Louis Riel, Canadian rebel leader of the Métis, is executed for high treason. December 1 – The U.S. Patent Office acknowledges this date as the day Dr Pepper is served for the first time; the exact date of Dr. Pepper's invention is unknown. December 28 – 72 Indian lawyers, academics and journalists gather in Bombay to form the Congress Party. Date unknown Karl Benz produces the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, regarded as the first automobile (patented and publicly launched the following year). John Kemp Starley demonstrates the Rover safety bicycle, regarded as the first practical modern bicycle. The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, designed by William Le Baron Jenney, is completed. With ten floors and a fireproof weight-bearing metal frame, it is regarded as the first skyscraper. Bicycle Playing Cards are first produced. The Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association is established in the United Kingdom, to provide charitable assistance. Camp Dudley, the oldest continually running boys' camp in the United States, is founded. John Ormsby publishes his new English translation of Don Quixote, acclaimed as the most scholarly made up to that time. It will remain in print through the 20th century. Michigan Technological University (originally Michigan Mining School) opens its doors for the first time, in the future Houghton County Fire Hall. Chuo Law College, as predecessor of Chuo University, founded in Kanda, Tokyo, Japan. Before November 1 – More than 24,000 Christians killed, 225 churches burnt, seventeen orphanages and ten convents destroyed in Cochinchina, now known as Vietnam. Births January January 6 – Florence Turner, American actress (d. 1946) January 8 – John Curtin, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1945) January 11 Jack Hoxie, American actor, rodeo performer (d. 1965) Alice Paul, American women's rights activist (d. 1977) January 12 Harry Benjamin, American endocrinologist, sexologist (d. 1986) Claude Fuess, American author, historian and headmaster (d. 1963) January 14 – Constantin Sănătescu, 44th prime minister of Romania (d. 1947) January 16 – Zhou Zuoren, Chinese writer (d. 1967) January 17 – Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, German general and war criminal (d. 1968) January 21 – Umberto Nobile, Italian aviator and explorer (d. 1978) January 25 – Roy Geiger, American general (d. 1947) January 26 – Harry Ricardo, English mechanical engineer, engine pioneer (d. 1974) January 27 Jerome Kern, American composer (d. 1945) Harry Ruby, American musician, composer, and writer (d. 1974) January 28 – Władysław Raczkiewicz, President of Poland (d. 1947)