railway construction workers have been killed by the lions. December 10 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Spanish–American War. December 18 – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first official land speed record in an automobile, averaging 63.15 km/h (39.24 mph) over 1 km (0.62 mi) in France. December 26 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the discovery of an element that they name radium. December 29 (December 17 Old Style) – The Moscow Art Theatre production of The Seagull by Anton Chekhov opens. December 31 – French serial killer Joseph Vacher is executed at Bourg-en-Bresse. Unknown dates North Petherton becomes the first community in England to install acetylene lighting. Wakita is founded in the Cherokee Strip, Oklahoma. Henry Adams Consulting Engineers founded by Henry Adams (mechanical engineer) in Baltimore, Maryland (the firm will still be in business in the 21st century). The first volume of the Linguistic Survey Of India is published in Calcutta. As a result of the merger of several small oil companies, John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company controls 84% of the USA's oil, and most American pipelines. JG Palmer is established as a newspaper wholesaler in Kent. Births January–March January 1 Tony DeMarco, American dancer (d. 1965) Binay Ranjan Sen, Indian diplomat, 4th Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (d. 1993) January 3 – John Loder, British actor (d. 1988) January 7 – Art Baker, American actor (d. 1966) January 9 – Gracie Fields, British singer, actress and comedian (d. 1979) January 13 – Kaj Munk, Danish playwright, Lutheran pastor and martyr (d. 1944) Samsa, Indian playwright, poet and novelist (d.1939) January 16 Margaret Booth, American film editor (d. 2002) Irving Rapper, English-born American director (d. 1999) January 18 – Margaret Irving, American actress (d. 1988) January 20 John George, Ottoman-born American actor (d. 1968) Tudor Owen, Welsh-American actor (d. 1979) Norma Varden, British-born American actress (d. 1989) January 21 Rudolph Maté, Polish-born American cinematographer, film director (d. 1964) Shah Ahmad Shah Qajar of Persia (d. 1930) January 22 Sergei Eisenstein, Russian and Soviet film director (d. 1948) Elazar Shach, Lithuanian-born Israeli Haredi rabbi (d. 2001) January 23 Randolph Scott, American film actor (d. 1987) January 24 – Karl Hermann Frank, German Nazi official, war criminal (d. 1946) January 25 – Hymie Weiss, American gangster (d. 1926) January 26 – Katarzyna Kobro, Polish sculptor (d. 1951) February 1 – Leila