Blue Jeans
May 20 Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patent the first blue jeans with copper rivets
- May 23 1st Preakness Stakes: G. Barbee aboard Survivor wins in 2:43 at Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, Maryland
- May 23 Canada's North West Mounted Police Force forms (it doesn't get the "Royal" until 1904)
- May 23 Postal cards sold in San Francisco for 1st time
Alexandra Palace Opens
May 24 Alexandra Palace opens on Queen Victoria's 54th birthday with a grand celebration including concerts, recitals and fireworks
- May 24 Leo Delibes' opera "Le Roi l'a Dit" ("The King Has Spoken") premieres at the Opéra-Comique in Paris
Priam's Treasure
May 27 Heinrich Schliemann discovers "Priam's Treasure" a cache of gold and other objects in Hisarlik (Troy) in Anatolia
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies