- Jan 1 Denmark adopts Mid-European time
- Jan 1 Manchester Ship Canal in England opens to traffic
- Jan 1 South African Amateur Athletic Union is founded in Johannesburg
- Jan 4 France ratifies Duple Alliance with Russia
"Fred Ott's Sneeze"
Jan 7 William K.L. Dickson captures "Fred Ott's Sneeze" as a motion picture at Thomas Edison's Black Mariah Studio, West Orange, New Jersey [1]
- Jan 8 Columbus World's fair in Chicago destroyed by fire
- Jan 9 Georges Feydeau's "Un à la Patte" premieres in Paris
- Jan 9 New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
- Jan 9 William K.L. Dickson's motion picture "Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze" aka "Fred Ott's Sneeze" receives first US copyright for the format; it was filmed a few days earlier at Edison Studio, West Orange, New Jersey [1]
- Jan 11 Donghak Peasant Rebellion begins in Mujiang, Korea over local corruption, sparking the 1st Sino-Japanese War
- Jan 13 Revolution in Sicily crushed by government troops
- Jan 21 Oscar Fredriksen skates world record 500m in 47.8 sec
- Jan 23 G. W. Bunbury of Dublin sets shorthand record of 250 wpm for 10 min
Corbett vs. Mitchell
Jan 25 In his only successful title defense, James J Corbett KOs English champion Charley Mitchell in 3 rounds at the Duvall Athletic Club, Jacksonville, Florida for the world heavyweight boxing title
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