Historical Events
Electric Pen
Aug 8 Thomas Edison is granted the patent for Autographic Printing (US Patent 180,857)
Ring Cycle Opens Bayreuth
Aug 13 The Bayreuth Festspielhaus opens with the first complete performance of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle
- Aug 14 Prairie View State University forms
- Aug 15 US law removes Indians from Black Hills after gold find
- Aug 16 Richard Wagner's opera "Siegfried" premieres at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring cycle
- Aug 17 Richard Wagner's opera "Götterdämmerung" premieres in Bayreuth
- Aug 24 Riot abolishes fairs in Amsterdam, 2 killed
- Aug 31 Ottoman sultan Murat V is deposed and succeeded by his brother Abd-ul-Hamid II
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 5 Mary Ritter Beard, American historian (Woman as a Force in History), born in Indianapolis, Indiana (d. 1958)
Mata Hari (1876-1917)
Aug 7 Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan and convicted German WWI spy, born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands
- Aug 12 Mary Roberts Rinehart, American mystery writer (The Circular Staircase), born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania (d. 1958)
- Aug 14 Alexander I [Obrenović], King of Serbia (1889-1903), born in Belgrade, Serbia (d. 1903)
- Aug 14 Sibilla Aleramo [Rina Faccio], Italian feminist and poet (Una Donna), born in Alessandria, Italy (d. 1960)
- Aug 15 Aleksandar Belic, Serbian linguist, born in Belgrade, Serbia (d. 1960)
- Aug 16 Ivan Bilibin, Russian illustrator, born in Seppälä, Russia (d. 1942)
- Aug 17 Eric Drummond, British politician and diplomat, 1st Secretary-General of League of Nations (1919-33), born in Fulford, England (d. 1951)
- Aug 17 Henri Winkelman, Dutch general, Commander-in-Chief of Dutch Armed Forces during WWII, born in Maastricht, Netherlands (d. 1952)
- Aug 22 Cornelis "Kees" Maks, Dutch figurative painter, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1967)
- Aug 29 Charles F. Kettering, American inventor (auto self-starter), born in Loudenville, Ohio (d. 1958)
- Aug 29 Kim Gu, President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (1939-48), born in Haeju, Hwanghae, Korea (d. 1949)
Famous Weddings
Annie Oakley
Aug 23 Sharp Shooter Annie Oakley weds traveling show marksman Frank E. Butler
Famous Deaths
Wild Bill Hickok (1837-1876)
Aug 2 American cowboy and scout, shot dead from behind at 39 by Jack McCall while playing poker (he held a pair of Aces and a pair of 8's)
