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.
May 26 » Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
July 9 » William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetallism at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
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 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.
Day of death July 4, 1909
The temperature on July 4, 1909 was between 9.4 °C and 15.8 °C and averaged 13.7 °C. There was 5.8 mm of rain. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the south-southwest. Source: KNMI
February 15 » The Flores Theater fire in Acapulco, Mexico kills 250.
February 22 » The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USSConnecticut, return to the United States after a voyage around the world.
March 10 » By signing the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, Thailand relinquishes its sovereignty over the Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu, which become British protectorates.
August 19 » The first automobile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
August 30 » Burgess Shale fossils are discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott.
December 10 » Selma Lagerlöf becomes the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Peter John Oswald, "Pop Oswald Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/pop-oswald-tree/P51977.php : accessed December 5, 2025), "William Sidney WIGSTON (± 1874-1909)".
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