1894 Archives | HISTORY

On March 12, 1894, Coca-Cola is [first sold in bottles](http://March 12, 1894 that Coke was first sold in bottles).

Infamous gunslinger John Wesley Hardin is pardoned after spending 15 years in a Texas prison for murder. Hardin, who was reputed to have shot and killed a man just for snoring, was 41 years old at the time of his release.

On March 22, 1894, the first championship series for Lord Stanley’s Cup is played in Montreal, Canada. The Stanley Cup has since become one of the most cherished and recognized trophies in sport.

American singer and Blues great Bessie Smith, a monumental figure in her own time and beyond, was likely born on April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. At least, that is the date that appeared on her 1923 application for a marriage license, according to biographer Chris Albertson. Her actual birthday may never be verified.

On July 22, 1894, the world's first-ever automobile race takes place, with 17 of 21 entrants completing the route from Paris to Rouen, France, covering a distance of 126 kilometers, or 78.3 miles. The Concours Paris-Rouen—better known as the Paris-Rouen Trial—paved the way not only for Le Mans, the Indianapolis 500, and all the car races to come, but also heralded the dawn of the motor age by showcasing the automobile’s reliability.

On September 25, 1894, President Grover Cleveland issues a presidential proclamation pardoning followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormons) who had previously engaged in polygamous marriages or habitation arrangements considered unlawful by the U.S. government. At the time, and to this day, plural marriages between one man and multiple women; one woman and multiple men; or multiple men and women are illegal in the United States.

On December 8, 1894, humorist James Thurber is born in Columbus, Ohio.

French officer Alfred Dreyfus is convicted of treason by a military court-martial and sentenced to life in prison for his alleged crime of passing military secrets to the Germans. The Jewish artillery captain, convicted on flimsy evidence in a highly irregular trial, began his life sentence on the notorious Devil’s Island Prison in French Guyana four months later.

On December 22, 1894, the Amateur Golf Association of the United States—later renamed the United States Golf Association—is formed in New York to govern the sport. Five charter golf clubs join to form the association—Newport (Rhode Island) Golf Club; St. Andrews Golf Club in Westchester County, New York; Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Illinois; Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York; and The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.