Events January January 1 The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's first registered nurse. Nathan Stubblefield demonstrates his wireless telephone device in Kentucky, United States. January 8 – A train collision in the New York Central Railroad's Park Avenue Tunnel kills 17 people, injures 38, and leads to increased demand for electric trains and the banning of steam locomotives in New York City. January 23 – Hakkōda Mountains incident: A snowstorm in the Hakkōda Mountains of northern Honshu, Japan, kills 199 during a military training exercise. January 30 – The Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed. February February 11 – Police and universal suffrage demonstrators are involved in a physical altercation in Brussels, Belgium. February 15 – The Berlin U-Bahn underground is opened. February 18 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt prosecutes the Northern Securities Company for violation of the Sherman Act. February 27 – Australian officers Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock are executed for the murder of Boer prisoners of war near Louis Trichardt. March March 7 – Second Boer War: Battle of Tweebosch – South African Boers win their last battle over the British Army, with the capture of a British general and 200 of his men. March 8 – Jean Sibelius's Symphony No. 2 is premiered in Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland. March 10 Clashes between police and Georgian workers led by Joseph Stalin leave 15 dead, 54 wounded, and 500 in prison. A Circuit Court decision in the United States ends Thomas Edison's monopoly on 35 mm movie film technology. April April 2 – The Electric Theatre, the first movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles. April 11 – Tenor Enrico Caruso makes the first million-selling recording, for the Gramophone Company in Milan, Italy. April 13 – A new land speed record of is set in Nice, France, by Léon Serpollet driving a steam car. April 19 – The 7.5 Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800 and 2,000. May May 5 – The Commonwealth Public Service Act creates Australia's Public Service. May 7 – La Soufrière volcano on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent erupts, devastating the northern portion of the island and killing 2,000 people May 8 – Mount Pelée