January 4 » Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. The Edison film company records the film Electrocuting an Elephant of Topsy's death.
March 2 » In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women.
July 23 » The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.
August 18 » German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.
October 31 » The Purdue Wreck, a railroad train collision in Indianapolis, kills 17 people, including 14 players of the Purdue University football team.
December 16 » Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel in Bombay first opens its doors to guests.
Day of death August 31, 1904
The temperature on August 31, 1904 was between 11.3 °C and 21.7 °C and averaged 16.2 °C. There was 0.2 hours of sunshine (1%). The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the south. Source: KNMI
February 7 » A fire begins in Baltimore, Maryland; it destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
February 9 » Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Port Arthur concludes.
February 17 » Madama Butterfly receives its première at La Scala in Milan.
April 8 » Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
June 28 » The SSNorge runs aground on Hasselwood Rock in the North Atlantic 430 kilometres (270mi) northwest of Ireland. More than 635 people die during the sinking.
October 20 » Chile and Bolivia sign the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, delimiting the border between the two countries.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Peeters Mathieu, "FutureHistory", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-riske/I22930.php : accessed September 28, 2026), "Benedicus Bijl (1903-1904)".
Copy warning
Genealogical publications are copyright protected. Although data is often retrieved from public archives, the searching, interpreting, collecting, selecting and sorting of the data results in a unique product. Copyright protected work may not simply be copied or republished.
Please stick to the following rules
Request permission to copy data or at least inform the author, chances are that the author gives permission, often the contact also leads to more exchange of data.
Do not use this data until you have checked it, preferably at the source (the archives).
State from whom you have copied the data and ideally also his/her original source.