• 1938 » Karl Kautsky, Czech-German journalist, philosopher, and theoretician (b. 1854)

• Koningin Wilhelmina (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1890 till 1948 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from August 17, 1905 to February 11, 1908 the cabinet De Meester, with Mr. Th. de Meester (unie-liberaal) as prime minister.
• In The Netherlands , there was from February 12, 1908 to August 29, 1913 the cabinet Heemskerk, with Mr. Th. Heemskerk (AR) as prime minister.
• The Netherlands had about 5.7 million citizens.
• January 21 » New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.
• January 28 » Members of the Portuguese Republican Party fail in their attempted coup d'état against the administrative dictatorship of Prime Minister João Franco.
• January 30 » Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is released from prison by Jan C. Smuts after being tried and sentenced to two months in jail earlier in the month.
• April 8 » H. H. Asquith of the Liberal Party takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, succeeding Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.
• April 11 » SMSBlücher, the last armored cruiser to be built by the Imperial German Navy, is launched.
• December 28 » The 7.1 M_w  Messina earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 75,000 and 200,000.

The temperature on October 17, 1908 was between 6.2 °C and 10.3 °C and averaged 8.7 °C. There was 0.1 mm of rain. The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the east-southeast.