This Year in History:
1895
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
French officer Alfred Dreyfus, condemned for passing military secrets to the Germans, is stripped of his rank in a humiliating public ceremony in the courtyard of Paris’ Ecole Militaire. The…
Writer Oscar Wilde is arrested after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry. Wilde had been engaged in an affair with the marquess’s son since 1891, but when…
On April 21, 1895, Woodville Latham and his sons, Otway and Gray, demonstrate their “Panopticon,” the first movie projector developed in the United States. Although motion pictures had been shown…
Writer Oscar Wilde is sent to prison after being convicted of sodomy. The famed writer of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest brought attention to his private life in…
John Wesley Hardin, one of the bloodiest killers of the Old West, is murdered by an off‑duty policeman in a saloon in El Paso, Texas. Born in central Texas on…
On October 3, 1895, The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, is published in book form. The story of a young man’s experience of battle was the first American novel…
On October 4, 1895, 21‑year‑old Englishman Horace Rawlins wins the first U.S. Open golf tournament, edging Willie Dunn and others with a 36‑hole total of 173 at the Newport (Rhode…
On November 8, 1895, physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845‑1923) becomes the first person to observe X‑rays, a significant scientific advancement that would ultimately benefit a variety of fields, most of all medicine,…
On this Thanksgiving Day in 1895, piloting a gas‑powered “horseless carriage” of his and his brother’s own design, the mechanic, inventor and now racecar driver Frank Duryea wins the first…
On Christmas night 1895, a barroom argument between two men—one named Billy and another named “Stag” Lee—takes place, leading to murder. The killing would inspire an iconic blues song. Murder…
On December 28, 1895, the world’s first commercial movie screening takes place at the Grand Cafe in Paris. The film was made by Louis and Auguste Lumiere, two French brothers…
