The French ship Chanaral wrecked on the coast of Brittany, France, killing 21 people.[1]
A Papal decree of 3 February 1902 by Pope Leo XIII stipulated that henceforth castrati would no longer be accepted into the Sistine Chapel Choir. The current castrati would be permitted to remain until they died, retired, or were pensioned off.[3]
Seven members of the St. Louis Fire Department in Missouri died in the collapse of the American Tent and Awning Company building, the greatest loss of life in the department's history. When the fire at the building was almost under control, the third floor collapsed under two of the firemen. The other five firemen entered the building to rescue their colleagues, but the building collapsed on top of them. Killed were Assistant Chief August Thierry, Capt. Daniel Steele, Lt. Frank McBride, Lt. Michael Kehoe, Charles Krenning, Charles Westenhoff and William Dundon.[5]
Born:
Charles Lindbergh, American aviator who became famous in 1927 by making the first trans-Atlantic airplane flight; in Detroit (d. 1974)
The French Chamber of Deputies approved a resolution to reduce the workload for coal miners to nine hours per day, approving it 338 to 219.[1] Under the legislation, the workday would be 8 1/2 hours by 1904 and eight hours in 1906.[1]
Belgium received its only concession of land from China as it was granted 120 acres (49 ha) of land in the city of Tianjin. Belgian consul Henri Ketels and Chinese foreign ministry official Zhang Lianfen signed the agreement for a parcel of land on the east side of the Hai River, adjacent to the Russian concession. Belgium would return the concession to Chinese control in 1929 in return for repayment of a Belgian loan.
The U.S. territorial government in the Philippines established the Bureau of Customs, a Philippine-operated agency that would serve as a counterpart to the American Customs Service.
A new high speed railroad train was tested by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Averaging 67.5 miles per hour (108.6 km/h) the train covered the 90.2 miles (145.2 km) distance between New York City and Philadelphia in only one hour and 24 minutes.[1]
Fire leveled 26 city blocks of Paterson, New Jersey, after spreading from trolley car sheds, and destroyed 459 buildings, including churches, homes, offices, and the City Hall.[6]
The United Kingdom announced the signing of a treaty of alliance with Japan, subject to approval of the parliaments of both empires, in order to preserve the integrity of China and Korea.[1]
Police and universal suffrage demonstrators fought in Brussels.
Brazilian airship aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont escaped disaster as his prize-winning Airship No. 6 experienced extreme heading of the hydrogen balloon while he was over the Mediterranean Sea. The ship, already directed nose-up during its ascension, tilted further upward. Wires supporting the gondola broke and tangled in the propeller. Faced with the prospect of an explosion or a loss of control, Santos-Dumont was able to reach the controls to shut off the motor and to vent the hydrogen enough to make a safe landing in the sea, where he was rescued. The airship was salvaged, and although it would be repaired and put on display in London's Crystal Palace Park, it would never fly again.
William H. West, 45, white American entertainer who managed a minstrel show using African American performers rather than white performers in blackface, died of cancer (b. 1853)
In elections in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the new Citizens' Party defeated several incumbent city councilmen and the city's comptroller.[9]
Richard Maurice Bucke, 64, Canadian psychiatrist, known for his 1901 book Cosmic Consciousness and his theory that human beings could obtain a higher form of consciousness. Bucke suffered a fatal head injury after slipping and falling on a patch of ice at his home. (b. 1837)
The two U.S. Senators from South Carolina, Benjamin Tillman and John L. McLaurin, got into a fistfight during a heated debate while the Senate was in session. According to The New York Times, "Mr. Tillman charged his colleague with succumbing to improper influences" when the peace treaty with Spain (to end the Spanish–American War) was before the Senate... Mr. McLaurin called Mr. Tillman a liar. Then came a blow from Mr. Tillman, a counter-blow from Mr. McLaurin, a clinch, and a series of wild punches."[17]
American Protestant missionary Ellen M. Stone and her fellow missionary, Katerina Stefanova Tsilka, were released by Bulgarian rebels in the Ottoman Empire, more than five months after they had been kidnapped on September 3, 1901.[19] Miss Tsilka, who was pregnant at the time the two women were taken captive near Bansko, Bulgaria, gave birth to a daughter while being held for ransom. The three arrived in Strumica at 3 a.m.; Miss Stone then proceeded to Salonika.
There was a festival on 26 February 1902 attended by emperor Thành Thái and the governor general Paul Doumer as an early activity of the Hanoi Exhibition which would open on November 15, 1902.
Australian officers Harry "Breaker" Morant and Peter Handcock, both British subjects, were executed by a British Army firing squad following their court-martial and conviction for war crimes. The charges arose from the pair's revenge killings against Boer prisoners of war and civilians in Northern Transvaal, during the Second Boer War. The sentence was carried out at the Pretoria prison by the King's Own Cameron Highlanders. [23] Morant would be celebrated later as a folk hero, including in a 1978 stage play and an award-winning 1980 film.
Bank Leumi, now the largest bank in Israel by total assets, was founded in Jaffa, Independent Sanjak of Jerusalem, Ottoman Empire as the Anglo Palestine Company.
Born:
Lúcio Costa, Brazilian architect and urban planner, best known for his plan for Brasília; to Brazilian parents in Toulon, France (d. 1998)
^Absaliamova, I. V. (1997). Stletniaya Istoria Chempionatov Mira po Figurnomu Kataniu na Konkach (Odinochnoe Katanie) (in Russian). Moscow: FON. p. 122. ISBN5-89022-046-2.
^Brian Hardy: The Berlin U-Bahn, Capital Transport, 1996, ISBN1-85414-184-8
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