1885

British general Charles G. “Chinese” Gordon killed at Khartoum in Egyptian Sudan.

  

World’s first skyscraper built in Chicago.

1886

Bombing at Haymarket Square, Chicago, kills seven policemen and injures many others. Eight alleged anarchists accused—three imprisoned, one commits suicide, four hanged. (In 1893, Illinois governor Altgeld, critical of trial, pardons three survivors.)

Statue of Liberty dedicated.

Geronimo, Apache Indian chief, surrenders.

1887

Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet.

1888

Historic March blizzard in northeast U.S.—many perish, property damage exceeds $25 million.

George Eastman’s box camera (the Kodak).

  

J. B. Dunlop invents pneumatic tire.

  

Jack the Ripper murders in London.

    

1889

Indian Territory in Oklahoma opened to settlement.

    

Thousands die in Johnstown, Pa. flood.

    

Eiffel Tower built for the Paris exposition.

Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.