Charles Fort: A Fortean Chronology, 1899.

Between 1899 and 1901 Fort worked on the first draft of Many Parts, an autobigraphy; a collection of childhood memories. The title was taken from Shakespeare's As You Like It: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts."

January

  • January 1: Spanish rule ends in Cuba.
  • January 1: Queens and Staten Island merge with New York City.
  • January 6: Lord Curzon becomes Viceroy of India.
  • January 17: The United States takes possession of Wake Island.
  • January 19: Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.
  • Janauary 22: The leaders of six Australian colonies meet in Melbourne to discuss the confederation of Australia as a whole.

 

February

  • February 2: The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne agrees that Australia's capital (Canberra) should be located between Sydney and Melbourne.
  • February 4: The Philippine-American War begins as hostilities break out in Manila.
  • February 6: Spanish-American War, A peace treaty between the United States and Spain is ratified by the United States Senate.
  • February 12-14: Great Blizzard of 1899, Freezing temperatures and snow extend well south into North America, including southern Florida. It is the latest in a series of disasters to Florida's citrus industry.
  • February 14: Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.

 

March

  • March 1: In Afghanistan, Capt. George Roos-Keppel makes a sudden attack on a predatory band of Chamkannis that have been raiding in the Kurram Valley, and captures 100 prisoners with 3,000 head of cattle.
  • March 2: In Washington State, USA, Mount Rainier National Park is established.
  • March 2: A luminous object seen in the sky above El Paso, Texas. (Books487) 
  • March 4: Cyclone Mahina sweeps in north of Cooktown, Queensland. A 12 m wave reaches up to 5 km inland, leaving over 400 dead.
  • March 6: Felix Hoffmann patents aspirin.
  • March 8: Dr. Warren E. Day, of Prescott, Arizona  watches as a luminous object "that traveled with the moon" all day. (Books487) 
  • March 20: At Sing Sing, Martha M. Place becomes the first woman executed in an electric chair.

 

April

 

May

 

June

  • June 12: A tornado completely destroys the town of New Richmond, Wisconsin, killing 117 and injuring more than 200.
  • June 22-27: The highest ever recorded individual cricket score, 628 not out, is made by A. E. J. Collins.
  • June 25: Three Denver, Colorado newspapers publish a story (later proved to be a fabrication) that the Chinese government under the Guangxu Emperor is going to demolish the Great Wall of China.
  • June 27: The paperclip is patented by Johan Vaaler, a Norwegian inventor.
  • June 30: Mile-a-Minute Murphy earns his famous nickname this day, after he becomes the first man to ride a bicycle for one mile in under a minute on Long Island.

 

July

  • July 19: The Newsboys Strike takes place when the Newsies of New York go on strike (strike lasts until August 2).
  • July 29: The first Peace Conference ends with the signing of the Hague Convention.

 

August

  • August 17: A hurricane makes landfall in North Carolina's Outer Banks, completely destroying the town of Diamond City.
  • August 28: At least 512 are killed when a debris hill from the Sumitomo Besshi copper mine at Niihama, Shikoku, Japan, collapses after heavy rain.

 

September 

  • September 13: Mackinder, Ollier and Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian (5,199m – 17,058 ft), the highest peak of Mount Kenya.
  • September 19: Alfred Dreyfus is pardoned.

 

October

  • October 11: The Second Boer War, In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts.
  • October 28: At Luzarches, France, a round luminous object is seen to rise above the horizon. (Books487) 

 

November

  • The predicted Leonid meteorite event fails to appear. "No meteoric event ever before aroused such widespread intrest, or so grievously disappointed anticipation. (Books327)
  • November 8: The Bronx Zoo opens in New York City.
  • November 15: At Dourite (Dordogne) an object like an enormous star, sometime white, sometimes red and at times blue is seen in the sky moving like a kite. (Books487)
  • November 19: Off the coast of Greece a meteorite tumbles to the earth during a thunderstorm. (Books101) 

 

December

  • December 2: Philippine-American War, The Battle of Tirad Pass ("The Filipino Thermopylae") - General Gregorio del Pilar and his troops are able to guard the retreat of Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo before being wiped out.
  • December 2: During the new moon, a near-grand conjunction of the classical planets and several binocular Solar System bodies occur. The Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars and Saturn are all within 15° of each other, with Venus 5° ahead of this conjunction and Jupiter 15° behind. Accompanying the classical planets in this grand conjunction are Uranus, Ceres and Pallas.
  • December 26: Second Boer War,  Battle of Mafeking - The British inflict a crushing defeat on the Boers.
  • December 31: A large standing stone at Stonehenge falls over, the most recent time this has happened.