Events January–March January 5 – Russo-Turkish War – Battle of Shipka Pass IV: Russian and Bulgarian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire. January 9 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy. January 17 – Battle of Philippopolis: Russian troops defeat the Turks. January 23 – Benjamin Disraeli orders the British fleet to the Dardanelles. January 24 – Russian revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, Governor of Saint Petersburg. January 28 – The Yale News becomes the first daily college newspaper in the United States. January 31 – Turkey agrees to an armistice at Adrianople. February 2 – Greece declares war on the Ottoman Empire. February 7 – Pope Pius IX dies, after a 31½ year reign (the longest definitely confirmed). February 8 – The British fleet enters Turkish waters, and anchors off Istanbul; Russia threatens to occupy Istanbul, but does not carry out the threat. February 18 – The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico. February 19 – The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison. February 20 – Pope Leo XIII succeeds Pope Pius IX, as the 256th pope. February 23 – Gajanan Maharaj appears at Shegaon, Maharashtra. February 24 – Anti-Russian demonstrations occur in Hyde Park, London. February 28 – Mississippi State University is created by the Mississippi Legislature (under the name The Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi). March 17 – Rev. John Jasper first preaches his sermon "The Sun Do Move." March 24 – The British Royal Navy frigate capsizes in the English Channel; all but 2 of the 319 crew members are killed. March 25 – Russia rejects a British proposal, to lay Treaty of San Stefano before a European congress. March 27 – In anticipation of war with Russia, Disraeli mobilizes the reserves, and calls up Indian troops to Malta. April–June April 16 – The Senate of the Grand Duchy of Finland issued a declaration establishing a city of Kotka on the southern part islands from the old Kymi parish. April 20 – The Stawell Gift is run for the first time in Australia. May 2 – The Washburn "A" Mill in Minneapolis explodes, killing 18. May 15 – The Tokyo Stock Exchange is established. May 25 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore debuts in London at the Opera Comique, with a first run of 571 performances. June 1 The General Postal Union is renamed the Universal