June 15 » The deadliest tsunami in Japan's history kills more than 22,000 people.
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.
December 17 » Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Schenley Park Casino, which was the first multi-purpose arena with the technology to create an artificial ice surface in North America, is destroyed in a fire.
December 30 » Canadian ice hockey player Ernie McLea scores the first hat-trick in Stanley Cup play, and the Cup-winning goal as the Montreal Victorias defeat the Winnipeg Victorias 6–5.
Day of death December 8, 1896
The temperature on December 8, 1896 was about 4.5 °C. The airpressure was 75 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 95%. Source: KNMI
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 18 » The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine is constitutional.
June 4 » Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and gives it a successful test run.
July 9 » William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetallism at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
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 14 » The Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: A.R. Servaes, "Family tree Servaes, Maastricht/Venlo/Straelen/Neuss/Düsseldorf", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-servaes/I4432.php : accessed January 23, 2026), "Maria Catharina Claehsen (1896-1896)".
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